3DO ZONE Forums

Ok Brain Dead 13 came out on many platforms but I am trying to find out which one was the most superior version. We can probably cut out the Saturn, PS1 and MS-DOS versions right off the bat but that still leaves us with 3DO Jaguar and CD-i (put in order of their release).

So does anyone know of the differences or do I have to make, umm comparative cds for experimental purposes only?

My money would be on CD-i! It's certainly the best I've played.

3do, definitely.

The CD-i port is on the CD-i so it is inherently worse.

bonefish wrote:The CD-i port is on the CD-i so it is inherently worse.

OOOOOH!

Actually my original thought was CD-i and here's my reason, CD-i can output 384x280, 768x280 & 768x560 and although I'm not sure of the resolution on mpg video in games the CD-i can (with the video card installed) display full-screen 30 fps video in 16.7 million colors. BUT isn't the CD-i version one disc? I know 3DO used two.

If there was one thing the CD-i could do was output really great video. Very little pixelation on red.

I've never played any versions. Why are the Saturn, PS1, and DOS versions automatically out?

Because they will be inferior and computers doesn't count as consoles.

That doesn't answer my question! Why are the PS1 and Saturn versions inferior?

Every PS1 port is poorly done compared to the 3DO versions and Saturn cannot produce the video quality to compete with the others.

Trust me I wish it wasn't true, I really like the Saturn but she just doesn't do video that well.

I thought the Saturn was a boy?

Anyway, what sort of video out did 3DO achieve? CD-i was 768 by 560 in PAL mode. I'll extract an image from the disc and run it through a video program to see what we got on the CD-i.

From the 3DO FAQ v5.5 under SECTION 3 - Hardware, Peripherals, and Specifications

[3.13] What is the resolution of the 3DO system?

A: The resolution displayed on screen is 640x480. However, the 3DO has an
internal resolution of 320x240 or 320x480, with each pixel being either 24-bits
or 16-bits. The 16-bit mode is almost always used for animations, while the
24-bit mode is used mostly for still pictures. There are no other resolutions
available. The internal resolution is interpolated into an anti-aliased
640x480 pixel display. The interpolation can be turned on and off via
software.

Okay here is an original screen shot taken directly from the MPEG feed off of the disc with no compression of the image.



So the CD-i hasn't messed with the resolution to make it fit a TV screen this is simply the source material from the CD.

Can you use a similar technique to rip the 3DO content?

Here is one to match, shot taken from FreeDO beta v1.8.



Why is your image 312x224? Did you crop out the black from 384x280 or was it saved that way? If cropped than a side by side would look like this:

Hmmm some funny business, let me rework the image. Been a while since I sliced and diced MPEG!

Okay, used a professional program this time.



This is the original feed as it appears, not cropped! I'm surprised the image looks alot sharper on the 3DO whilst the CD-i is very dull.

OK so this image is a side by side of two CDi's and the 3DO.

I like the 3DO better. So did the 3DO process this as MPEG across 2 discs?

Yes

3DO is more vivid, but the background gradient isn't as smooth. There are obvious blue bands. Not sure which I like better -- leaning toward 3DO, though.

Can you elude to the total size of the MPEG across both discs?

The CD-i is up to maximum capacity, just shy of the 650MB limit. In retrospect it's not bad going quality for only 1 CD.

There is no sure way for me to tell as there are many files that make up all of the video and some files may or may not be video, but if I had to make an educated guess I would say 877MB total for all the video on the discs. 524MB for Disc 1 and 353MB for Disc 2.

Mobius wrote:That doesn't answer my question! Why are the PS1 and Saturn versions inferior?

I've never played the ps1 port, but the Saturn version was dark & pixelated heavy! I was quite surprised how much sharper the 3DO version was.


Interesting thread, I like the comparisons.

Hold on! I think the emulator uses a 4:3 ratio, would I be correct?

If that's the case I'd need to pass the stream through 4:3 to give an accurate apples to apples comparison to your shot.

Incidentally what year was Brain Dead 13 out on the 3DO?

Devin wrote:Hold on! I think the emulator uses a 4:3 ratio, would I be correct?

Yes

Devin wrote:Incidentally what year was Brain Dead 13 out on the 3DO?

December 15th of 1995, all other consoles got it in '96.

Devin wrote:I like the 3DO better. So did the 3DO process this as MPEG across 2 discs?

Erm... did the 3DO use MPEG for Brain Dead 13? I thought it used a different codec for video in games, considering you need the VCD adapter to play VCDs?

Technically it's still mpeg, mpeg is not a fixed video compression scheme. Certain sets of algorithms get used so it doesn't need a hardware decoder, it actually is being done through software. Think of it like the difference between running PowerDVD on your computer and having an actual decoder card. AND because it has it's own sets of algorithms it could be compared to DualDisc audio, it still has CD audio on the disc but because it doesn't adhere to red book standards (because of physical distance) it's not officially "Compact Disc Digital Audio" but it's still the same thing.