The TIARA is a custom video upgrade board for the Atari 2600 that provides a very clean S-Video and composite output. Installation is as simple as soldering the TIARA to the underside of the TIA (the video and audio chip in the 2600) and connecting the included wires to some RCA or DIN connectors (NOT INCLUDED). There is no need make any modifications to the 2600 mainboard apart from removing or changing a single resistor on certain models, and the RF output will remain functional.

This mod is not compatible with the "one-chip" 2600 - these are rare late model Jr versions that consolidate the RIOT, TIA and CPU into a single IC. Please also be aware this mod has not been tested and is not guaranteed to work with French SECAM, and South American PAL-N and PAL-M machines.

Also please be aware that certain games may cause issues with modern displays and upscalers. This is due to the way those games have been coded and not a fault with the TIARA. You can find a list of known games that cause issues along with fixes for some of them on AtariAge

Install

Please see below for a video that covers all models.

6 Switcher

1. Open the console by removing the 6 screws on the bottom and lift off the bottom cover.
2. Remove another 6 screws to access the mainboard (inside the big metal box).
3. Locate the underside of the TIA which will be the 40pin chip towards the front of the console.
4. If your console is NTSC, check for the presence of a 680 ohm resistor (R213) between pins 6 and 9 of the TIA and remove it if installed. No changes are required for PAL models.
5. Locate pin 1 of the TIA, it should be marked on the silkscreen but if unsure you can check for a short between pin 1 and the metal case (pin 1 of the TIA is ground).
6. Place the TIARA over the TIA pins making sure pin 1 of the TIARA (as noted by the square on the TIARA) matches up with pin 1 of the TIA - failure to align these correctly may result in damage to the 2600 and the TIARA.
7. Flow solder into the plated through holes on the TIARA, not every hole is plated as it is unnecessary and would make removal of the TIARA more difficult (not that you'd ever want to remove it after seeing the results).
8. Once soldered, double check with a multimeter that there are no shorts between the adjacent pins (on NTSC models pins 12 and 13 are tied together on the motherboard so a short here is normal).
9. See output options below for how to connect the audio and video ouputs from the TIARA.

4 Switcher

1. Open the console by removing the 4 screws on the bottom and lift off the bottom cover.
2. Remove the RF shield on the bottom of the mainboard by twisting the little metal tabs until they are all straight.
3. Locate the underside of the TIA which will be the 40pin chip towards the front of the console.
4. Locate pin 1 of the TIA, it should be marked on the silkscreen but if unsure you can check for a short between pin 1 and the outer ground plane on the mainboard (pin 1 of the TIA is ground).
5. Place the TIARA over the TIA pins making sure pin 1 of the TIARA (as noted by the square on the TIARA) matches up with pin 1 of the TIA - failure to align these correctly may result in damage to the 2600 and the TIARA.
6. Flow solder into the plated through holes on the TIARA, not every hole is plated as it is unnecessary and would make removal of the TIARA more difficult (not that you'd ever want to remove it after seeing the results).
7. Once soldered, double check with a multimeter that there are no shorts between the adjacent pins (on NTSC models pins 12 and 13 are tied together on the motherboard so a short here is normal).
8. See output options below for how to connect the audio and video ouputs from the TIARA

Junior

1. Remove the 5 screws on the bottom and then remove the top cover by relasing the clips hidden in the vents at the front of the console (there is a clip at each end and one in the middle)
2. Carefully lift the top cover off to the right and unplug the ribbon cable going to the reset and select buttons.
3. Remove the mainboard by releasing the clips on either side towards the front of the console.
4. Remove the RF shield on the bottom of the mainboard by twisting the little metal tabs until they are all straight.
5. Remove the top RF shield and locate the 10K resistor at R31 (it will be the 4th resistor to the right of the 28-pin CPU)
6. For NTSC consoles this resistor should be removed (you can just heat and lift or snip one of the legs). For PAL consoles this resistor should be replaced with a 3.3K otherwise you may get flickering pixels.
7. On the underside of the board locate the TIA which will be the 40pin chip towards the front of the console.
8. Locate pin 1 of the TIA, it should be marked on the silkscreen but if unsure you can check for a short between pin 1 and the outer ground plane on the mainboard (pin 1 on the TIA is ground).
9. Place the TIARA over the TIA pins making sure pin 1 of the TIARA (as noted by the square on the TIARA) matches up with pin 1 of the TIA - failure to align these correctly may result in damage to the 2600 and the TIARA.
10. Flow solder into the plated through holes on the TIARA, not every hole is plated as it is unnecessary and would make removal of the TIARA more difficult (not that you'd ever want to remove it after seeing the results).
11. Once soldered, double check with a multimeter that there are no shorts between the adjacent pins (on NTSC models pins 12 and 13 are tied together on the motherboard so a short here is normal).
12. See output options below for how to connect the audio and video ouputs from the TIARA

Output options

Plug the included wiring harness into the TIARA, note it will only fit one way. There are 4 individual (black) ground wires for each signal, these can be tied together at the output jacks if needed (for example if using a 5 pin DIN connector, all grounds are tied to pin 2). The other wire colours are as follows:

White = S-Video Luma

Red = S-Video Chroma

Yellow = Composite Video

Blue = Mono Audio

While version 2 includes a wiring harness to make installation easier, it does not come with any RCA or DIN output jacks or cables as there is no one size fits all solution to route the new video and audio signals out of the 2600 case, this will be left up to the installer.

For those who already have a composite or s-video mod, you may prefer to re-use the RCA jacks or cables you already have installed.

If you're looking to do a no-cut install, consider these https://www.etsy.com/listing/4462354802/atari-2600-no-cut-av-port. Note I don't make these and haven't tried them myself but they look pretty neat.

Alternatively you may be able to splice some RCA/S-video cables onto the included wires and route them through the same hole the RF cable comes out (or the RF jack on the Jr). Of course this will mean you'll have cables hanging out of the console so you'll want to put some strain relief on there to prevent the cables pulling on the TIARA wires.

My personal prefrence is to wire everything up to a 5-pin DIN connector and match the pinout to the Atari 8-bit computers (and my VIC-20 video mod). This obviously requires drilling a hole for the DIN plug, but making one hole is easier than 3 or 4. DIN connectors are still easy to find, as are DIN to RCA breakout cables.

For example: panel mount 5-pin DIN. I recently received some of these and half of them had the internal connector rotated slightly in relation to the outer metal shell. They still work just fine and form a solid connection, but you can always find these at more reputable stores like Mouser for example or Jaycar Australia

DIN to RCA and S-video cable (note I am not affliated and cannot vouch for the quality of these).

or DIN to 4 RCA cable (black=audio, white=luma, red=chroma, yellow=composite) which is perfect for Commodore monitor users or use with a 2xRCA to S-video adaptor. Note these 2xRCA to S-video cables often have the red and white plugs reversed - that's Aliexpress for ya.

or you can roll your own cable. I'm not in the cable making business sorry :-)

Note the TIARA can safely drive both composite and s-video (luma/chroma) outputs at the same time. You can even use the original RF output if you want to have 3 displays connected to the same machine for some reason (I won't judge).

Configuration

Colour trimpot

All versions of the 2600 include a colour trimpot. Adjusting this changes the phase of the chroma output and this also affects the TIARA output. This would have been set correctly at the factory but over time it may drift or have been adjusted incorrectly by someone else. If the colours on your display look normal then there is no need to adjust this.

Should you want or need to adjust this, it is recommend to do so in conjunction with a flash cart and test program.

For NTSC models you can use the Video Soft Color Bar Generator. On the title screen the border should look like one solid colour. If the top half and bottom half are different, adjust the colour trimpot until the bottom half matches the top half.

For PAL models the above cartridge does not work correctly. Instead it is recommended to use the ColorTest program. Set the colour/B&W switch to B&W on the console and adjust the colour trimpot until you see the full range of colours.

S.FIL jumper

This jumper only affects the S-Video output. When closed this jumper applies a low pass filter to the S-Video luma output. This can help reduce ringing (halos around object edges) at the slight expense of sharpness. The default setting is off (jumper open) but feel free to experiment with closing this jumper to see which setting you prefer.

C.BST jumper

This jumper only affects the composite output. When closed this jumper boosts the chroma portion of the composite video output, this can help if your display or upscaler has issues with reduced chroma levels. The default setting is off (jumper open), this halves the chroma portion of the composite video output (150mV colour burst) and normally results in a smoother image (less composite artefacts). Closing this jumper boosts the chroma portion to normal levels (300mV colour burst) but can result in more jaggies and dot crawl around edges.

Is it called TIARA to avoid trademark infringement, or because it's like a little crown for the TIA, what does the RA stand for then, who knows. Also that logo looks a bit like a...

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