I got my Saturn with the decoder still inside the expansion port from my friend. Surprised me cuz I found out about it a few days after I watched this video.
My jaw broke when it hit the desk. Hoooollllyyyy shiiiiittt, that's an absurd difference! It's like... comparing a ~700mb DVDrip to a ~10GB 1080p BluRayrip. Wow. PS - Are there any new Saturn games released, or in development, like the Dreamcast scene has? I can only imagine what Saturn games could be like if modern developers managed to harness the absolute fullest potential of the Saturn hardware, combining VCD decoder, +4MB memory expansion, and using all of the 23 flavors of Dr. Pepper.
I was shocked too. Not that I'm aware of, likely due to the low demand of the Saturn coupled with the difficulty in programming for it. I agree. There was some rumors a while back that Watermelon (Pier Solar guys) were interested in doing something for the Saturn. My guess is that either faded or was bullshit to begin with.
I'd heard stories of how clear the video was on VCD Card-compatible Saturn games but had never seen. Amazing. I didn't realize it would look THIS GOOD. Wow.
I was thinking "Well this must be only slight improvement visible if you stare at it long enough" but when shown video turned to 'yes' I was like "Holy s**t, Adam wasn't exaggerating at all, this is so cool! Too bad SEGA made another stupid decision by not supporting it in all regions!". When I see all this SEGA stuff from the 90's, they were creative, have so many ideas, excellent consoles and whatnot, but extremely stupid management that executed so many stupid decisions.. I believe in capable hands back then, things would be a lot different these days.
that sucker made a big difference in picture quality. Adam thank you for sharing this amazing Saturn secret potential and now I know and "knowing is half the battle".
I got a Saturn a year after it launched at a pawn shop for 50$. I got 3 games with it, Hexen, Virtua Fighter 2 and Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider was actually very good. I didn't get many games after that because not many stores were selling Saturn software in my area. But I did snag a copy of Nights Into Dreams for 5$ at a garage sale shortly after. :) Memories.
1. You don't need a boot CD to play VCD's on Saturn if you have the decoder card (I have the same one you have), all you have to do is install the card and play the disc. There is a tool that I used named "TMPGEnc", it's free for MPEG1 (VCD) encoding, you can encode anything specific for that format and run on the saturn, any encoder with a MPEG1 encoder with a VCD profile works. Before this cards there was boot CD's for PhotoCD (HSS-0121) and for Electronic Books (HSS-0120). 2. The PhotoCD is not any photo burn in a CD, it's a proprietary Kodak PhotoCD format. Photo CD
The video quality. WOW, talk about a difference. One thing I always noticed when it came to native Saturn video resolution versus, say, PSX, was that the PSX seemed far closer to what we considered (at the time) to be decent quality. It is indeed a huge tragedy that the video card wasn't used further. The Saturn does some really impressive things in many of its games and to sit here and imagine what could have been if only they had stuck to it.... On a similar note, remember how for a while there were talks about releasing an attachment on the Dreamcast that was supposed to support DVD playback? Obviously this would have given it a very competitive edge against the PS2.
Agreed about the Saturn not getting the love it deserved. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo much love for the Saturn, so much that one has to own the different models :) Love your videos, keep up the good work, please.
I never understood how to save games as a kid (i was born in 1992). The Sega Saturn defined my childhood along with the N64. But i never knew there was a piece of cloth between the flash memory and the battery. I removed it for the first time today and was able to move my save to a memory card for the first time. . . . I'm so happy I can finally get all the chaos emeralds or beat Bug, without leaving the game on over night. Thank you so much for making this video.
+TechRyze im 23 years old. I was very young and the saturn could not save without pulling a piece of fabric out the back. Im glad i did this now cause i dont have to buy a new battery and can start recording gameplay! :3
I got lucky and I bought mine at Toyratt. He pulled out of a Japanese Sega Saturn for me. So I was happy to finally have one. These things are hard to find. Thanks for the video!
Oh gosh...when you was talking about video formats in the 90s, it reminded me of my minidisk player and how i used to record songs off the radio onto tape then transfer those onto a blank minidisk. Oh how i thought i was so future proof...
The picture CD thing was a Kodak proprietary photo-cd system where you film could be developed into both prints and a CD full of multi-resolution scans of your film. A lot of devices from the era support it. CDI-3D0-Memorex etc.
Sega did release their vcd card in Europe, but it only works correctly on PAL tv's. I got one recently and the bottom of the screen is cut off like on PAL-optimized Saturn games. I like my Victor RG-VC2 card as it has the feature to select between left audio, right audio or both. That's important if you watch Hong Kong vcd movies because the left/right channels are in different dialects/languages. The Sega and Hitachi cards don't have that feature. I think RG-VC3 and RG-VC20 (the one you have) has an additional feature for PAL vcd compatibility. Gungriffon also supports vcd card (even the US version).
The Hitachi Saturn actually had the decoder built in because they helped to develop it. The HiSaturn, was natively capable of playing VCDs because of this. Which of course was only available in Japan
+picketf It was never used on PAL games though, and I'm not sure it works the same way as the JPN version on NTSC-J games that use it. Still, cool novelty.
since the Commodore Amiga CD32 could also handle Philips CD-I video/VCD titles many AMIGA retailers in Europe began to sell CD-I's library of VCDs in the mid 90s. I believe that's where Sega spotted a possible market
If the Saturn shipped with this functionality, and game developers utilized it, it would have killed the PS1. Especially when the underground scene was using VCDs for "theatrical" movies.
I agree Adam the Sega Saturn might be my favorite console ever, it is severely underrated a console that shines in nearly every genre of game and incredible 2d graphics.
Thanks for sharing this. Really cool info and possibly one of my favorite videos on your channel. I'm a Sega Saturn owner but i haven't had a chance to Mod, tweak, or add expansion cards yet.
Wow. Keep the niche videos coming. I love them. I had the same thought about the possibility of an Everdrive type device for the Saturn. It should be doable!
Excellent console. I picked up a model 2 Saturn about 2 years ago and can't believe I never owned one back in the day. So many good games, especially the Japan imports :)
That's rather interesting. Note that this required the videos to be put in both formats since MPEG-1 was too CPU-intensive to decode without the dongle. A similar thing happened with on the PC, too. When game developers began to use Bink instead of Smacker, they quickly found that Bink played back half speed on slower (I think 233MHz) systems, so they had to include a low-resolution version alongside the original, or an option to disable the cutscenes (Tomb Raider IV)
AdamKoralik @0:41 I forgot & remember this. I'll admit I was born in early 93, but never really got to play/owned Sega's Saturn unfortunately (I mean at least not until 2008 then sold it local game store bcause the disc spinner in the middle would stop spinning), but remember seeing it in store ads (just like this) games mags etc in the 90's. (I get used 2 thinking about the PSone when talking about the fifth generation, bcause that's what I came up with in general).
Dude I LOVED this video, as a lifetime Saturn owner (since I was 9 , 20 years almost lol) I actually learned a few things here about it. I always was confused with a few things relating to Sega and why they developed the Saturn the way they did, because it seems like had VCD been a main thing in the USA, it would have been used and been a huge boost to the systems commercial value. That is something which I never understood why it wasnt as the quality was much much closer to the dvd's we use now than VHS. Anyway, shoot, I also am curious to see what has happened in the time since, because I feel like my life would be complete if I could just figure out how to play .iso roms on my Saturn lol. I have tried but never been able to get the CD systems to work, like you said. I have every n64 NDS GBA Genesis SNES game ever and all of that but, I would kill to have every game or a lot more of the rare ones without paying hundreds of dollars (Saturn Bomberman, Powerslave, Panzer Dragoon Saga just to name a few). Advances in technology have made pc's and consoles almost equal in power but back then, they just didn't know how to get the most out of it, and VCD would have made Saturn more comparable to the PC gaming graphics of the time.
I was one of the ones that had no idea about the saturn when it was out I just knew about the 64 and playstation. so when i found out about it I quickly got one and fell in love with it.
And i totally agree with you about the saturn... its sad how mutch potential was lost. I collect for the system and i got a pretty decent collection i think and so many games could have used the mpeg card. Also better effort into programming the games as the saturn can if used right do amazing stuff.
Ah yes, I actually did use VCDs a bit because for a while CDs were widely available but DVD writers and media were prohibitively expensive so I used to just use VCD and play them on most DVD players which back in the early 2000s worked just ok.
Damn, this video makes me want a Saturn. I went to the big used book/dvd/game store and they had one or maybe several and it was pretty damn cheap. I regret not picking it up. I always love the Saturn design, I think it's one if not the most aesthetically pleasing console designs ever.
Back in around 2005 the local 2nd chain store had loads of Saturn's with Panzer Dragoon Saga for sale. I think they wanted £60 at the time. A good condition game will now set you back up to £200. I kept thinking I should get one, and never did.
Very nice, when it came out I got a Saturn and not a Playstation and I was initially envious of the PSX owners. I still have that original Saturn and I play it way more than my Playstation. Love it. Question if you don't mind. I bought a "Movie Card" and I just can't get the darn thing to work. How do you know it is installed? I am using the regular WanGan Dead Heat with an Action Replay on a North American Saturn, in fact I have tried 3 Saturns and had the opportunity to test with 2 different cards. Not a single combo seems to work. Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks!
My first console that I bought with my own money. It is no surprise it's also my favorite console. BTW Adam great point about the cartridge slot. A shame SEGA never let the Saturn be backwards compatible with the 32X.
I would have settled for Genesis support. It's clear they cut and ran from the 32X. But yes, 32X and Sega CD support would have been amazing. Not financially reasonable, but awesome as hell.
Another interesting video Adam, Couple things I'd like to comment on. The whole Saturn SD loader via the cartridge slot has been discussed at length on some forums. People with way better tech knowledge of the Saturn than me seem to agree with you when you say it is possible. However, I only have this second hand but apparently Krikzz said he's not interested in any kind of optical drive emulation. That said, there was this that came out of China, SAROO SATURN HDLOADER rodando Langrisser IV - Thanks to the language barrier nobody knows if its legit or how far along it is in development, but certainly exciting.
Another awesome vid Adam, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Was anything other than a ram or memory cart ever developed for that cartridge slot? I know this isnt the case now but when I was a kid i always thought it was for genesis games.
Very cool stuff, and I actually owned a small stack of VCD movies back in the mid-late 90's as I could import them for like $7 each from a site based in Malaysia, where VHS movies where still $20 or more, and DVD had just come out, and they where upwards of $30-$40 each with the cheapest players being over $200, just download some free software, and it was easy to watch a VCD right on your computer.
My guess for why the VCD card was so underused for FMV enhancement in games is because Cinepak (the common FMV format on Saturn) and MPEG1 are two completely different and incompatible formats. Thus, any "affected" FMV is stored on the disc twice over: one for use with the VCD card, the other for use without it.
Several Asian countries had a rampant VCD piracy issue. Mainly because of lack of copy protection schemes and the fact that you could play the copied media on any console with MPEG capabilities. Saturn, 3DO, CDI and even Playstation had the ability, not to mention all those DVD players. I think that's why VCD was so popular there. I remember seeing VCD adapters, that plugged into the back of the PS1, going for cheap in the back of gaming magazines. China was pumping them out like crazy. Too bad we couldn't find the VCD flag in all those Saturn titles and replace the cutscenes with those beautiful PS1 or PC clips and re-compile the iSO's for Krikzz's Saturn Everdrive :)
I'm pretty sure the BUS speed from the cartridge port is slower than the BUS of the VCD slot. I bought a Pheobe ODE but tbh I think Krikzz can definitely make an ODE replacing the disc drive. The satiator is vaporwave.
Not sure if anyone said it already, but the MPEG card was released in Europe. I think it didnt sell well, cause it was expensive (something like 100 or 200€, im not sure), and also VCD wasnt exactly popular around here
So I always thought the game video was compressed to fit on the discs, resulting in low res video. But really its just the player that's limited? Wonder if Sega CD video scenes could be cleaner if ran through a better player?
Believe it or not, decompressing video is a very CPU intensive operation. The system was taxed out doing video. So the limitation was on the CPU(s). Having dedicated hardware for video decode allowed for better quality.
Because only certain games supported the ability, my assumption is the games that did support it had two separate video files for each clip: low res and higher res. The higher res clip is played when the hardware to support it is present. So, no, I don't think video scenes from other discs would look cleaner if ran through a better player.
there was 6 games that could use the sega cd and sega 32x combined though there only fmv games but this did result in nicer fmv's and might have been able to achieve a bit better if the mega cd had a double speed cdrom drive like the saturn did (segacd only has a single speed cdrom drive)
It's actually battery-backed RAM. What we call "Flash" is NON volatile NAND memory. Then you've got also-non-volatile NOR memory (which was more commonly known as EEPROM) for things like a BIOS on typical PC boards, which is probably best used for a BIOS (and overwritten during occasional BIOS updates). Back in the 90s though, battery backed RAM was better than flash in a lot of ways... faster, more reliable. The downside was the battery. If you have an external cart you could back up saves and then swap the battery every so often (typical good-working-order Saturn should get quite a few years out of the battery). I do wish they had used dual batteries so you could (every so often) swap them one at a time and keep your saves without needing any extra steps.
I am one of those 6 people who cares about early 90s video formats :) I really wish this just automatically upscaled all FMVs though, imagine how fantastic the cutscenes in Panzer Dragoon Saga or Burning Rangers would look with this 😍
I have dozens of movies on VCD and SVCD. I used to copy DVDs into VSVCD format (variable rate super vcd) and with a resolution of 480x480, it is impossible to distinguish a well encoded SVCD from a dvd on a standard TV from the era. Nearly ALL DVD players can play SVCD and VCD.
Adam a question about the saturn. Does the pal sega saturn put out 60hz without modding it? And if it doesn't does the japanese sega saturn support rgb scart?
Adam... Im not sure if the transfer speed of data would be quick enough between the cartridge slot and the board , similar problem to the dreamcast serial port. ( but again im not sure) however the person who is made the gdemu for dreamcast is also working on a saturn version. I was curious as to why u never talked about the gdemu , i did email u about it a while back. (: it is perfect emulation after all.
Sweet. You should encode THIS video (or another one of your videos that would be fitting to the Saturn) as the VCD spec MPEGII video that you can burn to a CD (as a VCD) and play on your Sega Saturn that would be awesome! I used to convert downloaded DIVX movies and burn them on CD-ROMs as VCD that would play in most DVD players back in the day that could play VCDs (before DVD players would play DIVX files of course) and before I had a DVD burner as a cheap way to make "DVD" movies that would play in most peoples DVD players. This was back in the early 2000's when DVD Burners were expensive. I even used to watch VCDs on my Dreamcast in the early 2000s! I didn't buy a DVD Burner until they dropped to ~$120 (Maybe in 2003ish?) Some of the late VCD specs (I forget what it was called but once again the DVD player had to support it) would look really decent for a full movie being burned onto a single 700MB CD-ROM that wasn't XVID/modern h.264/MPEG 4 type compression.
AdamKoralik Make sure you encode it as MPEG 1 and not MPEG 2. Also there's a nice guide on GameFaqs for how to encode it. Basically you can extend the bit rate a little bit past the recommended spec. In my experience you can do a constant bit rate of 2000 kbps. Beyond that and you can start to get some issues with playback.
I have the VCD card, I think the same version actually. You don't need a boot disc with the action replay which as you know of course, bypasses the region coding. I had some Japanese VCDs recently, but sadly they had no English subs =(. So I sent them away, but I'd still like at least ONE vcd movie someday haha Great video
You know you could actually make your own Video CD movies via blank cds? ;-) Same with the Sega Dreamcast too but with that you'll need a boot disc movie player app for that one only.
AdamKoralik Not all VCD cards were created equal, sadly. I have the officially released Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition box set on VCD, as well as Phantom Menace and John Woo's Bullet in the Head (the only way one can see Woo's prefered ending, oddly enough). Even John Woo's horrendous TV movie Blackjack, starring Dolph Lundgren. They're all officially produced NTSC copies. The Star Wars discs won't work at all. Bullet in the Head's video pixelates at the bottom, and it won't let me switch to the 'LEFT' audio track ('LEFT' for Cantonese, 'RIGHT' for Mandarin), which the card allows otherwise. Blackjack works fine. I do have a DVD player with VCD playback function. They all play beautifully. Some Saturn VCD cards are more functional than others, because there are some differences in VCD playback and NTSC video standards. It's kinda' complicated. VCDs are cool, though. At best, they're video quality is comparable to VHS, though audio quality is superior. Much like Laserdisc, some movies contain alterations that aren't available on any other format. There's some neat shit to be had if you know where to look. Also, I'll back movies to VCD so I can watch 'em when I travel, since the Saturn often joins me and I don't have a laptop....or an iPod....or a tablet. :D
I cannot think of many games where the expansion would have made a huge difference, but I suppose it would be nice to see Sega Saturn's Resident Evil FMV opening and ending in what looks like DVD quality.
You don't need a start up disk to play the VCD's you just need to exit the action replay portion of the 4m plus cart and then you should be able to play the movie from dashboard. I have a vcd card but have no movies to play. I tried to encode and burn one myself but it wasn't the right encoder. I do want to pick up the Lunar vcd edition.
Sometimes I wonder where Sega would be today if they had been the one to catch Squaresoft on the rebound after they broke up with Nintendo. Imagine the things they would've figured out how to do with all the intricate stuff the Saturn (and Dreamcast) had. On that same note - where would Sony and the Playstation be? I think Square jumping ship was, arguably, the most impactful thing to happen in gaming in the 90's, but often gets overlooked.
VCD's were popular in my HS. I'm talking early 2000's. I used to sell them to the other kids as pirated DVD's though (I printed a label on top so the disk didn't say 700 mb CDR). Besides that neat video Adam, figures some obscure pervy racing game took advantage of this feature lol
Cool video! I wonder if there are any online stores that sell legit VDCs, not pirated copies. Some years ago, I was on Ebay, and I saw a Transformers VCD, and I LOVE the original series.
Hmm... I can think of one thing I might actually use this for. If it was in competition to VHS that means there might be some Star Wars VCDs out there. Since VHS was just the composite signal and audio signals written to a magnetic tape it is pretty crappy quality. A low grade composite signal it was stored in on the tape, magnetic interference with the reading heads messed with the quality while playing, and the tape itself would stretch and contract over time and receive wear and tear distorting the quality. A VCD even if it just has the raw composite signal stored on it like VHS (I don't know if it does or not) it does not suffer the other two problems. So I may be able to find some VCDs with the unedited version of Star Wars on them and at least see them in better quality than the VHS tapes I have.
VCD decoder was available in europe, I'm from Poland and I had it as well.
I got my Saturn with the decoder still inside the expansion port from my friend. Surprised me cuz I found out about it a few days after I watched this video.
My favorite part of this channel is the historical context and analysis. I learn something new every time!
Thanks Joey!
Did anyone else notice how much improved the audio processing was with the card installed?
My jaw broke when it hit the desk.
Hoooollllyyyy shiiiiittt, that's an absurd difference!
It's like... comparing a ~700mb DVDrip to a ~10GB 1080p BluRayrip. Wow.
PS - Are there any new Saturn games released, or in development, like the Dreamcast scene has?
I can only imagine what Saturn games could be like if modern developers managed to harness the absolute fullest potential of the Saturn hardware, combining VCD decoder, +4MB memory expansion, and using all of the 23 flavors of Dr. Pepper.
I was shocked too.
Not that I'm aware of, likely due to the low demand of the Saturn coupled with the difficulty in programming for it.
I agree.
There was some rumors a while back that Watermelon (Pier Solar guys) were interested in doing something for the Saturn. My guess is that either faded or was bullshit to begin with.
I'd heard stories of how clear the video was on VCD Card-compatible Saturn games but had never seen. Amazing. I didn't realize it would look THIS GOOD. Wow.
I was thinking "Well this must be only slight improvement visible if you stare at it long enough" but when shown video turned to 'yes' I was like "Holy s**t, Adam wasn't exaggerating at all, this is so cool! Too bad SEGA made another stupid decision by not supporting it in all regions!". When I see all this SEGA stuff from the 90's, they were creative, have so many ideas, excellent consoles and whatnot, but extremely stupid management that executed so many stupid decisions.. I believe in capable hands back then, things would be a lot different these days.
I agree.
you rock my friend! thanks for the coverage of such an obscure system that is nostalgic to such a small percent of people
Xmen vs. Street Fighter is a prefect port with almost NO LOAD TIME at all! Saturn is just the perfect console for 2D fighting fans like me!
lmao neogeo aes wants a word
that sucker made a big difference in picture quality. Adam thank you for sharing this amazing Saturn secret potential and now I know and "knowing is half the battle".
Thanks for watching.
I got a Saturn a year after it launched at a pawn shop for 50$. I got 3 games with it, Hexen, Virtua Fighter 2 and Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider was actually very good. I didn't get many games after that because not many stores were selling Saturn software in my area. But I did snag a copy of Nights Into Dreams for 5$ at a garage sale shortly after. :) Memories.
Just $50 a year after it launched!? Wow! Considering that the original price was like $400 I bet that it's the best purchase that you've ever done!
And this is how it got cracked. :P
1. You don't need a boot CD to play VCD's on Saturn if you have the decoder card (I have the same one you have), all you have to do is install the card and play the disc. There is a tool that I used named "TMPGEnc", it's free for MPEG1 (VCD) encoding, you can encode anything specific for that format and run on the saturn, any encoder with a MPEG1 encoder with a VCD profile works. Before this cards there was boot CD's for PhotoCD (HSS-0121) and for Electronic Books (HSS-0120).
2. The PhotoCD is not any photo burn in a CD, it's a proprietary Kodak PhotoCD format.
Photo CD
The video quality. WOW, talk about a difference. One thing I always noticed when it came to native Saturn video resolution versus, say, PSX, was that the PSX seemed far closer to what we considered (at the time) to be decent quality. It is indeed a huge tragedy that the video card wasn't used further. The Saturn does some really impressive things in many of its games and to sit here and imagine what could have been if only they had stuck to it....
On a similar note, remember how for a while there were talks about releasing an attachment on the Dreamcast that was supposed to support DVD playback? Obviously this would have given it a very competitive edge against the PS2.
Agreed about the Saturn not getting the love it deserved. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo much love for the Saturn, so much that one has to own the different models :) Love your videos, keep up the good work, please.
I never understood how to save games as a kid (i was born in 1992). The Sega Saturn defined my childhood along with the N64. But i never knew there was a piece of cloth between the flash memory and the battery. I removed it for the first time today and was able to move my save to a memory card for the first time. . . . I'm so happy I can finally get all the chaos emeralds or beat Bug, without leaving the game on over night. Thank you so much for making this video.
+TechRyze im 23 years old. I was very young and the saturn could not save without pulling a piece of fabric out the back. Im glad i did this now cause i dont have to buy a new battery and can start recording gameplay! :3
+Mahdi “Greenhx” Greenhxify just remember that battrery does not last long and you will lose all your save data with it..
+virtue696 thanks! I got a memory card on ebay because of this. Im so glad I haven't lost any save data yet.
How hard did your hand shoot theough your face?
I got lucky and I bought mine at Toyratt. He pulled out of a Japanese Sega Saturn for me. So I was happy to finally have one. These things are hard to find. Thanks for the video!
The white one that said VCD on it?
I passed on that EXACT Saturn because the card was gone.
Small world. :P
lol yup that was me! :P I have plans to go back next summer. I enjoy all of your videos keep up the good work!
NiGHTS626 Thanks!
Oh gosh...when you was talking about video formats in the 90s, it reminded me of my minidisk player and how i used to record songs off the radio onto tape then transfer those onto a blank minidisk.
Oh how i thought i was so future proof...
Also, the US version of Marvel Super Heroes used the RAM cart if you had it installed.
This guy was in insidious 1 and 2 😃😃😃😃 great review mate.
Teddy Kissinger Thanks.
+Teddy Kissinger was he? I looked the imbd for both and couldn't find it.
The picture CD thing was a Kodak proprietary photo-cd system where you film could be developed into both prints and a CD full of multi-resolution scans of your film. A lot of devices from the era support it. CDI-3D0-Memorex etc.
Sega did release their vcd card in Europe, but it only works correctly on PAL tv's. I got one recently and the bottom of the screen is cut off like on PAL-optimized Saturn games.
I like my Victor RG-VC2 card as it has the feature to select between left audio, right audio or both. That's important if you watch Hong Kong vcd movies because the left/right channels are in different dialects/languages. The Sega and Hitachi cards don't have that feature. I think RG-VC3 and RG-VC20 (the one you have) has an additional feature for PAL vcd compatibility.
Gungriffon also supports vcd card (even the US version).
The Hitachi Saturn actually had the decoder built in because they helped to develop it. The HiSaturn, was natively capable of playing VCDs because of this. Which of course was only available in Japan
Saturn VCD card was available in Europe
+picketf It was never used on PAL games though, and I'm not sure it works the same way as the JPN version on NTSC-J games that use it. Still, cool novelty.
since the Commodore Amiga CD32 could also handle Philips CD-I video/VCD titles many AMIGA retailers in Europe began to sell CD-I's library of VCDs in the mid 90s. I believe that's where Sega spotted a possible market
It was always in EB for circa £70, and I could never afford it. I was a broke teenager back then, XD.
If the Saturn shipped with this functionality, and game developers utilized it, it would have killed the PS1. Especially when the underground scene was using VCDs for "theatrical" movies.
That is some difference! Love the Saturn, such an under rated and under utilised machine.
Agreed.
This difference is crazy for the time. nice video Adam
Thanks for watching.
I agree Adam the Sega Saturn might be my favorite console ever, it is severely underrated a console that shines in nearly every genre of game and incredible 2d graphics.
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for sharing this. Really cool info and possibly one of my favorite videos on your channel. I'm a Sega Saturn owner but i haven't had a chance to Mod, tweak, or add expansion cards yet.
Thank you for watching.
Wow. Keep the niche videos coming. I love them.
I had the same thought about the possibility of an Everdrive type device for the Saturn. It should be doable!
Yes sir.
Excellent console. I picked up a model 2 Saturn about 2 years ago and can't believe I never owned one back in the day. So many good games, especially the Japan imports :)
I live in Brazil, where we have rainforest and I live in a very humid place... yet VHS was the norm here
It's so weird to see these (relatively) older videos and your display shelf behind you isn't full!
Nice vid Adam. Im going to share this on the Sega Collectors group.
Thanks!
Back to the Future on Saturn?! my brain might explode from that awesomeness
That's rather interesting. Note that this required the videos to be put in both formats since MPEG-1 was too CPU-intensive to decode without the dongle.
A similar thing happened with on the PC, too. When game developers began to use Bink instead of Smacker, they quickly found that Bink played back half speed on slower (I think 233MHz) systems, so they had to include a low-resolution version alongside the original, or an option to disable the cutscenes (Tomb Raider IV)
AdamKoralik @0:41 I forgot & remember this. I'll admit I was born in early 93, but never really got to play/owned Sega's Saturn unfortunately (I mean at least not until 2008 then sold it local game store bcause the disc spinner in the middle would stop spinning), but remember seeing it in store ads (just like this) games mags etc in the 90's. (I get used 2 thinking about the PSone when talking about the fifth generation, bcause that's what I came up with in general).
Dude I LOVED this video, as a lifetime Saturn owner (since I was 9 , 20 years almost lol) I actually learned a few things here about it. I always was confused with a few things relating to Sega and why they developed the Saturn the way they did, because it seems like had VCD been a main thing in the USA, it would have been used and been a huge boost to the systems commercial value. That is something which I never understood why it wasnt as the quality was much much closer to the dvd's we use now than VHS. Anyway, shoot, I also am curious to see what has happened in the time since, because I feel like my life would be complete if I could just figure out how to play .iso roms on my Saturn lol. I have tried but never been able to get the CD systems to work, like you said. I have every n64 NDS GBA Genesis SNES game ever and all of that but, I would kill to have every game or a lot more of the rare ones without paying hundreds of dollars (Saturn Bomberman, Powerslave, Panzer Dragoon Saga just to name a few). Advances in technology have made pc's and consoles almost equal in power but back then, they just didn't know how to get the most out of it, and VCD would have made Saturn more comparable to the PC gaming graphics of the time.
+MoneyTakerBaby Glad you liked it!
I want a Sega Saturn and a TG-16 I never played those consoles before
search for a modchip. or check on TH-cam for pseudo saturn. It's a mod that uses your memory card Plus to alow you to play cdrs
Oh my god. That video quality was great! The Saturn could do that? What a waste to not utilize that.
Just checked my PAL Saturn units - and lo and behold that decoder is actually in one of them! What are the odds!
Score!
I was one of the ones that had no idea about the saturn when it was out I just knew about the 64 and playstation. so when i found out about it I quickly got one and fell in love with it.
Happened to me too.
Nice comparison. It actually looks great with the module installed.
Thanks for watching.
And i totally agree with you about the saturn... its sad how mutch potential was lost.
I collect for the system and i got a pretty decent collection i think and so many games could have used the mpeg card. Also better effort into programming the games as the saturn can if used right do amazing stuff.
Ah yes, I actually did use VCDs a bit because for a while CDs were widely available but DVD writers and media were prohibitively expensive so I used to just use VCD and play them on most DVD players which back in the early 2000s worked just ok.
Damn, this video makes me want a Saturn. I went to the big used book/dvd/game store and they had one or maybe several and it was pretty damn cheap. I regret not picking it up. I always love the Saturn design, I think it's one if not the most aesthetically pleasing console designs ever.
Highly underrated console.
Back in around 2005 the local 2nd chain store had loads of Saturn's with Panzer Dragoon Saga for sale. I think they wanted £60 at the time. A good condition game will now set you back up to £200. I kept thinking I should get one, and never did.
Very nice, when it came out I got a Saturn and not a Playstation and I was initially envious of the PSX owners. I still have that original Saturn and I play it way more than my Playstation. Love it. Question if you don't mind. I bought a "Movie Card" and I just can't get the darn thing to work. How do you know it is installed? I am using the regular WanGan Dead Heat with an Action Replay on a North American Saturn, in fact I have tried 3 Saturns and had the opportunity to test with 2 different cards. Not a single combo seems to work. Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks!
My first console that I bought with my own money. It is no surprise it's also my favorite console. BTW Adam great point about the cartridge slot. A shame SEGA never let the Saturn be backwards compatible with the 32X.
I would have settled for Genesis support. It's clear they cut and ran from the 32X. But yes, 32X and Sega CD support would have been amazing.
Not financially reasonable, but awesome as hell.
If only here in the states. but I will admit the video footage you presented is very impressive with the card.
Another interesting video Adam, Couple things I'd like to comment on. The whole Saturn SD loader via the cartridge slot has been discussed at length on some forums. People with way better tech knowledge of the Saturn than me seem to agree with you when you say it is possible. However, I only have this second hand but apparently Krikzz said he's not interested in any kind of optical drive emulation. That said, there was this that came out of China, SAROO SATURN HDLOADER rodando Langrisser IV - Thanks to the language barrier nobody knows if its legit or how far along it is in development, but certainly exciting.
Thanks!
Yeah, I know Krikzz claimed not to be interested, which makes me sad.
I loved my saturn. I need to get a hold of another one.
Another awesome vid Adam, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Was anything other than a ram or memory cart ever developed for that cartridge slot? I know this isnt the case now but when I was a kid i always thought it was for genesis games.
Nice video. I think that either Lunar Silver Star Story or Lunar 2 Eternal Blue utilized the video cd adapter.
It was used in Europe!
Mine had one in it, and we actually used it a lot for VCD movies. :)
If I am not mistaken, Marvel Super Heroes (US version) does utilize the ram cart.
A few people mentioned that, consider me shocked.
I do remember, my saturn from 1996 it was great console !!!
The Saturn is the best 2d console ever...definitely one of the best consoles for fighter games.
Very cool stuff, and I actually owned a small stack of VCD movies back in the mid-late 90's as I could import them for like $7 each from a site based in Malaysia, where VHS movies where still $20 or more, and DVD had just come out, and they where upwards of $30-$40 each with the cheapest players being over $200, just download some free software, and it was easy to watch a VCD right on your computer.
My guess for why the VCD card was so underused for FMV enhancement in games is because Cinepak (the common FMV format on Saturn) and MPEG1 are two completely different and incompatible formats. Thus, any "affected" FMV is stored on the disc twice over: one for use with the VCD card, the other for use without it.
Great video. I need to pick up one of those decoders for my saturn.
Thanks for watching.
Adam, were there any Dreamcast games that had video like this game.
Several Asian countries had a rampant VCD piracy issue. Mainly because of lack of copy protection schemes and the fact that you could play the copied media on any console with MPEG capabilities. Saturn, 3DO, CDI and even Playstation had the ability, not to mention all those DVD players. I think that's why VCD was so popular there. I remember seeing VCD adapters, that plugged into the back of the PS1, going for cheap in the back of gaming magazines. China was pumping them out like crazy. Too bad we couldn't find the VCD flag in all those Saturn titles and replace the cutscenes with those beautiful PS1 or PC clips and re-compile the iSO's for Krikzz's Saturn Everdrive :)
I still have my Home Alone VCD that I used to watch on my Saturn every Xmas up until 5yrs ago when my Saturn gave up the ghost...😏
I'm pretty sure the BUS speed from the cartridge port is slower than the BUS of the VCD slot.
I bought a Pheobe ODE but tbh I think Krikzz can definitely make an ODE replacing the disc drive.
The satiator is vaporwave.
Not sure if anyone said it already, but the MPEG card was released in Europe. I think it didnt sell well, cause it was expensive (something like 100 or 200€, im not sure), and also VCD wasnt exactly popular around here
I want to get a Saturn, but I need of find a CIB Sega CD 2 first, then I'll get a Model 1 Gray Japanese Saturn, those things look so cool.
The SEGA Saturn flash memory port really reminds me of that mystery port on the PS Vita.
So I always thought the game video was compressed to fit on the discs, resulting in low res video. But really its just the player that's limited? Wonder if Sega CD video scenes could be cleaner if ran through a better player?
Believe it or not, decompressing video is a very CPU intensive operation. The system was taxed out doing video. So the limitation was on the CPU(s). Having dedicated hardware for video decode allowed for better quality.
A good question, I wish I could answer it.
Because only certain games supported the ability, my assumption is the games that did support it had two separate video files for each clip: low res and higher res. The higher res clip is played when the hardware to support it is present. So, no, I don't think video scenes from other discs would look cleaner if ran through a better player.
there was 6 games that could use the sega cd and sega 32x combined though there only fmv games but this did result in nicer fmv's and might have been able to achieve a bit better if the mega cd had a double speed cdrom drive like the saturn did (segacd only has a single speed cdrom drive)
Sega: This is the last add on we swear
Love your vids Adam figure it out n Sega for life
I heard That the game Gungriffon Used the MPEG card.
Only for the awsome opening movie.
Back to the future is my favorite movie too. And the favorite movie of all of all of the male universal studios workers.
where did you get your vcd card?
I loved my generation one Saturn
Great way to mod the console from that channel too
have a saturn and love that thing! very awesome video!!!
Thanks for watching.
Wait what flash memory is the kind that doesn't require a battery
Volatile flash memory. Similar to RAM. It loses everything when power is lost.
Oh does flash just mean it can be re-written?
It's actually battery-backed RAM. What we call "Flash" is NON volatile NAND memory. Then you've got also-non-volatile NOR memory (which was more commonly known as EEPROM) for things like a BIOS on typical PC boards, which is probably best used for a BIOS (and overwritten during occasional BIOS updates). Back in the 90s though, battery backed RAM was better than flash in a lot of ways... faster, more reliable. The downside was the battery. If you have an external cart you could back up saves and then swap the battery every so often (typical good-working-order Saturn should get quite a few years out of the battery). I do wish they had used dual batteries so you could (every so often) swap them one at a time and keep your saves without needing any extra steps.
Did you know that you can create your own Video CD thing, I did it with a animated film.
My favourite video format of 80s and 90s is still laserdisc.
The original PlayStation has a VCD add-on as well, though I have no idea on game compatability.
Does the North American version of that racing game support the VCD Card, too?
This goes to show how much we Amercians were cursed with the Sega Saturn. So much untapped potential and it gets squandered.
I am one of those 6 people who cares about early 90s video formats :)
I really wish this just automatically upscaled all FMVs though, imagine how fantastic the cutscenes in Panzer Dragoon Saga or Burning Rangers would look with this 😍
I have dozens of movies on VCD and SVCD. I used to copy DVDs into VSVCD format (variable rate super vcd) and with a resolution of 480x480, it is impossible to distinguish a well encoded SVCD from a dvd on a standard TV from the era. Nearly ALL DVD players can play SVCD and VCD.
Cool video Does this work on US systems with the action replay card?
Adam a question about the saturn. Does the pal sega saturn put out 60hz without modding it? And if it doesn't does the japanese sega saturn support rgb scart?
sweet and the vcd was rel leased in eourpe and the ram was also in eourpe in the king of fighters 95
Adam... Im not sure if the transfer speed of data would be quick enough between the cartridge slot and the board , similar problem to the dreamcast serial port. ( but again im not sure) however the person who is made the gdemu for dreamcast is also working on a saturn version. I was curious as to why u never talked about the gdemu , i did email u about it a while back. (: it is perfect emulation after all.
Supposedly I'll be loaned a review unit, so if that happens, I'll make a video about it.
Sweet. You should encode THIS video (or another one of your videos that would be fitting to the Saturn) as the VCD spec MPEGII video that you can burn to a CD (as a VCD) and play on your Sega Saturn that would be awesome! I used to convert downloaded DIVX movies and burn them on CD-ROMs as VCD that would play in most DVD players back in the day that could play VCDs (before DVD players would play DIVX files of course) and before I had a DVD burner as a cheap way to make "DVD" movies that would play in most peoples DVD players. This was back in the early 2000's when DVD Burners were expensive. I even used to watch VCDs on my Dreamcast in the early 2000s! I didn't buy a DVD Burner until they dropped to ~$120 (Maybe in 2003ish?) Some of the late VCD specs (I forget what it was called but once again the DVD player had to support it) would look really decent for a full movie being burned onto a single 700MB CD-ROM that wasn't XVID/modern h.264/MPEG 4 type compression.
That would actually be fun to do.
Thanks for commenting Jake.
AdamKoralik Make sure you encode it as MPEG 1 and not MPEG 2. Also there's a nice guide on GameFaqs for how to encode it. Basically you can extend the bit rate a little bit past the recommended spec. In my experience you can do a constant bit rate of 2000 kbps. Beyond that and you can start to get some issues with playback.
I have the VCD card, I think the same version actually. You don't need a boot disc with the action replay which as you know of course, bypasses the region coding. I had some Japanese VCDs recently, but sadly they had no English subs =(.
So I sent them away, but I'd still like at least ONE vcd movie someday haha
Great video
You know you could actually make your own Video CD movies via blank cds? ;-) Same with the Sega Dreamcast too but with that you'll need a boot disc movie player app for that one only.
Yep yep, I just like originals. Maybe one day I'll burn a vcd =)
Really? Oddly I was never able to get BTTF to run on it. Not that I exactly care to...
AdamKoralik Not all VCD cards were created equal, sadly. I have the officially released Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition box set on VCD, as well as Phantom Menace and John Woo's Bullet in the Head (the only way one can see Woo's prefered ending, oddly enough). Even John Woo's horrendous TV movie Blackjack, starring Dolph Lundgren. They're all officially produced NTSC copies. The Star Wars discs won't work at all. Bullet in the Head's video pixelates at the bottom, and it won't let me switch to the 'LEFT' audio track ('LEFT' for Cantonese, 'RIGHT' for Mandarin), which the card allows otherwise. Blackjack works fine.
I do have a DVD player with VCD playback function. They all play beautifully. Some Saturn VCD cards are more functional than others, because there are some differences in VCD playback and NTSC video standards. It's kinda' complicated.
VCDs are cool, though. At best, they're video quality is comparable to VHS, though audio quality is superior. Much like Laserdisc, some movies contain alterations that aren't available on any other format. There's some neat shit to be had if you know where to look. Also, I'll back movies to VCD so I can watch 'em when I travel, since the Saturn often joins me and I don't have a laptop....or an iPod....or a tablet. :D
recent sub, just wanted to say really am enjoying your content.
Thanks!
Adam,where you get those toys?.You are a genious!!!.
EBay generally.
Woot! Saturn! Nice vid
Thanks for watching.
I cannot think of many games where the expansion would have made a huge difference, but I suppose it would be nice to see Sega Saturn's Resident Evil FMV opening and ending in what looks like DVD quality.
You don't need a start up disk to play the VCD's you just need to exit the action replay portion of the 4m plus cart and then you should be able to play the movie from dashboard. I have a vcd card but have no movies to play. I tried to encode and burn one myself but it wasn't the right encoder. I do want to pick up the Lunar vcd edition.
Oddly I couldn't get that to work.
...Not that I necessarily care to.
The picture looks excellent as far as sharpness, but it does look like it is losing a little bit of color with the VCD
Sometimes I wonder where Sega would be today if they had been the one to catch Squaresoft on the rebound after they broke up with Nintendo. Imagine the things they would've figured out how to do with all the intricate stuff the Saturn (and Dreamcast) had. On that same note - where would Sony and the Playstation be? I think Square jumping ship was, arguably, the most impactful thing to happen in gaming in the 90's, but often gets overlooked.
VCD's were popular in my HS. I'm talking early 2000's. I used to sell them to the other kids as pirated DVD's though (I printed a label on top so the disk didn't say 700 mb CDR). Besides that neat video Adam, figures some obscure pervy racing game took advantage of this feature lol
Thanks for watching.
No problem man. Thanks for shedding light on this for the community!
I was not aware of this thanks for the history lesson
Thanks for watching.
Cool video! I wonder if there are any online stores that sell legit VDCs, not pirated copies. Some years ago, I was on Ebay, and I saw a Transformers VCD, and I LOVE the original series.
Hard to be sure, VCDs were more commonly released in pirate form than in legit form.
Can you make a video on how to clean CDs ? Also have u tryed applying grease/lube to moveing parts such as sticks or the disk drive
Personally, I just get discs cleaned at used CD stores with a disc resurfacing machine.
Hmm... I can think of one thing I might actually use this for. If it was in competition to VHS that means there might be some Star Wars VCDs out there. Since VHS was just the composite signal and audio signals written to a magnetic tape it is pretty crappy quality. A low grade composite signal it was stored in on the tape, magnetic interference with the reading heads messed with the quality while playing, and the tape itself would stretch and contract over time and receive wear and tear distorting the quality. A VCD even if it just has the raw composite signal stored on it like VHS (I don't know if it does or not) it does not suffer the other two problems. So I may be able to find some VCDs with the unedited version of Star Wars on them and at least see them in better quality than the VHS tapes I have.