My mom bought me this at a garage sale around 1998 and I was blown away it could play music while the screen had all these animations on it lol. I also had the sherlock game which I played for a total of 10 minutes
If I remember correctly, the VIS was only produced from November 1992 to January 1993. It was literally withdrawn from the market after about two months. It was that much of a turd. I think they sold some to liquidators who sold them off at much reduced prices around 1994-1995. A VIS that was 700 bucks in late 1992 was 100 by 1994. At least the CD-i had (pathetic attempts at) Mario and Zelda games. My birthday is December 25, 1992. Why did I have to be born during the VIS' short life? Ugh.... November 17, 2015 3:18 am
Good lord, I remember this thing. I moved 4 years ago and have no idea where this thing went. Had a good amount of games with it as well -____- Only game my cousins and I ever played on it was, Rodney's fun screen. lol
OMG.. Now THAT brought back memories. I was working at Radio Shack when this thing came out, and thought it was really something else. It was 1992.... pre internet. The encyclopedia it came with was really something. When you consider that an encyclopedia set sells for $2200, the price wasn't that bad, the encyclopedia had interactive videos and all kinds of things with it. There were other more interesting games too. But with the advent of the internet, such a device has limited use, and life.
I vaguely remember seeing this thing at Radio Shack when I was a kid. I remember thinking it was cool because it used CDs and had a funky looking controller, but my parents were smart enough not to buy it (my NES and PC were still keeping me plenty busy at the time anyway).
I sincerely appreciate you posting this. My family had one of these and I for the life of me couldn't figure out what the fuck it was for the past, I dunno, almost 20 years now. Thanks!
I'm pretty sure the controller doesn't do an auto off, but rather just works when you push a button, as essentially it's just a remote (like you would use for a VCR) in a different shape.
Dang just when I thought I heard of them all, here comes gamester with another one. Always fun to see fail systems! This is probably the most unsellable one I've ever seen! It's like a $700 sega cd!
Well, you got me man. Your videos are great. I'm more of a practical collector. I only collect stuff that I like to play, but I love hearing about all of the rare stuff out there that went under the radar. and I'm hitting the subscribe button......now
Hey Gamester! Nice work man, yet again have you shown me a system I haven't heard of before. Then again, I was only 6 years old when this system was released...
I only knew about this system from my Digital Press Collector's Guide. But I've never seen footage of the games! Thanks for doing this video! BTW, is this version of Sherlock Holmes the same as the one released for the TurboGrafx-16/CD system?
Congrats on 4000 subs, that's pretty amazing. You have so many cool system, ballpark figure how much do you think you have in on all of your collection? Another great vid, keep up on the good work. Peace.
This was sold more as the class of "Infotainment", Education/Multimedia type device along the lines of Phillips CD-I and even 3DO. I always wanted one of these back in the day. I remember checking it out in stores and in catalogs. Tiger Direct I believe was the last company to market this.
I think I've played one of those Sherlock Holms games on PC, I'm not sure if it was this one or another one. I have heard of this system before, I believe it actually has a 286 CPU running at about 12 MHZ, no wonder the damn thing was so expensive.
Great video, love seeing these rare systems. This one reminds me a bit of (of course) the CDI, but also the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision, or CDTV. It also has a wireless infrared controller, unfortunatly one has to get an adapter, for two players. :) It's basically an amiga 500, without the keyboard or mouse, but a controller instead, and with a CD drive instead of the floppydrive. But i'm sure you already knew that, hehe. :) BTW, i think Sherlock Holmes is also available for that one.
I believe that many TVs in the 80s and 90s still mostly had mono sound. So if you were unfortunate and had an old TV you could still buy a pair of speakers and enjoy stereo straight out of the system.
Memorex should make a modern 3D game system that way they can make an awesome ad featuring 3D graphics popping out of a television blowing some guy out of his chair.
We played some Sherlock type game on this. It was a gift. I think she gave it to us (if I'm remembering it correctly) after it wouldn't sell and there were a lot of extras. Edit: oh, you showed the game, lol.
I think this console could have done better if they had better support from well know educational software developers like The learning company, MECC, and Broederbund, or if it had any actual pure entertainment titles not just "edutainment" software. Since it was essentially a DOS/Windows 3.1 machine porting existing software was probably pretty easy to port existing dos and windows titles.
I bought a Turbo Grafx bundle today and it came with a Memorex VIS wireless controller. LOL. Now I have to find the correct controller. Searching the VIS came across this video. Looks interesting!
I used to have this system I bought it when it had dropped to $ 399.00 it was fun to play around with I loved the Sherlock Holmes games and another game called the vampires's coffin. Space Quest was also a fun game. There were also trivia games like meeting of the minds. I wish I would have kept this system instead of selling it if only I had known that it was going to be rare .
That may have been an x86 computer made for TVs, but XBOX was the later concept on that. also... I simply just re-used one of our old computers with a VGA-to-composite box with our TV when we got a new computer for the living room. I have recently ripped a good portion of our DVD movie library onto the hard drive of our old computer, so we could have a more reliable means to store them.
I appreciate the head phone jack wherever it is cause I like to play games with my headphones on. Many TV's don't have a headphone jack so it's cool if the system has it =)
my father found one of these in his computer room buried deep in a closet,the condition of the console itself is about the same condition as the one seen in this video and it runs flawlessly. he also found two big boxes of games 30 are still factory sealed with original price tags which were surprisingly rather high and 32 are not sealed but in new or very good condition. i played this and some of the media was interesting but this console really doesn't interest me i am considering trading for nes,snes,turbo grafx ,and genesis games or possibly selling it just to purchase more games that i enjoy playing.does anybody know what this lot is honestly worth because i am not sure ..any info will be greatly appreciated or if anyone is interested in trading let me know thank you
My mom bought me this at a garage sale around 1998 and I was blown away it could play music while the screen had all these animations on it lol. I also had the sherlock game which I played for a total of 10 minutes
If I remember correctly, the VIS was only produced from November 1992 to January 1993. It was literally withdrawn from the market after about two months. It was that much of a turd. I think they sold some to liquidators who sold them off at much reduced prices around 1994-1995. A VIS that was 700 bucks in late 1992 was 100 by 1994. At least the CD-i had (pathetic attempts at) Mario and Zelda games.
My birthday is December 25, 1992. Why did I have to be born during the VIS' short life? Ugh....
November 17, 2015 3:18 am
just hit 4k subs? man now you just hit 100k! how things have changed huh!? keep it up John! love all your vids
Good lord, I remember this thing. I moved 4 years ago and have no idea where this thing went. Had a good amount of games with it as well -____-
Only game my cousins and I ever played on it was, Rodney's fun screen. lol
Gamester81 reminds me of the Long Lost Brother of Mark from Classic Gameroom...
OMG.. Now THAT brought back memories. I was working at Radio Shack when this thing came out, and thought it was really something else. It was 1992.... pre internet. The encyclopedia it came with was really something. When you consider that an encyclopedia set sells for $2200, the price wasn't that bad, the encyclopedia had interactive videos and all kinds of things with it. There were other more interesting games too. But with the advent of the internet, such a device has limited use, and life.
Hey thanks man! You've been a support for a long time, and I appreciate that.
dude, you got one of the best channels for retro games and systems, really.
Yeah I do have an Action Max system. I'll do a review over it soon.
Congraduations man 4,000 and you deserve ever one of them man .
you have a great channel man , keep up the amazing work brother
That start-up chime is quite nice. Gave me nostalgic tingles.
Do you know the video information system isn’t a bad console if you use it the right way
I vaguely remember seeing this thing at Radio Shack when I was a kid. I remember thinking it was cool because it used CDs and had a funky looking controller, but my parents were smart enough not to buy it (my NES and PC were still keeping me plenty busy at the time anyway).
You know, it seems like there were as many, if not more, consoles released in the early-mid 1990s as there were in the early 1980's!! Great review!
I sincerely appreciate you posting this. My family had one of these and I for the life of me couldn't figure out what the fuck it was for the past, I dunno, almost 20 years now. Thanks!
great as always john keep it up and game forever
I'm pretty sure the controller doesn't do an auto off, but rather just works when you push a button, as essentially it's just a remote (like you would use for a VCR) in a different shape.
That console could have been at a thrift store mixed in with the VCRs and I would have never known! Awesome video man!
You just got your Camcorder Working?? Wow man!! You are Retro to the Core.
I want one they look pretty cheesy and old but whats the name for the bird/owl mascot is it these names (Owl ,Hoot, or Compton)
Maybe the audio jacks are for a tape deck to load programs?
I have never heard of this! Thanks for the review.
Dang just when I thought I heard of them all, here comes gamester with another one. Always fun to see fail systems! This is probably the most unsellable one I've ever seen! It's like a $700 sega cd!
How many games do you have for it?
@GAMESTER81, YOU always have the RAREST systems and due very good reviews !!! much props to you \m/ ** \m/
Conrats Gamester81
Well, you got me man. Your videos are great. I'm more of a practical collector. I only collect stuff that I like to play, but I love hearing about all of the rare stuff out there that went under the radar.
and I'm hitting the subscribe button......now
Was that Caleb's channel that passed away recently? Rip little dude
Hey, congrats on getting 4000 sub. You deserve it because your videos are awsome. Keep making them and I'll keep checking them out.
Nice, I would've never heard of this if it wasn't for you! Awesome vid
what exactly happened to AshenClone?
Hey Gamester! Nice work man, yet again have you shown me a system I haven't heard of before. Then again, I was only 6 years old when this system was released...
I only knew about this system from my Digital Press Collector's Guide. But I've never seen footage of the games! Thanks for doing this video! BTW, is this version of Sherlock Holmes the same as the one released for the TurboGrafx-16/CD system?
Over 4,000 subs?! You shittin' me?! Congrats! You deserve it friend!
Will it play audio cds that may be why it has a headphone jack ?
Congrats on 4000 subs, that's pretty amazing. You have so many cool system, ballpark figure how much do you think you have in on all of your collection? Another great vid, keep up on the good work. Peace.
Where's the buy link?
How do you get these systems because they don't sell them on E-Bay?
I just noticed that and it blew my mind. Glad I'm not the only one with that song burned into my memory :)
XBone's granpappy huh?
***** You think this thing sold near 10 million? You're in denial lmao. And the Wii U still has a long life ahead of it.
+Benjamin Busche No it doesn't.
Yeahhhh, I retract that statement. I was in a bit of denial, too, I think.
@John Huffington What?
@John Huffington Did you not see my comment?
does it play genisis games or playstion games ? was this older then playstation 2 ? that things ancient
Congrats for so many subscribers!
Fun fact : In french the word "vis" means "screws".
Awesome review John!! I swear I've not heard of this system before! Thanks for the info! It really reminds me of the CDi :) Cool piece of hardware!
was there any actual games on this?
This was sold more as the class of "Infotainment", Education/Multimedia type device along the lines of Phillips CD-I and even 3DO. I always wanted one of these back in the day. I remember checking it out in stores and in catalogs. Tiger Direct I believe was the last company to market this.
4:36
wtf this little tune was the elevator theme in Lego Island...
I was wondering where that was from. That's really strange.
what sound?
It was similar in function to the Philips CD-i and Commodore CDTV systems
do you have the action max game system
As soon as I heard that song, I immediately started scanning the comments to see if anyone knew what that was. Tidal Wave of nostalgia just then.
Awesome review!!
Hey does it play VCDs?
Does it play VHS?
i had this game for the turbo duel back in the day
Can anyone tell me what this is worth? i Just got this console with 57 games in great shape. Don't see any of them sold online. Thanks
I think that's one of his signatures, he does it a lot in his vids.
Odd that I've never heard of this one, oh well. Nice coverage!
my grandfather bought me one back in 95. just found the name today. Couldn't remeber what it was called
Wow, You've introduced me to some new systems today, subbed:)
I think I've played one of those Sherlock Holms games on PC, I'm not sure if it was this one or another one. I have heard of this system before, I believe it actually has a 286 CPU running at about 12 MHZ, no wonder the damn thing was so expensive.
I remember seeing this thing in a store sometime in the 90s
I recall Radio Shack peddling these back when the whole CD-Rom thing was big (going after the CD-i no less).
Are there any good games for this?
Great video, love seeing these rare systems.
This one reminds me a bit of (of course) the CDI, but also the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision, or CDTV. It also has a wireless infrared controller, unfortunatly one has to get an adapter, for two players. :) It's basically an amiga 500, without the keyboard or mouse, but a controller instead, and with a CD drive instead of the floppydrive.
But i'm sure you already knew that, hehe. :) BTW, i think Sherlock Holmes is also available for that one.
Very interesting bit of kit but like you say not worth picking up unless you are a collector.
the headphone jack was often used because it was the only way you could get stereo sound
I really loved all your guitar work in Rage Against The Machine man.
Congrats on your sub man.
I believe that many TVs in the 80s and 90s still mostly had mono sound. So if you were unfortunate and had an old TV you could still buy a pair of speakers and enjoy stereo straight out of the system.
Memorex should make a modern 3D game system that way they can make an awesome ad featuring 3D graphics popping out of a television blowing some guy out of his chair.
well this is one console ive never heard of.. thanks for the vid!
I remember seeing these in Radio Shack. Glad I stuck with my genesis.
Man that Sherlock game really made the rounds back then it was on the Sega CD and Turbografx CD too lol.
@megamanx452 words like "to" and "of" aren't included in abbreviations. Take USA for example
Oh I remember Ashenclone. He used to say that everything he had was rare and minty fresh. he was also a total nutcase.
i bet it was 16 bit or was it a 32bit system?
Elementary my dear retro-gamer. It was the maid (Thunder Claps)
Yeah, that theme must've been in the public domain. Somehow the Lego Group (TLG) used that in said game as well.
We played some Sherlock type game on this. It was a gift. I think she gave it to us (if I'm remembering it correctly) after it wouldn't sell and there were a lot of extras. Edit: oh, you showed the game, lol.
I think this console could have done better if they had better support from well know educational software developers like The learning company, MECC, and Broederbund, or if it had any actual pure entertainment titles not just "edutainment" software. Since it was essentially a DOS/Windows 3.1 machine porting existing software was probably pretty easy to port existing dos and windows titles.
Brandon Upchurch As much as Creative Wonders.
Yep. =)
I bought a Turbo Grafx bundle today and it came with a Memorex VIS wireless controller. LOL. Now I have to find the correct controller. Searching the VIS came across this video. Looks interesting!
Can i come over?
Memorex still exists as a Imation subsidiary but General Wireless Operations owns the rights to the RadioShack product brand.
I used to have this system I bought it when it had dropped to $ 399.00 it was fun to play around with I loved the Sherlock Holmes games and another game called the vampires's coffin. Space Quest was also a fun game. There were also trivia games like meeting of the minds. I wish I would have kept this system instead of selling it if only I had known that it was going to be rare .
This thing made the CDI look like the SNES. That's a feat.
January 9, 2015 12:58 am
Is it Live? Or is it MEMOREX.
@dmp825 Yeah, thats what told me. It isn't like RF devices can't act the same way, though (think garage door opener.)
The controller's are infra red just like a TV remote. That's why line of sight is important
Note the 2 ir led's on the front.
I thought I was the only poor soul to have purchased one of these.
The VIS pretty much out CDi'd the CDi.
great and funny review!
A pc in a vcr case!!!
That may have been an x86 computer made for TVs, but XBOX was the later concept on that.
also...
I simply just re-used one of our old computers with a VGA-to-composite box with our TV when we got a new computer for the living room. I have recently ripped a good portion of our DVD movie library onto the hard drive of our old computer, so we could have a more reliable means to store them.
Yeah it does play audio cds, so that's a good point.
so this is not a videogame console, this is a very rare movie based console
You didn't come up with that! Radioshack employees came up with virtually impossible to sell.
I can confirm the game "our house" was cross compatible with 95 lol
I remember when they had these at radio shack for sale.
The controller doesn't have an on/off switch because it's working off of 'IR' just like a TV remote control.
I appreciate the head phone jack wherever it is cause I like to play games with my headphones on. Many TV's don't have a headphone jack so it's cool if the system has it =)
my father found one of these in his computer room buried deep in a closet,the condition of the console itself is about the same condition as the one seen in this video and it runs flawlessly. he also found two big boxes of games 30 are still factory sealed with original price tags which were surprisingly rather high and 32 are not sealed but in new or very good condition. i played this and some of the media was interesting but this console really doesn't interest me i am considering trading for nes,snes,turbo grafx ,and genesis games or possibly selling it just to purchase more games that i enjoy playing.does anybody know what this lot is honestly worth because i am not sure ..any info will be greatly appreciated or if anyone is interested in trading let me know thank you