which 3dO is the best

[shadowman01]

Hello everyone. I am interested in purchasing a 3do soon and I am in the process of saving money for it already.

 

But the process of getting a 3DO  is rather complicated becaus there are many models  from different vendors.

 

Is there a specific model you would recommend or all models the same? As I am going to use it  regularly a clean image siginal is pa important thing for to use it with my retro tink 5x.  Do have all models the same image quality or  one model preferable over  some others?

[72PaulDaniel]

Much of the selection comes down to personal preference, and this is just from my ownership experience...

 

The Japanese FZ-1 with 240p is quite desirable, but may be prone to power supply issues or problems with the disc tray. Also they can run hot due to the absence of an internal fan. Also has the Kaji support for the very few games requiring that.I have owned a few of this model over the years and liked them.

 

Now I have a Japanese FZ-10, which has the advantages of less complex design, Kanji font onboard, integrated memory management, but without 240p out of the box and the controllers don't have a headphone jack, along with being a bit smaller. The controllers are interchangeable however with other 3DO models.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by 72PaulDaniel
Typos

[Karyyk]

If you can find one, I’d go with the FZ-10. The Goldstar and FZ-1 are prone to drive failures that I’ve never seen on the FZ-10. My current FZ-10 was a yard sale pickup from a friend of mine. Initially it had a drive error, but he was able to get it functional with some simple relubrication of the drive mechanism (it had sat too long without use). I’ve never had an issue with it, even with burned media.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Karyyk

[shadowman01]

Thanks a lot for your replies. You guys helped me a lot.

 

ps: The best video  signal you can out of the 3DO is S-Video? 

[str0m]

I think the Goldstar is the only one which won't read CDRs so I would stay away from that if you ever want to "test" games

[Gunstar]

I have owned all three U.S. released 3DO's since '96. I purchased the FZ-1 at Electronics Boutique on clearance, a used model for $99 when new one's were on sale for $149. But EB was giving the bonuses for used and new to clear stock. The salesman told me it was a special favor he was doing for me, that the free bonuses weren't sanctioned by the manufacturer for used. But that was probably the salesman attempting to endear me and make the sale, and I knew it a possibility but it was a great deal regardless and had already made up my mind to purchase.

 

Anyway, that 3DO worked fine for several years until I sold it and most of my possessions to both lighten a move to California from Illinois and to help finance the move, after college. Then once settled in SoCal, I purchased a Goldstar model as the mom&pop game shop I went to to repurchase only had FZ-10's and Goldstars for purchase. I thought the Goldstar would be of the same quality build and design of the FZ-1. I started having problems with it just a few months after purchase, an it stopped loading discs entirely soon after. I had built of quite a library by this time, and many more games I wanted, all on clearance still on store shelves, so I went back and bought an FZ-10 model and then me and my friend, upon return with the FZ-1 reenacted the seen from Office Space and them destroying the printer, using the Goldstar. And it was good.

 

The FZ-10 worked for many years with no problems until I sold it a decade later merely because I still favored the design and style of the FZ-1, and owning multiple consoles but not so much space, I prefer stackable electronic devices were possible, The FZ-1 had a nice flat footprint to fit my Atari Jaguar and Jaguar CD on top, which I also got on clearance prices at EB when I bought my first FZ-1. I chose this route instead of getting a Playstation or Saturn since between the two they had a larger library of games that I like or wanted to get, plenty already released to keep me happy with all the games on clearance for a few dollars each, instead of paying 10 times as much for new release Playstation and Saturn games and the first generation of games looked no better to me than what was out on the 3DO and Jaguar. But I digress.

 

So I know own two FZ-1's, one purchased for parts to repair the other, which the laser finally started failing on after about a decade. But 20 years ago I also went back to school again to learn electronics, so I repair and maintain my own now. So I'm still prefer the FZ-1.

 

But if you want reliable (though the laser in the FZ-1 and FZ-10 are identical) I'd have to agree the FZ-10 if best. You also get a built-in memory manager with the FZ-10 whereas on the FZ-1 requires a manager off of disc that you can only get on a demo menu disc, unless it can be burned to CD-R separately, I don't know. I also don't know if the FZ-10 model can load CD-R's like the FZ-1 can, or at least the FZ-1 revision models I own. The FZ-1, over the years I have had to fix the power supply and the laser. So there may be plus's and minus's to both. And original games are expensive, most selling again used for original prices from back in the day or more. So CD-R's can save a lot of money. There is a flash card drive solution, but from what I understand, only one guy in Russia makes them and they have to be ordered through AliExpress and paid for through a bit coin service, and it's hundreds of dollars.

[homerj]

My FZ-10 still works great after 27 or so years.  The only thing I’ve ever had to do was grease the sleds.  That was after it sat for quite a while with no use. 

[Wing_Commander]

On 1/10/2023 at 11:12 AM, shadowman01 said:

Hello everyone. I am interested in purchasing a 3do soon and I am in the process of saving money for it already.

 

But the process of getting a 3DO  is rather complicated becaus there are many models  from different vendors.

 

Is there a specific model you would recommend or all models the same? As I am going to use it  regularly a clean image siginal is pa important thing for to use it with my retro tink 5x.  Do have all models the same image quality or  one model preferable over  some others?

The Best is the JP FZ1 with the 240p switch. Which means you don't have to spend a fortune to get 240p output as all other models without expensive modification output at 480i. Fz-10 is nice, less moving parts, but to get 240P it would run you another 300 plus...., or probably more now. So if you want the best video , this is it. Especially if you get yourself a retrotink ..

Edited January 13, 2023 by Wing_Commander

[Taijigamer]

It mainly comes down to what aesthetic you are looking for and availability/ price. Given the age of the console, any model 3DO will benefit from a replacement of capacitors and a general cleaning of the connectors/ laser assembly. A lot of 3DO suffer from disc read problems now and new replacement lasers are not available (only pulls from other drives). This is not so much an issue now as there are 2 ODE available to buy with similar price tags. 
 

A lot of models can be modified for 240p video output and also RGB. The 240p is easy to implement on its own https://github.com/Taijigamer2/3DO_video_output_projects/blob/85dd3f774645eb4412b4d683b5b84eef0e00c1a6/240p_video_mode_on_3DO/README.md 

 

RGB can be done via a simple open source mod which is fine for consumer CRT or scaler, or by a more in-depth mod which works well on both consumer CRT and PVMs. 

There is also a HDMI mod due out soon.

[Wing_Commander]

1 hour ago, Taijigamer said:

It mainly comes down to what aesthetic you are looking for and availability/ price. Given the age of the console, any model 3DO will benefit from a replacement of capacitors and a general cleaning of the connectors/ laser assembly. A lot of 3DO suffer from disc read problems now and new replacement lasers are not available (only pulls from other drives). This is not so much an issue now as there are 2 ODE available to buy with similar price tags. 
 

A lot of models can be modified for 240p video output and also RGB. The 240p is easy to implement on its own https://github.com/Taijigamer2/3DO_video_output_projects/blob/85dd3f774645eb4412b4d683b5b84eef0e00c1a6/240p_video_mode_on_3DO/README.md 

 

RGB can be done via a simple open source mod which is fine for consumer CRT or scaler, or by a more in-depth mod which works well on both consumer CRT and PVMs. 

There is also a HDMI mod due out soon.

That is if you want to pay the extra cash for that. If you want 240p without paying more, the best model is the FZ1 with the 240 switch. Otherwise if you are looking to do a 240p mod with RGB, it really doesn't matter what model you get. 

[Taijigamer]

Absolutely, the Japanese A/B switch FZ-1 is the easiest solution but it comes down to availability and cost of the console. 240p is just as achievable with other compatible models (listed in my link) without any more cost than opening it up and adding a couple of wires and a switch. 
 

The Black Dog RGB is currently unavailable due to the IC shortage but some more should be available soon.