Which model of Dreamcast do I get

[lukands]

Looking to play burned games. Are the very early released Gray coloured consoles the one I should be looking for? I`ve read the later ones (white, etc..) don`t read the discs because of some copy protection?

 

[Schizoanalysis]

I heard that all play CDRs except for he last model Japanese one... The Hello Kitty model, or some such...

 

[jesterscourt]

Odd, my three minute scan of Google didn't yield me the "be wary of serial #s above (insert here) or consoles manufactured after xx/xx/xxxx" I swear I remember seeing that before though.

 

[ddetkowski]

I've know gray or white ( I have white), play CD-R backups fine with no modchip, although some games need the utopia boot disc to load.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

Technically all need a boot disc to load -- it is just that some roms have been hacked to "be their own boot disc" so to speak...

 

[ddetkowski]

Technically all need a boot disc to load -- it is just that some roms have been hacked to "be their own boot disc" so to speak...

Not all need a boot disc. Most are self-boot.
I know, I've got around 70+ backups for Dreamcast........

Yes, some are hacked to not need the utopia disc

 

[lukands]

Odd, my three minute scan of Google didn't yield me the "be wary of serial #s above (insert here) or consoles manufactured after xx/xx/xxxx" I swear I remember seeing that before though.

I googled "Dreamcast Wiki" it mentions something about it. And I`ve also seen some ads selling these consoles as "Gray, no mod needed" etc....

 

[blueskies]

I've got the blue dreamcast and it boots cdrs just fine. be sure to get selfboot discs though.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

Not all need a boot disc. Most are self-boot.

Er... which is exactly what I said... They are their own boot disk...

A straight rip of the game won't load -- they need to be hacked to boot themselves up -- meaning, they are their own boot disk...

 

[lukands]

Looking to play burned games. Are the very early released Gray coloured consoles the one I should be looking for? I`ve read the later ones (white, etc..) don`t read the discs because of some copy protection?

Thanks for everyones input, I will roll the dice and pick up whatever console I can get for cheap.

 

[727]

All of the earlier models are mostly capable.

 

[Recorderdude]

I own a white dreamcast manufactured a month after the US Launch (oct 1999), and it is a "1" model.

Though it's sorta unclear whether or not all Dreamcasts can run backups, one simple way to get a guaranteed backup-capable DC is to look on the underside of the console and see if there's a little "1" or "2" in a circle. All 1s will boot backups, no questions asked. 2s may or may not, depending both on when they were made and on it internet compatibility rumors about 2s are true.