DTS-6D SD card SCSI drive emulator

[Josh Jones]

Has anyone tried one of the SCSI SD card emulators, like the ZuluSCSI on a DTS-6D or similar? All the machines I have use the older SCSI CD-ROM drives and were never converted to DVD-ROM. The firmware chips and romdos card were changed, but eventually the drives will die, and the SCSI to IDE or SATA adapter boards are outrageously expensive. This looks like a much cheaper option, and might allow you to dump all the reel files to one "disk".

Thoughts?

JJ

[David Ferguson]

I’ve also thought about this, and have a SCSI emulator that I use for my vintage Apple Macs hobby (another odd, impracticality large, and expensive hobby!). But I’ve not yet tried it in a DTS-6D. But I have a few that have dead CD drives, so maybe I should give it a shot at some point.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, as long as the emulator can report the DOS file system, then it should be able to load files from SD or USB.

[Ryan Gallagher]

BlueSCSI appears to be another competing open-source product similar to ZuluSCSI, built around the kernel of a PiPico.
https://bluescsi.com/docs/

Both look promising for this purpose. Saw a thread of someone working on a newer one targeting faster scsi speeds too, but not needed for DTS processors.

We also have a 6D in storage, I may have to check it's status one day and experiment. Backups are nice.

[Tiago João Silva]

The final years of film releases had Dolby switching to Dolby Digital printmasters on Compact Flash, since Sony had stopped making blank MO disks. Some CA10 sound negative cameras were retrofitted with CF adapters. The lab where I worked on beta-tested an Addonics CF-to-SATA adapter, but it had issues (it froze the computer on soft-reset). Eventually Dolby specified the adapter on this Film Bulletin (for 1200 bucks!)

[Ivan Skoluda]

Thank you for the good tip. I purchased the ZulluSCSI emulator and installed it in the DTS-6D instead of the defective CD-ROM. And the DTS-6D is reborn again. If you are interested in some of my knowledge of how it works, I can write to you.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Thank you for the good tip. I purchased the ZulluSCSI emulator and installed it in the DTS-6D instead of the defective CD-ROM. And the DTS-6D is reborn again. If you are interested in some of my knowledge of how it works, I can write to you.

Does your Zulu6D now support playing media off attached external usb emulating the mounted CDROMS? Or did you just use it to put a ATA or SATA CDROM in it?

[Ivan Skoluda]

I tested ZuluSCSI RP2040 and ZuluSCSI V 6.4
The ZuluSCSI RP2040 is more suitable for normal use.
The ISO files of the DTS CDs are writed onto an SD-card (preferably on a computer), which is then inserted into ZuluSCSI.

- ZuluSCSi can emulate up to 7 SCSI devices (CD-ROM, HDD, etc.)
- DTS-6D can work simultaneously with both original and emulated CD-ROMs
- DTS-6D software is limited to three CDs !!! The others "will not be used" !
- My DTS-6D can't read DVD-ISO correctly (it doesn't read files over 800MB) CD-ISO is OK.
- It is also possible to manipulate files on the SD-card via microUSB when the DTS-6D is switched off
- microUSB is only suitable for renaming, copying goes at USB 1.1 speed

[Fabian Schreyer]

Thanks for your report, I am very curious about that topic as well! So, do I get this right, that one ZuluSCSI device is enough per DTS player, as it will emulate all 3 (or 2) CD drives at once?

[Josh Jones]

The Zulu will emulate (mount) up to 7 SCSI devices, so in theory you only need one device per machine. You label the ISO's on the SD card as separate SCSI ID's. The Zulu supports several SCSI device types, but I don't know if the DTS unit will recognize anything besides a redbook disc. I ordered a ZuluSCSI and will throw it in a machine soon to see what it does.

JJ