Master Gear woes

In article <42E7099F.A9D5EF49.RemoveThis@ev1.net>,
BelPowerslave <belpowerslave.RemoveThis@ev1.net> wrote:
>Scott H wrote:
>
>> So, what was supposed to be my final e-bay purchase (I'm offline
>> and buying from random Internet hubs is a pain) turned out to be a bum
>> deal. It clearly stated that it was for the "original Master Gear"
>> adapter to play SMS games on my Game Gear, and the box this "new"
>> Master Gear showed up in did indeed show a Master Gear on the picture,
>> but inside the box was the Gear Master, which I presume to be a knock
>> off.

This is why I don't buy from eBay anymore. It was almost this same kind of
situation where eBay told me that they weren't responsible for the
'quality' of merchandise, even though what was advertised wasn't what I
received. By this standard, you could sell an empty cardboard box and call
it a supercomputer, and eBay wouldn't be liable or responsible.

>> My question to the group before I get irate is whether or not
>> there is a difference of any kind functionally between the "original"
>> and the Gear Master, or if it's just in the name. One thing I really
>> don't like is the constant flashing the screen has when playing Master
>> System games. I can assume that it's just the conversion from NTSC to
>> whatever the Game Gear screen is, but I'd rather be certain it's
>> normal.
>
>I remember certain blocks of graphics not showing up in a few games, but
>I don't remember any flashing(but, then again, it's been a long time
>since I've had my MGC). KKC might know, I'm pretty sure he has one...

Truthfully, the Gear Master is a new one to me. I know that there are two
revisions of the MasterGear, the first one being just a straight-through
connector, and the MasterGear2 being a Tototek piece of hardware that had
some extra power-regulating circuitry inside. In any case, any kind of
graphic glitching is not normal since the Game Gear screen is supposed to
automatically drop into SMS-compatibility mode when it detects the game
inserted. NTSC and PAL considerations should not apply.

Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
the convertor and not with your console.

-KKC, who now has an extra Sega CDX for no reason he can admit to.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

I remember the Master Gear and a knock off made by Naki I believe. Could
that be what he's talking about?

Mojo

"Kendrick Kerwin Chua" <kendrick.DeleteThis@eris.io.com> wrote in message
news:0tWdnU2XFNAfxXrfRVn-vw@io.com...
> In article <42E7099F.A9D5EF49.DeleteThis@ev1.net>,
> BelPowerslave <belpowerslave.DeleteThis@ev1.net> wrote:
>>Scott H wrote:
>>
>>> So, what was supposed to be my final e-bay purchase (I'm offline
>>> and buying from random Internet hubs is a pain) turned out to be a bum
>>> deal. It clearly stated that it was for the "original Master Gear"
>>> adapter to play SMS games on my Game Gear, and the box this "new"
>>> Master Gear showed up in did indeed show a Master Gear on the picture,
>>> but inside the box was the Gear Master, which I presume to be a knock
>>> off.
>
> This is why I don't buy from eBay anymore. It was almost this same kind of
> situation where eBay told me that they weren't responsible for the
> 'quality' of merchandise, even though what was advertised wasn't what I
> received. By this standard, you could sell an empty cardboard box and call
> it a supercomputer, and eBay wouldn't be liable or responsible.
>
>>> My question to the group before I get irate is whether or not
>>> there is a difference of any kind functionally between the "original"
>>> and the Gear Master, or if it's just in the name. One thing I really
>>> don't like is the constant flashing the screen has when playing Master
>>> System games. I can assume that it's just the conversion from NTSC to
>>> whatever the Game Gear screen is, but I'd rather be certain it's
>>> normal.
>>
>>I remember certain blocks of graphics not showing up in a few games, but
>>I don't remember any flashing(but, then again, it's been a long time
>>since I've had my MGC). KKC might know, I'm pretty sure he has one...
>
> Truthfully, the Gear Master is a new one to me. I know that there are two
> revisions of the MasterGear, the first one being just a straight-through
> connector, and the MasterGear2 being a Tototek piece of hardware that had
> some extra power-regulating circuitry inside. In any case, any kind of
> graphic glitching is not normal since the Game Gear screen is supposed to
> automatically drop into SMS-compatibility mode when it detects the game
> inserted. NTSC and PAL considerations should not apply.
>
> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> the convertor and not with your console.
>
> -KKC, who now has an extra Sega CDX for no reason he can admit to.
> --
> --S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
> trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
> defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
> terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <42E7099F.A9D5EF49.RemoveThis@ev1.net>,

> This is why I don't buy from eBay anymore. It was almost this same kind of
> situation where eBay told me that they weren't responsible for the
> 'quality' of merchandise, even though what was advertised wasn't what I
> received. By this standard, you could sell an empty cardboard box and call
> it a supercomputer, and eBay wouldn't be liable or responsible.

Apparently I've bought the the device from Innovation themselves
(their e-bay ID has 10,000 sales with 97% positive feedback ) who have
been the copywrite owners for the last ten years (according to them).
The person who replied to my e-mail stated that both the Master Gear
and Gear Master are the same device, and I can confirm that the outside
case is identical. He said that they just changed the logo up for a
short while while they were manufacturing them, and that this one has
been in the warehouse for ten years (which the yellowed clear-tape seal
on the box indicates could be true)


> >I remember certain blocks of graphics not showing up in a few games, but
> >I don't remember any flashing(but, then again, it's been a long time
> >since I've had my MGC). KKC might know, I'm pretty sure he has one...
>
> Truthfully, the Gear Master is a new one to me. I know that there are two
> revisions of the MasterGear, the first one being just a straight-through
> connector, and the MasterGear2 being a Tototek piece of hardware that had
> some extra power-regulating circuitry inside. In any case, any kind of
> graphic glitching is not normal since the Game Gear screen is supposed to
> automatically drop into SMS-compatibility mode when it detects the game
> inserted. NTSC and PAL considerations should not apply.

It's a 'Sonic Blue' Game gear, so I think it's one of the Sega
ones, I don't have it with me to give the part number. My local swap
shop will let me use one of their Game Gears to test it out, so I'll
try that tomorrow. I wouldn't call it a graphical glitch, the graphics
themselves aren't flashing, it really looks like an emulator simulating
NTSC. I was just hoping for a completely solid picture, like the Game
Gear games are themselves, and anything on the screen that's black kind
of flickers. After a few minutes of playing I hardly noticed it, but I
wanted to be sure it wasn't broken before I rate this guy.


> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> the convertor and not with your console.
>
> -KKC, who now has an extra Sega CDX for no reason he can admit to.
> --
> --S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
> trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
> defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
> terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <42E7099F.A9D5EF49 RemoveThis @ev1.net>,

> This is why I don't buy from eBay anymore. It was almost this same kind of
> situation where eBay told me that they weren't responsible for the
> 'quality' of merchandise, even though what was advertised wasn't what I
> received. By this standard, you could sell an empty cardboard box and call
> it a supercomputer, and eBay wouldn't be liable or responsible.

Apparently I've bought the the device from Innovation themselves
(their e-bay ID has 10,000 sales with 97% positive feedback ) who have
been the copywrite owners for the last ten years (according to them).
The person who replied to my e-mail stated that both the Master Gear
and Gear Master are the same device, and I can confirm that the outside
case is identical. He said that they just changed the logo up for a
short while while they were manufacturing them, and that this one has
been in the warehouse for ten years (which the yellowed clear-tape seal
on the box indicates could be true)


> >I remember certain blocks of graphics not showing up in a few games, but
> >I don't remember any flashing(but, then again, it's been a long time
> >since I've had my MGC). KKC might know, I'm pretty sure he has one...
>
> Truthfully, the Gear Master is a new one to me. I know that there are two
> revisions of the MasterGear, the first one being just a straight-through
> connector, and the MasterGear2 being a Tototek piece of hardware that had
> some extra power-regulating circuitry inside. In any case, any kind of
> graphic glitching is not normal since the Game Gear screen is supposed to
> automatically drop into SMS-compatibility mode when it detects the game
> inserted. NTSC and PAL considerations should not apply.

It's a 'Sonic Blue' Game gear, so I think it's one of the Sega
ones, I don't have it with me to give the part number. My local swap
shop will let me use one of their Game Gears to test it out, so I'll
try that tomorrow. I wouldn't call it a graphical glitch, the graphics
themselves aren't flashing, it really looks like an emulator simulating
NTSC. I was just hoping for a completely solid picture, like the Game
Gear games are themselves, and anything on the screen that's black kind
of flickers. After a few minutes of playing I hardly noticed it, but I
wanted to be sure it wasn't broken before I rate this guy.


> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> the convertor and not with your console.
>
> -KKC, who now has an extra Sega CDX for no reason he can admit to.
> --
> --S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
> trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
> defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
> terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:

> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> the convertor and not with your console.


It's a made in Japan GG, serial number P41112979. The game store I was
talking about let me test it out on their GGs, and it worked on two of
them, one without a serial number, and one with that had a serial
number starting with a K. The later one had a really weak speaker, so
I'm probably going to take the no SN one, since it's got a really nice
solid picture and good volume. Now I just have to wait for them to get
replacement screens....

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <1122671423.204639.265500.DeleteThis@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
> Scott H <weaponx013.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> >
> >> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> >> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> >> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> >> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> >> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> >> the convertor and not with your console.
> >
> >It's a made in Japan GG, serial number P41112979. The game store I was
> >talking about let me test it out on their GGs, and it worked on two of
> >them, one without a serial number, and one with that had a serial
> >number starting with a K. The later one had a really weak speaker, so
> >I'm probably going to take the no SN one, since it's got a really nice
> >solid picture and good volume. Now I just have to wait for them to get
> >replacement screens....
>
> The one with the serial number starting with a 'K' isn't compatible with
> the TV Tuner and some other peripherals, so you probably made a decent
> choice. I'm kinda surprised that the Japanese unit didn't work with your
> convertor, given that those tend to be a better shape overall. I wonder
> what's up with your original Gear that made it so flaky?

I think the Blue one is actually going out, because the screen
seems awefully dim compared to this new one without a SN. The thing
that really stinks.... I hodgepodged two GGs together, the face of the
one with the weak speaker (it was the output from board, not the
speaker ) with the guts of the no SN one to make a GG with no scratches
on the cover and a new screen cover. Unfortunately, in the process,
the one with the weak sound output now displays garbled graphics as
well, like NESs do when the cart is way too dirty. Cleaning it hasn't
helped, and retracing my steps hasn't helped, and I might have to buy
the danged thing because it appears I broke it.


> -KKC, doing evil things with Xboxes...
>
> --
> --S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
> trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
> defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
> terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

In article <1122671423.204639.265500.RemoveThis@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
Scott H <weaponx013.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>
>> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
>> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
>> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
>> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
>> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
>> the convertor and not with your console.
>
>It's a made in Japan GG, serial number P41112979. The game store I was
>talking about let me test it out on their GGs, and it worked on two of
>them, one without a serial number, and one with that had a serial
>number starting with a K. The later one had a really weak speaker, so
>I'm probably going to take the no SN one, since it's got a really nice
>solid picture and good volume. Now I just have to wait for them to get
>replacement screens....

The one with the serial number starting with a 'K' isn't compatible with
the TV Tuner and some other peripherals, so you probably made a decent
choice. I'm kinda surprised that the Japanese unit didn't work with your
convertor, given that those tend to be a better shape overall. I wonder
what's up with your original Gear that made it so flaky?

-KKC, doing evil things with Xboxes...

--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.

Scott H wrote:
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> > In article <1122671423.204639.265500.RemoveThis@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
> > Scott H <weaponx013.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > >Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> > >
> > >> Scott, what hardware revision is your Game Gear? Is it pre-TV Tuner,
> > >> post-TV Tuner or a Majesco release? As far as SMS compatibility it
> > >> shouldn't make a difference, but I'm interested to know. Also, if you have
> > >> an extra Game Gear (or know somebody who has one) you should try that
> > >> adapter on other hardware so we can establish that this is a problem with
> > >> the convertor and not with your console.
> > >
> > >It's a made in Japan GG, serial number P41112979. The game store I was
> > >talking about let me test it out on their GGs, and it worked on two of
> > >them, one without a serial number, and one with that had a serial
> > >number starting with a K. The later one had a really weak speaker, so
> > >I'm probably going to take the no SN one, since it's got a really nice
> > >solid picture and good volume. Now I just have to wait for them to get
> > >replacement screens....
> >
> > The one with the serial number starting with a 'K' isn't compatible with
> > the TV Tuner and some other peripherals, so you probably made a decent
> > choice. I'm kinda surprised that the Japanese unit didn't work with your
> > convertor, given that those tend to be a better shape overall. I wonder
> > what's up with your original Gear that made it so flaky?
>
> I think the Blue one is actually going out, because the screen
> seems awefully dim compared to this new one without a SN. The thing
> that really stinks.... I hodgepodged two GGs together, the face of the
> one with the weak speaker (it was the output from board, not the
> speaker ) with the guts of the no SN one to make a GG with no scratches
> on the cover and a new screen cover. Unfortunately, in the process,
> the one with the weak sound output now displays garbled graphics as
> well, like NESs do when the cart is way too dirty. Cleaning it hasn't
> helped, and retracing my steps hasn't helped, and I might have to buy
> the danged thing because it appears I broke it.

I gave the board a cleaning with some alcohol, and pulled the fine
hairs out of the cart port, and it works! So, I've got a crispy
screened black GG that works with my "Gear Master".