#31872 - meta-ridley - Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:19 pm
#31873 - meta-ridley - Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:21 pm
So, if this Adapter works for both the DS and GBA, assuming there is ONE adapter for both systems, then it must be possible to access the ARM9 processor from the GBA slot.
#31876 - Wriggler - Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:47 pm
| meta-ridley wrote: |
| So, if this Adapter works for both the DS and GBA, assuming there is ONE adapter for both systems, then it must be possible to access the ARM9 processor from the GBA slot. |
Not necessarily. It might not use any DS features at all, it's most probably just using the GBA functionality of the ARM7... It wouldn't need anything much faster would it?
Sucks that it's Japan-only for now though...
Ben
#31878 - yackom - Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:03 pm
well, it could have enhanced fectures for the ds. we really arnt sure whats capabile with the ds and the gba slot.
but if it works with the sp and mpeg4 and mp3s it must have embeded decoders, so it doesnt matter how fast the machine is as long as it can display video from a buffer off of the cart which the gba obviously can.
edit:
just found..
http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=7280
#31880 - willgonz - Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:29 pm
They would be smart to allow you to use the touch screen to work the functions of the player. Plus they will also have to prevent the DS from sleeping when you close the case. My thought has been that when you close the case in causes a routine to run in a program/game to do functions to sleep or say bye bye or say hello when you open it.
_________________
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All of this is research. You are going to see theories come and go. Things you think can't be done, will be done. But because you are here, you'll be the first to know.
#31882 - dagamer34 - Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:03 pm
| willgonz wrote: |
| They would be smart to allow you to use the touch screen to work the functions of the player. Plus they will also have to prevent the DS from sleeping when you close the case. My thought has been that when you close the case in causes a routine to run in a program/game to do functions to sleep or say bye bye or say hello when you open it. |
Well,they can check to see if it is running on a DS at startup and apply certain extra functions from there.
But I just thought of something. If a GBA/DS can read a SD card, why not also write to it and make it like a REAL memory card for storing additional games saves, downloadable content and such. That would really make a competitive product with the PSP and ensure a good chunk of sales all to itself.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#31884 - willgonz - Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:38 pm
Well Friends,
IGN has all the details and pictures. Including a picture of the insides.
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/573/573438p1.html?fromint=1
_________________
│?ig │
All of this is research. You are going to see theories come and go. Things you think can't be done, will be done. But because you are here, you'll be the first to know.
#31886 - EaDS Milliways - Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:43 pm
Here's a better story about it. Though they're not perfect, they get some things more correct than your generic media sites.
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/573/573438p1.html?fromint=1
Note how it's placed under the gameboy subsite since it's mainly an SP compatible device (not compatible with the regular Advance??) that will play on the DS due to the port being there. I wouldn't imagine that this takes advantage of any DS functions at all.
#31898 - willgonz - Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:35 pm
Funny we were thinking the same thing.
_________________
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All of this is research. You are going to see theories come and go. Things you think can't be done, will be done. But because you are here, you'll be the first to know.
#31905 - EaDS Milliways - Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:27 pm
You thought faster though! :)
I've been doing more looking and it's also posted on Nintendo Japan's Gameboy (not DS) page as well.
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/avp/index.html
While it WOULD be nice to have a dual mode set up so that it would recognize the touch screen for controls when using the DS, this may be pointing to a limitation when running GBA based code.
Last edited by EaDS Milliways on Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
#31906 - willgonz - Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:51 pm
I think it would be better if someone made one other then Nintendo. More like a homebrew one. Would be cool if your could add skins, visualations, custom features, etc.
_________________
│?ig │
All of this is research. You are going to see theories come and go. Things you think can't be done, will be done. But because you are here, you'll be the first to know.
#31923 - dmgice - Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:49 pm
I suppose someone had to do this...
GBA Movie Player VS Play-Chan!
PRICE!
Lik-Sang sells the GBA Movie Player (GBAMP) for $24.95 with no Compact Flash Card. Play-Chan looks to sell for $49.95 and may(or may not) come with an SD card.
Winner: GBA Movie Player.
FEATURES!
GBAMP plays Text files in nearly all languages, NES roms up to 192kb, specially encoded movies, specially encoded music, and it displays photos as well. The Play-Chan plays MPEG4 movies, and MP3s. No word on photo or text support. Although I doubt it.
Winner: GBA Movie Player
FORMAT!
Play-Chan uses SD cards, no one knows if it will support up to 1GB. GBAMP uses Compact Flash up to 4GB. SD cards are cheaper and smaller. Compact Flash cards are sturdier and in higher sizes.
Winner: Tie.
MUSIC!
The GBAMP plays only 8:1 stereo sound in a WAV like format. It makes files huge. Play-Chan plays VBR MP3s with a bitrate of 32 to 320 and allows you to use normal headphones on your GBA SP without an adaptor.
Winner: Play-Chan
BATTERY!
The GBAMP uses the same amount of power as a normal GBA game. The Play-Chan draws more power than a normal GBA game, cutting battery life in favor of better looking video.
Winner: GBA Movie Player
MOVIES VIDEO QUALITY!
The GBAMP software cuts files down to about 32KBPS when converting. The Play-Chan lets it fly at 1+MBPS.
Winner: Play-Chan
MOVIES AUDIO QUALITY!
GBAMP = STEREO. Play-Chan = MONO.
Winner: GBA Movie Player
MOVIES TYPE!
The GBAMP software will convert anything and everything if you have the drivers to support it. It will convert Real Player files, and Quicktime files straight on. It will also do the same thing with VOB files. The Play-Chan appears to only support a specific format.
Winner: GBA Movie Player
STYLE!
GBAMP is in Famicom-ish Red and White. The Play-Chan is in svelte black. If you imported the Famicom GBA, the look of the GBAMP in it is really cool. Yet, the Play-Chan is still smaller, and nice looking.
Winner: Tie
CONCLUSION!
Well, so far it appears to be that the GBA Movie Player is a better buy currently. The Play-Chan isn't on the market yet, so who knows? Both devices are cheap enough for people like me to buy both and love both.
_________________
Evilish!
#31952 - TJ - Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:22 am
| Quote: |
MOVIES AUDIO QUALITY!
GBAMP = STEREO. Play-Chan = MONO. |
Where did you see that the Play-Chan is only in Mono? I have not seen that anywhere (I have not read IGN's report yet though, since it is down).
Last edited by TJ on Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
#31969 - EaDS Milliways - Thu Dec 16, 2004 9:53 am
I believe it must have been the ign link because I did read in my travels that it's mono. Wonder why it's down?
#31980 - Lino - Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:06 pm
It's fantastic....
lol
#32008 - EaDS Milliways - Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:37 pm
New IGN article and they do confirm here that their previous article mentions the mono sound.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/573/573999p1.html
#32028 - Sebbo - Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:47 am
one other good thing about the gba movie player is that you can read an e-book and listen to music at the same time. music wise tho, the play-chan would be better, as it features a sleep mode if there's no button presses for 30 secs and under this the battery can last for 15 hours (thats in the IGN article too btw)
it might be a smart move for nintendo to release a ds card that uses the play-chan and capabilities of the ds so that we can have touchscreen navigation, full 256x192 display on the top screen instead of the 250x160 of the GBA and anything else they see fit, cos the DS is capable of reading from both slots alternatively in a single session (feel the magic for example)
#32029 - Boeboe - Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:12 am
yah, but the problem is: how are you going to fit a memory card inside a DS cardridge? Unless it is possible to access DS functionality trough the gba slot I don't see such a thing happening :/
#32030 - tepples - Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:35 am
| Boeboe wrote: |
| yah, but the problem is: how are you going to fit a memory card inside a DS cardridge? Unless it is possible to access DS functionality trough the gba slot I don't see such a thing happening :/ |
Three words: DS Option Pak.
Four more words: Feel The Magic unlockables.
It's pretty well established that Nintendo DS games can access the GBA slot.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#32032 - TJ - Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:38 am
Yes, you would need a DS card with the actual media player program, and then also a GBA cartridge which the SD card would go into.
I don't know about you, but devoting both media bays of the DS to playing MP3s is something I'm not willing to do.
I was wondering, does anyone know if this plays audio through the actual system speakers?
Logically it would, but I noticed that the media player not only has a headphone jack on it, but I have never seen a picture of the device in use without headphones plugged into it, and the IGN preview only mentions sound quality from the headphones, and never mentions sound from the system itself.
#32062 - tepples - Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:53 pm
I'm guessing that playing sound through the actual system speakers would result in about a 45 dB dynamic range, as the actual system speakers of a GBA only go down to 8-bit.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#32064 - dagamer34 - Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:03 pm
| tepples wrote: |
| I'm guessing that playing sound through the actual system speakers would result in about a 45 dB dynamic range, as the actual system speakers of a GBA only go down to 8-bit. |
That would probably add more drain to the battery and be the reason why battery life would be shorter than yor average game.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#32067 - DiscoStew - Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:30 pm
| TJ wrote: |
| Yes, you would need a DS card with the actual media player program, and then also a GBA cartridge which the SD card would go into |
I'm not quite sure this would be the case. If it works for both, then perhaps there is something more to that GBA port on the DS than meets the eye. Has it been confirmed that the GBA BIOS in the DS is slightly different that the actual GBA BIOS in a GBA? And hasn't it been confirmed that there will be GBA games that are capable of having "touch-screen" based mini-games or something of the nature when the GBA game is inserted into a DS? I thought I read something about that somewhere, but I don't remember.
Anyways, I feel we still don't know enough of the DS to come to some of the conclusions we've already made. If Nintendo (since they know the DS hardware better than anyone else, since they made it) can get DS functionality from just a GBA cart, then when we figure out the DS further, we can do the same.
_________________
DS - It's all about DiscoStew
#32074 - TJ - Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:26 pm
| DiscoStew wrote: |
| TJ wrote: | | Yes, you would need a DS card with the actual media player program, and then also a GBA cartridge which the SD card would go into |
I'm not quite sure this would be the case. If it works for both, then perhaps there is something more to that GBA port on the DS than meets the eye. Has it been confirmed that the GBA BIOS in the DS is slightly different that the actual GBA BIOS in a GBA? And hasn't it been confirmed that there will be GBA games that are capable of having "touch-screen" based mini-games or something of the nature when the GBA game is inserted into a DS? I thought I read something about that somewhere, but I don't remember.
Anyways, I feel we still don't know enough of the DS to come to some of the conclusions we've already made. If Nintendo (since they know the DS hardware better than anyone else, since they made it) can get DS functionality from just a GBA cart, then when we figure out the DS further, we can do the same. |
No, GBA games can't use any of the DS's advanced features, Nintendo said that long ago. DS games can access the GBA slot though.
This media player has no enhanced abilities when inserted in the DS. The DS handles it like any other GBA game.
#32119 - dagamer34 - Sat Dec 18, 2004 6:09 am
| TJ wrote: |
| DiscoStew wrote: | | TJ wrote: | | Yes, you would need a DS card with the actual media player program, and then also a GBA cartridge which the SD card would go into |
I'm not quite sure this would be the case. If it works for both, then perhaps there is something more to that GBA port on the DS than meets the eye. Has it been confirmed that the GBA BIOS in the DS is slightly different that the actual GBA BIOS in a GBA? And hasn't it been confirmed that there will be GBA games that are capable of having "touch-screen" based mini-games or something of the nature when the GBA game is inserted into a DS? I thought I read something about that somewhere, but I don't remember.
Anyways, I feel we still don't know enough of the DS to come to some of the conclusions we've already made. If Nintendo (since they know the DS hardware better than anyone else, since they made it) can get DS functionality from just a GBA cart, then when we figure out the DS further, we can do the same. |
No, GBA games can't use any of the DS's advanced features, Nintendo said that long ago. DS games can access the GBA slot though.
This media player has no enhanced abilities when inserted in the DS. The DS handles it like any other GBA game. |
It probably might adjust to the brightness of the screen due to the one bit difference in the BIOS, but nothing more...
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#32137 - hartleyshc - Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:14 am
| tepples wrote: |
Three words: DS Option Pak.
Four more words: Feel The Magic unlockables.
It's pretty well established that Nintendo DS games can access the GBA slot. |
does anyone know what the ds option pak actually is? ive only seen it appear after a bad flash on my flash card.
ftm just checks the headers of the gba game, i believe someone on this very forum has stated how you can trick the game.
just seems to me the ds has very limited access to the content of the gba slot.
_________________
[ds.hack][/ds.hack]
#32138 - tepples - Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:25 am
| hartleyshc wrote: |
| ftm just checks the headers of the gba game, i believe someone on this very forum has stated how you can trick the game. |
It'd be much slower if it MD5'd the whole cart. In addition, Sega is known for security holes *cough*dreamcast booting cd-r w/o modchip*cough*PSO for GameCube*cough*.
| Quote: |
| just seems to me the ds has very limited access to the content of the gba slot. |
Not necessarily.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#32150 - hartleyshc - Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:28 pm
| tepples wrote: |
It'd be much slower if it MD5'd the whole cart. In addition, Sega is known for security holes *cough*dreamcast booting cd-r w/o modchip*cough*PSO for GameCube*cough*. |
i always thought the only way to load homebrew on the gc because of sega was funny. it must be because of the old sonic/mario wars. j/k
very true. but so far i havent seen any other proof that they can.
also does anyone know if this is going to replace the tv tuner that supposedly nintendo is making? from what ive read about the tv tuner, there will be 2 of them *the pictures i saw of the DS tuner looked to be specifically molded to fit the ds* again it would be very unwise of nintendo to release a tv tuner for DS that doesnt even take up the whole screen. *if* it is a specially made tuner for ds, and *if* it takes up the whole screen, then theres two ways of making that happen.
1) ds card, and the tuner works as a "ds option pak"
2) it actually is possible to get full screen on the ds through the gba port.
again if the answer is 2, we would be seeing this technology with the media player. i guess it also depends on how nintendo will market this product, a gba expansion that just happens to be compatible with ds?
it will be nice to see what comes of all of this.
_________________
[ds.hack][/ds.hack]
#32186 - netdroid9 - Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:10 am
Actually, it's more likly to plug into the DS port, not the GBA port. It won't need to use the GBA port to make room for a DS game if it's a TV tuner now will it?
#32210 - Wriggler - Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:58 am
| netdroid9 wrote: |
| Actually, it's more likly to plug into the DS port, not the GBA port. It won't need to use the GBA port to make room for a DS game if it's a TV tuner now will it? |
But then how would it remain backward compatible with the GBA SP? This is a GBA product that happens to work with the DS, not the other way around...
Ben
#32214 - netdroid9 - Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:54 pm
I meant to have said that if it is designed for the DS, it's likly to plug into the DS port, not the GBA port. It won't need to use the GBA port to make room for a DS game if it's a TV tuner now will it? And it'd make more sense than for nintendo to create 'secret' bios functions to get fullscreen.
#32217 - Zlodo - Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:03 pm
Given the respective size of the GBA market and the DS market, I don't think they really care if it doesn't really fit the whole DS screen. I think it's unlikely that it's designed specifically for the DS.
#32220 - hartleyshc - Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:54 pm
i cant find the picture on ign, only the article.
but the tv tuner is the same size as the base of the ds, the same color as the silver ds, and you can see that it enters the gba slot, and not the ds slot.
if it wasnt for the fact that the system was molded for the ds, i wouldnt have any of these speculations at all.
_________________
[ds.hack][/ds.hack]
#32228 - tepples - Sun Dec 19, 2004 6:50 pm
I think the bandwidth between the system and the GBA slot may be greater than the bandwidth between the system and the DS slot. If they made it DS specific, they'd probably make it come with a DS boot card for the DS slot but still put the tuner in an Option Pak for the GBA slot.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#32393 - PhoenixSoft - Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:14 am
Just saw this on Lik-Sang's preorder page:
| Quote: |
Maximum resolution NDS: 256 x 192 pixels
Maximum resolution GBA: 240 x 160 pixels |
Unless Lik-Sang is wrong, the NDS features ARE accessible from the GBA slot!!!
http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=246&products_id=6239&
#32394 - Wriggler - Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:23 am
Wow! *passes out* This is cool!
Ben
#32404 - netdroid9 - Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:45 am
The BIOS is EXACTLY the same. I doubt it would work *very* much. I can't go there right now though (Takes more than 2 seconds to load over DSL, I'll get to it later. :P)
#32420 - Abscissa - Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:23 pm
| netdroid9 wrote: |
| The BIOS is EXACTLY the same. I doubt it would work *very* much. I can't go there right now though (Takes more than 2 seconds to load over DSL, I'll get to it later. :P) |
I don't see why the BIOS would need to be different. All you'd need is some DS-specific registers mapped to memory addresses that were unused in the GBA (which is almost certainly the case). Then you could check that one bit in the BIOS that did get changed to determine if those DS-specific registers/memory addresses are valid. Pretty much anything you can do on the GBA you can do without ever touching the BIOS, the only exceptions are interrupts, getting into low-power modes and perhaps some boot-up code. But none of those would need to be changed in order to allow access to extra memory-mapped registers.
I think the only issues would be if the ARM7 is just not connected to the DS-specific stuff, if it's intentionally blocked from DS-specific stuff, or if the DS-stuff is just not activated in GBA-cart mode.
#32423 - dagamer34 - Wed Dec 22, 2004 5:17 pm
| Abscissa wrote: |
| netdroid9 wrote: | | The BIOS is EXACTLY the same. I doubt it would work *very* much. I can't go there right now though (Takes more than 2 seconds to load over DSL, I'll get to it later. :P) |
I don't see why the BIOS would need to be different. All you'd need is some DS-specific registers mapped to memory addresses that were unused in the GBA (which is almost certainly the case). Then you could check that one bit in the BIOS that did get changed to determine if those DS-specific registers/memory addresses are valid. Pretty much anything you can do on the GBA you can do without ever touching the BIOS, the only exceptions are interrupts, getting into low-power modes and perhaps some boot-up code. But none of those would need to be changed in order to allow access to extra memory-mapped registers.
I think the only issues would be if the ARM7 is just not connected to the DS-specific stuff, if it's intentionally blocked from DS-specific stuff, or if the DS-stuff is just not activated in GBA-cart mode. |
Or simply have a register type key sequence much like what GBA games do to detect the presence of a GB Player.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#33475 - willgonz - Tue Jan 04, 2005 1:43 am
How can you play games with the GBA Movie Player from lik-sang? I read there was a 192kb limitation. Has anyone written an app that gets around this?
_________________
│?ig │
All of this is research. You are going to see theories come and go. Things you think can't be done, will be done. But because you are here, you'll be the first to know.
#33601 - Rollo - Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:22 pm
uhhhh.........who the hell would wanna watch OTA TV.....on their DS.
#33602 - tepples - Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:58 pm
| willgonz wrote: |
| How can you play games with the GBA Movie Player from lik-sang? I read there was a 192kb limitation. |
Balloon Fight is 24 KiB. Super Mario Bros. is 40 KiB. Pipe Dream is 64 KiB. Dragon Warrior is 80 KiB. Castlevania, Contra, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid are 128 KiB each. Many homebrew NES games and demos are <= 192 KiB in size as well.
Even if probably pirated classic NES games aren't your style, if you hack the GBA Movie Player's pocketnes.gba driver the right way, you can get it to load GBA multiboots rather than NES games, giving you things such as TOD.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#33604 - Rollo - Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:24 am
edit: never mind! ....i should have learned to use the search button by now.