SD Reader for the Dreamcast

[MatioMania]

Is it worth having? Like Emulators that ment for burning on CD and Homebrews like Quake and Doom

I know playing DC Games on SD is 50/50

I have a chance to get one, But is it really worth it

I be playing mostly SMS/NES Games on it

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Don't you have anything newer you can emulate on? There's no sense in buying something for an old system just so you can run the same old games you can run on every other device ever.

 

[Heran Bago]

Wow no the dreamcast is a great system and emulators aren't perfect.

The SD reader thing is really slow. It might work for your purposes but really save yourself the trouble and keep using CD-Rs.

 

[trumpet-205]

Don't you have anything newer you can emulate on? There's no sense in buying something for an old system just so you can run the same old games you can run on every other device ever.

Dreamcast emulation is no where near as good as VBA-M, PCSX2 or Dolphin level.

Real CD is better than SD card loading. It is up to you to decide whether SD card loading is worth it.

 

[Foxi4]

Don't you have anything newer you can emulate on? There's no sense in buying something for an old system just so you can run the same old games you can run on every other device ever.

False - there's nothing better than playing a game on its original platform.

SD card readers for the Dreamcast are cheapo and "okay" but expect some lag and touchy compatibility with retail games - it's just not as good as burnt backups, but it does save some laser life (you still have to use an OS disc with it, but only to load up the OS - once it's in memory, you're clear for take-off with any homebrew or ISO's).

 

[MatioMania]

It will be mosty for Homebrews and Emulators 8-bit

 

[Amber Lamps]

Is it worth having? Like Emulators that ment for burning on CD and Homebrews like Quake and Doom

No it is too slow.

I know playing DC Games on SD is 50/50

50/50 how, half the speed? Not quite.

I have a chance to get one, But is it really worth it

No unless you like to tinker and only play some small games that don't require much data throughput. Don't expect to be playing Shenmue I / II on this thing.

I be playing mostly SMS/NES Games on it

[/quote]

Just burn it to a CD. Voila. Only cost you 5 cents.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

False - there's nothing better than playing a game on its original platform.

SD card readers for the Dreamcast are cheapo and "okay" but expect some lag and touchy compatibility with retail games - it's just not as good as burnt backups, but it does save some laser life (you still have to use an OS disc with it, but only to load up the OS - once it's in memory, you're clear for take-off with any homebrew or ISO's).

Sure, but that's not the case here. What's your point?

 

[Foxi4]

Sure, but that's not the case here. What's your point?

My point is that some people prefer to play on the actual platform rather than emulate for whatever reasons. In those cases, emulation isn't a replacement, even if it's perfect. Sure, it's all "feels and nostalgia", but if pleases the user then hell, there's nothing wrong in looking for ways to play games on the original system.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

My point is that some people prefer to play on the actual platform rather than emulate for whatever reasons. In those cases, emulation isn't a replacement, even if it's perfect. Sure, it's all "feels and nostalgia", but if pleases the user then hell, there's nothing wrong in looking for ways to play games on the original system.

That's off topic though. That's not what the OP wants to do.

 

[Foxi4]

That's off topic though. That's not what the OP wants to do.

The OP wants to use homebrew emulators on a Dreamcast and is asking whether or not an SD reader will be sufficient for that - it is, so problem solved, really.

 

[VashTS]

False - there's nothing better than playing a game on its original platform.

SD card readers for the Dreamcast are cheapo and "okay" but expect some lag and touchy compatibility with retail games - it's just not as good as burnt backups, but it does save some laser life (you still have to use an OS disc with it, but only to load up the OS - once it's in memory, you're clear for take-off with any homebrew or ISO's).

False - Upscaling graphics, save states, rewind, and filters make emulation WAY better than the original. I picked up an N64 not too long ago and I was sadly disappointed. Expensive games, terrible resolution, and shitty sound. Better? Some may see it as opinion but I think the facts speak for themselves.

would you rather be running a pentium 2 or emulating a pentium 2 on a core i7? thats rhetorical btw.

 

[trumpet-205]

False - Upscaling graphics, save states, rewind, and filters make emulation WAY better than the original. I picked up an N64 not too long ago and I was sadly disappointed. Expensive games, terrible resolution, and shitty sound. Better? Some may see it as opinion but I think the facts speak for themselves.

would you rather be running a pentium 2 or emulating a pentium 2 on a core i7? thats rhetorical btw.

For early console, you could mod it to tap into RGB video signal (and maybe digital audio, if you know the pin layout of DSP or DAC). You definitely want to do it for N64 and PS2. For Dreamcast you can just use VGA box which will output 31 kHz RGBHV natively.

If you want to take it further, you can use professional scaler such as XRGB-Mini which will upscale to HD properly, even better than many expensive TV.

Emulation cannot be better than original. It can be closed to original, but not the same as original no matter how you slice it.

 

[VashTS]

to answer my own rhetorical question, running a core i7 emulating a Pentium II is better than running a Pentium II.

 

[trumpet-205]

to answer my own rhetorical question, running a core i7 emulating a Pentium II is better than running a Pentium II.

Except there is no emulating in the first place. Both CPU are running under the same architecture. Unless there is other components in play.

 

[Foxi4]

False - Upscaling graphics, save states, rewind, and filters make emulation WAY better than the original. I picked up an N64 not too long ago and I was sadly disappointed. Expensive games, terrible resolution, and shitty sound. Better? Some may see it as opinion but I think the facts speak for themselves.

would you rather be running a pentium 2 or emulating a pentium 2 on a core i7? thats rhetorical btw.

It's not rhetorical at all, emulation does not replace the feeling of playing on the original platform - it's nowhere near close. To each his own, but to me, emulation doesn't give anywhere near the satisfaction of playing a retro game the way it was intended to be played and if anything, "upscaled graphics, filters, save states and rewinds" ruin the game since you're not playing it the way it was intended to be played. Not only that, certain games are downright worse visually due to the fact that they were designed to take advantage of CRT pixel bleeding. Of course you may like it, but that's your subjective opinion and not everyone is going to agree with you.

 

[VashTS]

what im trying to say is, i would rather have some extra cpu power and be in an emulated state than have the garbage cpu of the older system.

i love retro consoles, but if you have 100 NES games in your house they take up waaaaayyy to much space. the amount of data they contain is almost equal to nothing anymore.

i cannot justify the bulkiness of retro gaming on actual hardware...this is not the proper place to discuss, sorry for de-railing the thread!

 

[Foxi4]

i love retro consoles, but if you have 100 NES games in your house they take up waaaaayyy to much space. the amount of data they contain is almost equal to nothing anymore.

"Flashcarts and loaders" is my answer to that. I have 14 gaming systems as of today, they live happily on their respective shelves and to avoid bulk around the television, I simply hook up just the one I want to play on but one of those days I have to grab a quadrillion of cable extensions and create some kind of a connection masterpiece to have them all connected at the same time.

The only systems I emulate from time to time are those for which I don't own or ones I don't have flashcarts/games I want to play, the exception being the Game Boy Advance since mine is not backlit, it's the classic model and the screen is hard to see.

Of course I agree that certain games benefit from higher resolutions, most notably 3D games as you mentioned, but getting rid of the jaggies by playing in high resolutions introduces a problem with overstretched textures which have to be upscaled of filtered, and it's my personal opinion is that upscaling makes 2D game elements look nasty while filtering makes them look like rainbow puke.

I suppose it may be just "muh nostalgia" but whenever I want to play retro games, I prefer to hook up my retro systems to my retro CRT TV and do it that way. Of course I barely ever do that - it comes in phases with me and the systems spend most of their time on the shelf as trophies but that's besides the point.

I do see the appeal of emulation though and for those to whom it improves the experience, go ahead and emulate, I prefer not to.

...but yes, we're derailing the thread, sorry OP!

 

[VashTS]

a buddy at work brought up a good point...would you rather use cloud services for streaming movies/shows or hardware based DVDs or blu-rays? thats emulation vs real hardware.

some prefer the hardware, some prefer the cloud.

again sorry for derail but i thought it was a good point!

 

[Foxi4]

a buddy at work brought up a good point...would you rather use cloud services for streaming movies/shows or hardware based DVDs or blu-rays? thats emulation vs real hardware.

some prefer the hardware, some prefer the cloud.

again sorry for derail but i thought it was a good point!

I guess you have a point there, now that I thought about it... perhaps because I'm not a film conniseur.