Messages

[Off-Topic / Re: Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

"Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting."

Another victim of photobucket's shit. 

Yep. That's the final straw in that bucket of shit.
Photobucket have been annoying me more and more over the year, but I stick to it because I have about 100 pics I posted on forums, many of them in topics that are still used.
But now, I no longer have any good reason to use tht crap of a site.
I'm looking for another site, but all of them seesm to deal with the same crap that bothered me with Photobucket. Might take me a few days to come up with a replacement.

[Off-Topic / Re: Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

No idea. It was a thing in the late 60's and early 70's.
The sellers did told me they used that to stop their childrens to watch TV, so it had a use.
I assume that it also was used for TV in public spaces like bars.

Some older models would hide completely to look like ordinary furniture. I guess?
And you could lock them, too.

[Off-Topic / Re: Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

Comrade, I love that TV.



~20 years ago, I got this beauty:



RCA Victor 19"-20" b/w circa ____,
So I did a horrible thing and gutted it (modern CRT, cable box hidden behind speaker grill, new speakers + subwoofer, DVD+VCR hidden underneath (on floor).



To play video games, I just plugged AV cables into RCA jacks on front of DVD/VCR.

Thanks you, and cool thing you have.
Those floor models are uncommon here, It seems we switched to table models by 1955, and with the few exception of early colors TV with legs, in the late 60's (first color broadcast in Europe in 1967) and of 1990's retroprojectors TV, floor models were never again a thing.

I debate about doing that to a TV, but there are several models out there with dead tubes, that I'll take a dead one with a nice outer shell to do that.

[Off-Topic / Re: Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

It's why I said "here". I know that in the UK they sold color TV without A/V input up to 2003 at least

But in France, nobody cared about providing SECAM L RF output. And in fact, nobody but a few brands cared about providing SECAM A/V devices after the mid 90's.
It's mostly because by law, all color TV sold after 1981 (and up to 2016) must have a SCART input. Or at least a video input (in theory, every TV should have one, but apparently no one cared to enforce that law for black and white TVs).

The last SECAM RF console were the Intellivision and Atari 2600 Jr (the Colecovision was RGB, the NES was PAL to RGB, the 7800 was PAL to RGB).

French Commodore importer sold SECAM C64, but they were replaced by RGB models rapidly that kept the PAL RF output, not a SECAM one. Atari computers were PAL, not SECAM, etc.

VCR stopped including an RF out modulator around 1995 yeah, you had to use a SCART cable.
Only ONE Digital TV tuner had a SECAM L output when they were released around 2005, and the quality was astoundingly low, barely useable.
Several digital tuner had SECAM options but most of them were of poor quality with heavy "SECAM fire" on it (for an A/V connection, it tell you how poor the quality was).
The last decent SECAM device I saw was a Samsung DVD player, the DVD 909, that could be set up for SECAM, PAL and NTSC... but since it also had RGB SCART out I only used it to see how it looked. And that was in 2002.

And you might say "But SECAM doesn't matter for black and white" and you'd be right. Except that SECAM L/L' is unlike every other TV system in the world. It's not SECAM color encoding at fault; if you take a TV set from Eastern Europe or overseas France, that used SECAM, and try to tune on PAL signals, you will get a black and white picture and sound.

But with French L/L' system, it's a different system.

It's based on older video standard that were used in the 1930's, so it's incompatible with all other
RF video standards. System L use positive video modulation, all other use negative.
System L use AM sound, all other use FM sound (which provide an interesting thing : when you are out of tune on a channel, or on a blank channel, you know that familiar hissing sound? On French TV, it doesnt' exist. We don't get hissing because of the AM sound, somehow.)

Because of those technical considerations, devices sold in France were converted to RGB, to SECAM A/V for older ones, and RF was dropped out very fast.
By the mid 90's most TV were multistandards anyway so new generation consoles (SNES, Megadrive II and all later systems) were PAL. (yes, on the French NES, there is no composite output, and neither there is on the Frnech Master System and Megadrive I. The composite chips were totally removed, so if you had a SCART color TV BUT it was one of those rare that didn't had RGB, then you only had a dark screen.)

[Off-Topic / Re: Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

I collect old electronics in general.
I have an even older TV, but the reparations on that model are a little over my abilities at the moment and the video standard it use was phased out in 1981 so recreating it is tricky.

Color TV started to outsold black and white TV in the mid 80's.
That mean that even if most of the systems released up to the mid 80's were color, most people enjoyed them in black and white (or green and white for old computers).
People that imported system from the US and plugged them on European TV would fidn out that almost none of them supported NTSC prior to the 90's so even on color TVs most people played in black and white too.
Black and white is part of video gaming and of television history.

Plus damn it's a cool looking TV. 

[Off-Topic / Philips TF 2403 - old consoles need old TVs]

I had been looking for one of those in a long time. Vintage, black and white, simple and plain TV from the 60's and 70's.
Sadly here, they are getting rare, since no video apparel was sold with RF out since... 1995, including VCR. So since the switchover to digital, they are getting rare.

But I managed to find one, and it's in excellent shape for it's age (44 years old according to the seller, a nice ederly couple) 

(now with no more Photobucket of sh*t and with clickable links)

/mini_149286IMG20170705161946.png


/mini_502259IMG20170705162004.png


Everything is under control... and locked.


/mini_911807IMG20170705162017.png




/mini_569174IMG20170705162024.png

I rarely have seen such a plain TV back. There isn't even any Philips logo or name on it.
Interestingly, the TV feature an audio out for tape recorders and one for "auditive help".

/mini_579980IMG20170705162158.png


/mini_899268IMG20170705162203.png


/mini_352275IMG20170705162209.png

Back in those days when EVERY part of your TV was made locally.


/mini_233234IMG20170705162212.png

A tubes TV.

/mini_426373IMG20170705162231.png



/mini_974025IMG20170705162831.png



/mini_354601IMG20170705163509.png

A convenient "map" of the TV, and even more conveniently printed in French.

/mini_389441IMG20170705171017.png



I have yet to try the PC-Engine on it. There might be a chance that the TV takes 60 htz kindly. 

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Not exactly today, but quite recently, still trying to convert games to sound wave format...

https://atariage.com/forums/gallery/image/20050-elektronika-bk-et-alim/

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: RGB Mod in interface unit]

That would be the plan...

Is the pinout different from the Japanese unit? I'm assuming they're the same as I read that they were imported and modified before being sold...

They are different, (if you're talking about the French PC-Engine) because for correct SCART cabling, you need 8 pins ( RGB, Sync, Left channel, Right Channel, Ground, 5V or 12V) and the original DIN on the PC-Engine have 5.

And for SCART TVs, most TV switch in RGB mode only if a 3V signal is applied to a pin, so unless you're using a RGB monitor, or have a TV with selectable RGb display, you'll need to add this voltage, and here, a 5 pins DIN cable isn't enough for this, 7 pins is the bare minimum, if you use the shielding to provide ground; but if you replace the DIN socket, you can go right for a 8 pins one...
Of course, considering that you wanna keep stereo; if you go for mono, you can drop to 7 pins without shielding use or even 6 pins... Which is what you have on the Neo Geo, Master System and Megadrive.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: RGB Mod in interface unit]

Here is a tutorial on french.  Probably don't want use their pinout though
http://www.obsolete-tears.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7231

The pinout used here is from the French imported of PC-Engine in the 90's.
If I can suggest something else, for a ready-made cable, would be to use a Neo Geo CD cable; just isntall a female DIN socket on the IFU, and connect the video on it; and you pick up stereo sound from the original RCA jacks. Of course if you're thinking about makign your own RGB cable for RGB monitors then anything goes.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: IFU-30A - RGB Mod quality limited?]

Most RGB mods usually use the composite signal as the sync source - it's how SCART works.
However, this can cause interferences. The only way to prevent this is to use a LM1881 chip that pick up the sync signal from the composite signal and restiture a clean sync signal that should remove any interferences.

If you can have access on how the RGB mod was done on your console it could be interesting to know how it was made. It's possible that the RGB mod into your console pick up the sync signal before it get mixed with the video signal, ensuring the best quality possible. It's something that cannot be done on the IFU30 because the pure sync signal isn't present on the rear connector of the PC-Engine (unless I'm wrong). The limitation here isn't in the IFU-30 but into the signal provided to it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: RGB SCART VS Component]

I use that one at home. Pretty handy and solid.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Am I the only one who did NOT know this??]

I didn't know that.

Still, even if it explain it one bit, it's a national anthem, not any folk song.
You'd expect NOA to have identified it and asked Nintendo to remove it... but it apparently slipped through :p
For lots of people even.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Am I the only one who did NOT know this??]

One that always amuse me, especially since it's Nintendo (boo I know, but.. this is too funny) and that Nintendo always tried to avoid any political stuff into their game.

What has been heard...

[Off-Topic / Re: That TV Series your watching]

Watched "Trapped" today.
It's an Icelandic series.
Pretty well done, a bit over the top in term of shit going on, but the characters are perfect. Not superheroes or druken badass former Marine shit. Normal guys getting caught in shit, and trapped in their small town by a snow storm.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: RGB, Component, Composite Comparison]

RGB tends to be richer and more vibrant and this leads to less of a bright picture (more of a "strong" image) overall for consoles with enough color and detail.

But I did also think that it might just be the captured video and just came hear to suggest as much.

And I realized that I mean to say the opposite 
Yep, that's what I have seen from the rare times I bothered using the composite of some consoles. I can't tell anything about the Sega systems : French SMS have no composite out, the Megadrive I doesn't have composite out either, only RGB.
I tried on the SNES once, and it was so blurry I stopped that immediately.
But yeah, I mixed up, RGB is always darker; what I mean it that the recording might have been optimized for composite, so the luminosity level was not properly set up for RGB recording.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: RGB, Component, Composite Comparison]

RGB is always brighter than composite, so maybe it's jsut that you're too used to composite. Plus the videos might be too bright on a youtube video but would appear better on a CRT.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Playing audio CD in Duo while playing Huey game]

I haven't tested it yet, but apparently, the trick is simple to pull.

You need a multitap, and a controller plugged into port N°3. Press Run on pad 3 during the gameplay demo and it should pause the demo. Press Run on pad N°1 and the game will resume, without BGM.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

As I showed in a pic, I put mines into empty jewel cases. I need to order those game inserts and manuals soon.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Great bunch of games.

Lotsa fun coming.

And I realise I forgot to picture the Famicom and FDS games I received at the same time

What?! I never heard of the fantastically-named "Mega Duck"...I am intrigued.

The Mega Duck appears to be the efforts of a team of two French companies, Creatronic and Videojet, and of one Dutch company, Timlex. (tho, as Creatronic appears to have a very sparse and suspisciously low account of machine mades between the late 70's and early 90's, I suppose that it's just a nameholder for another company. I would think ITMC/Yeno, or Videojet themselves)
It was released around 1993, mostly in France, Germany and the Netherland.
It also found a way to South America where it was sold under the even more hilarious name of COUGAR BOY (as you can see on some of the game carts I have).
All of the games appears to have been programmed by the famous Taiwanese company Sachen.
They are of decent quality. I suppose, if it had received the backing and publicity the Watara Supervision received, it might have been more successful. But it didn't and quickly faded into obscurity.

And the Famicom and FDS games :

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Not bought today, but received today :



And, more in line with here :



Not the console itself, but everything else.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Question about the DUO/R/RX's save data cap]

So the memory is backed up with a super capa? How long can it last?

I know of a PC-Engine Duo that was left stored for at least 3 months (from August to mid-November) and when I powered it on, I saw saves insides. It seems a very long time for a capacitor to hold saves....

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Yes, this thing, and you are correct, the Tennokoe card doesn't work like a memory card, you can only save and copy memory banks from the Duo and to the Duo to it.
It's then preferable to fill your memory banks as much as possible, as you won't be able to transfert individual saves files between memory banks.
If you fear save erasing, you'll have backups at least.

Also keep in mind that this thing is for Japanese consoles, so if you have a US Duo, you'll need the card adapter.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

I'd say, acquire a Ten No Koe ROMRAM card to manage your saves. They are like memory cards, but more crude. They don't tell you what space you have left, and can't even manage individual files, but you can save the whole Duo Memory in one bank out of 4 and so, free space on your Duo for more games. Just be careful and remember in which Tennokoe bank you saved what.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

I'm trying to figure where the last 4% in Dracula is left. I have been 96% for a while. Nearly played through all again but I love playing the game.
Also I have been playing with Beyond Shadowgate. Thanks Bernie.

Still banging away at Gate of Thunder but I'm not good at it. I think I might have a better chance if I had a friend over passing it back and fourth.

Have you found Maria and played to the end with her?
I'm at 96% too, but I haven't beat Dracula with Belmont yet, so I assume the remaining 4% are for the "other" ending.

As for me, I started playing Dynastic Warrior. If only more J RPG were this way, I could play mroe of them.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tennokoe Bank question]

He mentionned a Duo-R, so I supose unless he own a PC Engine aside, he won't have any use for a Tennokoe II.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Received!


With the previous batch, just in case :p

Well now on getting case covers and manuals 

Thanks you all for this epic and awesome gifting!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How did the seller test this controller?]

I was talking about gamepad connections, not general audio connections. Else indeed, it was all over the place before it was replaced by those crappy RCA mess.
On console it was widely used for A/V out as well.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Or, I'm used to international shipping being delayed. But the location name amused me

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Dunno what's going on, my discs seems stuck in Jamaica 



- December 3, 2015 , 8:33 am - Arrived at USPS Facility - JAMAICA, NY 11430

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How did the seller test this controller?]

I would guess so. PC-Engine pads have a Mini-Din plug that have less grip than DIN plugs.

Thinking about it, only the TG-16 used DIN for controller connection I think... Maybe on some computer from the Soviet Union or Eastern block, but I bet even them used DB-9 style plugs, or Kempton interfaces for ZX Spectrum clones.
And some Videopac models used DIN too. So as well French Thomson computers that used the Videopac controllers.

But that gotta be about it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: How did the seller test this controller?]

They look like any 8 pins DIN plugs you can buy everywhere online, to me...
You just gotta be aware that there are U and C shaped pin design :

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: RIP my beloved Supergrafx]

This doesn't make me wanting to get a Supergrafx. I don't have the habit of slamming my systems down, and I have a Colecovision and a Bally Astrocade - I know what a flaky system is - but this doesn't feel like it's so worth the cost and pain

Good luck for fixing your system anyway!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

True. Just look at the amount of peeps I rounded up for my Dracula X contest. I could only round up a few people that were willing to complete the game (which isn't that hard). *sigh* You guys are killing me! 

I would have competed, but I received the game only last week, so that made me out of it by your own terms

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Such an amazing community effort.  I wonder if it'll Crash the Collectard pricing on the real games?

Unlikely.
We're talking about what? 30, 40 copies given? I'm not sure that even 300 copies given for free would be enoguh for the market. First because it's a bit larger than that, and second, as mentionned, people prefer the real stuff.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tennokoe Bank question]

From what I grasped on SRAM, they can retain save UP TO 30 seconds. Which means that you could have 30 seconds to solder our battery... Or if your banks and block full, everything vanishes in the half a second after you disconnect the battery.

What you can do is to solder a temporary battery (with wires)on the power feed, if the battery tabs allow for it. so you have time to fiddle around.

But, question. If you don't want to lose your saves is because your Tennokoe bank retain saves? Or does it keep them, but for a short period?
If your Tennokoe bank retain save saves for more than one day, then you don't need to change the battery.
Sadly, there is no predictable way to know when the batteries are going to run out.

If it doesn't retain saves, then you probably only have your Tennokoe 2 or CD-ROM2 attachment/Duo saves left. So why do you need to keep your Tennokoe card powered? Leave your CD-ROM2 system on and take time to swap your battery.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Money on the way!
Bernie, be sure to warn me if my payment is too low for International shipping. I added more, but you'll never know what might make the bucket tip.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community! Round 2 Go!]

Bam! I'm in for that second batch!

Actually some games I think will be gifted to the retrogaming club I'm part of, this will please them as much as it please me...

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

And the PSIO is conceived it Australia - it's not like the Everdrive carts from Ukraine, or the 320XL Ram board from Hungaria... And those sites actually have very well written explanations and how-to's... 

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

I pre-ordered the PSIO yesterday.. it's already out of stock as of now 

It basically emulate a CD-ROM, from SD card data, and stream that data from the PS1 Parallel port.
No more worn out laser lens!

That's cool, so it's a soft mod?  I must get one!

Actually the FAQ is a bit confusing. The PSIO plug at the back of the parallel port, but it seems that it require also an hardware mod for the console to boot from the parallel port.

You have this question in the FAQ :

Are there any modifications required for PSIO to work?
Yes. An internal modification is required. The modification is a small printed circuit board (PCB) with a logic gate array based integrated circuit (IC) that detects whether a PSIO cartridge is plugged in or not.

This seems to be simple - it says that you need the hardware mod.

But you also have this one :

Can I boot my original PlayStation format CD-ROM's like normal when PSIO is plugged in?
Yes, so long as the Switch Board has been installed (see below), there is an option in the Menu System to boot from the CD-ROM drive directly.
Otherwise, you may unplug PSIO to return your PlayStation back to regular operation.

So this question seems to suggest that the PSIO would boot even without the mod.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

I pre-ordered the PSIO yesterday.. it's already out of stock as of now 

It basically emulate a CD-ROM, from SD card data, and stream that data from the PS1 Parallel port.
No more worn out laser lens!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Manuals and cases for Turbob Xpress]

If that's suposed to simulate what a US version of Dracula X would look like then you need to make the logos waaaaaaay bigger. You need that dumb "Duo" thing hogging up the bottom 1/4. The dumb little pictures of CDs in vertical stripes eating up another 1/4. Basically, if you can see the original cover art without a magnifying glass you aren't doing in TTI style. The TG-16 logo could be increased in size by at least %50.

Btw, why has the character art on the back insert been replaced with stuff from four years after the game came out? And where is the RSS logo?

That's the problem I have with those...
The quality looks retail-level, but that TT-16 detail is butt-ugly, especially that DUO stuff.
But heh, it's not complaining about the quality of the work, it's about the style. I'd way prefer a Japanese-styled box art, or at least a neutral one.
The Castlevania one is pretty much nice in that regard.

[General Gaming / Re: Snes cd add on]

Are those carts the same than for the Satellaview? or a different thing? I never heard of them if they are a different thing, tho it's not exactly surprising.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo Everdrive 2 as a Super System Card]

The Duo consoles doesn't need any System card for CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² games. It need an Arcade Duo card for Arcade games, but those aren't the most common so you don't need to hunt one right now to enjoy your console.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community!]

Thanks you very much, this is über cool 

[Off-Topic / Re: Paris]

http://www.thelocal.fr/20151120/paris-attackers-refugees-migrants

This doesn't change the fact that the Syrian refugees aren't responsible of Daesh using those event to send terrorists in.
There was no refugee crisis in January when the Charlie-Hebdo attack happened.
Multiple suspiscious people from Syria and Turkey have been arrested before and during the refugee crisis with forged passports, most of them of shocking good quality.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Controllers, Favorites?]

Heh, I saw the other pic too.  What's its story?

No idea. I picked it from Google, and saw it had been modded, and I replaced it. I didn't wanted to suggest I used some kind of cordless stuff.
So I have no idea of what was going on with

[General Gaming / Re: Fallout 4]

I'm waiting for it.
I was very excited when it was announced, and was about to pre-order it on Steam, and... okay. 65€ asked. for a DIGITAL copy.
So meh, if I'm to play 65E for it, you give me physical stuff, or I'll wait in like one month it will be solded for like 20€.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Controllers, Favorites?]

So far my favorite PC-Engine pad is the standard Coregrafx1 two buttons pads.



I have an Avenue 6 pad, but it feels a bit too bulky and I don't know of any game using it aside from SFII.
I will try to get an Avenue 3 pad too but again, I don't know if so many games make use of it.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB: Turbo Duo (US console) with recaps, laser repair and Scart]

It has been investigated by game translators, and the most likely reason is that Japan, like most country in the world, have English classes. So Japanese, even in the 80's, knew to read some English words.
English words were used simply because of space.
English words can be written using 26 characters. If you only use menus options, chances are you can use only one simple font and all in uppercase, so you really need only 26 characters.

On the other hand, while Japanese English classes teach them lors of word lists and grammar rules, they are very poor at teaching them how to actually construct and understand english sentences. (a point that is very proven by the broken translations of so many games on the NES era) So a game written in english would be unreadable to them.
On the other hand, Japanese kanjis and hiraganas (to my understanding, they are two different writing systems) convey so much nuances that what would be a generic phrasing in English, with the change of only two kanjis in a sentance, tells you about the sex, rank, role of the character talking... and this, even if you don't actually SEE the character on screen; Japanese dialog are much richer and convey more information than English. It's one reason why so many Japanese games included text - What for us feels like sone generic sentences between the good and the bad actually carry much more for them.

So in short, English is used to save space, but Japanese is used to better convey the story.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbob Xpress: Bringing affordable "gamer's" games to the community!]

Bonk 3 CD is also US only.

Explains why I never saw it then. Thanks!