Question about Game Gear TV Tuner compatibility

[sega dude]

I'm confused about which Game Gears are compatible with the TV Tuner. Just about everywhere online says that the TV Tuner is not compatible with the Majesco Game Gear, which I already knew. However, it seems that there are other, non Majesco Game Gears that are also not compatible with the TV Tuner. I was looking at the Game Gear consoles in North America on Sega Retro and I noticed the later Game Gears all say "Note: This Game Gear version is not compatible with TV Tuner" on the back of the box. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe only the one at the bottom of the page, Game Gear: The Core System released in 1998, is the Majesco Game Gear. My latest Game Gear from eBay came with just Super Columns, so there's a good chance that it's the one that came bundled with Super Columns. The back of the box for that bundle states that Game Gear isn't compatible with the TV Tuner. Basicly, I am looking for a clear answer on which Game Gears are compatible with the TV tuner and which are not. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[flojocabron]

I think there is a certain chip removed for cost cutting.

Kinda like the Genesis 3.

It also cant play certain games. Since the technology was never implemented in the original consoles, there's no point in putting it in a cost efficient budget system.

Just try playing Virtua Racing on the genesis 3, its not going to happen.

I guess the same thing applies to the TV tuner and adaptablilty with the later versions of Game Gear.

Whats the point of adding a chip to make this budget system play an old peripheral? It would have probably raised the price and not made it so cost friendly. That or the manufacturer of the chip is no longer doing them.

But finally....

Why do you need one? Since everything (tv signals) are now digital there's no need to have one of these. Unless you're simply collecting for the hobby?

There was a while where Mexican TV stations were still broadcasting in analog. So southern border states could still feasibly use the TV tuner. But Mexico has now gone fully digital like the US and even now the game gear TV tuners are old hat.

Good luck finding one without a busted metal antenna.

[Anthony817]

Yeah the only places you could use them in 2015 is in Europe and South America, Africa and parts of Asia. I don't know if Canada, Australia or New Zealand are still using analog TV stations or not yet but here in Texas I can get 1 station to come up when I auto tune my TV which is just snow on the screen.

Kind of a shame they don't still broadcast analog for legacy devices.

That kind of reminds me of this thing.



That thing came out in like 2009 and was already obsolete here in the US as that was the year we went fully digital. All the Sega Vision was was a portable TV and MP4 player for Europe. Not sure if it was exclusively for the European market but I know they were sold there. The thing didn't even do games so it is strange why Sega would make hardware like this in the first place when people already had smartphones then.

[8bit]

^^^ That might be the dumbest sega product I've ever seen considering the market for such a device in 2009.... and that's saying a lot because they even sold a urinal video game.

[Anthony817]

^^^ That might be the dumbest sega product I've ever seen considering the market for such a device in 2009.... and that's saying a lot because they even sold a urinal video game.

Yeah completely bad timing.

The thing was practically dead when it was released. And considering it's very limited functions who other than hard core Sega fans would even want to pick one up?

[Anapan]

Don't have an answer about which Game Gear.

Just wanted to mention, you can buy a UHF modulator on Ebay to send Composite video onto a UHF channel. It's what I use for my old displays and TV tuner adapters for consoles, and it works pretty well. I enjoy playing games on old screens. I used to have the modulator hooked up into my main video chain so whatever I was playing would instantly show up on any old analog displays as soon as I turned one on. I played through Castlevania SOTN on my Game Gear, Sony Watchman, TV watch, and Gameboy Micro simultaneously. It was glorious.

[Anthony817]

Wow, I would PAY to see SOTN played on a TV Watch haha!

[Anapan]

I'll make a video! It will take some time.
I gave the watch to my friend's dad 'cause his hero is Dick Tracy (I gave him my old modulator too so he could use it with his webcam), but I'll ask if I can borrow it for a video or I'll take a video when I'm in Quesnel for work again (twice this year).
The results are better than you'd expect since SOTN's native resolution is 256x224.