CD32 pr0n! I got the goods!

[alexh]

zyphoid wrote:
the rare disk drive module for cd32

Rare? You can still buy them brand new on ebay for £35 (~$51)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400013241923

StevenJGore wrote:
You've managed to connect the sx32 and the fmv card at the same time?

Not possible. And why would you want to? The FMV card is practically useless in todays day and age. You'd watch the movie on Cannon Fodder once and then take it out and put it back in the attic :-)

The SX32 Pro however is another beast. Hmmmm SX32 Pro droool....

[alexh]

Or you could just use a £3.99 DVD player from ASDA

Watching VCD movies is not a reason to want a cd32 FMV cartridge.

[alexh]

GIVEn Commodore's poor marketing sPIN. It still would not have sold great NUMBERs :-(

[alexh]

redrumloa wrote:
Wow, that's pretty negative.

Yeah, but it is hard to be positive because the FMV card is not a good product, especially today. Perhaps if more games developers had used it, but you cannot blame them as it was soooo expensive.

redrumloa wrote:
This FMV card is cool as hell and there are tons of VCD movies out there

Which play perfectly good, perhaps even better *, on any $10 DVD player out there.

I think there are only two CD32 discs which use the FMV. Cannon Fodder & CD32 Demo CD2. There may be one or two more but I'm not sure. Hardly reason to buy one?

The CD32 is cool I use mine all the time, especially with WHDload CD's. The SX32 pro is MEGA cool, brings true power to the Amiga with the smallest form factor. Amazing for use in the living room under the TV.

*Some cd32 FMV cartridges are lacking a firmware update that allows them to play some VCD discs. It's just an EPROM  and the data (v40.30) is available on the net so if it turned out you had an earlier one you could in theory update.

[alexh]

Yeah? Works fine here on the 3 PAL DVD players I've owned. Including the trickier discs which have no ISO9660 layer (i.e. appear to have no files on them). Compatibility probably varies from player to player. It might not be the norm after all.

The CD32 + FMV problem playing back certain CDi VCD titles is well published (as are the upgrade details).

But the subject is pretty much academic because if you really wanted to watch a particular movie you'd watch the DVD. Wouldn't you? ;-)

[alexh]

Not at all. (Although I would probably weigh up the pro's and con's of the extra expense of an SX32 Pro over an A1230)

IMO buying and using an Amiga is all about what I call the "Amiga Experience". I dont feel the FMV cartridge improves the CD32 experience very much (if at all). Certainly not for what they cost.

I don't see watching VCD movies (using cd32+fmv) as part of the Amiga experience in any way but that is just me. But I might not be the norm. Some people really like putting square pegs in round holes.

WinUAE is good in the right place. But it certainly doesn't replace even an A500 in terms of the Amiga Experience on a TV (Yet). Compatiblity in certain games and especially demos can be a problem (but getting better). Scrolling, still hiccups from time to time and when used on a TV you get interlaced artifacts / aliasing not present on a real Amiga unless you have a progressive TV.

That said I have used it to play "Genetic Species" and AB3D2 Killing Grounds. Amiga game's I otherwise would not have been able to or enjoyed playing. (Not that either are inspirational Amiga titles.)

[alexh]

StevenJGore wrote:
Today, yes, I could just watch the VCD discs on my DVD player, or even watch the DVD version on my DVD player (heck, even the blu-ray version now!)

And I would recommend that you do so. It would enhance the FILM experience. I cannot see why you'd want to put yourself through watching/listening to the same film but in inferior quality... For the charm? Perhaps I am too clinical but charm doesn't do anything for me.

StevenJGore wrote:
then I could just play Crysis, Fallout 3, Bioshock, etc. on my PC and not bother with AB3D, Gloom, Breathless, Genetic Species, Nemac IV, Amiga Doom, Amiga Quake, etc.

From a gaming point of view yes. Playing Amiga Doom and Amiga Quake is IMO pointless if you have a PC and can run GL versions. The gameplay is more fun because it's slicker and the visuals are greatly enhanced. Same goes for most Amiga arcade conversions.

StevenJGore wrote:
And why would I want to run an FMV card and SX32 pro at the same time? Just to see if it's possible, and for the fun of it!

Square peg, round hole. I know that several (all?) Amiga hardware users like this. Never quite understood why.

StevenJGore wrote:
The same reason I added an internal CD-RW/DVD combo drive, internal picoPSU, homemade audio mixer, 8GB CF card, and 80Mhz 68060 to my A1200. :-)

With the exception of the optical drive & mixer I think they are good choices which enhance the Amiga experience.

Was the CD-RW/DVD combo for CD32 games? If so then that is pretty cool too, but you can play most using WHDload. Still nice for games with CDDA.

[alexh]

Why bother with a CD32? Because of it's form factor.

If you follow the thread you'll see I did say previously that the way my brain works, I'd have to think long and hard about spending a ton of money on an "SX32 Pro" rather than a relatively cheap A1230!

[alexh]

Lorraine wrote:
You can set up games on WHDLoad without the need for fast ram and then create a menu-selectable CD.

A large number yes, but an equally large number don't work well. 2Mbyte chip RAM is not enough especially as the CD driver & buffers eat some of it.

Lorraine wrote:
So logically why the big deal with SX32?

o 8Meg RAM enables all(?) WHDload titles to work.
o RGB SCART out.
o IDE

If more WHDload games had worked well on an unexpanded CD32 or if there had there been a cheap 4Mbyte (or even 2Mbyte) RAM expansion for the CD32 I would have not even entertained the thought of an SX32.

I finally got my SX32 MK1 for £55 this year, nice bit of kit, fairly reasonable price.

It's the SX32 PRO with the 030 CPU which is expensive.

[alexh]

One of these??