Recently acquired a Pioneer LD-V6100 (PAL) and the interactive training discs it was used with.

It's a big hefty beast of a machine (there is a picture in the database here already) - very like the LD-V6000, but with an extra couple of inches at the base to accommodate the MSX(?) cartridge port and the extra PCB it's on.

Unfortunately I have no documentation (posting this partly to plead for that), so I have no idea about its more interesting features, which include the aforementioned MSX slot/board, a video/audio input (2xBNCs + phonos) on the back, and an additional socket labelled "IEC-625" (complete with its own set of DIP switches) as well as the standard RS-232C serial port.

I've been trying it out, it's noisy (the cooling fan runs continuously). I don't have the RU-V6000 remote (assuming that's the one for it), and was annoyed to find that the remote from its "little brother" the LD-700 doesn't control it. I downloaded remote codes for my Logitech Harmony for it which do the basics.

But, disappointingly, other than having tried out the serial port (which works, but the codes seem very different to any other Pioneer), I haven't yet made it do anything more interesting than the LD-700 can do. I tried inputting video into the inputs - no effect. I have no idea at all what the MSX part does, but it's a very big circuit board with loads of chips, so it must do something...

Here's a photo of it, if anyone can make any deductions based on that - the cartridge slot is at the top left: If not, I may pop to the MSX forum and ask there...

I've also been trying to get the MS-DOS software discs that were part of the interactive package working, but that's a whole separate saga which I may post about later!

So really I'm after a Service Manual, and any thoughts people might have about the video input and the cartridge port...

Sounds like it is for carts with LII code:

Thanks, that's interesting! Never heard of "The Videodisc Monitor" magazine...

It still raises a few questions though - an internal teletext encoder? That means, I guess, it can generate the little dots in the vertical blanking interval so that a TV can display teletext pages... but what would be the point of that? If a disc needs teletext, it can be added to the disc, as with the "BBC Videobook of Garden Birds". Do they mean a decoder, so teletext on a disc can be displayed on a video monitor not equipped with teletext?

If the latter, that might make sense of the video input - perhaps it could decode and overlay teletext on a signal being input there? Although I'm not sure what the industrial/educational application of that would be...

The remote illustrated appears to have the same key layout as the RU-V6000, but some of the markings look a bit different... it's not possible to make out the model number and the button labels on the original photo?

On a tangent, are there any Level II PAL discs about? I've dipped into the 'educational' and 'industrial' sections of the database here for PAL discs, but haven't spotted any mention of ones with LII code...

There is more information on it in Videodisc and Optical Disk Update, Volume 5 1986: https://search.worldcat.org/title/10367036
You can see if you can get access via British Library On Demand.


Yes but the same goes for LII dumps. If the cartridge slot allows for the overriding of LII dumps, seems like teletext being changeable makes sense.


Good eye. Looks like the LII related buttons are different. Here is a link to a higher quality image. Still hard to tell


Interesting question. I do not have any, but I would think that a 12" PAL GGV would have a dump. That would probably be harder to find than an educational or non-consumer title with one though.

By the way, I posted about this in the MSX forum - it has provoked a modicum of interest, the thread is here:

https://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/hardware/laserdisc-player-with-msx-cartridge-slot-pioneer-ld-v6100

I haven't done this yet - after the cyber attack on the British Library, it seems I'll require two separate journeys to London to read this, which will be a little time-consuming and pricey. Eventually though...

In the meantime I managed to get Google Books to show me some fragments of that volume. It's a section that appears to be about an authoring system, "Video/PAssage" (sic), which worked with an IBM InfoWindow display (a very early touchscreen), which "supports the Pioneer 6000 series videodisc players...". Then some missing text, then:
[then some stuff about the 6000A, then some missing text, then the text continues on page 3]
Now my inference here is that this paragraph is talking about the LD-V6200A, an (NTSC) machine that seems as elusive as the (PAL) LD-V6100. I can't find an online photo of this (the one on the Dragons Lair website is clearly of the wrong model) but there are references online to it having both RS-232C and IEC-625 ports (as does the V6100).

So my guess from all that (which could be wrong) is that the LD-V6100 is the PAL version of the LD-V6200A (even though the magazine snippet posted earlier contends that it's actually the PAL version of the LD-V6000).

So, does anyone know more about the LD-V6200A? A picture would be nice, a service manual even nicer

Incidentally I found some pictures purporting to be the LD-V6200A on the old LaserDisc Archive:

http://laserdiscarchive.lddb.com/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_ld-v6200a/pioneer_ld-v6200a.htm

...but I believe these are in fact an LD-V6200. The links to the pictures there seem to confirm this: "pioneer_ld-v6200_front.jpg".

More details here => https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/9880359



Here are the first 16 issues => https://magazines.lddb.com/The.Videodisc.Monitor/

Julien

My quest for a picture of the LD-V6200A continues, but I have found a line-drawing of it on the cover of the service manual:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/pioneer-ld-v6200a-ld-laser-disc-4620410479

...which seems to show that it doesn't have the extra height & cartridge slot of the PAL LD-V6100

Have found out a little bit more about the LD-V6100 now - there is a service manual supplement for it here:

https://manuals.lddb.com/LD_Players/Pioneer/LD/LD-V6100/

This mentions that it's broadly similar to the LD-V6000 so the service manual for that should be used - although, the V6000 is NTSC and the V6100 is PAL - so surely some of the V6000 manual won't be suitable?

Unless there was a PAL version of the V6000 - which I can't find any evidence of online. Sadly there doesn't seem to be a scan of the V6000 manual anywhere online...

So looking at two of the V6100's more unusual features - the first is its two BNC Video Input sockets.

There is some coverage of this in the supplement, but it's all far too technical for my liking - perhaps a technically-minded person could take a look and explain it?

It's the "External Sync Circuit" and, I think, is implying that it will mix the input signal with the LD signal and maybe overlay the two, without the need for a 'genlock'?

Although I tried connecting the input to a video source on mine and it had no effect - maybe there's a way to switch it, but it's not covered in the supplement...? Would I need to connect something to the 'REF VBS' sockets too?

The second is its Teletext Encoder - there are a couple of pages on this, but once again written in very technical terms, and nothing about how one would actually use it, as far as I can see.