Dreamcast Color Mod.. Will This Work?

[Vamp]

I've posted this in gameworld, but I think I can get more intelligable replies here

I got an NTSC Dreamcast from a friend (It plays Copies original games, but I'm not sure about multi-region, because I don't have any PAL games)

I have a PAL TV and a VCR That plays PAL and NTSC Tapes.

I have an AV Cable for the DC and an RF Adapter (Which was NTSC, so the pins weren't the right size, so I had to get it modified to fit an RF port)

My TV only has RF-IN while my VCR Has RF-IN, RF-Out, AV-In and Av-Out

Whenever I play the DC on the TV VIA the modifed RF Cable, the games come out in black and white with bad sound. Apparently this is because the TV Is not multi-system (I have another TV which is multi-system and plays everything fine through the DC's AV Cable, but it's around 150CM which I find is too big, and I'd prefer having all 3 of my consoles on one TV)

These guys at this Video-Game store said that I can get a color mod which will allow the DC To play in color with sound on a Pal System TV ... They're internal And apparently will only work with AV Cables (But I don't have any AV ports on my TV)

The guy at the store said I could set the DC Up like this,

DreamCast (color modded) Video/AV-Out (AV Cable) Goes from the Dreamcastr into my VCR's AV IN... There is then a separate RF Cable going from the VCR's RF-OUT into my TV's Rf-In


the guy said that the color mod will enable the DC To work with that setup, however when I tried that method with Xbox, I couldn't get any picture or any sound, apparently it only works with the modded Dreamcast. I don't think my VCR (which is a Mitsubishi from 1996 or so) would be able to take the AV Signal and convert it to RF to go into my TV... are AV and RF two different signals? Is the guy lying, or would everything work fine with that setup?

The other option is an external converter which only works with RF, and because my Dreamcast RF Cable I got off Ebay is NTSC, but modified, I'm not sure how reliable it would be (I'd be using a generic RF Cable for the former method, not the dreamcast one)

I'm thinking that the Internal (first choice) chip is the best, but because I couldn't get anything when I had my Xbox's AV going into my VCR's AV-IN and an RF cable going from the VCR RF-Out to the TV's RF In, I'm not sure if the guy is talking crap... Would it work with that setup?

I need all the advice and help I can get.

[bob_the_alien]

First off, to play pal games with your dreamcast, just use a Dreamcast boot cd, you can play games from anywhere in the world with the boot cd.
It can be found on any Dreamcast site, and you can also find it on suprnova.org.

Next, If your having trouble with your VCR not using RF modulation from AV cables, the easiest way to solve this, is buy an switch box with RF modulation.
They are usually only $10 - $20 (U.S Currency)

That way you can still use the color mod, the guy at the game store was talking about, then plug the av wires into the switch box, and then plug the switch box into the TV using RF.
I used to run a setup similar to this before I bought a TV with many AV connections.

Hope this helps.

[Vamp]

Thanks, it does, but how do I know if my VCR can or cannot modulate a AV Signal to RF? Would I have to get a switch box to do get it to work?

[bob_the_alien]

Only way to see if it can or can't, is to plug some RCA cables up to the VCR.
Then set your VCR to "Line", and then have your RF hooked to the TV.
Just try it and see.

Even though your VCR is old it still may work, I have a 6 year old Panasonic VCR and has RF modulation. Though, I seen many VCRs that are suppose to have RF modulation, but when I tried them it wouldn't work, mostly the new cheap ones though, so you never know, might work, might not.
Just try it and see.