Playing TG16 or PCE with CD in the UK

[Blammo]

I've been here a while but I haven't yet taken the plunge and bought an actual TG16 or PC Engine (yet!). I live in the UK so I have a slight issue with the best way to get hold of a NEC machine and a CD that will work with it.

For a start, it's probably a bit impracticable to have an NTSC machine that outputs over RF. I have a TV that will take NTSC fine but only through one of its SCART sockets. I severely doubt it will accept it over RF. So that's the PC Engine and the US turbo ruled out. It's also this bad boy ruled out. Now, I could instead go for the PCE+CD (or a CD if one comes up) and the CoreGrafx, which I'm hoping will work just dandy with an RCA-to-SCART converter robbed from my Gamecube, but shee-yit, have you seen the price of those things? Also, I want to be able to play US games and I don't think they make those converters in reverse. It would also be even more £££.

So let's say I went with the easy-peasy numpty option and got a PAL-output Turbo Grafx. I would be able to play US chip games to my heart's content but it would be very difficult to connect it to a CD. For a start, there are no US CD machines on UK Ebay, and I am a bit reluctant to bid on US sales where the seller may not be expecting bids from abroad. In fact, CD machines of any kind are quite rare. If I got a Turbo Grafx of either variety though, I don't hold much hope of connecting it to a Japanese CD add-on. I've heard that you can play Japanese games on a US CD machine with a converter for the system card, but what I want is any CD machine that I can find - availability and price are the key things here - and that I can physically connect to whatever console I get.

Duos are pretty scarce too, and very expensive. I can get an ex-display one for £200 from Telegames, but I don't know if it comes with all the right connections. Also I don't much trust only slightly-disguised installations of OsCommerce or Zencart, especially when there's no info on the product description page.

Or perhaps I should just stick to emulation? 

[Arkhan]

you can play Japanese CD Rom games with just a system card.  US System card lets you play Japanese games no problem... also the converter works in reverse anyway.  It just flips some of the pins, so either way, it works.

try out bidding on ebay.  Usually USA folk ship overseas since its not really too much trouble .  Itll cost you a crapton of money, but hey!

You are having reverse MSX syndrome.  I keep not being able to get one because of PAL/Scart being not so happy in the US...

The SCART could work actually.... you would just need to modify a cable... Im not sure of the exact details.

There is also the RGB mod you can do, which bypasses all of your problems if im not mistaken, and you can do that to a Duo machine, and then get a hucard converter and play everything possible..

[oldskool]

There's a PC Engine Duo -R with 25 or so games on Ebay @ only 160 bucks or so with only 1 day left on Ebay.  Might keep an eye on that deal.  Not sure if that would work in UK, but it may end up being a great deal.

[Black Tiger]

I'd avoid the PAL Turbografx for actually playing games. Many games run slow and there's a good chance the pins of the ext port are different than a North American TG-16 or a PC Engine. You're best bet is to save up and buy a Duo system with an RGB mod.

One tip to get an unmodded system at a decent price is to browse japanese sellers and avoid UK sellers. Last time I saw modded consoles, many were from U.S. sellers.

[sunteam_paul]

You could try Genki Video Games. They are UK based and the chap that runs it is a nice bloke - they have a few Duos http://www.genkivideogames.com/console/japanese_imported_video_games.asp?pagetoshow=section&dept=pcenginehardware although most, if not all are AV cables and not RGB scart. It might be worth dropping them an email, I'm sure they'd be happy to help.
I wouldn't worry too much about playing US cards, you're not missing out on much and US CDs are perfectly payable in a Japanese machine.

[Ravij]

So long as you get one with Composite Video Out you should be ok - most UK TV's these days will happily decode NTSC composite.

If that doesn't work, then you'll have to look at getting an RGB mod.