19th April 2011, 1:02 AM
I found out how to get into the hidden service menu on my TV, but unfortunately there is no option to turn off the automatic "de-interlacing" it does. That's a shame. Modern sets actually could work very well with old stuff if they'd only do a few minimum changes to accommodate power users and retro gamers. It'd all be done in the firmware and, possibly, with some speedups of the signal processing (perhaps the older inputs could bypass any processing whatsoever and simply go straight to the screen).
That's the sort of thing that could be interesting, custom firmware for TV sets. They all have USB slots in them these days, it's probably feasible.
I'll have the chipped disk resolved one way or another pretty soon, so it's okay. I think it may be due to damage during shipping. Those big jewel cases, as I've mentioned, have too much room inside for disks to fly around. I may request that those games in particular, in the future, have the disks individually wrapped for protection instead of simply being shipped in the case as-is, as well as making sure the package is marked "fragile". There's easily enough room within the case for a layer of bubble wrap (well, except for Panzer Dragoon Saga, but that's a tight enough fit that I don't think it's an issue there). Incidentally, I see you mentioned Nights in the "small jewel case" up there. I don't think there's a "big jewel case" version of that game, since it came in a box with the "3D controller". That's what I got. That 3D controller is really nice. Honestly the 3D controller on the Saturn is superior to the Dreamcast one in pretty much every way. There's more buttons, the analog triggers (yes, the triggers are actually analog) feel a bit better, the d-pad is much nicer (based as it is on the Genesis d-pad), and the analog stick is simply vastly superior. There's even a slot where the cord detaches which, I imagine, could also double as an accessory port for, say, a VMU screen. It's a shame the Saturn did so badly... In America. In Japan, it actually did very well, becoming Sega's most successful system. That's probably because of Segata Sanshiro.
That's the sort of thing that could be interesting, custom firmware for TV sets. They all have USB slots in them these days, it's probably feasible.
I'll have the chipped disk resolved one way or another pretty soon, so it's okay. I think it may be due to damage during shipping. Those big jewel cases, as I've mentioned, have too much room inside for disks to fly around. I may request that those games in particular, in the future, have the disks individually wrapped for protection instead of simply being shipped in the case as-is, as well as making sure the package is marked "fragile". There's easily enough room within the case for a layer of bubble wrap (well, except for Panzer Dragoon Saga, but that's a tight enough fit that I don't think it's an issue there). Incidentally, I see you mentioned Nights in the "small jewel case" up there. I don't think there's a "big jewel case" version of that game, since it came in a box with the "3D controller". That's what I got. That 3D controller is really nice. Honestly the 3D controller on the Saturn is superior to the Dreamcast one in pretty much every way. There's more buttons, the analog triggers (yes, the triggers are actually analog) feel a bit better, the d-pad is much nicer (based as it is on the Genesis d-pad), and the analog stick is simply vastly superior. There's even a slot where the cord detaches which, I imagine, could also double as an accessory port for, say, a VMU screen. It's a shame the Saturn did so badly... In America. In Japan, it actually did very well, becoming Sega's most successful system. That's probably because of Segata Sanshiro.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)