Dina System

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VideoGameCritic
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Dina System

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 3rd, 2016, 5:14 pm

My Colecovision was modified to output composite and S-video. It works pretty well but with varying degrees of RF interference (especially with S-video).

Recently someone reminded me about the Dina system. I remember buying one from Telegames ages ago but I could never get it to work, except on a super old CRT TV set. On a newer set (circa late 90s) the picture was always black and white.

Today I dug it out of storage and fired it up but wasn't getting any picture. Then I tried it with an old TV and spun around the dial until I picked up something. It uses channel 13!

So I hooked it up to my normal CRT with channel 13 and it looks really good. I was playing the default game Meteroic Shower and impressed with the clarity. The NES-style controllers are also quite comfortable compared to normal Colecovision controllers.

I just looked up the system and it appears to be very rare. Its construction is super cheap, so I can't imagine it's very durable. Still, I might start using it again. I understand it also plays SG-1000 games (Sega's first console) so maybe I'll buy a cheap cartridge and try it out.

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pacman000
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Re: Dina System

Postby pacman000 » January 5th, 2016, 11:45 am

Here's some info on the system: http://segaretro.org/Dina_2_in_one

It was designed by Bit Corp, a Taiwanese video game publisher from the early 80's to the early 90's. Bit Corp published Bobby is Going Home and Open Sesame for the 2600. They also made the Gamate. Telegames imported and re-branded the system. Most of Telegames' stock was destroyed when a tornado hit their warehouse, so the system's rare. I've heard that it has an overheating/short circuit problem. You might want to be careful with it to avoid starting a fire. :shock: :?

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scotland
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Re: Dina System

Postby scotland » January 5th, 2016, 3:29 pm

This is neat. Is the built in Galaga type game the only unique game for the system?

This might be the ticket to reviewing some SG 1000 games, at least cartridges, which would be a fantastic retro addition to the site.

By the way, did you get the master system working? Although its also a Z80 system descended from the SG-1000, I don't think the cards or carts are compatible from what I read on the internet (so it must be true). I don't have any SG 1000 games to try firsthand.

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Re: Dina System

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 7th, 2016, 10:00 pm

Got an update! Recently got an SG-1000 cart called GP World off Ebay (fairly cheap).
The cart is shaped like a Colecovision cart, but slightly longer.

I figured it went into the second cartridge slot on my Dina, but it didn't fit.
So I tried it in the Colecovision slot and it worked! Amazing.
The game didn't play bad - a little like Euduro except with more graphical detail.

Got some bad news though. My Dina system is a piece of crap.
After a few minutes the color faded to black and white.
A few minutes after than, the sound started to get static!

Maybe one of my friends can take a look at the capacitors, but this doesn't look like a system I can count on to start an SG-1000 collection.

Stay tuned.

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pacman000
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Re: Dina System

Postby pacman000 » May 5th, 2018, 9:06 am

How many ages ago did you buy the Dina 2-n-1? I ask because there's a topic on AtariAge trying to figure out when Telegames stopped selling it: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278290 ... questions/

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Re: Dina System

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 5th, 2018, 9:25 am

I would guess I purchased my Dina system around 1999, give or take.

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pacman000
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Re: Dina System

Postby pacman000 » May 5th, 2018, 4:07 pm

Got this response from BassGuitari at AtariAge. Thought it might be helpful, so I'm posting it here:

Very cool!

I'm not a forum member at VGC and I know that thread you linked is a couple of years old, but I have some information he may find helpful:

It appears he's having trouble with b/w video and static, and that he thinks it's the caps. I'm about 95% sure it's actually just that the RF modulator has drifted a little (common problem, it seems)--or possibly was never calibrated quite correctly in the first place?--and just needs a little tweak. My DINA does the exact same thing. When I first cold-start my system, the picture is B/W and staticy (sp?); I just re-enter "13" on my TV remote, and it comes in absolutely gorgeously. Now, it does fade back out after a while, and I'll have to re-enter channel 13 again, and this process will usually repeat three or four times before it "settles in" on a less beautiful but still pretty decent signal. The RF box just needs a minor tune-up (which I haven't done yet because I just got my new DINA a week ago and I can't stop playing Meteoric Shower :-D). It may also just work better on old TVs with manual tuners.

You might want to let him know the RF box probably just needs a very minor, simple adjustment before he starts digging into caps and heatsinks and AV mods and all that jazz (none of which are bad ideas anyway, but they shouldn't be necessary in this case), if he hasn't already.

We will never know how many perfectly good DINA or Personal Arcade systems have been discarded or written off as junk because people didn't understand their idiosyncrasies. :(

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Re: Dina System

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 6th, 2018, 8:01 pm

pacman - thanks for the info.
I wouldn't mind getting my Dina working because it also plays SG-1000 games.


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