Nintendo Demo Vision - Yeah buddy, it works!

[neuropolitique]

I finally got this thing in. I'm on my lunch break right now, so I can only post some pics of the unit. By tomorrow i should have some pics of it in action along with some impressions.


http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demo1.jpg

A pretty standard shot. The cable which connects the Game Boy to the Demo Vision is hard wired to the Game Boy through the Extention port should be. It is not hard wired to the Demo Vision. It connects there with a standard connector.

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demo2.jpg

A close up of the connections on the front. Nintendo used the same case for one and two Game Boy units. This is a one Game Boy unit. There is nothing but air behind the 2nd set of ports. The timer is a set of dip switches. Their settings are not explained anywhere on the unit, so I'll have to figure them out.

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demo6.jpg

A quick shot of the back of the Game Boy. It is missing the battery cover, but that's no big deal. It appears at first glance to be no different from a regualr Game Boy Pocket, but I don't have the time right now to compare.

That's it for now. I'll posst more when I have it.[/img]

[Ed Oscuro]

Just to get this straight, the thing outputs a video source in addition to what's on the GB's screen?

[Aboliax]

Where'd you get it? I was trying to get one off of a forum member here but they were really flaky and didn't seem to want to do business so I gave up. I'm curious too, what exactly does it output to?

[neuropolitique]

It has RF and composite outs.

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demo3.jpg

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demo4.jpg

Not sure yet exactly what, or how, it displays.

@aboliax

I got it on eBay. I posted about it then, but that was three weeks or so ago.

[neuropolitique]

Ok, bad news is it doesn't work. Good news is the Demo Vision itself seems to work fine. Here's what I found out.

If I plug the Demo Vision(DV) in without powering on the Game Boy, a game Boy screen is displayed, a la Super Game Boy. The screen itself displays a kind of "green noise". That indicates to me that the DV is working, and that it only displays the game in four shades of green. That makes sense since this was meant to demo games at E3 and the like.

The Game Boy, on the other hand, has been horribly mistreated. The B and Start buttons are extremely mushy, and must be pressed very hard to work. The A button is the exact opposite, it has no movement at all and doesn't respond. Haven't tested the Select button, yet, but my hopes aren't high. Otherwise, it seems to work OK. It froze once while playing Tetris, but that could have been caused by the lack of a battery cover.

The problems start when they are connected together. When connected to the DV, the Game Boy doesn't display anything. The screen flashes sometimes when powered on, but that's it. If the Game Boy is on when the DV is powered on, the DV displays only a slight green haze. If the DV is on first, nothing changes, just the Game Boy screen with the green noise. So, something is wrong. What it is, I have no idea. And here's the weird thing. When connected, with the DV on, a spot begins to burn onto the Game Boy's screen. It starts as a very small, purple dot and grows from there. I'm too afraid to let it continue and see how large it grows.

So, that's where I'm at now. Tomorrow, I'll continue my efforts. Hopefully it will be an easy fix.

[Ed Oscuro]

Jeez, I knew those journalists were bloodthirsty but THIS amazes me...how many GBs with buttons that bad do you see? :o

[Aboliax]

Geeze that is pretty bad, open her up and replace the buttons and pads and maybe dust it and see if that improves things. That dot on the screen thing makes me think that there might be more problems than meets the eye. If I see correctly the ribbon cable is directly wired into the crystal screen, maybe its sucking some power outta it or something. Hope you get it working!

[neuropolitique]

Today, I started work on getting this thing to work. First thing I did was to open the Demo Vision, as it was simply a matter of removing 6 screws. here's a picture.

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demoa.jpg

There is no place to add support for another Game Boy, except one extra power connector coming off the power supply. The two Game Boy units must use two of the boards pictured. Essentially, it would be two Demo Visions using one power supply.

Anyway, I thoroughly checked the board and power supply for any scorching, busted caps, etc. Everything looked fine. I paid close attention to Game Boy connector port. I noticed the port was keyed on both the bottom and the top, but the bottom key was offset to the right. I looked at the cable attached to the Game Boy, and it's key was in the middle. The guy I bought it from had it in upside down! I'm kinda embarrased I didn't check that first, it's so obvious. Oh well.

I plugged everything back together and tested it once again. Here's what I got.

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/democ.jpg

http://home.netcom.com/~joerat/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/demob.jpg

I know the pictures are crap, but it's the best I can do right now. You can see the Game Boy image with the game where the screen should be. The game is displayed using the same green as the original Game Boy. It seems the solid colors are a bit darker than the Game Boy's, but otherwise it looks right.

I still need to try to repair the Game Boy itself, as it's still unplayable. But now I know it works. yeah Buddy!

[Cauterize]

WOW! Superb work there mate! must be ace playing it on the big screen!

[Sylentwulf]

NICE :)

I'm sure it won't be too hard to swap out the guts of the gameboy and get it up and running fine.

[neuropolitique]

Well, that cable is hardwired to the GB board, so hopefully I can swap out the controls. I'd do it now but I can't find my tri-wing screwdriver. :angry:

[SegaAges]

good luck on that dude.

so far it looks like it is going pretty good, and that will be something mighty cool to show off to friends.

[rbudrick]

I've been looking for one of these for quite a while, along with a Wide Boy. Great find! If you know where to get another, please PM me.:-)

Congrats!

-Rob