The curse of the Nuon

My attempt to make a video about the Nuon interactive DVD player games console multimedia device appears to have been cursed. However in this Nuon/off/on-again video I get fairly close to demonstrating this footnote in gaming history.
00:00 Start
04:10 Samsung DVD-N501
06:38 Three months later
08:33 Nuon a very brief history
11:38 Samsung DVD-N501 II
17:55 Remotes
18:36 VLM-2
20:27 The curse strikes again
22:08 Tempest 4K ticked off
22:32 Neon
26:14 FAQ? - GO TO NUON DOME
26:45 Nuon killed the Dreamcast?
30:10 VLM-2 on Nuon Demo
LINKS below:
WEBPAGES:
Nuon Dome: www.nuon-dome.com
You will find everything Nuon on here - for example here's a page about the Bedazzled DVD www.nuon-dome.com/bedazzledre...
Also...
Ars Technica Article: arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/0...
A fans history: arcryphongames.wordpress.com/...
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuon_(D...)
Llamasoft Lightsynths: www.minotaurproject.co.uk/ligh...
Tempest 4000: atari.com/products/tempest-4000
KZbin VIDEOS
Tempest 3000 • Tempest 3000 on the NU...
Merlin Racing • 480p hd rgb merlin rac...
Freefall 3050 AD • 480p hd rgb freefall 3...
Bedazzled DVD Nuon enhanced menus • Bedazzled (Endiabrado)...
Buckaroo Banzai DVD Nuon enhanced features • Video
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Regularly asked question
Q) Why are there comments from days ago when this video has just gone live today?
A) Patrons / techmoan usually have early access to videos. I'll show the first version of a video on Patreon and often the feedback I get results in a video going through further revisions to improve it. e.g. Fix audio issues, clarify points, add extra footage or cut extraneous things out. The video that goes live on youtube is the final version. If you want to see the videos early and before any adverts are added, you can sign up to Patreon here: / techmoan

[@der.Schtefan]

Please don't apologise for the defining characteristics of your channel. We subscribed to it because of them. Ignore the trolls.

[@brundle_fly_3895]

Genuinely

[@kamsam6914]

Yes there is absolutely no reason to apologize

[@screensavinggamer9724]

Exactly

[@pasha12343]

Well said 👍🙂

[@Barten0071]

Who troll by teling something is to long? Stop caling peoples with other opinion trolls.

[@fuzzix]

This is the Platonic ideal of a Techmoan episode. Obscure tech, endless difficulties in getting the bloody thing working, great stories - cheers!

[@dfsdh432v9]

sadly from my experience, anything from samsung and LG is not worth repairing. most components in them won't last 5 years, fix one thing other thing fail with in a month.

[@volvo09]

What a struggle! Years in the making, and both machines take a piss... Haha

[@PooopBro420]

@@dfsdh432v9 you think that's bad try *literally any electronic device made in the last 10 years* . standards are so much lower from the guys at the top of the electronics market. planned obsolescence

[@RicardoCristofRemmertFontes]

Yes!

[@TextileGeorge]

The only thing that could have made it better is if the co sole and its controller were very aesthetic like some of the boomboxes or cassette players hes done videos on

[@danhorton6182]

Those devices were made during the capacitor plague. I’d put money on many of the capacitors being in a state of failure.

[@Jdbye]

Yeah. When the first unit didn't boot up my first thought was failed capacitors and when the second one failed in the same way after being powered off after a short time of use, it reinforced that thought. I remember having a GPU with blown capacitors, I'm pretty sure I heard a capacitor blow in the middle of the night but I had a working (glitchy) display in the morning until power cycling it, after which it wouldn't display anything, so complete failure after a power cycle is consistent with my own experience with blown capacitors.

[@SUPRAMIKE18]

I have a friend who buys cheap dead game consoles off eBay and almost every one from that era he doubles his profit after about $5 worth of capacitors and a bit of soldering.

[@retroarcadefan]

I would be betting that same line, try some cheap cap replacements to get it working again.

[@soundspark]

@@Jdbye Perhaps it was able to say LOAD because it gets stuck trying to bring up the video, but the power is stable enough to run the bootup.

[@JC.SpdRcr5]

Agreed. Look into replacing the capacitors. In 2003 I bought a Sony XBR 800 40" flat screen TUBE TV. It died 3.5 years later. Nearly every capacitor was leaking brown fluid. My next TV, 2006, was another victim of this capacitor plague. The TV (different brand) died 3 years later. I replace those capacitors myself for $27 and about 2 hours of work. The TV lasted for another 8 years. The bad capacitor formula spread from China to Taiwan making almost every brand of electronic device made from 1999 to 2007 nonfunctional in just a few short years or less.

[@MarcosCodas]

Adding DVD playback to the PS2 was a genius move and 100% made it the best-selling console of all time. And it was because of Nuon. Wow.

[@EricLS]

100% Like the PS3, a LOT of younger peoples DVD and Blu-Ray players were those consoles

[@BrophyMichael]

12:47 - Mat casually breaks out the first OLED screen ever made, the Sony XEL-1, to troubleshoot a defunct technology on a broken DVD player. Lmao I damn well love this channel so much

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Sony played one of the smartest corporate moves of *all time* putting a DVD player in the PS2

[@zeldaglitchman]

And Sony didn't make it it require a separate remote accessory, unlike the original Xbox, what a stupid decision from Microsoft.

[@joeynebulous816]

@@zeldaglitchman The reason Xbox had to have the remote sensor plugged in was because of licensing. The Dolby software was present on the Xbox but had to be activated by the dongle. So when you bought the remote kit, you also bought the Dolby license. It was Microsofts way of saving a bit of money on production, nowadays it'd just be a purchase in their online store but it was nice they shipped a remote control for it back then

[@zeldaglitchman]

@@joeynebulous816 Yeah but for their main competition it worked right out of the box. No accessories, no extra licenses, no bullshit.

[@brick6347]

Yup. The PS2 was my first dvd player... Well, ok, I had one in my PC but it just didn't have the oomph to play films in anything but PowerPoint mode.

[@ThommyofThenn]

I remember a LOT of people I knew going with Sony specifically for the dvd player. Although plenty got the Xbox too just for Halo

[@dingdongbells3314]

While watching the visualizations felt, I vaguely nostalgic and was like "it really reminds me of the one the xbox 360 used to have" and sure enough.... was not expecting that rather obscure twist. I had the rare luxury of my parents having a whole stereo setup which they had also connected the 360 to, and that naturally funneled me towards trying cds in it, and discovering those wild visualizations

[@davidbutler5612]

It's interesting that you mention the Nuon logo on the back of the Bedazzled DVD. There may be another layer to that story. I cannot remember where I read this, but apparently some Blu-ray releases of Bedazzled down the line kept the Nuon logo on the back. Of course, the logo about this special DVD technology meant absolutely nothing on a Blu-ray case. Technically, it was probably illegal to even have that logo on the back after the deal with VM Labs was long over with. However, it raises the idea that the logo was so insignificant that the people who designed and printed the Blu-ray box for Bedazzled didn't even notice.

[@marsilies]

They probably thought Nuon was a production company involved with the making of the movie. It's on the same line as the logos for 20th Century Fox, New Regency Productions, and Kirch Group (labeled Kirsch Media on the back of the DVD case).

[@sh4dowchas3r]

Hearing "Jeff Minter" and "Llamasoft" is such a massive nostalgia hit. Given "Gridrunner" and "Attack of the mutant camels".

[@jeffredd9965]

i was just about to type this looks like an expensive winamp.

[@davidemelia6296]

Llamatron was an unironically great game :)

[@parakart]

His Trip-a-Tron on the Atari ST was great

[@davidblake1663]

Jeff Minter was my boyhood hero. Don't forget Hovver Bovver. Some of his games were written in Basic. You could load the tape and see the code! Imagine the thrill!

[@paullestrange]

Gridrunner...the best VIC20 game.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Thanks for the mention! Repairing a NUON is like trying to nail jello to the wall and hoping it sticks. Mine is temperamental at best. Your video reminded me I still have unaired episodes on Iron Soldier 3 and Merlin's Racing. Glad to see someone else remembers NUON...and that I am not the only one who struggles with the hardware

[@Wallyworld30]

I remember being excited for NUON when it was first talked about in EGM as I owned a Jaguar and loved Tempest. I waited to see what other games would be available and really nothing else came along that grabbed my attention. In hindsight I made the right move passing on NUON.

[@arzak1]

I unfortunately have the same "stuck on load" issue with my European N-505 😫

[@edherdman9973]

I've been fascinated by Freefall (I usually think "G Police") and IS3. Both are available for more reliably available platforms so I could never quite get around to pulling the trigger on one of these...maybe someday.

[@Gary85Paul]

No other technology KZbinr would spend four years collecting everything they need to make a video! Hats off to you 😊

[@TomMannCenturia]

This was the kind of content that has made me watch dozens of hours worth of Techmoan videos. Absolutely love the style, bit of a tale, bit of information, bit of a giggle. A great way to spend a few minutes every week now, cheers!

[@exidy-yt]

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[@leehawk7068]

Totally agree this chap really does make some good videos and very informative ones at that and watching many kf his videos has shown things that existed in my younger days that I never even knew existed or never even seen especially when it comes to video formats such as the laser disk I heard kf it but never seen one or even it's players and a few other things And his minidisk videos are great as well I absolutely loved the minidisk when I got mine in 2002 until some. Bastard stolen it then they stopped selling them to never be seen again what makes me laugh is I cannot find one for sale at a reasonable price yet this chap gets hundreds of them in a single shipping haha It's quite hard to find minidisk in this country as I don't think they ever existed here (( yes no longer live in UK am abroad now )) But yep he certainly makes his videos well worth the watch and I hope to see a lot more kf his vids

[@panman1964]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Winamp during your discourse about other VLM applications. It really whips the llama's ass!

[@omegasalmonfish]

Was that seemingly random joke actually a dig at this visualizer (made by llamasoft) all along? 🤯

[@panman1964]

@@omegasalmonfish I strongly suspect it was :)

[@elgonzo7239]

Ah yes. Winamp with Geiss. The champ...

[@I.____.....__...__]

@@panman1964 I don't think it was; Winamp used a llama as its logo (it's still right there in the about-dialog in the version that came out last year). It would be weird to copy the logo/mascot of the competition. I think rather, Winamp was made by Llamasoft or some portion thereof. 🤔

[@niceride]

Llama at 20:10

[@abbanon]

This thing is like a backwards or reverse Playstation 2. Instead of a gaming console that could run DVDs, this is a DVD player that could run games. Amazing.

[@8bitwiz_]

Given that it inspired Ken Kutaragi to put a DVD player into the PS2, I think it's the other way around. Nuon was the original, and PS2 turned it around.

[@nickwallette6201]

The "integrated home entertainment center" idea is definitely not new, but the PS2 was about the closest thing we ever got to a commercially successful integration of audio, video, and video games. And companies are _still trying._ The PC Engine and PS1 (for example) could play audio CDs, but it didn't really turn them into a common home CD audio player. It was at best a cherry on top for most people. (Granted, the early gen PS1 has cult status as an audio CD player for a niche group of audiophile unicorn chasers, but I consider that a fluke.) There were countless failed integration-specific projects, like the 3DO, that never really went anywhere. Pretty much every dedicated media streamer has since tried to be the all-in-one entertainment device. E.g., Fire TV and Apple TV both have an "arcade" component -- that nobody cares about. At all. And there were lots of DIY attempts... Xbox Media Center probably being the most notable. And I suspect that inspired Microsoft to launch Windows Media Center -- which was nowhere near as successful. (Of course.) So, if there is anything in the history of home consumer electronics that had the crossover impact of the PS2, I can't think of it. Peanut gallery...?

[@eekee6034]

I thought it was likely inspired by CD-i. (I recall a wonderfully fun tiny racing game on CD-i.) CD-i in turn is a natural product of the tail end of the era where computer hardware was so limited, hardware and software developers were always trying to find new tricks to get more out of it. That era is what I find amazing. :)

[@matttintoshplus5369]

Funny you should mention that. After having done some repairs on ps2's, I thought that the disc drives looked very similar, especially the mechanics behind the tray opening and closing

[@GamesFromSpace]

It's also the reverse PS2 in that it's not fun.

[@Dizarrey]

The reminder of the Xbox 360 having a visualizer brought back some good memories. You mentioned not knowing it could play cds, but there was actually an additional feature as well where you could store the songs from your cds on the console and play music while you played your games. This feature didn't play nicely with most games as I recall, but in the original Saint's Row your character had an MP3 player you could use to listen to your stored music as you walked or drove around the world! I recall being disappointed that no other games I played shared that very cool functionality. As a side note, the original Xbox had similar features as well. It didn't have a visualizer, but you could listen to and store music on the console and it also had exactly one game I know of that allowed you to play your stored music in game, that being the snowboarding game Amped. Thanks for the great video and the reminder of good times.

[@rolfo87]

Matt, these are YOUR videos. Don’t ever apologize for doing your thing. We love your style!

[@steubens7]

death after plugging in the controller is a bit sus. there was a fuse on the ps1 near the controller ports that would blow and cause the same type of failure. it cut the power off to the memory cards and some other stuff

[@SonicBoone56]

Same with the Dreamcast.

[@dcflake5645]

When Techmoan dies his headstone will read 'A bit unlucky'

[@LasseGreiner]

Hopefully, there is some time of for that to happen! 😮

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

Or it will just say "LOAD."

[@SonicBoone56]

"Needed some new belts."

[@LagrangePoint0]

Man, this joke is so dark it stole my bike.

[@Hazdazos]

These videos are probably frustrating to made, but honestly this is what makes them enjoyable to watch because we've all been in a frustrating situation with old tech.

[@meowmocha12]

I once watched him try to repair an old radio that clearly wasn't made with repairs in mind. It was extremely fiddly, and he was wondering how he was going to get it back together. "I'm really starting to get cheesed off." he said in his calm British way. If it had been me, I would have lost my mind and chucked the thing into orbit long before that point. As an added bonus, after all that work, he wasn't able to fix the radio. I guess both these videos are an example of Murphy's Law. If something can go wrong...

[@Rydbjerg]

When seeing the VLM graphics it reminded me of the Winamp music player for the PC that I used to play MP3s, MODs and S3Ms off. It also had a similar graphical lightshow in its "visualisation tab". Thanks for reminding me of that. I got all nostalgic about this lovely piece of software. :)

[@IIIDSIII]

Llamasoft (nuon) = "kicks the llama:s ass" (Winamp) ...

[@davidjwidmann]

I like the long-winded videos that don't always end the way we might expect. Anyone can drone on about some random piece of tech. It's the stories of how these items affect our lives that make them special.

[@davidwilliams5497]

I wonder how many people got a nuon-capable dvd player or disc over the years and never had any idea.

[@Spewa-em8cm]

My grandparents actually had this exact DVD player when I was a kid and we always wondered what the Nuon logo on the front meant.

[@CptJistuce]

You know, my parents have a copy of Bedazzled, and I only just learned it was Nuon-enhanced, so that's at least one "never knew" disk.

[@Jdbye]

The majority of people who own a Nuon probably had no idea what a Nuon was, since they didn't market it and barely even mentioned the name Nuon. There was nothing in the software or on the remote to suggest it was a game console either. It's like the manufacturers didn't care about the Nuon features and didn't want it to succeed as a game console, they just wanted to sell DVD players. Which makes sense, considering the type of companies that were selling these, I suppose.

[@LordArikado]

There actually weren't all that many Nuon-enhanced DVDs during the technology's lifetime. In fact, only four made it to market, and none of them were must-have titles. If you want the complete list, they were the 2000 remake of Bedazzled, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Dr. Dolittle 2, and the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes. I think that goes to show that even movie studios didn't have any faith in the Nuon.

[@brianwalker7771]

Due to the age of the players and the fact they were made during the period so lovingly dubbed the "Capacitor Plague" I would suggest checking the capacitors and of course the solder joints. Even IF the caps are fine I am sure you can find someone who could probably figure out what component is acting up.

[@LennyNero2019]

I had a similar kind of visualizer on my 1994 Panasonic 3DO console - my mother would always listen to CDs on it because she liked the animation! I've heard of NUon a little, but instantly forgot about it until now, so this was interesting.

[@ashleycox432]

A lot of Samsung DVD players from that era suffered dry joints and power supply failures. I wonder if yours are that simple? I've fixed a few where components on the 5V rails had cracked joints or failed entirely as they tend to run hot and are insufficiently cooled. Interesting tech, never knew Nuon existed.

[@chaos.corner]

Yeah, when the second followed the first, my first thought was power. It may actually be in a bootloop. I had a Philips did that. New caps fixed it.

[@zawacchi]

Mat, I'm constantly blown away by your impeccable knowledge regarding consumer electronics. I honestly would never have guessed that you had played on the Xbox 360 (pardon my ignorance, I just had wrongly assumed that you weren't in the target age group and had more interest in different genres of devices). Hats off to you my friend, you've taught me more about electronics, repair/restorations and just the general enthusiasm for consumer electronics over the past six months than my entire 4 years trying to obtain a university degree in a similar field. You've successfully made me a lifelong fan. Thank you for your amazingly entertaining and educational content. Fantasic video, as always.

[@LagrangePoint0]

In one of the videos from his first (now abandoned) channel, the consoles he owned can be seen, I believe he owned every console of that generation, Matt was on his mid 30's, i think

[@chaos.corner]

Matt's from the generation that grew up with progenitors of things like the XBox. It's more common than you'd think.

[@SuperArgentun]

@@LagrangePoint0 cual es el nombre del canal ???

[@walllable]

@@LagrangePoint0 What's the name of the channel?

[@flashbackfrank8781]

Meanwhile I'm just constantly blown 🤤

[@cactusmanbwl1990]

Wow, seeing Neon playing on the 360 activated a core memory I had totally forgotten!!

[@pokehybridtrainer]

You have the patience of a saint to get this video out with all the work you put on it. Most folks would have scrapped it, so props to you with all of this.

[@richclips]

I had a couple of that generation of Samsung players in the early 2000's and they were bad at the time, unreliable and they had high failure rates, myself and several friends bought the Samsung players, not Nuon variants, but anyway they all failed. They were considered as affordable at the time, but we all regretted buying them. Nice to see some output from one after all these years :) funny really that all my old pioneer laserdisc players and dvd players from that time are fine, as too are my old Sony machines. Thanks Matt, great video

[@ZeusTheTornado]

I have a Samsung CD player from 1990, incredibly cheap and the display has gone insane, showing 9 hours 89 minutes playtime and etc

[@Blackadder75]

'all my ... laserdisc players ' etc etc . were you very rich to have multiple players of multiple systems? If so, why at the same time buy low end samsungs? Or did you colect all those other players in later years, as a hobby?

[@der.Schtefan]

Samsung used to have a very bad rep in general. I remember the first Galaxy phone, awful. Now everything I own is Samsung. Best stuff!

[@rich_edwards79]

Yes, much like other Korean companies (Kia and Hyundai), Samsung have definitely upped their quality in the last few years. They're still not on a par with top Japanese brands like Sony or Panasonic, but they're not LG (AKA Landfill Garbage) anymore either.

[@vincei4252]

It's funny, all my Sony players of that vintage failed. So much so that I started avoided buying Sony players like the plague. Could have been something to do with moving from the UK to the US in the late 90's. Maybe the US models were just worse ?

[@catlover10192]

The VLM 2 footage really brings me back to seemingly hours watching the visualizers in an old version of Windows Media Player as a kid. Must've been in the Vista and Windows 7 days. I remember the effects being very similar to what you showed of VLM 2 and definitely not as fancy as Neon.

[@BloopTube]

Man I used love that and the I've newgrounds had back in the day

[@stevenemert837]

About to say the same thing. Wish Microsoft hadn't removed them.

[@Lucien86]

@@stevenemert837 Everything Windows falling to pieces.. Microsoft programmers can't even count up to ten anymore.. :(

[@RCAvhstape]

Windows XP (still the best version of Windows) had great visualizations in Media Player. No idea why they would remove them, but MS is gonna MS.

[@matthew1472]

Looks like Winamp’s Visualisations to me

[@McAster99]

An entire "gaming" system I knew nothing about and an influence beyond what I would have thought. I wouldn't wish you any headaches when it comes to getting things to work, but in this case the extended dive into learning more certainly made this a whole lot more interesting.

[@vaxick]

Own a Toshiba Nuon DVD player myself. Stopped in my tracks when I came across it at Goodwill. My friend couldn't understand why I was shocked until I explained to him what Nuon was. Always wanted one to play Tempest 3000 as well.

[@saldenhoven76]

A partnership with a electronics repair channel looks more and more a must when demonstrating old equipment. After years of effort this wasn’t deserved.

[@legless1956]

@@kkuukkoo2 I thought about him, but when I looked he wasn't taking anything on as he was very busy with what he had in already but, it would be good

[@mrjsv4935]

That would be great KZbin collaboration, perhaps My Mate Vince, or Buy it Fix it channels could get them working :) Both in UK as well. Oh and talking about music visualizers, my Playstation console (PS1 SCPH-9002 C from 1999) has audio visualizer as well in it's CD player. My favourite one is the "oscilloscope" line, usually select green colour for it while playing some 80's electronic music :)

[@Alexlfm]

For all practical purposes, this borders on unrepairable. Apart from something easy like capacitors or other discrete components it’s all specialized/semi-custom ICs any of which could be the issue and most of which would be impossible to find replacements for. Maybe you get lucky and it’s a discrete component but otherwise, good luck. It’s doubtful any schematics or service manuals are available for something like this. Repair isn’t magic, you need something to work from like a schematic or else have it be simple/small enough that you can easily reverse engineer it, both of which aren’t happening with something like this.

[@saldenhoven76]

@@Alexlfm You are right, a lot can’t realisticly be saved.

[@cyclesgoff9768]

Respectfully gentlemen, to me it’s not about the “Hollywood “ resolution when everything ends wonderfully. It’s more about an everyman and his “trivial pursuits”. I don’t need a big pay off at the end. May I respectfully suggest the regular collaboration would dilute the simple beauty of this channel representing real life.

[@nhand42]

Your adventures with this one reminded me of the MAME and other emulator developers. They argue the hardware for these things has a limited lifetime and eventually breaks and isn't cost effective to repair. Emulation is how they preserve the software. But the other way the software is preserved is through new versions, a bit like the way we keep ourselves alive through the next generation.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

Well, given the goal of emulation is to somewhat accurately reproduce the hardware in software, I highly disagree that all it does is preserve the software. It also helps preserve the defining characteristics of the hardware, especially as we get into more accurate emulation.

[@medes5597]

Given that arcade boards were *designed* to be short term hardware and frequently contained "suicide batteries" that make them unusable after a certain point or modification as well as other software and hardware blocks. They weren't designed to be in your house or an arcade for years upon years. They were designed for a 5 year life style and then to be literally thrown away. You seem weirdly uninformed about why make exists

[@isawadelapradera6490]

@@medes5597 Talk about a greedy industry, and we complain about EA today.

[@SkigBiggler]

@@isawadelapradera6490 Arcade Games had reasons for that, mostly to prevent arcades or clever technicians from cloning the games and distributing the data without authorisation. But Arcade Games were sort of inherently greedy, they were designed to lift as much change out of your pockets as they could. I would argue the modern games industry is worse, their games don’t even work half the time, and the customers aren’t arcades, they’re normal people. Very different dynamic in terms of relationship between business and customer.

[@moddaudio]

@@medes5597 As an ex Atari games engineer I disagree. Arcade machines we designed to work in harsh environments. Like outside in direct sunlight with kids kicking the machine.

[@xXBeefyDjXx]

This is nuts, what a journey! Also, thanks for pointing out that Nuon became "Neon" in the X360, as someone who's been prodding around the 360's innards for years I've always wondered what the weird references were to that name, and now I know!

[@GoetiaTV]

Tempest 2000 on Jaguar had a huge impact on me. The visuals, music, the quick gameplay. Thanks for telling me about Tempest 4000!

[@gamergod9182]

23:00 there is a Panasonic Gamecube that does play normal-sized DVDs and CDs, so that's probably what they were aiming for.

[@Rando1975]

And I believe it was Japan only?

[@fahq4this]

i just seen one sell for $280 SL-GC10

[@JesterEric]

It could have been released for the Wii but was probably locked up by Microsoft at that stage

[@Antireality]

If I remember correctly the idea was to use it as a game engine to produce bright, psychedelic games. The game being worked on at the time was called Unity (Nothing to do with the modern popular game engine). I saw it running back at the time and I remember there being some kind of game and it also ran as a visualizer with the 4 controlpad inputs similar to how the xbox 360 VLM works. Jeff and a group of friends would 'Perform' using it rather than it being directly driven by the music. It was also the cover of Edge magazine in Feb 2003

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

Maybe the real Nuon is the friends we made along the way.

[@axelprino]

I've seen a few videos over the years attempting to cover the Nuon and they always described it as a difficult task due to how rare the necessary hardware and software are plus just how likely it is for the machines to have just died. So I commend you for going to the lengths of dedicating multiple years to acquiring all the pieces and even going as far as to get a second player when the first one refused to function. Although with Tempest 3000 finally getting a proper sequel, one of the main reasons to hunt down one of these obscure DVD players has sort of evaporated. Great video, I was pretty much on the edge of my sit after a while just to see if the second player would work or not, so the plot twist that the Xbox 360 could do the same thing but better completely blindsided me XD

[@christopherneufeldt4035]

As a kid, I had an original Play Station. A friend of mine suggested putting a CD in and while the music played, press the Select button. Sony put in a visualizer as well for reasons as well.

[@HayTatsuko]

Nothing like hearing the legend's name mentioned in one of your videos. Yak is still at it, even to this day. Just picked up his newest game on Steam, and it shows every bit of those four decades of Minter's fantastic gamecraft -- Akka Arrh, the long-lost Atari prototype shmup, brought to glorious life, at long last.

[@SonicBoone56]

Nice

[@Hyxtryx]

Thanks, I hadn't heard about that!

[@IanDunbar1]

To be fair, Akka Arrh isn't long-lost anymore. The original arcade version was dumped in 2019 from one of the test market cabinets. So, if you don't mind firing up MAME you can play the original too.

[@Hyxtryx]

Did everyone catch the Llama at 20:11? 😄

[@pSynrg303]

@@Hyxtryx I was thnking the same. Onyl to find lots of Minter int the comments. Is there a mysterious connection -> LLamasoft 1983 -> Techmoan -> 2023 ???

[@Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

That gave me flashbacks to Winamp and my father telling me to stop wasting electricity with all those lights.

[@londonoverground]

i loved winamp. it really whipped the llamas ass.

[@Bl4ckD0g]

Oh man, I haven't thought about WinAmp in forever.

[@darkridge]

This brings back some memories. I had this exact player. I bought it, not because of of the gaming or the VLM or anything, but because Nuon DVD players used the Nuon chip for video processing. So while most DVD players at the time did a horribly bad job of converting anamorphic DVDs for display on a 4:3 tv (which was what I had at the time), Nuon players did an EXCELLENT job of it, making movies look great. By the time our player died (the same way both of these players did, if I recall correctly), I'd already purchased my first HDTV, and so, had a 16:9 display.

[@louisreich89]

I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out the way you’d planned - this feels so true to life, and like every lofty electronics tinkering project I’ve ever set out to do. Thank you for videos like this!

[@RWSCOTT]

I love these videos where there's a lot of trial & error involved, reminds me of the Cowboy Bebop episode Speak Like A Child, where the crew try to find a working Beta player. :D I had a Jaguar back in the day & the VLM was a neat little add-in. Was very happy that they included Tempest 2000 in the new Atari 50 collection! Anyway, great work, cheers! -RWS

[@peterlarkin762]

Reminds me of the countless hours I spent running Geiss Vis and milkdrop in Winamp on a second monitor. Good simpler times.

[@joeshabado1431]

The PS2 dvd player was the reason myself and many of my friends talked our parents into buying it for us. "but it has a dvd player AND a game console for that price" was a strong argument

[@Clockmocker]

My late dad bought that exact nuon player when it first came out. We had almost the entire game library for it. I don't know where it went when he passed but seeing that machine again brought up some good memories

[@zooblestyx]

Formerly Nuon, now Oldoff.

[@SonicBoone56]

Lol

[@cdigames]

I'm so glad you touched on the bit at the end, it's one of my favorite morsels of late 90's games history.

[@HannuPulli]

The repair shops might not be up to the task nor is every one an electronics wizard. However, it would be interesting to see what can be rescued in the right hands and what is just too far gone when it comes to faulty old electronics.

[@dan_]

This reminds me of the old Sky television boxes in the UK which used to have gaming hardware built in in the early 2000s. If I recall correctly, I think they even worked closely with SEGA on creating those. This was back in the days when the channel ".tv" was on air, which I'm sure some portion of Techmoan's viewership must remember as fondly as I do.

[@nofunberg]

I had a Toshiba Nuon! I bought it back when it was still in stores. I had Tempest 3000, as well. It was mostly used as a fast-loading and reliable DVD player, rarely as a game console. Lost it during a breakup, sadly.

[@LagrangePoint0]

So, the "hippity-hoppity, she took the kids and the property" meme is real huh?

[@onedeadsaint]

honestly, this episode is an instant classic.

[@canaconn2388]

How did you comment before the video was released?

[@cheezindashower]

​@@canaconn2388 patreon

[@FiXato]

​@@canaconn2388 Techmoan first uploads videos as unlisted so his Patreon supporters get private access.

[@TheAlexagius]

@@canaconn2388 Time travellers. Most of the interest in old tech is by the time travelling community, its nice to know what you buy/steal when you go back in time.

[@lost-prototype]

I miss the electronics landscape of 2000. Would love to see more from that year.

[@morrisonAV]

Mat, your tenacity and dedication to bringing these stories is second to none. Thanks for an entertaining and educational video.

[@thelastcarnival]

"We're not gonna look at Minter's thing" - a Microsoft Exec at a private Xbox demo, circa GDC 2007

[@Not-TheOne]

The journey is sometimes more important than the end. The stuff you've learned, done and experienced, I like that kinda stuff. Doing all you did in this video isnt a loss or waste.

[@epdm2be620]

4 years in the making. Matt must have been the most patient man on the planet. 😊 Keep up the good work. One o/t most interesting channels on youtube.

[@johnmorgan3492]

Techmoan X Nuon is one of those topics ive always wanted to see covered here, hearing you going through all this to play Tempest 3000 is some delightful wish fulfilment! Thank you! very excited to sit and watch this!

[@xnonsuchx]

Jeff Minter is a very interesting character, but he’s been fascinated with music visualizations since the 80s/90s.

[@andymouse]

Earlier than that !

[@FiXato]

Still watching the rest of the video, but of course there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it llama like image around 20:12 (might need to start at 20:11 to spot it) in good old Jeff Minter fashion.

[@mrphlip]

When I saw that I had to rewind and slow down the video just to make sure I didn't imagine it...

[@NathanPatton]

The PS2 was my family's first DVD player and our first standalone was the Samsung DVD-M301 that used the same remote! Thanks for diving into this nuon-ced piece of history 😄

[@Stormy38044]

This is fascinating :D i knew nothing about this device, but a huge part of the reason I kept my PS2 is because it can play CDs and DVDs as well. So thank you, Nuon! Seeing the visualiser animations feels very nostalgic too

[@alicesaber8339]

I also have the same DVD-N501 machine. This is a common problem, only need to replace all the capacitors of the machine can be repaired，doesn't cost much

[@TheRestartPoint]

I wonder if plugging in the controller caused it? I remember when Nuon was announced, the Jeff Minter connection made it interesting and they were hyping it up to be a very powerful games platform but it quickly dropped out of existence , similarly to many other multimedia machines at the time, 3DO, Pippin etc

[@CptJistuce]

Man, compared to the Nuon the 3DO was a runaway success.

[@TheRestartPoint]

@@CptJistuce Maybe in the USA, it was vapour ware here in UK as was the Nuon

[@LordArikado]

@@CptJistuce Funny you mention that, because the Nuon business model was directly inspired by the 3DO. To save on manufacturing costs, VM Labs would license out the Nuon technology to be included in DVD players made by larger manufacturers rather than making their own players.

[@CptJistuce]

@@LordArikado I didn't know if it was directly inspired or not, but I did notice the parallels. The big difference, of course, being the 3DO was a dedicated game console(and CD player, of course), while the Nuon was trying to backdoor itself into living rooms by hiding inside DVD players.

[@steviebboy69]

When you mentioned Jeff Minter I thought I had heard the name before and thought of Commodore 64 stuff, and when you mention Tempest I remember reading about something else about spying on old CRT monitors because of the deflection circuits for the picture tube or something like that. I remember seeing those trippy visualizer things on Winamp all those years ago.

[@TheWuFinancial]

Your videos are very well made. I'm glad you're documenting these oddities, like how LGR does for computers.

[@StuTech]

If there is ever a time that you must watch to the end of a KZbin video, it’s now. Mind blown 🤯

[@StephenBoyd21]

Jeff Minter was a hero of mine growing up. It's a delight to see some of his code running.

[@BobBell808]

Wow! You could have promoted this video: "4 years in the making, with a budget of thousands of pounds..." It was a great video, as usual. Your channel is so refreshing. You always produce the highest quality product, you don't have a 'team' who helps produce your videos, and yet you seem to pull every possible relevant morsel of information from the subject matter in an entertaining, yet informative way. After your second machine stopped working, you could have folded the video with a 'poor luck, pitiful me' and finished it, but you gave us a lot more content, (demonstrating you really liked X-box), finishing with a real "Paul Harvey - Rest of the Story" moment at the end. Bravo.

[@vtrevino317]

I'd seen the thumbnail for this video for a while and finally decided to watch it just now. The thumbnail looked familiar, and once you showed the visualizer I thought to myself, "that just looks like an old version of the 360 visualizer" and then you actually pulled the 360 out! I used to listen to burn CDs all the time before heading to school, and the visualizers were just so cool to me. I'm glad that these obscure tech gimmicks, and projects are no longer being completely forgotten. I use that Xbox 360 for almost 4 years, good memories.

[@x-crisis]

Wonder if there's a fresh Ebay listing for a sealed Nuon Tempest 3000.

[@GhostyGu]

If you enjoyed fiddling with the visuals using your ps1 controller for frequency, colour pallette and speed etc, you basically had a Nuon

[@usagiyojimbo5944]

I am baffled. The amonunt of pain you are willing to take. I couldn't do it. I would have given up long time ago. Thank you for being so persistent.

[@mikekz4489]

When the you first explained the concept behind Nuon my mind first went to the PS2, but it was cool to learn that it actually did influence the DVD capability of the PS2. I had bought a DVD player already, but I didn’t expect to have a second one, but that’s what my PS2 became when I got one.

[@silpheedTandy]

5:13 the way he said "Nothing is happening" made me laugh out loud. it was some curious mixture of disappointment and irritation. knowing that it took four years of lost postage, ebay scouring, and repeatedly buying devices, i'm somehow so amused by the struggles in this story so far, haha. p.s. i love your long intros. i actually enjoy hearing you talk about your experiences and your research process and your feelings / memories / social analysis, even more than seeing the tech itself. you're such a charismatic man, that you are one of the most engaging KZbinrs to watch when you dialogue with us viewers!

[@nigelpogson5411]

I really appreciate the effort and determination you put in to make these videos! Very worthwhile and well done!

[@louiedidcote8260]

Big Thanks for this, over the last year or so i've gotten interested jeff minter's games and always heard the word 'nuon' mentioned alongside his name but never quite known what it was or what his exact involvement with it was. His new game Akka Arrh came out a couple months ago if anyone's interested to see how he's using lightsynth tech in 2023

[@MrWestonO]

This man has never had a temper tantrum in his life. HOW are you so calm all the time

[@CARLiCON]

T-Moan lesson learned: 'If you search everywhere, yet cannot find what you are seeking, it is because what you seek is already in your possession.'

[@flumiie]

Seeing those Visual effects really reminds me a lot of WMP & winamp. And surely it is from llamasoft themselves when you showed the vlm page.

[@robotortoise]

This episode was phenomenal. Whenever you have these adventures with repairing and failures, it makes for a great story and validates my own similar misadventures. I love that you explain your failures and use them as learning lessons for me and others!

[@fullmuppet]

In a nice parallel to the content of this video, I've been trying to watch it all day, only for various happenings cropping up and stopping me. I was finally able to watch it at 7pm at the fifth attention.

[@LegendaryMaoMao20]

I think I remember playing with a DVD player in my grandparents house, it's not a Samsung model, it's like from the mod 2000s, the games are in mini CDs, and the controller is so plasticky and hollow, but that has formed a part of my childhood, very nostalgic, so thank you so much for making this video Matt

[@Code7Unltd]

Seems like you had a Nintendo Family Computer clone stuck in a DVD player. That was really common for bootleg VCD/DVD players back then. Integrated Mega Drive hardware usually preformed better.

[@obscuremusik8900]

Ahh I missed the whole nuon thing but those trippy visuals make me nostalgic for my ps1, such a good CD player. Keep up he good work mate 👍

[@Concreteowl]

There were some cool visualisers for ps1.

[@seanlavoie2]

Image if Nuon had set it's sights lower and did a retro game / DVD player with preloaded games. That might have been an extra selling point that would have kept Nuon afloat. Entertaining video ^_^

[@firesurfer]

Some of those effects were very familiar. I remember in the 90s, I would go into my favorite stores on Canal St that had a large variety of DJ equipment. Some of the controller boxes for the disco balls had a number of special effects that seem to be identical to Muon.

[@jcxtra]

If you're wanting to build something similar to the VLM feature with a computer, there's an open source version of the Milkdrop visualiser (originally from/with Winamp) that runs stand alone called ProjectM that you can load thousands of amazing presets with. It also used to be included with XBMC (not sure if they still include the Milkdrop/ProjectM with the new Kodi or not)

[@hakimmohamad6216]

Milkdrop in Winamp was really cool. Well the Winamp days are now long gone. Life goes on... until it doesn't, I guess...

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I absolutely destroyed Tempest 2000 back in the 90's. The Atari Jaguar was an unfortunate beast, but it did have a few tricks up it's sleeve. Not that jaguars have sleeves.

[@MissMTurner]

I was utterly addicted to Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar. My friend had one and I played that game for hours at a time!

[@jamescarter3196]

'Jaguar Sleeves', great album

[@chikkn]

I love how thorough your efforts to produce top-notch videos are it's definitely appreciated

[@ZGryphon]

Maaan, I remember when YaK was pre-pre-hype teasing this thing as "Project X" on his blog, and now it's long-dead failtech. Life sure comes at you fast.

[@chriswilkinson1122]

Really interesting conclusion regarding PS2 v Dreamcast. Fantastic video, thank you!

[@jon-paulgrainger1303]

Nuon : The great tale of eBay searches. Great as always Matt!

[@A2theC]

Great to see this all come together after so many years in making. Appreciate the extensive coverage including failed hardware demos and teardown. This is one of the things I love about your videos, dedication.

[@DJvvAZZ]

I love it when a plan comes together! 😂🤣😂. While watching the visuals, I could swear I've seen them before... Then you dug out your 360, and I new I had seen them before! Wow, fantastic video, very interesting.

[@ThemelisPikos]

So that was a multi-year endeavor. How many video projects, similar to this, do you have going on at the same time usually?

[@defaultdriftco00]

I’m glad that you make each video, restoring the glory of these older machines to light! ❤ I must say, if they complain about a long video format, are they Techmoaning? 😂😂😂

[@chaseman113]

Like, “looks at watch” I’m still watching 6 years later. Great stuff man, love me some obscure tech.

[@fab1604]

This channel is great as it is, don't apologize, proud subscriber and patron on Patreon 💪🏻 Love you Mat!

[@Tim091]

I spent far too much time "playing" with the visualiser on the Xbox 360 whilst under the influence... I seem to remember I was never quite convinced that it was actually reacting to the music; it could have just been a random pattern. That used to bug me no end! Harmless fun though, and I certainly didn't know the backstory, so thank you TM. PS Even earlier happy memories of playing Atari Tempest in arcades in the early 1980s. One of my favourite games of all time.