PC Engine TV

Ralfakick

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Never seen this monitor before, I’ve seen the NES TV before in person, and I know there was a SNES one as well. @Jon Jonny Maximum used to have the LT monitor so I’ve used that before. I don’t believe he has that anymore though.


Later on he talks about a CDI tv too.
 
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pixeljunkie

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I almost bought one of these many years ago. So glad I didn't.
 

terry.330

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I've never understood the appeal of these TV/console units. Especially these days, that's just a whole lot of parts that can go bad and a huge pain in the ass to repair. Plus if the tube goes out it's completely useless. I saw some guy on FB that had like 4 of the SFC ones and I think 3 of them were broken... awesome "collection".

No doubt they were an awesome demo unit in a japanese store back in the day but as a collectable?. Everything about them is limiting.

I also wonder about what kind of video signal these types of units use internally.
 

Ralfakick

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I've never understood the appeal of these TV/console units. Especially these days, that's just a whole lot of parts that can go bad and a huge pain in the ass to repair. Plus if the tube goes out it's completely useless. I saw some guy on FB that had like 4 of the SFC ones and I think 3 of them were broken... awesome "collection".

No doubt they were an awesome demo unit in a japanese store back in the day but as a collectable?. Everything about them is limiting.

I also wonder about what kind of video signal these types of units use internally.
I agree they’ve outlived their usefulness, but at the time what they offered was above quality wise what many if not most were using.

The video also states it’s usefulness for video capturing at the time.
 
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SignOfGoob

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This is not a TV. It’s a computer monitor that for reasons only NEC could understand has a PC Engine built into it. Nobody was supposed to buy this unless they had a PC, likely a matching one from NEC.

A TV has a TV tuner in it.
 
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Dr Shroom

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This is not a TV. It’s a computer monitor that for reasons only NEC could understand has a PC Engine built into it. Nobody was supposed to buy this unless they a PC, likely a matching one from NEC.

A TV has a TV tuner in it.
My X68000 monitor is a monitor but has also a TV tuner built in.
 

wataru330

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I've never understood the appeal of these TV/console units. Especially these days, that's just a whole lot of parts that can go bad and a huge pain in the ass to repair. Plus if the tube goes out it's completely useless. I saw some guy on FB that had like 4 of the SFC ones and I think 3 of them were broken... awesome "collection".

No doubt they were an awesome demo unit in a japanese store back in the day but as a collectable?. Everything about them is limiting.

I also wonder about what kind of video signal these types of units use internally.

RGB.

I don’t have a link or anything, but I remember reading about these on Victor Villano’s pc engine yahoo group back in the day.
 

Heinz

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So what you're saying is that a monitor can be a tv but a tv can be a monitor. Hmm very interesting development.
 

wataru330

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This is not a TV. It’s a computer monitor that for reasons only NEC could understand has a PC Engine built into it. Nobody was supposed to buy this unless they a PC, likely a matching one from NEC.

A TV has a TV tuner in it.

You don’t see where the pc engine gt tv tuner plugs into this beast? 😂
 

Hattori Hanzo

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Analogue tuners are pretty useless now anyway unless you want to play on an unmodded Atari 2600 or 7800. At least here TV is only digital now.
 

Ralfakick

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I used TV in the title to compare it to the Nintendo/ Sharp versions, as in this is the NEC version of that.
 

SignOfGoob

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…I guess. It’s the same shape. It’s more “weird computer hardware” than “home gamer convenience”. ¥138,000 is a lot of money to pay for what is clearly a one player, nerds-only, wanking directly into the screen sort of experience.

“The rest of the Famicomily won’t be invited to whatever is being played on the NEC KD-863G.” - actual ad slogan

To me it reminds me of that one computer that has a Mega Drive in it that is totally separate from the PC in every way making it pointless. I can’t remember what that one is called…
 

Ralfakick

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…I guess. It’s the same shape. It’s more “weird computer hardware” than “home gamer convenience”. ¥138,000 is a lot of money to pay for what is clearly a one player, nerds-only, wanking directly into the screen sort of experience.

“The rest of the Famicomily won’t be invited to whatever is being played on the NEC KD-863G.” - actual ad slogan

To me it reminds me of that one computer that has a Mega Drive in it that is totally separate from the PC in every way making it pointless. I can’t remember what that one is called…
He states in the video it was handy for magazine reviewers at the time to capture images for magazines, so this is probably something more geared to journalists a la PVMs to medical/media companies which weren’t geared to appeal to the masses or nerds to play video games, but big tymers could buy them.
 

SignOfGoob

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It may have been handy for that, excellent for that even, but it wasn’t made for that. If someone designed a PCE screen shot capture machine in the 80s it would have a hood built into it and a lens mount. Monitors made specially for this purpose often had a small Poloroid camera as part of the kit.

This is just a totally normal computer monitor for the time…that has a PCE in it for some reason. That’s NEC for ya…
 
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