CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

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VideoGameCritic
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CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 20th, 2021, 7:23 pm

Well it took over a year (I preordered in Feb 2020) but I finally received my Collectorvision Phoenix! This should allow me to play my Colecovision games on a clear HDTV! Can't wait to fire it up. I'll tell you all about it.

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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 20th, 2021, 8:16 pm

Just thought I'd mention a few early impressions. First, the console is small and light. About the size of two VHS tapes stacked on top of one another.

There is a power and reset button on top, along with the cartridge slot. There are two controller ports on the front that support Coleco/Atari plugs. There's one SNES plug on the right side, oddly enough.

There's an SD card in the front, and the included SD cards contains 10 "digital" games. The console also comes packed with a cartridge: Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death.

I put in a few old games to test the thing out, including Donkey Kong and Venture. The graphics are so clear and the control feels right on. The only thing that bothered me is that a certain high-pitched tone for certain sound effects is hard on the ears. I don't know if this has something to do with the emulation (is this even emulated?) or if the games always had those sounds but I never noticed them with the original muffled audio signal.

I should also mentioned the system came with a nice 9-foot HDMI cable, which is great because this thing is so small and light you'll want to sit it next to your chair.

More to come.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby BlasteroidAli » April 20th, 2021, 9:45 pm

Fantastic news Critic. Really looking forward to your thoughts on this. One of the few systems that I saw that I wanted. Though I am in the UK so I will not be importing anything anytime soon. Though I can still read your thoughts.

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Atariboy
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby Atariboy » April 21st, 2021, 1:11 pm

It's not traditional software emulation (i.e., a software program running on a much more powerful computer that is virtually replicating the functionality of the original system in-software).

People have coined new phrases with the rise of FPGA game consoles in the classic gaming scene to describe this style of solution, "hardware emulation" or "hardware simulation". That's because the field-reprogrammable-gate-array computer that powers these systems is programmed to mimic the original hardware at the hardware level.

No software emulation here. The only software here is what's telling the FPGA at boot-up to configure itself as. Afterwards, it's playing the original game in-hardware with no software program middleman. This approach allows for the live cartridge slot (No game dumping like the Retron 5), no inherent input lag (Any input lag is the fault of the television rather than the console), etc.

Of course, traditional software emulation can be equally excellent, but with different advantages and disadvantages.

VideoGameCritic wrote:There's one SNES plug on the right side, oddly enough.


I think they have the Super Famicom NTT Data controller in mind with that.

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ASalvaro
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby ASalvaro » April 21st, 2021, 2:03 pm

Atariboy wrote:It's not traditional software emulation (i.e., a software program running on a much more powerful computer that is virtually replicating the functionality of the original system in-software).

People have coined new phrases with the rise of FPGA game consoles in the classic gaming scene to describe this style of solution, "hardware emulation" or "hardware simulation". That's because the field-reprogrammable-gate-array computer that powers these systems is programmed to mimic the original hardware at the hardware level.

No software emulation here. The only software here is what's telling the FPGA at boot-up to configure itself as. Afterwards, it's playing the original game in-hardware with no software program middleman. This approach allows for the live cartridge slot (No game dumping like the Retron 5), no inherent input lag (Any input lag is the fault of the television rather than the console), etc.

Of course, traditional software emulation can be equally excellent, but with different advantages and disadvantages.

VideoGameCritic wrote:There's one SNES plug on the right side, oddly enough.


I think they have the Super Famicom NTT Data controller in mind with that.

Image

thats cool! someone should make an Atari 5200 adapter for that!

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noah98
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby noah98 » April 21st, 2021, 4:42 pm

Wow, thanks for the update! I'm excited to see your thoughts on this. I came very close to ordering one, but couldn't justify it since my Analogue SG supports Colecovision through FPGA at 1080p. No cartridge adapter yet though or original controllers, so the Phoenix is still a cool product. If the Critic likes it, maybe I'll get in on a wave 3 if they decide to do it!

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MSR1701
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby MSR1701 » April 22nd, 2021, 5:13 am

I forgot this was a thing! Looking forward to your thoughts on this.

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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 2nd, 2021, 11:05 am

So if you look at the original pic there's a little clear case with an SD card and a really tiny (micro SD?) card.

The normal card goes into the system, but I have no idea what the tiny one is for. Any ideas?

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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby snakeboy » May 2nd, 2021, 1:54 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:So if you look at the original pic there's a little clear case with an SD card and a really tiny (micro SD?) card.

The normal card goes into the system, but I have no idea what the tiny one is for. Any ideas?


I think the larger card is an adapter, and the micro SD card should slide into it.

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ASalvaro
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Re: CollectorVision Phoenix Arrived!

Postby ASalvaro » May 2nd, 2021, 2:11 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:So if you look at the original pic there's a little clear case with an SD card and a really tiny (micro SD?) card.

The normal card goes into the system, but I have no idea what the tiny one is for. Any ideas?

doesn't the mini sd card go into the bigger one that goes into the system?
btw i saw that it also plays Atari 2600 roms..pretty cool!


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