Well today i popped up to maplins and got bits to mod my megadrive.
I fitted a jap/english switch, 50/60 Hz switch and fitted RCA outs.
If you have a megadrive and haven't done these mods i would suggest you do them!
jap english switch works irrespective of 50/60 hz mode. i had streets of rage to use to make sure it worked, the intor is in jap and you get the bare knuckle start screen. Aside from that no changes. The other games I quickly tested it on remained all in english but most likely as they were pal games. I need some jap imports to test it properly.
50/60 Hz switch. People say its better, you see the game as it was meant to be seen, i.e. full screen no borders. Thats very true and very welcome it is as wel. You don't get told how much quicker everything becomes. Sound for example, its speeded up to what it should be, its awesome. Sonics music is how it should be, when you punch in a beat em up its a sharp thwack instead of a thwaaaaaaaccccckkkkk, SOR instead or yeeaaarrggghhh when hit its yargh!. The actua games are imo easier in 60 Hz. WHy? The controls respond instantly, you no longer have the delay or have to anticipate when that platform is gonna drop etc.
When you actually watch the time counter a second is actually a second, not 1.5 or whatever it is in 50hz. 10 hz of a difference really is a hell of a lot.
The RCA's.
Now I have stereo sound to my telly from the megadrve. it is stereo sound as well, you can hear it shifting between the speakers.
Video, the graphics are improved, not much but gone is the rf outputs clouding. ghosting, fuziness etc. Its not as sharp as S-video or scart but its an improvement.
PROBLEMS
Black and white, in 60 hz the video is in blakc in white on both the rf lead and the composite. So I need to get an rgb scart lead to get colour picture and an added bonus is the graphics will be better.
However due to the improvement in the console in 60hz I am happy to play it in proper speed black and white rather than slow PAL colour. Even the mrs notices the improvement and agrees its better black and white and fast!
I also managed to do it and retain the ull compliment of console interior shielding, you just need to be clever with wire selection and routing.
Anyway if anyone wants anymore info on what I done, parts used etc just ask.
Megadrive mods
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silverback
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Droid party
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Got any pics or links? Would really like to put direct rca outs on the back of my MD. Is it MD model 1 or 2 your talking about?
JT wrote:Yeah, like vampire aliens invade and hit us all with a ray beam that paralyzes all of our arms. The only way to deactivate the ray beam and fight back the vampire alien threat is with a complicated series of foot patterns on the device's control board that looks remarkably like a DDR pad. We will all praise this man for saving our lives and buy him a mountain of stuffed animals.
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silverback
- 24-bit
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MD 1 model number 1601-05
No pics as I don't have a camera at the minute. Will try and get one though.
Parts I used were from maplins, 3 gold phono sockets at £1.39 each and 2 of the small SPDT switches. Wiring for the switches came from and old PS1 joypad lead. I used tape on the wies to keep them bundled together and taped them to the board.
For the phono sockets I used old speaker bell wire.
I tired to use thick wire for the phonos but it was too thick, so went for the thin cheapo bell wire I had lying around.
Switches were mounted on the left hand side of the console in line with the volume slider. I mounted them internally so only a small portion of the switch is sticking out, about 2 mm or soof the switch is above the surface of the casing. I used araldite to hold the switches inside the case. As I was lazy I drilled the holes for the switches, 1 is fine the other I slipped so the holes a bit wonky.
The RCA's I was hoping to mount on the black plastic shiny part at the back. On my MD theres a large blank section to the left of the rf output. Its not got the D shaped plug serial port thingy on it. I was hoping to mount them there. However the depth of the phono jacks was to great and they would have touched the rf modulator. So I mounted them on the upper half of the casing. Lookign at the back its about 20mm to the left of where the screw hole on the back of the console is. They are spaced equally but the right sound jack is abotu 2mm too high! I'm a tad annoyed about that.
For the earthing of the jacks I took the ring terminals off each jack got a single piece of the bell wire I stripped about 6mm off the end of the wire, then about an inch down the wire another 6 or so mm then anouther inch down the wire another 6mm section out of it. I then slid the ring terminals onto them, the terminals have a handle bit with a small hole to solder the wire into. I folded the wire when it went through the hole and soldered to the terminal. This gave me a nice easy, neat solution. Then I put them on the jacks and tightened them all up.
The video feed. On the bottom of the board i soldered a wire directly to the composite feed, make sure you have the wire so its pointong to the middle of the board not out the side. The wire was then poked through the missing serial ports screw hold so that was it through to the top of the board very neatly. It also meant the board can lie flat. Then all I had to do was solder the wire to the phone jack.
sound wires. Again with the cheap bell wire it was pre tinned so nice and stiff. Instead of taking the board out as I couldn't (I done things in the wrong order in all honesty) and solderign to the bottom of the main board, I thought about soldering to the headphone jack board, however you can't. Theres a slot in the main board so the pins on the headphone board don't touch it, its very, very close. Options were then either cut into the wire or do something else. I done something else. The plugs are not actally plugs you can unplug, they are soldered in, however using my small blade I was able to pull the plastic back enough to slip the wires in. This meant a good tight contact with the pins I wanted. So i ran the wores to the back under the shielding and then soldered them to the phone jacks.
I would do things differently next time and I will do it again to make a neater job tbh. I will also change the LED next time to blue or something.
Links that I had a look at for info on details.
http://www-unix.ecs.umass.edu/~dhowland/mod/
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/index.htm
No pics as I don't have a camera at the minute. Will try and get one though.
Parts I used were from maplins, 3 gold phono sockets at £1.39 each and 2 of the small SPDT switches. Wiring for the switches came from and old PS1 joypad lead. I used tape on the wies to keep them bundled together and taped them to the board.
For the phono sockets I used old speaker bell wire.
I tired to use thick wire for the phonos but it was too thick, so went for the thin cheapo bell wire I had lying around.
Switches were mounted on the left hand side of the console in line with the volume slider. I mounted them internally so only a small portion of the switch is sticking out, about 2 mm or soof the switch is above the surface of the casing. I used araldite to hold the switches inside the case. As I was lazy I drilled the holes for the switches, 1 is fine the other I slipped so the holes a bit wonky.
The RCA's I was hoping to mount on the black plastic shiny part at the back. On my MD theres a large blank section to the left of the rf output. Its not got the D shaped plug serial port thingy on it. I was hoping to mount them there. However the depth of the phono jacks was to great and they would have touched the rf modulator. So I mounted them on the upper half of the casing. Lookign at the back its about 20mm to the left of where the screw hole on the back of the console is. They are spaced equally but the right sound jack is abotu 2mm too high! I'm a tad annoyed about that.
For the earthing of the jacks I took the ring terminals off each jack got a single piece of the bell wire I stripped about 6mm off the end of the wire, then about an inch down the wire another 6 or so mm then anouther inch down the wire another 6mm section out of it. I then slid the ring terminals onto them, the terminals have a handle bit with a small hole to solder the wire into. I folded the wire when it went through the hole and soldered to the terminal. This gave me a nice easy, neat solution. Then I put them on the jacks and tightened them all up.
The video feed. On the bottom of the board i soldered a wire directly to the composite feed, make sure you have the wire so its pointong to the middle of the board not out the side. The wire was then poked through the missing serial ports screw hold so that was it through to the top of the board very neatly. It also meant the board can lie flat. Then all I had to do was solder the wire to the phone jack.
sound wires. Again with the cheap bell wire it was pre tinned so nice and stiff. Instead of taking the board out as I couldn't (I done things in the wrong order in all honesty) and solderign to the bottom of the main board, I thought about soldering to the headphone jack board, however you can't. Theres a slot in the main board so the pins on the headphone board don't touch it, its very, very close. Options were then either cut into the wire or do something else. I done something else. The plugs are not actally plugs you can unplug, they are soldered in, however using my small blade I was able to pull the plastic back enough to slip the wires in. This meant a good tight contact with the pins I wanted. So i ran the wores to the back under the shielding and then soldered them to the phone jacks.
I would do things differently next time and I will do it again to make a neater job tbh. I will also change the LED next time to blue or something.
Links that I had a look at for info on details.
http://www-unix.ecs.umass.edu/~dhowland/mod/
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/index.htm
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selfdestroyer
- 32-bit
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That was a nice find.. thanks for sharing.
Check out my want list and collection here
Http://evolvingconsole.com
Http://evolvingconsole.com
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silverback
- 24-bit
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- Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 7:46 pm
- Location: Glasgow, Scotland
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silverback
- 24-bit
- Posts: 188
- Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 7:46 pm
- Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Well i got my rgb cable today, what a difference. It wouldn't play on the big telly in the bedroom. It was doubling the screen size basically. ALso no more black and white in 60Hz!
So stuck it on the 14 inch portable I had lying about. Awesome, pin sharp output, no ghosting (rf) or fuzziness (rf and cmposite). Only issue is the screens not centred, need to try and sort it.
I got pics of the mods but need to get photoshop sorted so I can re-size them to show the mods on the console.
So stuck it on the 14 inch portable I had lying about. Awesome, pin sharp output, no ghosting (rf) or fuzziness (rf and cmposite). Only issue is the screens not centred, need to try and sort it.
I got pics of the mods but need to get photoshop sorted so I can re-size them to show the mods on the console.