it's odd, when I look at pictures of the black model, for some reason it looks like a more modern machine to me, almost like it's a replica. It definitely looks wonderful, but I almost prefer that aged charm of the off-white case. Unless of course this is the centerpiece of the collection, then it would be fitting to have it wearing it's tuxedo. Great looking machine.
Nice video. I noticed you mentioned that it's a shame this unit doesn't have scart but you don't need it as you can use a Din to 21 pin RGB cable. That's what I use on my Panasonic A1 MSX2 system. The image quality is amazing. I'd also try to get the Japanese system. That speed differences does make a big difference in quite a few games.
I'm using the DIN (as seen in the capture) but the problem for most people will be they will have to get a custom cable unlike the original Hit Bit which uses a standard cable you can still obtain on the high street.
All MSX2 and newer machines can run at both 50Hz PAL and 60Hz NTSC, they only differ by ROM defaults. One can change it on the fly from BASIC using: VDP(10)=0 for 60Hz and VDP(10)=2 for 50Hz. Most later non-Japanese games allowed to switch between them using a hotkey during booting or as a menu-option.
21:58 This address data entered, is it stored somehow? In some internal SRAM maybe? About RAM value on MSX bootup: standart MSX2 ROM has a bug - a 128K value is always showed regardless of real RAM amount. Some manufacters, like Yamaha, always show 128K, some of them just remove the value. This bug is fixed in MSX2+ and Turbo-R ROMs. Looking forward for upcoming MSX2 software review (Space Manbow?)
This machine (like almost all MSX2s) shows only the amount of VRAM on the boot, and not the RAM. It was the Philips machines that had a modified version of the ROM that showed both the VRAM and RAM counters and had the RAM counter bug you mentioned. But this was later fixed on the NMS-8245.
Interesting that the VDP has no heatsink fitted, unlike other Sony and Philips MSX2 units I have inspected internally. That's a nice condition MSX2 you have there, I'd remove that battery now (it is indeed the original) before it leaks - simply cut it off using small side cutters. By all means fit a new replacement battery later if you like but you will really regret it if that original battery ends up causing even a small amount of damage to your machine.
To be fair any expanded Amiga has Chip and Fast RAM; depending on localisation they might be called Graphics and Other RAM... (I'm sure it's more complex for the non-toy Amigas with their expansion slots)
Yes but that is an expanded machine a generation later. Not an off the shelf 8 bit micro. The BBC Master does have separate video RAM but only 20k. The MSX has a full 128k
That's a lovely-looking beast, I love the styling. Does the MSX2 standard do anything to help the scrolling on MSX2-specific games? I always find the 8-block character jumps really jarring compared to the rest of the presentation, especially when other 8-bit machines without dedicated hardware scrolling can manage okay.
Almost true, hardware vertical scrolling is fine on the MSX2. Horizontal scrolling (hardware) is limited. The MSX 1 suffered al lot due bad (speccy) ports or lazy programming. A VDP that didn't support vertical scrolling wasn't much of a help either. But there are some good titles that had some scrolling: Pippols, Illegus episode 1, Exoide-Z (and area 5), Desperado and for horizontal scrolling there is Gulkave. There are plenty more examples to find.
One could do pixel-perfect fullscreen smooth horizontal scrolling on the MSX2 too, but that was more demo-scene territory, as it required so much resources and wizardry, there wasn't enough left for decent-looking other stuff. So most opted for other trade-offs. The MSX2+ standard finally added hardware support for horizontal-scrolling...
Is it common for those Euro -> UK power plug adapters to have a seperate fuse? I have got a pair of adapters the other way around (because I imported a few consoles from the UK) and never saw one with fuses.
Love MSX! They're VERY rare here in the US. Would love to import one someday.
Wtf, we are speaking about MSX here!
How is this channel not bigger
Bigger doesn't mean better.
Spent a lot of time with Yamaha YIS-805/128R2 back in 1989-1991
Beautiful machine!
it's odd, when I look at pictures of the black model, for some reason it looks like a more modern machine to me, almost like it's a replica. It definitely looks wonderful, but I almost prefer that aged charm of the off-white case. Unless of course this is the centerpiece of the collection, then it would be fitting to have it wearing it's tuxedo.
Great looking machine.
just picked a msx1 hitbit for £25 the other day cant wait to test it
Nice video. I noticed you mentioned that it's a shame this unit doesn't have scart but you don't need it as you can use a Din to 21 pin RGB cable. That's what I use on my Panasonic A1 MSX2 system. The image quality is amazing.
I'd also try to get the Japanese system. That speed differences does make a big difference in quite a few games.
I'm using the DIN (as seen in the capture) but the problem for most people will be they will have to get a custom cable unlike the original Hit Bit which uses a standard cable you can still obtain on the high street.
All MSX2 and newer machines can run at both 50Hz PAL and 60Hz NTSC, they only differ by ROM defaults. One can change it on the fly from BASIC using: VDP(10)=0 for 60Hz and VDP(10)=2 for 50Hz. Most later non-Japanese games allowed to switch between them using a hotkey during booting or as a menu-option.
I would have loved to have seen what was under that board and how all those links connected together. Have you looked since?
No. But you may see underneath another one soon depending on how things proceed.
21:58 This address data entered, is it stored somehow? In some internal SRAM maybe?
About RAM value on MSX bootup: standart MSX2 ROM has a bug - a 128K value is always showed regardless of real RAM amount. Some manufacters, like Yamaha, always show 128K, some of them just remove the value.
This bug is fixed in MSX2+ and Turbo-R ROMs.
Looking forward for upcoming MSX2 software review (Space Manbow?)
This machine (like almost all MSX2s) shows only the amount of VRAM on the boot, and not the RAM.
It was the Philips machines that had a modified version of the ROM that showed both the VRAM and RAM counters and had the RAM counter bug you mentioned. But this was later fixed on the NMS-8245.
Interesting that the VDP has no heatsink fitted, unlike other Sony and Philips MSX2 units I have inspected internally.
That's a nice condition MSX2 you have there, I'd remove that battery now (it is indeed the original) before it leaks - simply cut it off using small side cutters. By all means fit a new replacement battery later if you like but you will really regret it if that original battery ends up causing even a small amount of damage to your machine.
You have to try a MSX turbo R 😁
Way out of my budget.
To be fair any expanded Amiga has Chip and Fast RAM; depending on localisation they might be called Graphics and Other RAM... (I'm sure it's more complex for the non-toy Amigas with their expansion slots)
Yes but that is an expanded machine a generation later. Not an off the shelf 8 bit micro. The BBC Master does have separate video RAM but only 20k. The MSX has a full 128k
That's a lovely-looking beast, I love the styling. Does the MSX2 standard do anything to help the scrolling on MSX2-specific games? I always find the 8-block character jumps really jarring compared to the rest of the presentation, especially when other 8-bit machines without dedicated hardware scrolling can manage okay.
As far as I know, the MSX2 does have hardware scrolling but only vertically.
Almost true, hardware vertical scrolling is fine on the MSX2. Horizontal scrolling (hardware) is limited. The MSX 1 suffered al lot due bad (speccy) ports or lazy programming. A VDP that didn't support vertical scrolling wasn't much of a help either. But there are some good titles that had some scrolling: Pippols, Illegus episode 1, Exoide-Z (and area 5), Desperado and for horizontal scrolling there is Gulkave. There are plenty more examples to find.
One could do pixel-perfect fullscreen smooth horizontal scrolling on the MSX2 too, but that was more demo-scene territory, as it required so much resources and wizardry, there wasn't enough left for decent-looking other stuff. So most opted for other trade-offs. The MSX2+ standard finally added hardware support for horizontal-scrolling...
Is it common for those Euro -> UK power plug adapters to have a seperate fuse?
I have got a pair of adapters the other way around (because I imported a few consoles from the UK) and never saw one with fuses.
Proper ones should. Dodgy Chinese stuff won't.
Never saw so much jumps in a single board
single sided PCB, Sony went all cheapo on this computer