My older brother had an MSX2 HitBit for a while in the 80s; also a beautiful looking member of the MSX family. Wonderful to see your love for these machines, even if the MSX was never really a bit of a hit in the UK. Alas. Would have been great, had it had some more European/US software support but the library is still pretty special.
I only remember seeing the Philips and Toshiba MSX computers being advertised in the U.K. and seeing a physical Philips model in Dixons. Lovely machine to look at.
Philips MSX computers were quite good, but expensive also. And made totally redundant by the Atari ST which wasn't much more expensive then their MSX2 or even cheaper.
Nice video, nice machine! I was shocked by the flimsiness of the data order, not up to usual Sony standards. They do output component video. I bought a cheap Toshiba one with a dead video out chip in it. I couldn't get a replacement so I proved around for the chroma and luma signals with my scope and fed the o/p into a standards converter to get a VGA output. All a good laugh!
Another great msx video mr chinnyvision, thank you. As a commodore 64 kid i rarely got the chance to play many cpc games back in the day but recently bought antstream arcade on my xbox which has a bunch of amstrad games so ive recently had the pleasure to play the cpc version of, heartland. Clearly the best 8 bit version. Also playing who dares wins 2 is equally as fun as the c64 version. So recently been back in 8 bit heaven lol.
Having built-in tape decks seems like a good idea...until it breaks and then you have to send in the whole unit to be repaired instead of just connecting a different cassette player and having the broken one repaired. Same thing goes for similar things like those old TVs that had a VCR built in.
Its probably from the Dutch, Italian or Spanish market, given it does not have an German or French keyboard. My bet would be Dutch. And yes, I love how - especially Sony & Panasonic made many distinct & feature-rich machines (both hw + extra firmware).
Nice machine. Although it's true that the various MSX manufacturers were competing with the most varied looks ever for a series of computers, Sony definitely won that competition with the Hit Bit models and this one although not the fanciest is one of their nice looking iterations. It's interesting how the weight of the machine clearly shows in the video when you manipulate the machine, I almost felt it physically! It seems like you could kill a person with that thing should the situation require it. 😉 Regarding RGB, it depends more on the model of the Texas Instrument chip used for the graphical chipset than on the MSX series number. Some models even output intermediary YPbPr which can be converted to RGB with a relatively simple set of capacitors, diodes and resistors. Thanks for the video Chinny!
You sure that tape mech isn't just a generic Tanashin TN-21, and if so easily replaced? Most of these things are, the CPC had an earlier Tanashin mech; I had a dodgy one that had rusted up through poor storage and transplanted a Morphy Richards shoebox mech into it. ETA looking at the service manual it certainly looks like a TN-21 or something very close!
Japanese MSX games especially the Konami games where so much colourfull and were using the power of the MSX more becaiuse they weren't horrible Speccy ports.
Worst crime with the MSX was that so few good Japanese games would get ported and instead you'd get lazy, slow as fuck quick Spectrum ports made by some Spanish teen over the weekend for 5000 pesetas.
Curious design. Wonder if the 464plus owes something towards it. I always imagined they were a nod towards the Amiga, but this unit has me thinking otherwise.
My older brother had an MSX2 HitBit for a while in the 80s; also a beautiful looking member of the MSX family.
Wonderful to see your love for these machines, even if the MSX was never really a bit of a hit in the UK. Alas. Would have been great, had it had some more European/US software support but the library is still pretty special.
Most uk game companies had low standards back then anyway compared to japan
It's good to see that Mutant Caterpillar brought this back to life. They saved a VIC-20 and BBC Master Compact for me.
I only remember seeing the Philips and Toshiba MSX computers being advertised in the U.K. and seeing a physical Philips model in Dixons. Lovely machine to look at.
Philips MSX computers were quite good, but expensive also. And made totally redundant by the Atari ST which wasn't much more expensive then their MSX2 or even cheaper.
Phillips never sold their MSX computers in the UK
@@JesterEric Maybe Dixons did? They had stores in the Netherlands also
Nice video, nice machine! I was shocked by the flimsiness of the data order, not up to usual Sony standards. They do output component video. I bought a cheap Toshiba one with a dead video out chip in it. I couldn't get a replacement so I proved around for the chroma and luma signals with my scope and fed the o/p into a standards converter to get a VGA output. All a good laugh!
It's a very cheap deck. It's nowhere near as nice as a 464 but iirc is more compact. Would be interesting to compare it to a 464 Plus deck.
Great video. Always nice to see your MSX enthusiasm seeping through the video.
Sony and Panasonic machines were beautiful indeed...
Another great msx video mr chinnyvision, thank you. As a commodore 64 kid i rarely got the chance to play many cpc games back in the day but recently bought antstream arcade on my xbox which has a bunch of amstrad games so ive recently had the pleasure to play the cpc version of, heartland. Clearly the best 8 bit version. Also playing who dares wins 2 is equally as fun as the c64 version. So recently been back in 8 bit heaven lol.
Having built-in tape decks seems like a good idea...until it breaks and then you have to send in the whole unit to be repaired instead of just connecting a different cassette player and having the broken one repaired. Same thing goes for similar things like those old TVs that had a VCR built in.
To be honest as someone with 3 464's, and 3 more +2's, I've never found this to be an issue
@@chinnyvisionHa, well sure if you have two more as backups! LOL.
The Hitbits are pretty :)
Its probably from the Dutch, Italian or Spanish market, given it does not have an German or French keyboard. My bet would be Dutch. And yes, I love how - especially Sony & Panasonic made many distinct & feature-rich machines (both hw + extra firmware).
Nice machine. Although it's true that the various MSX manufacturers were competing with the most varied looks ever for a series of computers, Sony definitely won that competition with the Hit Bit models and this one although not the fanciest is one of their nice looking iterations.
It's interesting how the weight of the machine clearly shows in the video when you manipulate the machine, I almost felt it physically! It seems like you could kill a person with that thing should the situation require it. 😉
Regarding RGB, it depends more on the model of the Texas Instrument chip used for the graphical chipset than on the MSX series number. Some models even output intermediary YPbPr which can be converted to RGB with a relatively simple set of capacitors, diodes and resistors.
Thanks for the video Chinny!
You sure that tape mech isn't just a generic Tanashin TN-21, and if so easily replaced?
Most of these things are, the CPC had an earlier Tanashin mech; I had a dodgy one that had rusted up through poor storage and transplanted a Morphy Richards shoebox mech into it.
ETA looking at the service manual it certainly looks like a TN-21 or something very close!
Ahhh the Hitbits were supposed to be the top end MSX's. Or at least they cost more!
Love the MSX, vey good memories on that system due to Konami’s games. Used a Sony HitBit in middle school. It was a 75p version.
@@theseob me too! We have a Sanyo Mac 100.
Japanese MSX games especially the Konami games where so much colourfull and were using the power of the MSX more becaiuse they weren't horrible Speccy ports.
This model is not easy to find. Amazing machine!
Cool system. I never seen.one in real life
Worst crime with the MSX was that so few good Japanese games would get ported and instead you'd get lazy, slow as fuck quick Spectrum ports made by some Spanish teen over the weekend for 5000 pesetas.
Its almost like a different system in different regions.
Curious design. Wonder if the 464plus owes something towards it. I always imagined they were a nod towards the Amiga, but this unit has me thinking otherwise.
Earlier Japanese home computers like the Sharp MZ 700 had built in tape drives in a similar position