Hello Famicom world. I recently brought my first Famicom the other day but there is one problem. I have no idea how to set it up. I am UK based and dont know what I am doing. It seems all the information I find is about setting one up in the USA. Help me please! I will be very grateful.
Welcome to Famicom World, and welcome to the world of Famicom! What version of the Famicom did you start with? A lot of us actually start with Famiclones, but depending on the model the set up is a little different.
Others will elaborate I'm sure, but I'll run damage control here first: do not plug your Famicom directly into the wall. In Japan the voltage AC standard is 100v, similar to the US/Canada's 120v. European 240 will destory ac adapters and you require a stepdown transformer if you wish to run Famicom games.
Secondly, you will need a TV able to receive NTSC signals. Alternitively, there are converter boxes that can produce PAL signals from NTSC ones, but I can't comment how well those work. In case you didn't know (you probably do though) the UK uses the PAL video format which is incompatible with NTSC devices.
The best way to do this would be to plug the Famicom into an USA/Japan NTSC vcr with A/V Output; then as Satoshi said, you will then need to get a step down converter, for both the VCR and Famicom.
It wont be an easy task, but once you get your NTSC vcr and stepdown converters, set the vcr to channel 95 and then you can play your famicom but it will likely end up in black and white unfortunately.
Thats the only way, sorry.
Well, not nessesarily. If you've bought an AV Famicom or Famicom modded with AV output, you might want to consider looking into buying one of these:
http://www.selloffaccessories.com/ntsc-to-pal-tv-video-system-converter-p-607.html
You can buy that same converter on ebay for half the price with free shipping.
My link wasn't whom I recommend buying from or anything. Just the first site that came up in a google search to give LTEarle a rough idea of what to look for.
:P Thanks alot guys. This is the Famicom I brought http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250567322036 it doesnt have the AV out. I will follow your steps and post back soon. Thanks again for the help. Glad I joined the Famicomworld community! Its better then I thought :D
Also would this stepdown coverter work or would I need a diffrent one?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UK-to-US-CONVERTER-STEP-DOWN-TRANSFORMER-45W-110-120V_W0QQitemZ250565671082QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item3a56e0b8aa
Yes, I'm fairly certain thats what you need. The Famicom is rated for 110v AC input with output of 10v DC 850mA. US 120v AC is fine, but UK 240v AC will kill it.