JVC X'Eye game system?

[candiru]

How rare is this thing? From what I've been able to find on the internet it's a licensed clone of a Sega Genesis/Sega CD unit. I saw one at a thrift shop yesterday for $15, but it's just the console and 2 controllers --- no power supply or hook-ups, sold as is.

 

It looks pretty cool even though it appears to be kind of cheaply made. I don't have any Sega systems so I was kind of interested in it. Anybody here know if they were crappy or had a high failure rate? Maybe I should just offer them $8 for it and see what they say.

[glitch]

The ones I've seen on eBay seem to go for around 50 or so. A boxed one went for $102 last month. I'd pick it up for $15 without a second thought. I don't know about their reliablity though.

[Brad2600]

Any pictures?

 

Just wondering.

[MegaManFan]

For $15 you can hardly go wrong. Even if it turns out to be a POS you could sell it for at least that much to somebody here for parts, and if it works that's a MAJOR bargain.

[Witchfynde]

The real question is if you can get a power supply for it though, hopefully you can.

 

I don't know about the reliability of them either. I only saw one at a store ever when it came out, they didn't seem to be hugely popular when they were first released either.

 

Oh, plus you get a built-in karaoke (sp?) machine too! Yay/puke!

[chrisbid]

its pretty reliable. i had one, and gave it to a friend of mine who had never had the privilage of playing a genesis. It will work with a 32X if you are wondering, and the cool part about it is that it you can use standard RCA cables to hook it to your TV

[Brad2600]

Here's a picture of the system. It looks interesting to say the least. I have never seen one and I don't think I ever will around here.

[CPUWIZ]

I have one of those and let me tell you it wasn't cheap when I bought about it 1 1/2 years ago.

[Mad Scientist]

I gave one X'eye to my brother several years ago and currently have one of my own. They seem reliable enough. The X'eye is indeed compatible with the 32X, aside from the fact that you cannot open the CD door while the kludge (er, upgrade) is installed.

 

I've never tried the karaoke function (there's a microphone line-in port on the fron of the unit)- no microphone and no real interest.

 

I does have a very nice design, though; it "looks better" than a combination Genesis/CD.

 

The only real drawback is that a power base converter will not fit on top (even the one that I mistakenly hacked down to fit on a Gensis II-- before I learned that the Genesis II chipset revision was incompatible, not just the case).

 

For $15, it sounds like a good deal.

I did a bit better on mine, though: I bought my first deck for ~$7.00 on clearance from Best Buy, and the second was a gift from an old college roommate.

 

-Mad Scientist

[Mad Scientist]

(Double post?)

[AtariDude]

Get it before someone else does. That is a pretty good price and like they said, you can always sell it for parts if it is not working.

[z28in82]

I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone else. It is well worth the 15 bucks. Genesis games are cheep as can be and there are alot of great titles so it is fairly easy to build a decent collection quickly.

 

Go for it, and if you don't like it I'd be more than happy to offer double what ya paid for it

[MegaManFan]

Go for it, and if you don't like it I'd be more than happy to offer double what ya paid for it

 

If my home wasn't overcrowded with consoles I would have said the same myself.

[z28in82]

Mine is just as bad but hey good consoles are like jello baby, there is always room for one more :wink: especially if it happens to be a piece like that.

[candiru]

Well, you guys convinced the cheap bastard in me to go ahead and spring for the X'Eye. How do you pronounce that anyway? Like a Z and say "Zie" or do you say "Ecks-Eye"?

 

Witchfynde was right about the power supply though. It seems to be a weird one. It needs one that's 9.5 volts. The regular Sega ones I found are all 10v and all the adjustable ones I've found skip from 9 to 12 with nothing in between. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning and there are no batteries in the house. I'll have to scour the internet and see what I can find.

 

About the only thing I know about Sega is that I played Sonic once at a friend's house. I've seen a few of those 32x add-on things around for dirt cheap and now I'm kicking myself for not getting one. Is that the difference between the tall skinny carts and the short wide ones? Or is that just an external redesign?

[Witchfynde]

How do you pronounce that anyway? Like a Z and say "Zie" or do you say "Ecks-Eye"?

 

"Ecks eye" is my guess.

 

About the only thing I know about Sega is that I played Sonic once at a friend's house.  I've seen a few of those 32x add-on things around for dirt cheap and now I'm kicking myself for not getting one.  Is that the difference between the tall skinny carts and the short wide ones?  Or is that just an external redesign?

 

?

 

The 32X games are only about a fourth of an inch wider than the Genesis ones (pissed me off too, since I have to leave them in their boxes, they won't fit into either Genesis cartridge holder I have ). You mean the really big ones that EA produced, like Desert Strike, Starflight and Zero Tolerance by Accolade? I think those had more to do with taking up more memory or something; Zero Tolerance was a first person shooter, which they said couldn't be done on a 16-bit console, which they did it, all right, so it probably took up a lot of memory (like the SNES Doom port had a special chip to get it to run too).

[chrisbid]

EA and Accolade were originally unlicensed third parties, so they had to make their own cart casings. Eventually they became licensed, but continued to use their own cases.

[candiru]

You mean the really big ones that EA produced, like Desert Strike, Starflight and Zero Tolerance by Accolade?

You are right. It's just the EA games I'm thinking of, like the 3 billion copies of John Madden Football that seem to be wedged into every crevice of every pawn shop, thrift store, and game resale shop in the U.S.

[Witchfynde]

You mean the really big ones that EA produced, like Desert Strike, Starflight and Zero Tolerance by Accolade?

You are right. It's just the EA games I'm thinking of, like the 3 billion copies of John Madden Football that seem to be wedged into every crevice of every pawn shop, thrift store, and game resale shop in the U.S.

 

Heh, yeah, just wasn't sure what you meant. The only big ones I know of are the early E. A. ones and Accolade's Zero Tolerance and Star Control (forgot about that one first time around).

[MegaManFan]

Mine is just as bad but hey good consoles are like jello baby, there is always room for one more :wink:  especially if it happens to be a piece like that.

 

I'm sure as heck not saying I'd pass up an X-Eye for fifteen bucks!

[candiru]

I went ahead and hooked it up with a 9v power supply and that seems to work fine. The cartridge part works at least. I don't have any CD games for it but shouldn't it also play audio CDs? I put one in and it says "checking disc" or something like that. When I hit start on the controller it takes me to what looks like a control screen for a CD player put I can only move the pointer to the options button (which goes to the memory copy and format menus) and the stop button. There is also a blinking message in the upper right that says the lid is open, even though it's not. I opened the console up and confirmed that both of the electric motors on the CD drive work, so at least there's that.

 

Anybody here, especially the other X'eye owners, know what might be going on, or am I just way off base in thinking it should play audio CDs?

 

Thanks

[Lost Monkey]

I had the same problem with mine. It appears that somebody may have jarred the system hard or opened it up and not put it back together 100%.

 

Inside the CD tray, there is a circular "cut-out" with a "button" just above where the "Open" button is. This is connected to the switch on the Mobo which tells the system when the door is closed. If it is stiff and does not move with just a gentle push (it should feel "springy"), then the base of it isn't seated on the internal switch. You'll have to open the system up and put it back together so that you can feel the "springiness' in this button.

 

I received my X'eye in a trade a few years ago and this was the problem with it.. I don't know if the person I traded with had the problem as well or if it happened in shipping.

 

Good Luck!

 

Jason

[Lost Monkey]

am I just way off base in thinking it should play audio CDs?

 

 

It'll play em!

[candiru]

I had noticed that little button when I took it apart and I actually did put it back together wrong the first time. Unfortunately it even tells me the door is open if I have the console top off and hold down the switch with my finger. I guess I'll have to take it apart a little further and check the switch itself. Hopefully I'll just need to clean it or repair a connection. Thanks for the tip.