Best Sega CD Variant?

[Hobie-wan]

True, but the TG-16 and PC Engine are just as tall (the PC Engine is actually taller than the TG-16 by a little if I recall correctly).

Incorrect.


PCE Core I all crammed in there, the ribbon cable fills the middle when closed and only has shielding below the board.


The shielding and huge cavern in the TG.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Point taken, nut the "huge cavern" inside the TG-16 is only the space between the top and bottom halves as the shielding literally hugs the plastic casing.

It's just like any other electronic from that era. They could have put above board shielding into the PCE, but I'm guessing that since Japanese electronics and interference regulations aren't as strict they simply found it cheaper to leave the paper thin metal plating out.

[Breetai]

I never noticed a difference in AV when I tried the Sega CD without the metal plates. Then again, I was quite a bit younger when I tried it.

Hmmmm...

I know a lot of people say NEC/Hudson was trying to appeal to the American audience, and I am sure that did influence the design, but I do recall actually reading somewhere that it was a US requirement to have a certain grade of RF shielding that Japan did not require. This resulted in an absolute need for the TG-16 to be larger. Since it HAD to be larger, they redesigned it further to appeal to the "bigger is better" train of thought.

I found this post over at PCEngineFX.com:

The official NEC reason for making it bigger was to comply with FCC rules of the day regarding RF interference. My mind is still boggled about why this would be an issue to anyone anywhere. Crazy FCC.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I never noticed a difference in AV when I tried the Sega CD without the metal plates. Then again, I was quite a bit younger when I tried it.

Hmmmm...

I know a lot of people say NEC/Hudson was trying to appeal to the American audience, and I am sure that did influence the design, but I do recall actually reading somewhere that it was a US requirement to have a certain grade of RF shielding that Japan did not require. This resulted in an absolute need for the TG-16 to be larger. Since it HAD to be larger, they redesigned it further to appeal to the "bigger is better" train of thought.

I found this post over at PCEngineFX.com:

The official NEC reason for making it bigger was to comply with FCC rules of the day regarding RF interference. My mind is still boggled about why this would be an issue to anyone anywhere. Crazy FCC.

The official NEC reason.

We all know how official PR speak is in making excuses for corporate's mistakes.

[AppleQueso]

I don't even have those metal plates and I don't notice any sort of video quality issues with my sega cd... hm

[the7k]

Well, it turns out he already got rid of the CDX, so I had to go with the Model 2. Not like I can rightfully complain, free Sega CD is free.

Thanks for the help anyways!