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Pioneer's LaserActive CLD-A100 is the best Sega Genesis system


HDTV1080P

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My first videogame system was the 1982 ColecoVision and my first computer was the Expansion module #3 ADAM computer that was purchased back in 1983. In addition, I owned a Coleco Expansion module #1 Atari 2600 adapter. For a little over a decade I was happy with my 8-bit ADAM computer for arcade games like Donkey Kong the Supergame, Zaxxon the Supergame, and others. In addition, as I got older I did not have time for videogames. Work, School, and various projects kept me from the videogame world. In my free time, I would rent and purchase Laserdiscs and watch those high quality movies that had much better quality video and audio when compared to VHS tape.

 

In September of 1993 Pioneer released a very unique product in North America called the LaserActive Interactive Entertainment system. Back in 1993 this was the best videogame system on the market in terms of picture and audio quality. It was a 16-bit videogame system that ran circles around the 1982 ColecoVision and 1983 ADAM. When I saw the Laseractive system I was amazed at the video and audio quality. The Laseractive system not only plays 16 bit Sega Genesis games and 16 bit NEC Turbo Grafx games on both cartridge (called rom cards for NEC) and CD-ROM but it also plays exclusive 12 inch LD-ROM discs for the Sega system and the NEC Turbo Grafx system. The 12 inch LD-ROM games are amazing for the Pioneer Laseractive system. The DVD format did not come out until 1997 and before DVD, Laserdisc was King for picture and sound quality. Laserdisc had the highest quality standard definition resolution and offered 5.1 lossy DTS surround sound at 1.54Mbps. There were 4 control packs for the Laseractive system. There was the Sega Genesis Pack, the NEC Turbo Grafx pack, the Karaoke Pack, and the latest pack was the computer interface pack. There was also a 3-D goggle adapter. Pioneer never released Dragon’s Lair or Space Ace for the system, however if one had the computer pack and the actual Laserdisc from the arcade, in theory it would be possible to make a program on a IBM or Macintosh computer that would make it possible to be exactly like the arcade game, instead of the poor quality version of Dragon’s Lair like the ADAM computer had. The Laseractive system also played Laserdisc movies and audio CD’s.

 

The Pioneer LaserActive system in September 1993 was the best videgame system on the market, however it also was the most expensive with the LaserActive unit costing around $970 plus the control packs were optional items costing hundreds of dollars. The 12 inch LD-ROM games cost around $100 each. In 1996 Pioneer electronics discontinued the system that was too expensive for the average consumer. It is estimated that only 10,000 LaserActive systems were sold.

 

I ended up purchasing a few LaserActive systems in the 1990’s at a retail store and mail order places since it was the best videogame system at the time. Also the Laseractive system was being cleared out at around $300 at some places, and some places were throwing in one or two game packs for free or for only a $100 more. The LaserActive system was a major improvement over the 1983 Coleco ADAM system and also I had a large selection of Laserdiscs and audio CD’s that I could play on Pioneer’s Laseractive system. I also purchased all 4 control packs, 3D goggles, and every 12 inch LD-ROM videogame made for the system. It has become a true collector’s item since only 10,000 LaserActive systems were made and some of the games, and computer pack items were made in small QTY. Of course, I have not had or made much time to play with the LaserActive system. So far the Pioneer LaserActive system was my last videogame system I purchased.

 

In November 2006 the Sony Playstation 3 with a 50GB BD-ROM drive was the best videogame system on the market. However in August 2016 Microsoft released the Xbox one S with a built in 100GB BD-ROM drive that plays native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. As of August 2017 the XBOX One S is the best videogame system on the market. However when I have free time I normally 99% spend that time watch Blu-ray movie discs, and I have not purchased any modern videogame system. Thar Pioneer LaserActive system is the last videogame system I purchased.

Information on the attached files

Sometime around Christmas of 1993 or later I picked the attached Pioneer brochures up at a retail store. Because of limitations of this websites individual file size needing to be no more then 50MB maximum, I reduced the scan quality from 48 bit color at 1200dpi to 48bit color at 600dpi. 1200dpi looks better but takes more space. Even at the low 600dpi quality the first attachment had to be compressed using lossless zip compression in order to get the 10 page flyer under 50MB in size.

Pioneer LaserActive flyer.zip

Laseractive new software review.pdf

Edited by HDTV1080P
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Hold up a second.

 

 

 

In November 2006 the Sony Playstation 3 with a 50GB BD-ROM drive was the best videogame system on the market. However in August 2016 Microsoft released the Xbox one S with a built in 100GB BD-ROM drive that plays native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. As of August 2017 the XBOX One S is the best videogame system on the market. However when I have free time I normally 99% spend that time watch Blu-ray movie discs, and I have not purchased any modern videogame system. Thar Pioneer LaserActive system is the last videogame system I purchased.

 

You're determining the "best" system on the market by the possible storage capacity of one of its media?

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Hold up a second.

 

 

 

You're determining the "best" system on the market by the possible storage capacity of one of its media?

The storage media is one factor, however other factors like the CPU, graphics card, etc. Quality of the game play is also one of the most important factors in a system. The Microsoft Xbox One S is currently the only system on the market with a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. The ability to offer 100GB of optical storage is a advantage for game developers that want to make huge size videogames (If compression is used more than 100GB is possible with optical disc. Possible 128GB or more depending on the lossless data compression scheme).

 

Of course, with consumer 10Gbps download and 10Gbps upload Internet speeds in big cities and 1Gbps download and 1Gbps upload Internet speeds in smaller cities, the ability to download large size videogames to a solid state/hard drive is becoming popular. Some people believe the future generation of videogame consoles will have no optical drive, but instead a 10Gbps Ethernet jack and advanced WI-FI options to delivery games to a 10TB or 20TB hard drive (And the solid state drive will serve as a cache storage option).

Edited by HDTV1080P
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Sigh. (?)

 

I did purchase a laser disc 'back in the day' - CLD-900 - as I recall - and several movies (unit $1000 - movies $30-$50). (Now have a 900, 909A(?) and 2 Cld-100A's(?)

 

Then I saw the new CLD-A100(?) that could play Sega / Turbo Grafix / etc games - COOL - but newly married couldn't afford the price...!

 

 

fast forward '20' years and I now have 2 units and all the add ons (except the Karoke thing...)....

 

I have a few laser active 'games' but when I look the ones I don't have are $$$$$!!!!

Sorry won't spend a million on these games today.

 

Jeff

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The storage media is one factor, however other factors like the CPU, graphics card, etc. Quality of the game play is also one of the most important factors in a system.

 

Yeah, and how is the quality of gameplay for those megadrive LaserDisc games? I already know the answer to that one, I just want to see the "yeah... but" as you try to mold your continued case for it being the "best ever genesis". :-D

Edited by keepdreamin
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Yeah, and how is the quality of gameplay for those megadrive LaserDisc games? I already know the answer to that one, I just want to see the "yeah... but" as you try to mold your continued case for it being the "best ever genesis". :-D

See, this is the biggest thing to me, too.

 

The storage media is one factor, however other factors like the CPU, graphics card, etc. Quality of the game play is also one of the most important factors in a system. The Microsoft Xbox One S is currently the only system on the market with a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. The ability to offer 100GB of optical storage is a advantage for game developers that want to make huge size videogames (If compression is used more than 100GB is possible with optical disc. Possible 128GB or more depending on the lossless data compression scheme).

None of this has anything to do with the quality of games, which is what a game console is all about. It's like the 3rd-fastest console on the market today (behind the PS4 and PS4 Pro, and soon to be lagging XBone X) but you're calling it the best because it has UHD Blu-Ray support, when UHD Blu-Rays aren't games. I don't care if it can play magical unicorn turds, they're not games.

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The latest videogame systems like PS3, PS4, and XBOX One S use Blu-ray media since that is needed to make high quality games that are several GB's in size.

 

In its day for 16 bit videogame quality the Laseractive system was the best Sega Genesis system since it played 100% Sega Genesis and LD-ROM's. I always liked playing Pyramid Patrol. That was a awesome fun game. There were many other neat games on 12 inch LD-ROM's.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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As of August 2017 the XBOX One S is the best videogame system on the market. However when I have free time I normally 99% spend that time watch Blu-ray movie discs, and I have not purchased any modern videogame system. Thar Pioneer LaserActive system is the last videogame system I purchased. [/size]

You say the Xbox One S is the best game console and yet you haven't even played one?

 

???

 

Also the LaserActive is more of a collector's item honestly, there's really not a lot of Mega LD games worth playing and the entire setup is incredibly bulky. Plus the Sega PAC doesn't output RGB without modification, isn't compatible with the 32X or Power Base Converter (although the latter is largely due to physical reasons), and they suffer from leaky capacitors.

Edited by ApolloBoy
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Everyone has different tastes in games they like and do not like. Also one does not have to own a system to know what it is like. I never owned a NES however I played games on a NES in the late 80's at a relatives house. Also game consoles are on display at certain retail stores to try them out.

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Also the LaserActive is more of a collector's item honestly, there's really not a lot of Mega LD games worth playing and the entire setup is incredibly bulky. Plus the Sega PAC doesn't output RGB without modification, isn't compatible with the 32X or Power Base Converter (although the latter is largely due to physical reasons), and they suffer from leaky capacitors.

If you’re not interested in the 12 inch Sega mega games for the Laseractive system, and if the Genesis 32X adapter does not work for the Sega PAC, then I can see your point of view, however have you every tried the Genesis 32x adapter to see if it will physically fit in the Sega PAC? I have not had any problems with my Laseractive system. Where did the leaky capacitor theory come from? All capacitors wear out over the decades.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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Everyone has different tastes in games they like and do not like. Also one does not have to own a system to know what it is like. I never owned a NES however I played games on a NES in the late 80's at a relatives house. Also game consoles are on display at certain retail stores to try them out.

 

You made the statement "Quality of the game play is also one of the most important factors in a system. "

and then mention Pyramid Patrol. That game is nothing more than a simple cursor controlled shooting gallery. Compared to something like Wild Guns on SNES, it's extremely rudimentary. You're sacrificing interactivity of gameplay to watch a movie. Interactivity being a key word when it comes to video games. I can't see a game system being great if even the most basic concepts, like controlling your character is omitted.

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This Pyramid Patrol game is not like Dragon's Lair, you have complete control of your character.

 

No, you don't. What an odd thing to lie about. I was comparing it to Wild Guns, but I see why you quickly moved the goalposts and brought up Dragon's Lair instead (which is as basic as you can get while still qualifying as a video game). :roll:

 

Your flight path through the game follows the movie. You're not dodging fire. You're simply moving a reticle shooting objects as they appear on screen.

Edited by keepdreamin
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I think we would both agree that Pyramid Patrol has more control then Dragon’s Lair, since in Pyramid Patrol one has 360 degree 2-D control of where one is going to shoot. Pyramid Patrol has complete movement on the screen with the so called movie graphics superimposed over the background. Now with a modern video-game system like the XBOX One S a team of programmers could recreate Pyramid Patrol from scratch so that within the movie style graphics one has 3-D depth control of what direction one is going in. The modern video games have advanced so much that the graphics look like movie quality.

 

On the Laseractive system the digital audio track contains the CD-ROM binary videogame data. Yes the video and audio tracks are analog that is superimposed in the background of the video game graphics data and sound. A better solution would have been to make the entire 12 inch and 8 inch optical discs 100% digital with videogame data so that movement can occur like you are talking about, but that was not done.

 

I like the 1983 Dragons Lair and 1984 Space Ace. Back in the 80’s that was state of the art for videogames even though one had limited control in the game. The Laseractive system is capable of playing those games but it was not released for that system. If one has the Computer pack with RS-232 interface and the original Laserdisc of Dragon’s Lair used in the arcade, a computer programmer can interface a PC with the Laserdisc player to play those games, but they would need to program the Laserdisc points. However those type of games were released on the Blu-ray format if one wants to play them.

Edited by HDTV1080P
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Dude, I'm not really sure why you keep putting down of walls of text regarding storage capacity and the Xbox One S.

 

I'm simply talking about the quality of gameplay of Pyramid Patrol (one of the key games you introduced for the laserdisc being "awesome") which can't even incorporate one of the most basic gameplay concepts that was introduced with Space War, the first video game ever made

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  • 2 months later...

"they suffer from leaky capacitors."

 

Indeed, and those leaky capacitors can destroy the system's PCB. More detailed article:

 

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Thinking-of-getting-a-Pioneer-LaserActive-Read-this-/10000000016837892/g.html

Thanks for the information, nothing lasts forever. So far all the early 1993+ packs I own all work perfectly fine without needing to replace the capacitors.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

Have always thought these were cool but I heard they have really bad Capacitor bleed problems....which can damage the internals, making acquisition of such a rare and expensive machine a pretty big risk.

 

 

i came here to search for the laseractive. I picked up one with the sega pack at the goodwill outlet for $5.

 

The laserdisc/CD part worked fine after i replaced the belts. but the sega would not work. it actually powered up the first time i turned it on and i got the menu, but only a black screen every time after that.

 

about half of the caps on the top board were visibly leaking. i had a bunch of 10mf so i (somewhat sloppily) tacked in replacements for the visually leaking ones. plugged the pack back in and it works!

 

i need to clean up my work, but i assume i should go ahead and replace the rest of the caps, at least on the daughter board? everything on the main board looked ok. and i probably need to address the battery.

 

a very neat but strange unit.

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