Prevue Guide Forums

Hey everyone,

I have another software release to share today! This time, it's international versions of the Prevue Software - nearly the same revision as the one I posted last week, but a slightly different release (7.8.3 vs. 7.8.2c).

One notable thing about the international builds of the Prevue software is that, as we've suspected in the past, they are LaserDisc-powered like Sneak Prevue.

Here are the links:
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/PL.REL
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/LGD.REL
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/LGE.REL
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/LGF.REL
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/LGS.REL
http://prevueguide.com/Amiga/ESQSTS.REL

And, here's a key as to what all of the build names mean:

• ESQ ("EPG Esquire") – Domestic Prevue
• ESQ13 – Domestic Prevue for 1.3 ROM
• ESQSTS ("ESQ w/ STS") – Domestic Prevue with modem
• PL ("Prevue Laser") – Prevue Guide Laser (Domestic)
• LGE ("Laser Guide English") – Canadian Laser Guide, English
• LGF ("Laser Guide French") – Canadian Laser Guide, French
• LGS ("Laser Guide Spanish") – Prevue Latino
• LGD ("Laser Guide Dutch") – Holland Laser Guide

One question you might ask: what's the difference between "Prevue Laser" and "Laser Guide"? The names certainly aren't clear, but the difference is that with Laser Guide the video is totally from the LaserDisc whereas Prevue Laser switches between the satellite video feed and a local LaserDisc player.

Also, the ESQSTS binary is actually not international. It was used in the US and adds some sort of modem capability to the Prevue system; I'm not sure exactly what or why. It appears that the binary doesn't actually include the modem functionality, but that ESQSTS relies on a separate STS binary (like the one present on the Sneak Prevue floppies I posted).

It looks like there are a couple of other variants of international guides, which I don't currently have binaries for:

• ESQPAL - PAL version of ESQ
• PLS - Presumably a Spanish version of Prevue Laser
• TAHITI - Maybe a Tahiti version of Prevue Guide?

All of these variants of the Prevue software were built from the same codebase. That codebase is separate from other codebases like EPG and Sneak Prevue. However, it looks as if portions of the Sneak Prevue code were added to the Prevue Guide codebase in order to power the LaserDisc functionality.

sweet, more software to figure out!