TestType wrote:Is there any consensus on which model Saturn is the best regarding picture quality (jailbars etc.) and durability (disc drives)?
Durability: I don't think it makes too much difference... just previous usage. Only had noticeable issue with a model 1 drive, but there's so many small variants about it really gets impossible to be super specific, and I've not seen any indication of a stand out good or bad version. The only thing you need to worry about on all models is the cartridge slot - try to confirm it works, and when you get it put in your action replay (probably?) and leave it there. The contacts here are brittle, prone to bending/failure - avoid yanking stuff in and out.
If drive durability is a top concern, get a rhea (+ 21 pin drive saturn - for Japan consoles this basically means a grey saturn... incidentally I think this alone is why they've become worth more than the better looking whites at the moment) by checking for pre-orders religiously:
https://gdemu.wordpress.com
But it should be noted you can actually use any region saturn (and/or with a bust disk drive, because you remove actual drive). Of course this is a hassle + price starts to become academic.
But it really is a lovely tool imho and although he might put some people's backs up Radosław/Deunan deserves every bit of credit for his past/present/future efforts across the board - you just wish he had even more spare time
PVM: picture quality wise I don't think this'll matter. The issues being discussed here is more in regards to compatibility with the framemeister.
There are issues with all that can be carefully modded (checkerboard and jail bars), but usually they don't manifest themselves so obviously (if at all), and generally won't be worth the effort/risk/damage necessary for modding. All saturn versions are prone to this afaik.
It'd be interesting to see if something could be (relatively) easily done in regards to the sync specifically in this case to improve (or even exaggerate) the issue with the framemeister to narrow down exact cause here... If it was something like signal strength intolerance with certain resolutions there might be an easy workaround until there's a firmware fix - I'm not sure why else you'd get jail bars if it was just the (pixel count) resolution spec alone causing an artefact, but rather something is interfering with colours...