there was a bit of debate when the nintendo ds launched and if the signal actually interfered with televisions. one hack a day investigator pretty much confirmed it. so, there might be some cool hacks to tune it in better or something else, like jamming it.
"I read somewhere about DS interference on old TVs. My wife has this cool old Sony Watchman so I decided to see if I could pick up the DS. It did..."
nintendo ds tv interference
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Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Ok some questions where do you put the antenna? what channel? and why doesnt this ever work for me!
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by cameon
3. Nice, it really works! I managed to pick it up on an old black and white TV by tuning around a bit on channel 3, with the DS touching the antenna. It's a lot easier with GBA games because there's only one screen running; with DS games both images get mashed together. Very cool!
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by hyperhacker
4. hey guys I tryed sevral ways, and it worked, just about the same clearity as yours, yeah somehow the communication from the bottom to the top screen leaks into the tv, well while I was doing this, some how it piked up some radio frequancys, at my place I herd foxy 88.5 note that that is 88.5 Mhz so if you get a signal amp and tune it to 88.5Mhz mabey that will solve you little issue about ampifying the clearity. I would do this but I dont have a signal amplifire, and dont know how to make one.
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Teddy
5. Wow, our newest TV picked up the signal, though the screen looked really screwed, I did manage to play Mario DS though
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Jader7777
6. lol, I have been playing around with my ds and this whole tv thing, I havent actully got to see it like you guys did, but the tv did sence an interuption, I think mabey later I will actully stick wires between the top screen and the base. and hook the ends to my tv cable hookup, mabey that would show more clear, oh if you guys wanna hear a funny story, about signal interuption.......I bought this $200 cordless video transmitter and recever from a garage sale because I like this kinda stuff, my nabour seems to have a cordless security cam, and somehow my recever taped into that.... I was able to see my friends walk around the corner while comeing to my house with my nabours cordless security cam :D
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Teddt
7. What about the celltanna. Stick one to the back of each screen. Crazier things have worked..
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Sourcekode
8. will this work on a pal [brit] tv though?
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by monkey
9. oh my god it actually works lol. its better on some parts of the UHF range but still... might be funny to boost the signal somehow and go around train stations or lol betting shops.. :D
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by buy Nintendo ds
10. Scince the displays seem to be using NTSC (complete with proper sync pulses), I wonder how long it will be before someone comes out with a TV tuner hack for the DS, simaler to the GameGear and the Turbo Express. :)
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by sTOMANT
11. I'm a bit late but I have a good pic of the DS interference... and I didn't touch it up at all, it's raw. Enjoy http://home.comcast.net/~fox25web/DS.html
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by LinkH3x
12. Cool possibilities if the signal could be amplified or something, it'd be fun to play with at stores with tons of TV's on display. On another note. For some reason i come to this great site and about 25 percent of the posts are whining about what they don't want on the site or whatever. Shut up already, this site is great and the webmaster can put up whatever they want for al I care. Think of it this way: If you had just recieved a new object to experiment with and found a cool possibility or hack, would you post it or just let it sit because the people in the comment boards were being whiny? I think this is interesting and apparently some other people do as well. Pft.
13. Lol, ive been trying to do this with my portable tv, it worked once
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Person
14. Lol, ive been trying to do this with my portable tv, it worked once
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Person
15. Ok, now, this site is stretching it; "so, there might be some cool hacks to tune it in better or something else, like jamming it." Where is the hack, now this site is "Future Hack a day"? C'mon, you can do better...
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Dennis
16. hoax ? just look at FCC fillings and reports- NO mention about sub <1GHz transmisions. DS would have to go thru testings if equiped with any form of TV Transmitter
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by rasz
17. No, this means that the DS pipes video data to the top lcd in a signal format similar to ntsc, and it leaks enough to be picked up by cruddy tvs. Using that kind of signal for the lcd does seem strange to me, but I don't know anything about how these things are done today anyway. I don't have my own ds at this point else I would pop it open and see for myself what's going on. If there -is- a simple analog signal that is vga/ntsc workable, it may be fairly easy to tap the wiring to the top lcd and properly display it on a vga monitor or television, depending.
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by anescient
18. So this probably means that the DS has an RF modulator built-in for whatever reason... Maybe nintendo are planning an 'official' tv-out add-on?
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Stuart
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1. can i just play for example mario 64 ds, or do i hav to be playing it wirelessly multiplayer for my tv to pick up this signal? or is there a constant signal anyway
Posted at 3:33PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by CRaig