The bad news is that all modern consoles are of lousy build quality. That is why they sell extended insurance/warrantySheSaidDutch wrote:Thats why I still haven't bought a PS2
*sighs* Well, I guess I'll be shmupping on my DC only....
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SheSaidDutch
- Posts: 1092
- Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:46 am
Just to join the reliability survey:
Nintendo Entertainment System - December 1987 - X-Mas present. Occasionally does the blinking screen thing. No other problems.
NEC TurboGrafx 16 - December 1989 - X-Mas present. Later equipped with TurboBooster for A/V output. No problems.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System - December 1991 - X-Mas present, bought at launch. Discoloration of exterior. No other problems.
Sega Game Gear - December 1994 - X-Mas present. Have gone through 2 rechargable battery packs. No other problems.
Nintendo 64 - December 1996 - X-Mas present, bought at launch. Later equipped with RAM expansion. No problems, later sold.
Sega Genesis - March 1999 - Bought used. Model 2. Occasionally takes a few tries to get past the SEGA screen.
Sony Playstation - August 2000 - Bought used. SCPH-7001. Victim of failed modchip install. CD drive unit later installed in SCPH-7501.
Sony Playstation - December 2000 - Acquired used. SCPH-7501, with broken laser unit. Successfully modchipped. Replaced CD drive with one salvaged from previous PSX. No problems, later given away.
Sega Dreamcast - June 2001 - Bought new. Model 2 (non-CDR) Dreamcast. Modchip and blue LED installed. Replaced dodgy power board with a Model 1 power board. No other problems.
Sega Saturn - October 2002 - Acquired used. Model 2 (round buttons). Modchip and region switch installed, battery replaced. No problems.
Sony Playstation - October 2004 - Acquired used. Refurbished SCPH-1001, V2 board. Modchip installed. Severely worn out laser, took multiple tries to load any games. Complete junk, given away with purchase of PStwo.
Sony Playstation 2 - February 2005 - Bought new. SCPH-70012 (slimline). Modchip installed. No problems.
There's probably a moral here. One other than "modern consoles aren't built well". Although with the older PS2 and XBox... well, maybe my friends just can't take care of their consoles. Not necessarily "sony sucks" either-- that damn early model PSX, though... maybe not buying used consoles is the moral.
For what it's worth, I've never had heat problems with any of my consoles. That one computer on the other hand...
Edit - Nards, forgot the Jaguar. Never had any problems with it, either. Don't quite remember when I got it, but it's secondhand.
Nintendo Entertainment System - December 1987 - X-Mas present. Occasionally does the blinking screen thing. No other problems.
NEC TurboGrafx 16 - December 1989 - X-Mas present. Later equipped with TurboBooster for A/V output. No problems.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System - December 1991 - X-Mas present, bought at launch. Discoloration of exterior. No other problems.
Sega Game Gear - December 1994 - X-Mas present. Have gone through 2 rechargable battery packs. No other problems.
Nintendo 64 - December 1996 - X-Mas present, bought at launch. Later equipped with RAM expansion. No problems, later sold.
Sega Genesis - March 1999 - Bought used. Model 2. Occasionally takes a few tries to get past the SEGA screen.
Sony Playstation - August 2000 - Bought used. SCPH-7001. Victim of failed modchip install. CD drive unit later installed in SCPH-7501.
Sony Playstation - December 2000 - Acquired used. SCPH-7501, with broken laser unit. Successfully modchipped. Replaced CD drive with one salvaged from previous PSX. No problems, later given away.
Sega Dreamcast - June 2001 - Bought new. Model 2 (non-CDR) Dreamcast. Modchip and blue LED installed. Replaced dodgy power board with a Model 1 power board. No other problems.
Sega Saturn - October 2002 - Acquired used. Model 2 (round buttons). Modchip and region switch installed, battery replaced. No problems.
Sony Playstation - October 2004 - Acquired used. Refurbished SCPH-1001, V2 board. Modchip installed. Severely worn out laser, took multiple tries to load any games. Complete junk, given away with purchase of PStwo.
Sony Playstation 2 - February 2005 - Bought new. SCPH-70012 (slimline). Modchip installed. No problems.
There's probably a moral here. One other than "modern consoles aren't built well". Although with the older PS2 and XBox... well, maybe my friends just can't take care of their consoles. Not necessarily "sony sucks" either-- that damn early model PSX, though... maybe not buying used consoles is the moral.
For what it's worth, I've never had heat problems with any of my consoles. That one computer on the other hand...
Edit - Nards, forgot the Jaguar. Never had any problems with it, either. Don't quite remember when I got it, but it's secondhand.
The problem lies in the moving/mechanical parts..On modern consoles the CD reader is almost always the cause of the problems. The laser burning out, tray getting misaligned, tray motor dying etc.. Also harddrives and fans don't last forever either.
Good old consoles did not have fans, harddrives and trays that could fail, in other words nothing that makes modern consoles so unreliable.. The reason why the first CD based consoles seemed more reliable is just because their drives were spinning so slow. A drive that constantly just spins in 1x is bound to last a lot longer than one that spins at XX speed..
If the companies want to make sure the next generation of consoles are more reliable than the current ones, they better not use a traditional harddrive. Make sure it just has passive cooling, and if they are going to use optical media then better make the discs encapsuled. If bluray or whatever discs they are going to use don't use some kind of caddies, the next generation of consoles will truly unleash disc-read error hell of huge proportions.
Good old consoles did not have fans, harddrives and trays that could fail, in other words nothing that makes modern consoles so unreliable.. The reason why the first CD based consoles seemed more reliable is just because their drives were spinning so slow. A drive that constantly just spins in 1x is bound to last a lot longer than one that spins at XX speed..
If the companies want to make sure the next generation of consoles are more reliable than the current ones, they better not use a traditional harddrive. Make sure it just has passive cooling, and if they are going to use optical media then better make the discs encapsuled. If bluray or whatever discs they are going to use don't use some kind of caddies, the next generation of consoles will truly unleash disc-read error hell of huge proportions.
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dave4shmups
- Posts: 5630
- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:01 am
- Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Yeah, on the Genesis Forum at Gamefaqs someone wrote "cartridge-based systems were made to last"; and I'd have to concur with that statement.
I think that Next-Gen systems should all stick with flip-tops, rather then trays. I was also told by someone from Gamefaqs that the laser usually fails before the tray does-I don't know about consoles, but as far as CD-players go, that's nonsense. Of all the CD-Players we've owned in my house, the tray has ALWAYS been the first to go.
In any case, I think CD-based Next-Gen consoles can last a long time, so long as they are well taken care of. There will always be bugs; just as there always be in other products, but as long as they're given enough breathing room, kept off of carpets; etc; I think one can get plenty of year's use out of them.
I would personally really like to learn more about CD-based console repair-specifically about how to replace lasers, spindles, and things like that that fail. That way, I could just buy a spare laser with my next console, and replace it whenever it does fail. Too bad there aren't any classes on this sort of thing anywhere.
I think that Next-Gen systems should all stick with flip-tops, rather then trays. I was also told by someone from Gamefaqs that the laser usually fails before the tray does-I don't know about consoles, but as far as CD-players go, that's nonsense. Of all the CD-Players we've owned in my house, the tray has ALWAYS been the first to go.
In any case, I think CD-based Next-Gen consoles can last a long time, so long as they are well taken care of. There will always be bugs; just as there always be in other products, but as long as they're given enough breathing room, kept off of carpets; etc; I think one can get plenty of year's use out of them.
I would personally really like to learn more about CD-based console repair-specifically about how to replace lasers, spindles, and things like that that fail. That way, I could just buy a spare laser with my next console, and replace it whenever it does fail. Too bad there aren't any classes on this sort of thing anywhere.
dave4shmups: replacing laserunits is not actually that technically difficult, but it requires you to have some pretty expensive equipment.. And also Sony and Microsoft has numerous of versions and different types of lasers, they constantly keep changing them.. Therefore finding information can be difficult, and buying the replacement parts is often expensive (and also replacement parts are not often easy to find, Sony and Microsoft does not want people to be able to buy parts). You would easily end up paying half of a new consoles price in just repair costs. Therefore it would usually just be a better idea to just buy another console if the fault is something that a normal cleaning can't fix.
And from personal experience I have also had more problems with trays than lasers.
Sometimes I wish consoles would still use cartridges, I wonder how much a cartridge of decent meg size would cost to manuafacture nowadays. With such good compression techniques that are avaible now for both video and audio, I think it should be technically possible to cram pretty much stuff on a cartridge if they wanted to
And from personal experience I have also had more problems with trays than lasers.
Sometimes I wish consoles would still use cartridges, I wonder how much a cartridge of decent meg size would cost to manuafacture nowadays. With such good compression techniques that are avaible now for both video and audio, I think it should be technically possible to cram pretty much stuff on a cartridge if they wanted to
Yeah, I like fliptops as well: no chance to scratch your discs on anything on the tray and no delay in getting the tray out. Lasers generally only fail if people play a LOT of scratched/burned discs. I haven't had a problem with either (still no problems on a 1994 Gateway 100 MHz "PC compatible")
And repairing the CD-related stuff on a console is really pretty easy. You just need some screwdrivers and common logic to see if/how/where you can replace something. It's power supply and inputs that are tough to replace.
I hate carts. I remember the times of blowing on the cart and the input even though I kept them as clean as possible. As for cart size, that's not an issue. It's the tremendous price that would kill the overhead. Compression would also add horrible lag.
And repairing the CD-related stuff on a console is really pretty easy. You just need some screwdrivers and common logic to see if/how/where you can replace something. It's power supply and inputs that are tough to replace.
I hate carts. I remember the times of blowing on the cart and the input even though I kept them as clean as possible. As for cart size, that's not an issue. It's the tremendous price that would kill the overhead. Compression would also add horrible lag.
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freddiebamboo
- Posts: 1366
- Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:17 pm
- Location: UK
I've been told I'll be better off getting the old PS2 replaced by a japanese one than chipping it cause apparently mod ones need a strong healthy laser.
Something my PS2 certainly does noy have. I just bought Pulp Fiction & Trainspotting on DVD and it simply cant read 'em. Tested them on other players in the house and their fine too.
Is it true about the ol' chipping and laser deal?
Something my PS2 certainly does noy have. I just bought Pulp Fiction & Trainspotting on DVD and it simply cant read 'em. Tested them on other players in the house and their fine too.
Is it true about the ol' chipping and laser deal?
