From: Stephen Jonke <jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Sega CD and TurboDuo (was: Sega CD Delay)
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A727EE736A015C5D@joe.gsfc.nasa.gov>
X-Xxdate: Thu, 12 Nov 92 16:20:19 GMT
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d12
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 16:20:23 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.211934.28713@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> hasit mehta,
hm002b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu writes:
>Does anyone have any opinion as to which system is better? The Genesis
>CD-ROM or the new Turbo Duo? Could someone please post (or E-mail me) some
>specs on the Turbo Duo. I have am on a Genesis CD-ROM waiting list and it
>will cost me 300 bucks to get the Genesis CD-ROM player. I heard that the
>Turbo Duo can also be had for around 300 bucks. Is it a superior product?
>How much support will the Turbo Duo have? Does the Turbo-Duo support more
>than 64 colours on the screen at once?

The Duo can display 256 colors from a palette of 4096 (I know the on screen
colors are right, but somebody please verify the palette size which I'm not
absolutely sure about.)  The Genesis and Duo have roughly the same pixel
resolution.  The Sega CD has more RAM (Sega 768K, Duo 256K) so that fewer CD
accesses are needed (data is loaded into the RAM from the CD as needed, thus
games can be much larger then these RAM sizes, it's just that only these
amounts can be loaded at one time).  Sega CD has scaling and rotating
hardware.  Sega CD has a second microprocesser, the purpose of which is much
speculated about, but is completely unknown -- Sega doesn't say.  Duo has
existing CD titles and a strong Japanese market as a backbone (Sega CD has not
done all that well in Japan.)  Sega CD has a motorized tray, Duo is a manual
system with a cover that pops up (like a portable CD player.)  TTI has
announced a Duo to Mac/PC adaptor to be released next year.  Duo provides
stereo audio/video cable, but you can't use an RF cable even if you want to
(apparently an adaptor will be available in the future.)  Not sure if Sega CD
includes a stereo audio cable or not (presumably it uses the video out from
the Genesis, but the CD unit has stereo outputs.)  The Duo is smaller and
thinner, especially since you need both the base and the CD unit for the Sega
CD system.  Both systems look cool (well, coolness does count somewhat!)  Duo
offers optional adaptor for up to five player play.

The Duo has built in memory backup.  The Sega CD offers optional memory cards
that plug into the old cartridge slot -- two disadvantages to this are that it
means cartridge games can't take advantage of the memory (some HuCards do for
the Duo) and obviously it's an extra expense.  An advantage is you could have
as many as you want (at a price), so there is no limit on the memory space. 
The Duo has a limit, but I don't know what it is.  The Duo's memory backup
lasts for about two weeks when unplugged -- you must turn on the system for a
little bit every two weeks even if you don't play it to ensure that the memory
is saved, but it will work virtually forever.  Don't know how the Sega memory
backup cards work, but probably uses a lithium battery that you don't need to
recharge, but does run out of power after x years (personally I'd have
prefered if the Duo had a replacable lithium battery....)

Music quality should be equivalent on both systems, however sound effect
quality may vary -- only the music (usually) is recorded as tracks on the CD,
so the sound effects are generally a mix of normal synthesized stuff and
digitally sampled sounds that are incorporated into the code.  Since data is
loaded in as needed, they can give plenty of space to digitized sound
effects/voice.  Thus the sound effects are still vastly improved over HuCard
and (presumably) cartridge games.  In some unusual cases (Loom), the sound
effects are also recorded as tracks on the CD.

Game prices for Duo CD and SuperCD games range from $39.99 to $53.99 (SuperCD
games do not seem to cost any more then regular CD games, in fact the prices
actually seem a bit lower -- the highest SuperCD game price I've seen is
$49.99) and HuCards anywhere from $9.99 to $53.99 (in my area.)  Many Genesis
cartridges already cost over $60 even over $70, so I'm a bit worried about the
CD game prices -- Sega has said that "some games MAY be cheaper on CD-Rom",
but I'm certain they're refering to rereleases of cartridge games as part of
multi game CDs (where price per game will be cheaper.)  We will see what
transpires, though.

Note that neither system can handle very many colors when displaying full
motion video.  Also, Sherlock Holmes on the Duo has rather jumpy video and the
sound isn't synched well at all (I understand that It Came From the Desert is
much better in both catagories, though -- S.H. was the first game with full
motion video and was not designed explicitely for the Duo, so it may be a
first effort and/or port problem.)  The game is cool in spite of those
problems.  I haven't seen any video on the Sega CD other then the short
glimpses in the commercials they've been broadcasting and obviously you can't
use that for comparison.  Maybe someone with a Mega CD can comment on this?

Steve
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jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov
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Newsgroups: rec.games.video