Back on my retro kick - I have this atari 2600 that I fixed the power unit for earlier. Beyond just the power, I’ve also dealt with the problem of actually getting the RF signal output by the Atari 2600 on to my actual TV - a modern Samsung TV. Well, “modern”, as my TV is actually almost a decade old. Still, like pretty much all TVs built in the last decade, you cannot simply hook up an Atari 2600 to the COAX input (or ANT IN, as my TV calls it).

I have an RF to COAX adapter, that physically hooks up to my television, yet no matter what I simply could not find any atari image on my TV when it was tuned to cable. After an hour of messing around with channels, I gave up and searched the internet for answers.

The answers were largely unhelpful. Google appears to still heavily serve 10, even 15 year old chatter on retro video game systems on search. As such, most information I found was simply telling me to go buy an RF to COAX adapter, which again, I had, to no result.

As it turned out, the problem is that modern TVs are all built with digital cable tuners, as part of a massive industry overhaul to digitalize cable in the last decade. The old analog tuners are nowhere to be found in today’s TVs - as the signal that brings old Family Guy reruns (or whatever, who watches things on cable anymore anyway) is now completely digital.

But the Atari 2600 is still stuck in an old age, broadcasting on an analog RF signal. So how do we bridge the gap?

Why, with another blast from the past - with a VCR!

Most VCRs have a COAX input, just like TVs, but these VCRs will still generally have analog tuners. This input is (from what I guess), to record cable TV on to a VHS tape. Yet, the VCR will still route the signal through a variety of outputs, including through AV outputs (which my TV still accepts). So, simply hook up your Atari 2600 to the VCR, then use some AV cables to send the output signal through to your TV. If your TV doesn’t have AV hookups, you’ll need to go a step further and get an AV to HDMI adapter.