Dreamcast Woes. please help!!!!!!!!! (NTSC/PAL related)

[Devilredeemed]

My brother who is back in the UK sent me his Dreamcast as a present and after getting everything together (AV cable/Joypad/Games) I hooked everything up and waited for the screen to appear but it remained black :(
tried it on various TVs and nothing. The machine makes all the right noises and the orange light goes on but no image.
The system is PAL (I think UK has PAL 1), and my TV systems are all NTSC.

Is this a compatability problem? and if so how can I solve it?
I am going to get a tech to look at it but want to know what the deal is and if a mod can be done and if its simple at that.

Please help!!
I was so looking foward to playing Gun Spike :(

[hydr0x]

mhhh i don't know if a pal dc works on ntsc tv's sorry

but one question: WTF is Gun Spike????? is this a pal dc game?? you know, i'm doing the PAL Dreamcast list and i've never heard of this game, if you've got it, do you have a scan??

[anagrama]

My brother who is back in the UK sent me his Dreamcast as a present and after getting everything together (AV cable/Joypad/Games) I hooked everything up and waited for the screen to appear but it remained black :(
tried it on various TVs and nothing. The machine makes all the right noises and the orange light goes on but no image.
The system is PAL (I think UK has PAL 1), and my TV systems are all NTSC.

Is this a compatability problem? and if so how can I solve it?
I am going to get a tech to look at it but want to know what the deal is and if a mod can be done and if its simple at that.

Please help!!
I was so looking foward to playing Gun Spike :(

What kind of TV connection are you using? RF/AV/Scart?


but one question: WTF is Gun Spike????? is this a pal dc game?? you know, i'm doing the PAL Dreamcast list and i've never heard of this game, if you've got it, do you have a scan??

Cannon Spike, I would imagine.

[Vroomfunkel]

You might also want to check the power specs ... the UK runs on a 240V power supply - I think that in the US it is 110V, maybe different again for Argentina? In which case you may need a power adapter as well.

PAL systems do not generally work on a standard NTSC tv, you will need some sort of adapter for this as well, or a PAL compatible TV. Although if you run it through SCART then it may work.

Vroomfunkel

[Devilredeemed]

damn I MENT CANNON SPIKE!!!! I was half asleep when I posted.
sorry.

The power supply here is 220 like in the UK.
I am using AV conection (you know, red yellow and white).

Can the Dreamcast be opnend up, tampered with and made to work in NTSC?

[GameGuru]

You need this a PAL to NTSC converter like ...

http://www.hkflix.com/hardware/comworld_cmd-850.asp

or

http://www.skyvision.com/store/mi8000059.html

I am sure there are tons more out there, just type "PAL to NTSC coverter" in Google and there are lots of hits. Kinda expensive but it will do the job for you.

[davidbrit2]

The easy way is to just get the VGA box and connect the DC to a decent monitor. I believe the PAL systems output at 60 Hz when connected via VGA.