Nuon/off/on-again (updated)
Added 2023-06-04 08:14:52 +0000 UTCA few years ago I thought it might be fun to make a video about Nuon enhanced DVD players. In hindsight, I’ve probably had better ideas.
Hope you’re doing well. After spending the week in front of the computer, I intend to spend what little is left of the weekend taking in the unusually pleasant weather we’re encountering in this part of the world. Take care and thanks again for all the help and support.
UPDATED: Changed the outro (Thanks to Andre for the suggestion). Also added a brief section making additional reference to the links to Nuon resources provided in the video description. General tidying up.
The updated version is the one embedded and linked to above.
Hopefully this is the final version with all errors fixed.
Comments
Always makes my day to see Minter getting a shoutout whenever there is something involved with music visualization and trippy effects. Llamasoft games left a permanent mark on my taste in visuals in a lot of stuff.
Sähkömonni
2023-07-14 06:43:06 +0000 UTCIt’s very kind of you to be so generous with your praise.
Techmoan
2023-07-09 22:17:39 +0000 UTCMatt, you never fail to impress - neat job of recovering from 2 disasters! Your sliding drawers moment - very witty indeed.. Those visualizations are taking me back to my WinAmp days... Hmmmmmm
Gordo
2023-07-09 21:53:21 +0000 UTCAs an Electronics Boutique manager in what for the purposes of this paragraph we shall call, “The Nuon Age”, I have fond memories of hearing news of the forthcoming Nuon reported in the pages of the trade press. First as a dot on the gaming horizon, slowly coming nearer each week - until it basically flew directly overhead and simply kept going before vanishing over the horizon. Oh. That was it, was it? …Yup. Fantastic video, as always. Thank you.
Jim W
2023-06-11 18:36:00 +0000 UTCA common fault for most CD/DVD players with loading display error because carbon motor brushes are worn but you could try spray contact cleaner inside the 2 pin holes underneath the motor and see if this may temporary resolve the issue or fix the problem for now. 🤔 btw, I posted the same reply on Youtube but got censored as spam? 🤬 Anyway hope this info helps! 😉 Shown Image Link: ibb.co/TLCDb0N 👀
John Byrd
2023-06-11 14:27:38 +0000 UTCYears ago when I was working on developer tools at Metrowerks, I got a copy of the architecture manual for the VMLabs chip as we were asked if we wanted to make a compiler for it. We said no, but I've still got that in my archives. I was going to scan it, but it's the same one that's already on archive.org.
Ben Combee
2023-06-11 13:58:03 +0000 UTCI haven’t heard a thing - it’s not good.
Techmoan
2023-06-08 17:04:58 +0000 UTCQuestion, Mat: any news on 'The Wheel' record player? I know you expected receiving it, but no doubt another delayed KS item?
Grace Robbins
2023-06-08 12:14:25 +0000 UTCFinally caught up with this. Rather embarrassingly, the PlayStation 2 is the most recent games console I've owned/used!
Brad Jones
2023-06-07 22:43:56 +0000 UTCoh man its being in the making for years & it did not turn out as well on the nuon DVD player at least you showed us something with the Xbox and your switch tempest looks a cool game I will have to check it out
Ellis Garbutt
2023-06-07 22:41:29 +0000 UTCTempest 2000 was on the Jaguar console!
Brad Sparks
2023-06-07 03:54:17 +0000 UTCWas there a Tempest 2000? 🤔🤔🤔 I wonder because I was the primary author and CTO of a company that had software named (and US trademarked) Tempest 2000. My software had nothing to do with Nuon or video games—- it was enterprise software for commodities traders.
Peter Rogers
2023-06-07 00:16:25 +0000 UTCI haven’t but perhaps the camera was in a slightly better position, or the light was better. Lighting makes a massive difference and it’s never exactly the same twice.
Techmoan
2023-06-06 20:48:02 +0000 UTCI can understand how making this video was frustrating given the multiple setbacks but I'm glad you did!
Erik Granlund
2023-06-06 20:39:43 +0000 UTCInteresting story about a subject I have never even heard of previously - thanks, Mat. The delight in your voice when that DVD started to play is something I shall treasure - I think that's the happiest I have ever heard you sounding! btw, have you upped the resolution of your videos? This one appears more detailed than previously - could see every hair in your beard.
Roland Bogush
2023-06-06 19:42:56 +0000 UTCSimilar to Pioneer’s LaserActive CLD-A100 player that played laserdiscs, Sega CDs, and Genesis games, there were Gamecube’s released that could play full sized DVDs. The Panasonic Q comes to mind. Perhaps the VLM was intended for a release like that. Today you can buy fullsize shells and mod your gamecube to accept fullsize dvds. I have memories of watching Xbox 360 version and never knew it was connected to the Nuon players. Thank you.
Alan Ricks
2023-06-06 10:32:00 +0000 UTCI’d already finished being a teenager when the SNES launched, by the time the 360 came out I’d lost all that free time you somehow have when you’re younger so really the Xbox didn’t get much use, even for games.
Techmoan
2023-06-06 09:45:47 +0000 UTCI spent most of my teenage years playing CDs through my xbox 360 and was actually kind of suprised to hear you'd never done the same. You could rip them to the internal HDD too and play them back during games which was the main reason i tried it out, but the first time i heard Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here was with the 360's VLM accompanying it and that's become one of the defining moments of my music listening life.
Sam Parsons
2023-06-06 09:39:16 +0000 UTCI was a videogame journalist back in those days, and back when Nuon was "Project X" the Nuon team gave me a jacket that had, if I recall correctly, a Mario hat lying in a pool of blood (or something similar) embroidered on the back. My dad took it though and wore the jacket for a long time.
Chris Charla
2023-06-06 06:11:31 +0000 UTCThough it doesn't have as many visualizations as the Samsung, I wonder if the Toshiba SD-2300 Nuon player is prone to the same "Load" error?
David Bono
2023-06-06 06:00:32 +0000 UTCAnother wonderful piece of historical tech I'd never heard of. Thanks as always. I love when you poke at the people that might complain about the long intro by making the intro longer 😂😂 makes me chuckle
Marc Grondin
2023-06-05 23:39:06 +0000 UTCI remember playing a much simpler version of this on my PS1, I'll pop a CD in it this weekend for fun.
Dungeoneer
2023-06-05 22:19:27 +0000 UTCNo I didn’t find this Info - but then again I never looked for it. Do you have a link?
Techmoan
2023-06-05 20:54:45 +0000 UTCThanks for this video. I'm sure you found when you were googling but apparently this error is common on the d501 and there is a firmware update that helps sometimes and other times the dvd-m105 (non-nuon player) has the same drive in it and can be bought much more cheaply and caniballized.
Scott Call
2023-06-05 20:40:08 +0000 UTCAn interesting ending. Soon after they first came out I had every intention of buying a Playstation 2 but nowhere had any stock. Instead I bought a brand new Dreamcast for £100, a Philips DVD player for £140 and still had lots of change compared to the price of a PS2> p.s. I'm sure the PSOne had some kind of visualiser. I don't remember if it was built in or something you had to load before the CD though.
Duncan
2023-06-05 19:38:20 +0000 UTCYou’re right - I’ll get it fixed tomorrow, thanks for pointing it out. UPDATE - It's fixed now - thanks.
Techmoan
2023-06-05 17:15:10 +0000 UTCi think the credits got cut off. i only noticed cause i like to vainly sit through them to see my name at the end lol
walt m
2023-06-05 17:13:00 +0000 UTCThat new outro really sets the video apart - excellent suggestion from Andre. Updated video with reference to Nuon vids is well done 👍🏻
Grace Robbins
2023-06-05 15:11:07 +0000 UTCSliding draws…. 👏
Gareth R
2023-06-05 14:18:40 +0000 UTCThis has to be one of your best videos to date. It's got everything, a compelling story, really inteligent content and above all your awesome wit
Rik Kershaw-Moore
2023-06-05 12:57:44 +0000 UTCI loved seeing you genuinely excited. What a world we could have had …
Amro
2023-06-05 07:39:35 +0000 UTCI like this video a lot. Also the twists and the humor But also the "good idea" perspective. It was an interesting good idea but if you don't have the proper funds and way to bring it forward, it's going to tank. I kind of stopped writing patents in my company and making sure first how much will of change / implementation there is
Raul Ramos
2023-06-05 06:46:52 +0000 UTCThis was great. Being able to play a original versions of Tempest and the VLM capabilities on the first machines is a great idea, really no different than playing an original album on a record player. The history is fabulous. Thanks for this!
Richard R.
2023-06-05 04:07:16 +0000 UTCYour comment reminds me of this car dash camera video: https://youtu.be/WAvSId1DD2g And this one: https://youtu.be/nf6ZoPgGAyk
Grace Robbins
2023-06-05 01:47:39 +0000 UTCI don't think this was a wasted exercise at all. It is, after all, totally in keeping with your audio format playback attempts with their attendant repairs and failures. Just because the micro cassette was on the horizon doesn't mean we shouldn't want to have look at the Tefifon. The problem of course with the visual playback devices is that it's not just electromechanical bits and bobs that have to be contended with. Processors and their components are not easily repaired and even less amenable to "good-enough" workarounds. Nonetheless, I would say that I enjoyed learning about Nuon as a visual format as much as I enjoyed any historical audio format video you've made. Now, car cameras on the other hand... hah!
David Fulton
2023-06-05 00:52:15 +0000 UTCThe Apollo 13 of DVD repair attempts! I don't know if I've ever seen a repair video when a second machine was used for trialing the eventual "real" repair. I know I mention this almost every video and this will certainly be the last time for obvious reasons... but I had so much deja vu watching this (or perhaps "flashbacks") recalling my attempt to fix an Xbox 360 that had also been in storage for several years but was otherwise intact. The mechanism for opening the drawer was screw-based rather than belt driven. Ultimately it was revealed that the laser component itself had died and due to MS's obsession with propriety, one cannot simply swap out the component or even the whole drive and have it work.
David Fulton
2023-06-05 00:16:30 +0000 UTCHmmm.... I would have thought the game controller would have some remote control features as well. I know on the Xbox systems when you play a DVD through that drive the controller more or less works for basic features. But then again, your experience seems to require you going through a tedious "quest" that I think Ulysses, Zelda and Luke Skywalker would have bailed on!
David Fulton
2023-06-04 23:49:19 +0000 UTCThanks for persevering with the Nuon despite it fighting you every step of the way. Hopefully your persistence will pay off.
OzRetrocomp
2023-06-04 21:45:16 +0000 UTCYour thoughts about Dreamcast vs PlayStation 2 leads into HD DVD vs BluRay. Microsoft and Sony integrate different video technologies into their game systems. We all know that BluRay won. I wonder how much of a correlation there is in THAT format war affecting the current popularity of PlayStation 5 vs the Microsoft Series S/X?
Kevin Tangney
2023-06-04 20:22:01 +0000 UTCI had a thought that perhaps the EPROMs have lost their programming. They are known to go bad. They could be erased and reprogrammed if you could get the ROM image.
Giles Jones
2023-06-04 18:24:03 +0000 UTCQuite a NUONced video!
antzpantz
2023-06-04 18:01:17 +0000 UTCUnfortunately not - but all through this I was thinking about what would happen if Minter sold a stand-alone VLM in a box with line-in and HDMI out. He’d have at least one customer.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 16:57:00 +0000 UTCSo, I'm not into games consoles but really love that VLM. Do you know if any of these will take an external auto input to drive the light show rather than a CD or MP3 stick. That would really take my parties to the next level.
Rick Parsons
2023-06-04 16:55:03 +0000 UTCIf you’re really interested you can see more here https://www.nuon-dome.com/bedazzledre.html You might need to get your Real media player plug-in up to date though ;-)
Techmoan
2023-06-04 16:30:53 +0000 UTCWith all this talk of "getting a new one", there's a nuon / new one joke in there somewhere.
Big Car
2023-06-04 16:11:23 +0000 UTCI recently took a look at the state of on-screen music visualizers and I wonder where the whole concept has gone. Apple Music has only two visualizers left and they both don look very impressive. I didn't find any alternatives. You would think that with all the huge and gorgeous screens we have nowadays, the would be more on offer.
Marcus Müller
2023-06-04 16:10:13 +0000 UTCLittle disappointed that you couldn’t show us the Bedazzled special features (that movie is a real gem), but you made a Herculean effort!
Chris Horry
2023-06-04 15:52:20 +0000 UTCThis might have made a good April Fool's video. Dummy up all the features and at the end reveal that the machine, in fact, didn't work.
Jon Christensen
2023-06-04 15:24:47 +0000 UTCApparently the Winamp Llama tagline was unconnected to Llamasoft. I guess programmers just like Llamas. As for the views - I think this is one of those videos that will never earn its costs back - but if it gets a quarter of the way there it’d be nice.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 13:23:03 +0000 UTCSo... both Nuon devices have the same failure... and both have... a specialized 'Nuon' chip... Could that possibly be the source of the failure? Question: I wasn't into the different formats, and didn't know anything about Nuon, (thanks for the introduction), but I remember back in the 90s / early 2000s, a Windows XP Media Player that seemed to have the exact same effects. It was called "Winamp." It had a sample audio file that said something like, "Winamp. It kicks the Llama's Ass." (Reference to Llamasoft?) Was this from the same people? I remember using that program to play my mp3s on my computer for quite a few years. Anyway, isn't it amazing how all this technology was interconnected? Hope your views on YouTube recoups the money you put into this adventure.
CrimsonPig808
2023-06-04 12:40:05 +0000 UTCIf a video is guaranteed to leave everyone who views it frustrated it’s this one. But on the plus side anything I didn’t show has already been captured and uploaded somewhere on YouTube. The VLM is probably the only unique thing I could show because it’ll be different every time. I’m just happy to draw a line under it. Anyone want an unused copy of Tempest 3000 - only $998.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 11:33:21 +0000 UTCHere’s a weird connection. There was a photo of Jeff sitting in the Konix Multisystem chair on the cover of the edition of Popular Computing Weekly in which I had written the back page article.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 11:27:57 +0000 UTCJeff Minter certainly hitched his wagon to a few pups. I remember he was involved in the Konix Multisystem, which looked like the best thing in the world compared to my Sinclair Spectrum.
Mark Paterson
2023-06-04 11:25:05 +0000 UTC• This video is trippy - time travel, (un)sliding door trays, fantastic visuals, prerogatives, a shirt with tiny auto-reverse indicators all over it ◀️▶️. • 4:06 🤍 yes indeed • Despite your trials with the machines, I enjoyed the successes. Mumbled 'no!' when the first machine denied you, shouted 'yay!' when the second worked after putting the belt in. When the second died, muttered 'damn it.' • 'Psychedelia and Boingy' caught my eye, and 'Where's Psychedelia?' 'Where's Boingy?' - made me chuckle. We're getting into the deep questions here. • Your diligence is amazing; yet another multi-year saga in efforts to create a comprehensive video about a fringe topic. You're an absolute gem. • nice concluding edit when you opened the XBox tray and took out the DVD that you'd apparently watched, anyway. 😀 Despite the video not turning out like you originally planned, I appreciate what you wanted to achieve in the end product. Take care and enjoy your fine weather. 🤍
Grace Robbins
2023-06-04 11:17:36 +0000 UTCI could try - but I’m really not that interesting a subject to probe, there’s nothing much to say, it’s really all about the stuff
Techmoan
2023-06-04 11:14:27 +0000 UTCHave you thought about doing a Q&A as part of the monthly update? Hopefully because it's Patreons you won't be inundated with stupid questions! If that seems like a lot of extra work going through them, I'd happily help cherry pick 9 or 10 each month.
Stu The Brummie
2023-06-04 10:51:40 +0000 UTCSome of the visualizer effects remind me very much of the Doctor Who opening credits, all they need is the addition of a blue police call box.
David Peaker
2023-06-04 10:10:01 +0000 UTCCD-i seems like a massive success compared to this.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:08:17 +0000 UTCIf it’s just dry joints then perhaps I could attempt a fix one day.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:06:55 +0000 UTCHere you go https://youtu.be/qEPRHvtyjeQ
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:06:14 +0000 UTCHere you go https://youtu.be/lt8utVD7K7o
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:05:55 +0000 UTCMost of these things are hard to find and expensive, so it’s not really feasible unfortunately.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:01:26 +0000 UTCUnfortunately I’m not organised enough to use any kind of organiser. I do put random thoughts into the notes app from time to time though.
Techmoan
2023-06-04 10:00:32 +0000 UTCI know you're not that bothered Mat. But, those DVD players are right in the zone for early lead free solder issues. I'd suspect the power section, but wouldn't be surprised to see some dry joints on the CPU board as well. Nuon didn't pass me by, but at the time, I couldn't afford to buy into it. Then around 2005, they were practically giving DVD players away with boxes of cornflakes, so I almost entirely skipped DVD ownership altogether.
stuart taylor
2023-06-04 09:59:50 +0000 UTCWish we could have seen the special bedazzled features
Kyle Hudgins
2023-06-04 09:23:38 +0000 UTCThanks for the video! Watching now. A nice Sunday treat to avoid all that terrible lovely weather outside! When buying the tech for the videos, have you ever considered simply buying two or even three of the item (assuming availability!) before making the video? After all, it seems more often than not that you start with one, and then buy another when it doesn't work, and then sometimes end-up with a Frankenstein mix of the two.
Keir Thomas-Bryant
2023-06-04 09:23:30 +0000 UTCI've had two. The first one worked as you describe. The more advanced version worked with a Harmony 'Hub', controllable by Amazon Alexa and Google smart speakers as well as a fairly fancy-looking remote control. I stopped using mine because it wouldn't control my current Panasonic TV properly. It's fairly untidy because you have to scatter wired IR transmitters around the Harmony Hub so that they point at all your devices. Haven't Logitech stopped making them?
Stephen Cairns
2023-06-04 09:22:30 +0000 UTCAnd the fact Jeff Minter created Tempest 3000 for the Nuon after having previous created Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar. I know a lot of people who bought Nuons just to play it.
Mark Elliott
2023-06-04 09:20:47 +0000 UTCLove your videos where I learn about something that I did not know even existed. You mentioned not remembering why you wanted the Samsung player. There's an app I use for saving web links and PDFs that helps keeps things organized. Norm from The Gaming Historian mentioned it on his Patreon for how he keeps his sources organized for his videos. The app is free and called Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/) and works on most platforms. They do have a cloud sync that I don't use so can't speak to that, but the app itself works wonders.
Jason Wellband
2023-06-04 09:07:25 +0000 UTCIf you happen again to have a device missing the remote, Logitech Harmony might be a solution. It's an universal remote that don't need the original one to "learn" the codes: you attach it via USB to your computer and if the device is listed on the Harmony Database (the DVD-N501 is listed), you can simply download the functionality into the remote. It might save you the hassle of searching for the original (and perhaps rare) remote.
ENP
2023-06-04 09:05:17 +0000 UTCI would say that I expect gameplay footage of Merlin Racing, but in a truer sense I *demand* gameplay footage of Merlin Racing.
Dusty Staccato
2023-06-04 09:01:07 +0000 UTCNever heard of Nuon... Well, just as a Dutch energy company... Thanks for showing! Sounds to me a bit like the failure that CD-i was.
MrHammond
2023-06-04 08:58:12 +0000 UTCSo far today it’s lasted longer than the Nuon and it’s only 09:30
Techmoan
2023-06-04 08:35:54 +0000 UTCI've only seen one once at a retro game show. There is some interest in this due to its connection to the Atari Jaguar.
Giles Jones
2023-06-04 08:18:38 +0000 UTCIt's a shame all divx discs died and can't be used today that would have been good to see a video on
Dvdmike
2023-06-04 08:18:31 +0000 UTCEnjoy it while it lasts!
Stu The Brummie
2023-06-04 08:18:00 +0000 UTCHave a great weekend
drnickyp
2023-06-04 08:17:29 +0000 UTC
