Setting up my First Famicom

Started by StripeFruit, March 27, 2021, 11:18:39 pm

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StripeFruit

Like the title states, I finally dove head-first and bought my own Famicom. The listing stated it worked and arrived with 2 games. I also purchased the original power supply and an NTSC/US RF adapter. I'm trying to figure out how to set it up though. I'm rather young and setting up a Famicom via VCR is a bit obscure for me, and after browsing all the previous topics on this forum, I decided to just make a post to ask.
So, here are my questions:

1. I have an original Famicom power supply. Will there be any issue plugging this in in America? I understand the voltage is a negligible amount higher than our normal output, but I want to be sure so as to not fry the console.

2. I purchased a standard US NES RF adapter to hook up the famicom, is this correct? Should it tune properly to channel 95 and 96 respectively?

3. I have a large Magnavox MWD2206 VCR, one of the last ones they produced before VCRs became a bit passé (or so I'm told). Should this model hookup properly and tune to 95 and 96 on my CRT tv? I have two CRT tvs in my house, but neither seem to tune to those channels naturally.

4. The VCR part... do I connect the VCR to the tv, tune it to the channel, and then disconnect that and connect the Famicom to my tv? Or do I somehow have to hook up both the Famicom and VCR at the same time?

5. The analog antenna I have for tuning the VCR only plugs into RF, which I initially used to hook up to my tv. My assumption is that I need to somehow simultaneously hook up the antenna to the VCR while the VCR is hooked up to the tv, but neither the tv nor the VCR have more than one RF port.

I apologize if some of this is a bit off the general topic of the Famicom, but I'm at a loss after digging desperately for information on how to handle these issues using the hardware I have. This board seems very knowledgeable about all things Famicom, so I figured my best bet would be here.

My last resort would be to adjust the pot to channel 6, as that is a channel I've been able to actually tune into using my antenna, however I don't want to mess with the pot without knowing it will remedy the problems.

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer, I appreciate it sincerely.  :)

UglyJoe

Quote from: StripeFruit on March 27, 2021, 11:18:39 pm1. I have an original Famicom power supply. Will there be any issue plugging this in in America? I understand the voltage is a negligible amount higher than our normal output, but I want to be sure so as to not fry the console.

It'll be fine.  You may shorten the lifespan of the power supply itself, but it's not going to fry anything.

Quote from: StripeFruit on March 27, 2021, 11:18:39 pm2. I purchased a standard US NES RF adapter to hook up the famicom, is this correct? Should it tune properly to channel 95 and 96 respectively?

Yup.  I use an old NES RF adapter, personally.

Quote from: StripeFruit on March 27, 2021, 11:18:39 pm3. I have a large Magnavox MWD2206 VCR, one of the last ones they produced before VCRs became a bit passé (or so I'm told). Should this model hookup properly and tune to 95 and 96 on my CRT tv? I have two CRT tvs in my house, but neither seem to tune to those channels naturally.

It depends on the tuner on the VCR.  Many will go to 95/96, but not all.  You'll just have to try it and see.

Quote from: StripeFruit on March 27, 2021, 11:18:39 pm4. The VCR part... do I connect the VCR to the tv, tune it to the channel, and then disconnect that and connect the Famicom to my tv? Or do I somehow have to hook up both the Famicom and VCR at the same time?

5. The analog antenna I have for tuning the VCR only plugs into RF, which I initially used to hook up to my tv. My assumption is that I need to somehow simultaneously hook up the antenna to the VCR while the VCR is hooked up to the tv, but neither the tv nor the VCR have more than one RF port.

Are you sure you only have one RF port on your VCR?  There should be two of them according to the manual I found online.

If there's only one, though, what it is labeled as?  I will assume it is an input rather than an output.

You would go from:

Famicom to VCR using RF adapter
VCR to TV using A/V cables (the red/white/yellow ones)

You don't need an actual antenna for any reason.  (Even if you wanted to watch broadcast television, they no longer broadcast in analog so it won't work without additional hardware!)

Then you need to:

Switch your TV to whatever input the A/V port maps to.  There's typically an "input" or "source" button on the TV remove (if you have it), or possibly on the TV itself.  Sometimes you need to tune the channel below channel 2 or channel 1 and it'll cycle through the inputs as if they were other channels.

Turn on the VCR and the Famicom.  Most of time with VCRs the remote has a "TV/VCR" button.  This button toggles whether you will use the VCR's tuner or the TV's tuner.  You need to make sure you are in the "VCR" mode (a VCR as modern as yours will probably show something on-screen to indicate this, but if not you can do some trial-and-error). 

Now tune the VCR to channel 95 or 96.  You can probably do this most easily if you have the VCR remote. If you don't have the remote, you should be able to use the channel up/down buttons on the VCR itself.  You should see your Famicom's output on the TV now!

One caveat with getting the VCR onto channel 95/96 is that they sometimes have this "auto-tune" feature that tries to detect which channels you actually have.  If it detects you don't have a signal for channel 95/96, it may remove them from the channel listing.  Typically with the remote you can just manually enter the channel number and it'll ignore the fact that it thinks there is no signal.  If you don't have a remote and you get stuck, you may have to purchase a universal remote and program it for your VCR (they're cheap and they're easy to program).

Good luck!

StripeFruit

Thank you so much for your response!
There's a lot I really didn't know, and all of what you shared makes this a whole lot easier.

First off, I'm glad to hear that US voltage won't fry the Famicom, that's reassuring. So then good practice would definitely be to use a step down transformer.  :)

Secondly, I'd like to apologize, I said the wrong model number. The actual model number of my VCR is the Magnavox dv220mw9. They look very, very similar, but mine does not have 2 RF ports, so I take it then that this model simply won't work for what I need it for.

By any chance, do you have a recommendation for a simple VCR that you'd know would work?

FAMICOM_87

I can show you an easy AV MOD for the famicom depends on the revision you have, and it will be revercable :)

UglyJoe

Quote from: StripeFruit on March 28, 2021, 12:20:21 amSecondly, I'd like to apologize, I said the wrong model number. The actual model number of my VCR is the Magnavox dv220mw9. They look very, very similar, but mine does not have 2 RF ports, so I take it then that this model simply won't work for what I need it for.

By any chance, do you have a recommendation for a simple VCR that you'd know would work?

Ah, okay, I looked up the DV220MW9 manual and it says "This unit has no tuner system so it cannot receive TV broadcasts without external tuner or such devices.".  So, no, that one is not going to work.  You need one with a tuner.

I don't have any specific VCR recommendations.  I typically recommend that you check out local thrift stores for cheap VCRs.  Should be less than $10.  You won't be able to tell if its tuner goes up to 95/96, but you can at least tell what kind of hookups it has and you won't be paying a bunch of money for shipping.

The vast majority will have tuners, btw.  I guess some very late models were intended more as "players" rather than "recorders".  If you look on the back of it and there are two ports for coaxial cables (big ports that stick out and are threaded like screws) then it has a tuner.  There are often channel up/down buttons on the front, as well.

I can vouch for the Sony SLV-AX10, but it's nothing special -- it's just what my thrift store had in stock ;D

StripeFruit

Quote from: FAMICOM_87 on March 28, 2021, 02:07:32 amI can show you an easy AV MOD for the famicom depends on the revision you have, and it will be revercable :)

I normally like to keep my consoles in their original shape where I can, but heck I'm all for learning something like this! I'd love to hear how you do that. :)

Quote from: UglyJoe on March 28, 2021, 09:05:14 amAh, okay, I looked up the DV220MW9 manual and it says "This unit has no tuner system so it cannot receive TV broadcasts without external tuner or such devices.".  So, no, that one is not going to work.  You need one with a tuner.

I don't have any specific VCR recommendations.  I typically recommend that you check out local thrift stores for cheap VCRs.  Should be less than $10.  You won't be able to tell if its tuner goes up to 95/96, but you can at least tell what kind of hookups it has and you won't be paying a bunch of money for shipping.

The vast majority will have tuners, btw.  I guess some very late models were intended more as "players" rather than "recorders".  If you look on the back of it and there are two ports for coaxial cables (big ports that stick out and are threaded like screws) then it has a tuner.  There are often channel up/down buttons on the front, as well.

I can vouch for the Sony SLV-AX10, but it's nothing special -- it's just what my thrift store had in stock ;D

Then it's settled! I'll set out for my local goodwill ASAP and see if I can catch them sleeping. And maybe if I find one that suits my Famicom's needs I can watch some old VHS while I'm at it, hah. ;)

I'll update this thread again if I run into any issues or get any results.

HokusaiXL

Because of how linear power supplies work, you will only notice an increase of like 1-2 volts under full load, which the voltage regulator on the system is more than capable of handling.

A thing to remember about the famicom PSU is that since it's linear, the primary and secondary transformer windings never actually connect, just the primary energizes the secondary to 10% of it's input.  And since the famicom doesn't have a massive amperage draw, causing damage to the original PSU is minimal at best.  I'm also pretty sure that the capacitor and bridge rectifier in the PSU is rated for well over 12 volts.
I don't know how to fox. D:

Great Hierophant

If you can find a VCR that goes up to channels 95-96 and has an AV output, you will be fine.  Anything made in the late 90s or later should be able to support those channels.
Check out my retro gaming and computing blog : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/

Saab93

Some were made in the early 90's that go up that high like this Sears VCR, with my 2 Famicoms on it. And that says 119 channel quartz on it, and has AV and RF ports. But i suppose mine is useless since it koncked out...

P

You probably don't need the cassette mechanism to work. I suppose as long as it turns on and the RF-demodulator works it's fine. It must support NTSC tuning however which not all PAL VCRs do. Especially not if it says "NTSC Playback".