It's arrived - The Sega SKC-1000

Yep, that really is a nice machine, certainly looking forward to the next Retro Core!

Also, what was the weather in Tokyo on February 22nd 1998 like? That was four days after my 11th birthday

 

you should at least see if it plays saturn games from the changer.

 

This thing's extremely cool. Useless, but cool.
And how sad is it that just because it has a Sega logo, the CD changer's about a million times more exciting to me than it should be?

 

I totally understand. You can't imagine how much I want that Sega branded amp :dance:

The entire 3-piece system does look totally awesome though. Add a LaserActive and NeoGeo in there and that'd probably be my ultimate 90's Japanese gaming/entertainment set-up.

 

I'll take it...

But I'm in the "you should keep it" camp, from a completest point of view. If you ever wanted to get another CD changer to make it complete... could you? There isn't any way you could throw it in a box and put it in a closet or something? Shame for you to break it up... that's all.

 

I didn't see it mentioned yet but does it play retail Saturn software? I'm assuming it has yet to be tested in that regard as of this moment.

 

Load that awesome changer up with Urusei Yatsura Complete Music Box and Maison Ikkoku Complete Music box?

 

Many questions. First to HCK, if you want the CD changer mate I'll sell it to you. Shipping from Yamaguch to Tokyo via Sagawa or Kuruneko should only be about 1500 yen. If I wanted another I could always get one. I've seen the CD changer sold on it's own a few times.

@APE, yes it does play retail Saturn games. I was giving Shining Force 3 a test drive on it yesterday.

@dragonhead, from what I can tell the main unit doesn't play anything at all from the CD Changer. What happens is that the system will load data from the CDs in the changer on to the main system's hard drive. From there the harddrive plays back the music, information and whatever. I took a look inside the main system to see how big the Harddrive is but it doesn't actually say on it. The HD is a Seagate laptop harddrive.

@Lum, hmm I do own both of those CD sets :thumbsup: but I doubt they'll run in this system. There doesn't seem to be any normal CD player controls at all unless you use the Saturn's front ened player but even then you can only use one disc because you will need to use the single CD drive.

If the wife goes out today I'll make the Retri Core video but if she doesn't it may need to wait a day or two.

Yakumo

 

Maybe there is a way to disconnect the CD drive on the main unit and jury rig it to use the the changer in its place?

 

x

 

The CD Changer has a 15 pin RGB out on it. That can be connected to a monitor or in to the SKC-1000 which then outputs to a TV via composite or S-Video. This is why I said I've not tested any Saturn through RGB. It doesn't seem like you can.

I had the unit open yesterday but you can't see the Saturn board beacuse it's below a shit load of other stuff. Actually, you can access the Saturn's power board but that is it. You can't even change the battery on the Saturn's mother board without having to remove all the boards on top of it. This really is one packed bit of hardware.

Yakumo

 

I've been wondering about the hardware inside this thing - Whether it is a karaoke system running on Saturn hardware, or a karaoke system with a parallel auxiliary Saturn hardware.

I noticed on your Retr0core, that the video was flickering (the whites/bright colors). Was that from the output of the machine or a capture problem or YT or...?

EDIT: or it could be my setup's problem, too. I noticed (check 2:00ish on part 2) that it flickers pretty bad when fullscreened (at 480) but when small it looks fine. Hmm.

 

It's because the system is running in the same high resolution that the Saturn can run in. Also the 3D logo used on the boot screen of the Karaoke section is very Saturn like. I do think that the Saturn hardware is providing all of the visuals on this thing.

 

im very interested in how this thing works
i wonder if it utilizes the expansion port thats usually for the mpeg card
to connect to the karaoke bits

im also interested in what bios version the Saturn bit has

 

The Saturn Bios is the first gen Japanese bios. Nothing sepecial at all I'll open it up again tomorrow and take a few pictures. I'm not taking it apart though to get at the below boards.

Yakumo

 

ah i see then the saturn is literately nothing special
nope not asking for a tear down
i was just stating my curiosity and what ide love to know

is this device rearer then the sega computer that plays megadrive carts?

 

ASSEMbler is right. I've known about the system for only a few months which is why I asked if it could play Saturn games. I'd say that pretty much most people in the west don't know much if anything about this hardware to be honest.

By the way, I did a feature on this hardware as part of my Retro Core show -

Official Site (Go to Retro Core S Vol:18) - http://www.segagagadomain.com/RetroCorepage-main.htm

You Tube Upload in two parts - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBdjZu35sUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwDCIUoy1IM

The official site has a 1080p version for download.

Yakumo

 

well Yakumo said hes seen the cd changer a few times before it was a reasonable question

that and in japan karaoke is rather popular so who knows how many karaoke parlors had this thing then again knowing sega the cd changer alone was 400 back in the day -.-'

 

Probably a storage unit worth of em out there somewhere knowing how popular Sega hardware was for Karaoke.