D-Dimension Gaming

Before we begin I was asked whether my FM Towns does actually work. Well, here’s a picture from the Japan Yahoo Auction that shows it working on a small LCD screen:

Right now I would be happy to just have it display on a small Century screen like the one in the image above!

The auction didn’t come with the screen, and I knew that going in. I prepared myself by purchasing 2 options. The Fujitsu FMT-417 video converter box:

This unassuming little unit has ports on the front:

And on the back:

It was listed as Junk on the Auction page, so I knew I might have problems. The standard video out doesn’t work at all, and the S-Video out gives the following picture:

The second item I purchased to potentially solve any video issues was the Fujitsu FMT-418 video card:

Which I promptly installed. You can see the standard RGB output on the right, and on the left is Video in and Video out. I thought that the Video out and in were S-Video out and in. Sadly this isn’t the case, and the outputs are a different shape. I had to do a little digging on some Japanese FM Towns websites and have found the following pin outs:

So if I can’t get the FMT-417 video converter box fixed then maybe a cable to connect the video out to S-Video out will work. I’ve looked at some other options that I might use, but the FMT-418 is THE video card to own if you’re using an external one. While I was bidding on FM Towns parts this little unit showed up:

This is the Fujitsu FMT-TU101 TV unit. The rear of the device shows inputs and outputs for the standard RGB connection:

Along with S-Video in and out, and standard composite. I wasn’t able to win this auction, though I have been keeping an eye out to see if another one surfaces.

So that’s it! Which option will end up working for me? Will I get the FMT-417 video converter box fixed? Will I get a cable made for the FMT-418 video card? Or will I seek an alternative?

Watch this space!

This entry was posted on 09/10/2017 at 12:18 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Afterburner, Auctions, Converter, FM, FMT-417, FMT-418, FMT-TU101, FMTowns, Fujitsu, Japan, S-Video, Sega, Towns, video, Yahoo