Magnavox Odyssey: unreleased Round Ball demo - Winter & Baer

[FFVIIBertoldiBrasil]

WONDERFUL video with the legend of games!! You have very luck to know this genius!!

Please,talk to father of the video games visit to BRAZIL! -- Thanks for the video!

Greetings from Brazil!

[franklinpriante]

very good ,love magnavox odyssey, magnavox odyssey forever.

[thatsagoodone11]

I have a Magnavox Odyssey that displays just the dots and ball on the screen but the ball goes through both players when I try to play Game Cart #1. Also, the center line doesn't show up. Does anyone know what is wrong with the collision detection?

[videogamehistorian]

@thatsagoodone11 Could be some cold solders in the cartridge connector, dirty contacts in the cartridge connector, faulty gate matrix, dirty cartridge contacts, etc. Test with cartridge #3 which plays Tennis just to see whether it's due to cartridge #1. If the same problems happ"n, open the unit, try to clean the cartridge connector with some contact cleaner (insert/remove the cartridge several times to clean the contacts while the solvant is on them).

[videogamehistorian]

@thatsagoodone11 Then use a hair drier (not too hot) to dry the connector and test again. If the problem persists, either some contacts are still dirty (which would be quite rare), or you have some cold solders and/or a faulty gate matrix.

[Carlos2006ful]

@thatsagoodone11you think it would be worth buying this console for 250 dollars on ebay I collect consoles but not sure if you buy it on ebay for $ 250

[Xxb0obwatcher]

ralph bear is german well thats wat it ses on loads of websites.

[videogamehistorian]

He was born in Germany in 1922 but definitely moved to America during WW2.

[Xxb0obwatcher]

@videogamehistorian cool but wen does he actually speak

[SYDWORLD]

good job guys

[WakemanFan90]

Hi.

Love the demo, ive been trying to get one of those for a while now.

Is there any NTSC/PAL differences on these things, or can i just buy one in the US and play it here at home in Norway.

Kind Regards

Jan-Erik

[videogamehistorian]

You can use the US Odyssey where you are but you will eventually need to adjust the vertical sync potentiometer in the unit, or adjust the vertical sync of your TV if you can do it on the TV (easier). Usually modern TVs are compatible with 60Hz framerate but if not, then you can change to 50Hz in the Odyssey.

[jretin]

Baer Sounds as scared as hell!

[videogamehistorian]

Well, he's now 87 ! He wasn't scared, I don't know what gave you this feeling, I'd be curious to know! I was myself much more scared as I had to make a good speech without having prepared it. Being french it wasn't an easy thing especially since we didn't have a suitable software to edit everything. But isn't it funnier and more natural this way ?

[jretin]

k cool :)

[jretin]

It was just his voice, he sounded nervous.

[videogamehistorian]

That's his usual way of talking. Next time I'll visit him we'll try to make other nice videos. I thought I'd go this year but I had to cancel for financial reasons.

[TookMe20min2findThis]

For all kids out there: don`t look at this as a stupid video game but as an extrodinary machine that makes your PS3 and XBOX what they are today.

Learn to appreciate these great pionneers.

Besides, your PS3 console will sure look as stupid to your kids in a few years down the road.

[oneUNITED7SS]

Is there a ROM for it?

[videogamehistorian]

There's no ROM in Odyssey. It's made of transistor circuits.

[kurisux]

Hypothetically if one dumped the entire system data with the cartridge in, it would then be a rom image, if you will.

The issue is making some software device to emulate, well, the TV-odyssey connection, and you COULD have it emulated. This has to be done for Atari 2600 emulation, since the system relies on the TV refresh rate, but I digress.

Basically, some surgery, some crazy coding, and im sure the death of a system or 2 could get us Odyssey emulation, but eh..

Oh, and the overlays..

[jkgatling]

great video, very informative

[bbbbbb222222]

pretty awesome, this guy is sure an expert

[youtoubakias]

This console was the first that started it all,for some of theme out there it may be look ridiculus,but for me is awesome and imagine the colectible value of this one?!

[iwanabrawl]

avgn just reviewed the odyssey. :D

[cynk666]

This doesn't have any sense. I mean, it's a fucking dot, two squares and an overlay.

[speedguy5]

its not a fucking dot, it is a dot XD

[AtlasRedux]

It's the friggin' first video-game console. What you expect?

[kurisux]

That dot was the start of it all. Heck, everything is just a dot, even now. Just many many many of them. :)

[doinblow]

I need one installed in my car so I can play with my passengers. I'm sure it will be a hit with the ladies. "Alright sweetie, go ahead and put that upgraded volt generator in there... Oh shit! I got duel oval paddles and a huge square flying around with a neon green overlay!" That would be so baller. Good job guys, this is awesome.

[Mochamom5]

Amazing. We have a 1972 (yup confirmed it) complete Magnavox Odyssey. LOVE IT!!!!

[danmatt7193]

much more amusing than any 7th gen console.

[OlpusBonzo]

I think that should be possible to obtain more other shapes with others "active cartridges" like the one showed in this video. Maybe the Odyssey as an analog video game system is more versatile than we could think.

[videogamehistorian]

Odyssey is not analog but digital. All functions communicate together with digital pulses, even if they're built with discrete components. The cartridge used here is not an active one but the Tennis (#3). The shapes cannot be changed with an active cartridge. This can only be done by using modified spot generators. You may build your own using a small CPU to display a bitmap for example. But the graphics would no longer be done with a small number of discrete components.

[OlpusBonzo]

Sorry, I thought you were using an "active cartridge" to alter the shape of the ball because Ralph Baer himself pioneered the concept of active cartridges with his "Coleco Telstar Arcade".

About the "analog vs digital" question: yes, the logic of the Odyssey is made by digital signal, but i was referring to the graphics. I think that is an analog one, because the display isn't divided in a grid of pixels.

[videogamehistorian]

Indeed the video signal and the CRT are analog. But you can also send this analog video to a flat screen, which will eventually digitize it :)

[mrbeanchannel]

I wish you guys still sold magnavox's!!!!! its so hard to get one!!

[mrbeanchannel]

wow!!!!!!!!its a pleasure to watch this video ralph and david!!!!!!! go magnavox!!!! I would by one however I wasn't around when it was made. Nether the less I will always remember you two as the true maker of video consoles!!!

[Love4SK]

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!! AN ODYSSEY EXPANSION PACK! lol. good job man

[maddman82]

i salute both of you

[Creocsial]

Wow, they made consoles with discrete components in the 70's. Fascinating. I bet they could fit the Magnavox Odyssey in an ICU on a piece of silicon wafer that would be so small it would be virtually invisible to the naked eye. Amazing the progress we've made in 30 years.

[papo112]

tres bon classique jaime bien les vielles console continue mon ami !go habs go

[stringanime]

I design Flash games and I am humbled as I look at this.

[videogamehistorian]

I deleted a comment posted today (sunday, feb 25, 2008) by mistake. It was from someone who enjoyed seeing a console using discrete components. If you pass by this page please post your commend again and I'll show it. Sorry for the mistake !

[nitrosport1]

Do you have schematics for making the round ball and paddle generators? Could you make and sell them?

[videogamehistorian]

The problem is that the schematic comes from original Magnavox archives and is an unreleased project. So far I didn't ask for permission to publish but I might make a couple someday.

[Gameboygenius]

This deserves to be in the public domain. At least I'm interested in knowing if this it's really an oval/circular curve or an exponential one. (Like a capacitor charge/discharge curve)

Also, how does it affect collision detection?

[videogamehistorian]

This is really circular (can also be oval). Collision is same: only against a white part of the spot. There's a problem with the transistors used: there is NO documentation or cross-reference and the shape dependends a lot on their curve, so it's not just a matter of NPN/PNP. I managed to replace a few with 2N2222s but there are still a few which can't be changed otherwise the spot won't look right. I'll try to find suitable transistors and then I'll post the updated schematic & pcb layout.

[funkyflights]

wow... what year was this recorded ?

[videogamehistorian]

We made the two videos (Round Ball demo and Brown Box demo) last year, in August 2007.

[PresidentBagel]

I salute you for paving the way!

[seph3911]

Wow, this ithe FIRST VIDEO GAME IN THE HISTORY!! thank you magnazox sooooooo much for creating video games, without this, probably there would not be Playstation or xbox or wii... This is fantastic, I would love to play this!!!!

5/5

[gamegoddess162]

-WOW- That was...more then amazing. Truthfully i dont really know what to say but i would literally die happy if i could just see an Odyssey, such an amazing system and Ralph Baer is by far my hero for creating the things i love the most. You have my upmost respect for posting this.

[brandonkr1]

hi, is that system battery powered or do you plug it into an electrical outlet. also does it have any sound. and one more question, if it does plug into an outlet, does it work in america or no.

[Zeldafoo9]

the system uses a power outlet, yes it works in america and no, it does not have any sounds (it was made in the early 70's what do you expect?)

[jefferyb304]

cool! you get five stars from me.

[EvolutionStratus]

-bows- One of the four classic systems that deserves respect. Thanks for for recording/uploading this. I'd love to have the honor of one day playing one of the games on this classic. :)

[mondogore]

Interesting information, but please practice more before doing your videos, you look somewhat stressed, and i agree more game close ups, you can do it much better

[videogamehistorian]

The video was done in Ralph Baer's house and I was there only for a couple of days. As I didn't know we would do that, I didn't take my digicam and we didn't prepare anything. Better than nothing !

[ownedyouinhalo]

okay i have 2 odyssey's,5 orignal nintendo's,2 supernintendo's,2 Nintendo 64's,1 sega dreamcast,and atari's are these worth anything i have alot of games for each

[kiapurity]

I'd love a transcription of this as I'm deaf and very interested in history of video games/computers. :)

[luthier1]

Interesting, but please for the love of God, less talk, more close-up.

[videogamehistorian]

We'll eventually do another one, but we'll still have to explain the feature and why it was never released. I'll also try to make a smaller video from the original to replace this one, which is a bit long, but as I said, requires some comments for video game collectors.

[The80sFreak]

Very cool... Thank-you for posting this! Would it be possible to record the Magnavox's video output directly so we could see the round ball better? (And of course a link to more information about this Round Ball generator!) ;)

Thanks!

[videogamehistorian]

We thought about that but only had a digital camera to record the video. No worries, I already built a baseband adapter for the Odyssey, which allows recording the video directly on a PC for example. Stay tuned!

[TwistedChains1]

Just discovered your channel. Interested to see more. I'm staying tuned!