Might Get a Dreamcast - What to Look out For?

[CD AGES]

So, DC Ages and DC4ever were both right on the Rev.2.

-AFAIK, the bit about Sega changing the drive to avoid pirating is true.
-Also, Sega went cheap on the parts and low quality stuff in order to cut costs.
-Rev.0 and Rev.1 consoles can generally read burnt discs. With Rev.2 consoles it is a toss up.

Therefore, get a rev.0 or rev.1 and avoid the rev.2.

- Yes and No. This MAY be true for japan rev.2, but the majority of rev.2 US console are MIL-CD compatible. (Even one has stated on this very thread he never heard of a US rev.2 unit that will not play back ups), Its that rare to hear about one that doesn't. I have a rev.2 that refuses to play back ups, but keep in mind it was refurbished by Sega once so they could have locked MIL-CD compatability during restoration.
- They most certainly did or at least Samsung did to be exact. The GD Drive on a rev.2 is directly connected to the motherboard effectively removing the daughterboard seen on the Samsung rev.1 drive and the earlier Yamaha GD drive. The rev.2 is prone to wearing out very easily compared to its previous iterations when using backups or even retail GD games that put the driver to work more than usual (Garou MOW, LB2, Hoyle Casino, Wacky Racers and so on).
- Yes rev.0 and rev.1 drives are def MIL-CD compatible (unless perhaps repaired by sega lol) and seem to do it more effectively than a rev.2.

There is too many issues to deal with a rev.2 (questionable build quality, incompatible parts with more common DC units in the wild), which is why I say AVOID.

[dreamcast4ever83]

No, That's wrong the model 2 was what they made towards the end because of the piracy of the first model dreamcast so they made the 2 dreamcast where it will not play burnt games.

Which intern is better for your laser. Do some research.

I have had 2, 2 models and they have worked perfectly not trying to argue but Your statement is not valid and it was good advice i gave. I love this system and have worked on them in and out and made tons of repair videos

He DID do the research. Did you?

Yes, Sega did, as far as I know, attempt to remove the ability to read burnt games on the rev.2, but they did indeed use different and cheaper parts in it in order to cut costs. This is fairly well known. Just because you had a good personal experience means nothing in the overall picture. The failure rate on the newer models is higher.

Also, since the rev.2 uses a different disc drive, it is incompatible with the rev.0/1. If your rev.0/1 dies on you, you cannot even use a drive on the rev.2 is a donor.

Nothing CD Ages said was false. Neither was what you said about it (Sega did indeed alter the ability to play copies), except that you tried to make someone out to be a liar when they did not deserve it.

I did not make anyone out to be a liar? He asked for our opnions and i just stated mine. I only stated facts that i know and also my personal exsperences and The rev 2 i have all of them have worked just fine I did not see any problems but that's not to say that they were not made cheaper or that some may still have played cdr's but none of the one's i have did that.

That's all i was trying to say also if you do have a rev 2 that works great it would conclude that a system that does not boot cdr's would be more likely to have a stonger laser so I think me and the other guy are both right

[CD AGES]

if you do have a rev 2 that works great it would conclude that a system that does not boot cdr's would be more likely to have a stonger laser so I think me and the other guy are both right

You'd think so right. But what about all those other rev.0/1 units that DO read cdr's thus people are able to play back ups, bootdisks, cheat discs, homebrew releases on a their system ... and their consoles still work! Like I stated earlier, there are GD retail games in the DC library that put just as much strain on the driver than any half assed put together cdr back up would, means that your notion of a rev.2 being prone to work better is somewhat flawed don't you think?

[RyaNtheSlayA]

On top of that, there are some optimized burns that actually use the DC's drive less than the original release. Reducing both load on the drive, and making your games load faster.

[jinn]

You can replace the BIOS chip in the REV.2 with a region free BIOS and will allow MIL-CD to boot.

[Breetai]

I did not make anyone out to be a liar? He asked for our opnions and i just stated mine. I only stated facts that i know and also my personal exsperences and The rev 2 i have all of them have worked just fine I did not see any problems but that's not to say that they were not made cheaper or that some may still have played cdr's but none of the one's i have did that.

That's all i was trying to say also if you do have a rev 2 that works great it would conclude that a system that does not boot cdr's would be more likely to have a stonger laser so I think me and the other guy are both right

I realize you didn't intentionally lie. Maybe my words were too harsh. I think what you said to CD Ages in that post were also very harsh.

Anyway, we have pointed out that the disc drive in the Rev.2 is not as good, whether it reads CD-R discs or not. It is just the fact.

You were right about Sega cutting out the ability to play copied games, though.

[CRTGAMER]

On top of that, there are some optimized burns that actually use the DC's drive less than the original release. Reducing both load on the drive, and making your games load faster.

This is partially true, some burns are set up better then others. A trade off though of the optimization with compressed or missing music and video on some CDRs. The pressed disc is always easier for a Laser to cope with over a burned disc.

[CD AGES]

This is partially true, some burns are set up better then others. A trade off though of the optimization with compressed or missing music and video on some CDRs.

Not entirely true either. Some iso communities pride themselves in putting together back up releases which rival or surpasses those of a GD rom release without resorting to any downsampling or compromising.

[Breetai]

This is partially true, some burns are set up better then others. A trade off though of the optimization with compressed or missing music and video on some CDRs.

Not entirely true either. Some iso communities pride themselves in putting together back up releases which rival or surpasses those of a GD rom release without resorting to any downsampling or compromising.

I'm leaning towards the idea that pressed discs are still better... but that's just my thoughts based on very little knowledge. I am aware that some back-ups are very optimized.

[marurun]

Well, a pressed disc is theoretically more reflective and thus is less likely to need re-reads for data misses or error correction problems. As long as the laser strength is adequate, however, this may not have much effect at all.