I found this looking up Jaguar things http://www.amazon.com/Amiga-CD32-~-...R3UG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324262935&sr=8-1 Pricy yes but it is quite rare if I recall.
Indeed, looking at the schmatics it is not too hard to convert a PAL machine to output NTSC and output a 60Hz default display (as well as output NTSC-50).
Maybe. I'd rather people get over the misconception that just because of our location, we want NTSC. Heh I still don't have that PAL Megadrive I've been seeking in my hands. The one I ordered disappeared in the mail.
I got mine for 170$ boxed and complete. It's not rare actually. A year ago there were a couple of Chinese sellers who sold them for 80$ new - there was a container found of them, so each seller had more than 50 units in the auction pages. After it all ended the prices grew up a lot, but thats nonsense. This system doesnt cost that much. And what the problem of buying a pal machine? There always a couple of units on ebay.co.uk. In the cd32 case pal maybe better because there are only pal games on the market. As I now there were no ntsc games ever released. There is no regional protection, but some games will have issues working on ntsc machines. BUT! You dont have to convert anything - the system can be changed to pal signal from its bios (you need to hold both buttons on mouse, inserted in the second controller port while the system is loading to access its bios. or you can hold down some buttons on genesis controller plugged in. just google it - there's plenty info about it.) But for any other (especially cartridge based system) pal is much worse. Lum, what's the point of having pal megadrive? Just like nes, it's slower. 60hz/50hz - there is a visible difference in the speed of the games. I live in Russia and it's a pal country, but everyone here wants ntsc.
The only issue with the CD32 with trying to run PAL games in NTSC mode is that quite a few are full screen so running in NTSC does cut off 56 lines of the picture.
Actually, there are a bunch of games that won't run at all in NTSC... usually they just crash or lock up when you go to start a game (Dragonstone does this), while others have severe graphical problems that make the game unplayable (Disposable Hero and Super Skidmarks). These games all work fine if you switch into PAL mode with a mouse... but if you're going to switch into PAL mode for everything, you might as well just get a PAL system, right? For anyone who was thinking of buying a CD32, keep in mind that if you switch the video mode from the boot menu, it only acts as a 50/60Hz switch... the colour signal will not change! I ran into this problem when I first bought a PAL system thinking it would work fine on my Commodore 1084S monitor... but it would only display in black and white because the monitor couldn't handle a PAL colour signal. --Zero
Again you can modify the CD32 to output a NTSC signal from a PAL Console, in both 60Hz and 50hz, it does require a few component changes but someone with basic electronics experience and good soldering skills should be able to do it within an hour.
No thanks. I'll have to find out the hard way. Until I witness PAL gaming on a real legit PAL console (as opposed to emulators or modded NTSC ones) first hand, it's going to hold a certain air of mystique for me. I couldn't try that one SMS2 since it was RF only.
Unless you get a CRT TV that can display a proper PAL signal then surely you will be missing something anyway? Although PAL and NTSC are very simular although PAL has colour correction so the green tint control is unheard of.
True. I doubt I'd ever try asking for that. Almost impossible to avoid colossal shipping, or get the request laughed off as some kind of joke, if not both.
I'm pretty sure my PVM accepts PAL video signals. SECAM too. Not that I'm really interested in the CD32. Anyway, that's one route you could take.
I used to have an LCD that took PAL over composite. But that died. It was a tunerless model. No RF input at all, none, not even NTSC. Very unusual for its large screen size... Haven't yet checked the compatibility of my replacement set.
i bought a pal cd32 about 6 months ago (i live in the us) and i use an atlona cdm-660 to convert pal to ntsc. easy, no fuss, and no taking the machine apart. if you do get a cd32, be sure to pick up a few competition pro cd32 pads. they blow the stock gamepad away. ive actually built up a pretty respectable amiga collection (53 games and counting). top 5 games ive got: 1 - beneath a steel sky 2 - zool 2 3 - shadow fighter 4 - chuck rock 2 5 - flink edit: also $300 for an ntsc cd32 is outrageous. you can buy a pal unit (which are normally pricier due to larger compatibility) and the cdm-660 for less than that if you look around.
I'm not certain what to think. You can't just impulse buy an ntsc cd32 everyday without being ripped off. Few people offer them for sale at reasonable prices. On the other hand just as few people want them, so any units that do get advertised aren't going to generate much interest unless marked down to prices far lower than what the limited availability would suggest they're worth.
i think, given their general incompatibility, along with their relatively low rarity rating due to recent (as in, within the last few years) abundance in availability, that you shouldnt buy an ntsc cd32 unless its offered at a low price. i'm talking in the$50 range, which was the going rate until very recently. prior to large stock piles being foynd, an ntsc cd32 was extremely rare and could maybe, MAYBE justify a $300 price, but not today. people who sell them on ebay are just looking to pray on the uninformed. hang around amibay, and you can find people looking to unload ntsc consoles for cheap. they're really not that sought after. getting into cd32 gaming involves getting around a lot of barriers. i dont think most are willing to do the research or put in the money needed to make playing on a cd32 worthwhile. you really do need the competion pro controllers, and the good games go for anywhere between $40-$70 after shipping from the uk. when you do wind up with a sweet, full setup, its actually adecent console. but i suspect many people who impulse buy will be turned off by the prices involved. cheap games tend to be shitty games, like oscar or dangerous streets. edit: and thats not even getting into specific quirks about amiga gaming in general. suffice to say you need to temper your expectations. if you go in expecting, for example, full screen gaming, you're going to be disappointed. the vast majority of games run in small windowx that are maybe 70% of the total screen, normally in the upper right corner of the screen. and dont expect to use every button on that gamepad - you'll be lucky to get 2 buttons at the most. the good games on the cd32 thatwerent quick and dirty ports will normally run closer to full screen, and will spare you the "joy" of pressing up to jump, but those sorts of games are rarer. if you do get a cd32 (or amiga in general) it is very wise to track down an amiga gravis gamepad, which has up mapped to a button, especially if you've cut your teeth on mainstream consoles. oh and i hope you dont demand music in every game. or sound effects. or both. some games will give you the choice of one or the other, but not many will let you have both. if you go in with an open mind and can get passed these flaws, cd32 gaming isn't terrible. but dont let that 32-bit claim fool you, you're getting something much closer to the sega genesis than a sega saturn (and in 9 out of 10 cases, if a game is released on both the genesis and cd32, the genesis version is better). that said, the few games which are really worth playing exhibit none of these flaws, but as i noted, you will have to pay a bit for those games. every game i listed above, for example, is free of these flaws, but then again i paid $70 for a bigbox version of flink alone. just an honest assessment of the cd32. not trying to talk anyone out of it, im actually a big fan of it. but i dont like seeing people spend money without knowing the full story.
Incompatibility? Interesting to learn about. I was under the impression its only difference was using NTSC color...
