Question about the Dreamcast Karaoke hardware/software

1) It looks to me like the microphones plug in with normal 1/4" jacks.
Is there any game aspect to the software - do you get graded or scored at all in the software? And if so, does the software work solely based off of pitch recognition? If so, could I theoretically plug in my electric guitar and do guitar solos based around the pitch I'm supposed to play?

2) I heard there is a limited selection of songs on the software that comes with it, and that back in the day, you would download new songs off an official sega website (now defunct). Was this actually downloadable content, like, all audio and data associated with the backing track would be completely downloaded to the VMU? Or is it more like, this was simulated, and these songs were probably already on the disc, merely being "unlocked" by downloading some data off the official website? I'm skeptical as to the former, just because audio files are pretty darn large, and the vmu storage space is really really small... but I suppose it could have been done if it was based on a midi type of setup, where the disc contained synthesized instruments and samples, and the data you downloaded from the sega website merely gave instructions for what on-cd data to play when.

What's the deal with this thing

 

OK, it's been years since I used mine but basically the system uses standard microphones. The actual software is the same used by real sega karaoke systems of the time. Yes, it does grade you on pitch levels. There is no music at all on the disc. Everything must be accessed on-line however Sega stopped the Dreamcast service years ago. So now the unit is nothing more than a lump of plastic.

By the way, if you had a BBA you could get the music videos along with the karaoke tracks. People on dial up had to make do with a crappy picture. I had the BBA :thumbsup:

Yakumo

 

Sounds like a project for homebrew developers....

 

Dunno if I'd already posted the link here, but talking about a Homebrew project?
See this: http://cagames.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=841

 

I heard on reddit that this is a wireless controller mod using the karaoke set just as a housing.

(giant picture)
http://img.villagephotos.com/imageview.aspx?i=26980535

 

Anyone interested in trying to reverse engineer one off these? They are quite cheap now adays. I see them quite often in Japan. Id be willing to give one of these to someone that might be able to assist in homerew if they paid to ship the unit.

Are these units hardware region locked, or is it just the software that locks it out from ntsc u and pal units?