So.... Some SNESes output YPbPr.....

[Frag Mortuus]

Here is the datasheet that seems to be pretty elusive.

http://mikejmoffitt.com/BA6592F.pdf

I have never soldered anything in my life. But, I would love to have this mod done. If anyone has gotten good at this or if they are pretty proficient with this kind of thing, would someone be willing to give me a super simple elementary grade walk though on this?

Ultimately, if someone is really good at this stuff, I wouldn't mind paying someone to do it for me.

[Firebrandx]

Hey there! New guy here.

I just wanted to post a helpful tip for those thinking about seeing if this mod will work for their TV sets:

You can test the Luminance output from the A/V port (pin 7) by plugging it directly into the green input component jack on your TV set (you must also hook the grounding side to one of of the ground pins on the A/V as well). If you get a black and white picture, that means your TV will handle the full component mod once you make the plunge. It will also show you the quality and sharpness you can expect from the image, but obviously not color accuracy.

What I've done is taken a spare cheap 3rd Party Nintendo S-Video cable and cut off the S-video plug. I then stripped the luminance wire and hooked a component green plug to it and the ground wire (ignore the chrominance wire and cut it away from the others). This gave me a 'test cable' which can be plugged into any SNES without harm in order to test on various TV sets with component jacks.

If you want to be even more anal-retentive, you can take a set of SNES Composite cables and crack open the A/V interface plug casing. Then you simply move lead 9 over to lead 7 and close the case back up. This will turn the yellow pug into a Luminance plug, and you'd plug that into the green jack on your TV for testing.

[Jamisonia]

Is there an updated circuit for that mod? The thread is so huge and have peoples throwing idea around a lot so I am not sure what is the most up-to-date circuit to use to get the best possible result.

Mine is still apart too. I actually moved since I started this mod. I really ought to put it back together! The basic idea I decided on was to pull the Luminescence from the S-video output, and just use the pull down resistors.

[Firebrandx]

By the way, here's a pic of my own SNES component out on my 55-inch LED TV:

http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/zelda3componentout.jpg

The pic doesn't do the actual live image justice, but you can get an idea of the clarity and sharpness. I have the "S-ENC B" chip SNES and I used my pin-swapping method on a pair of composite cables to handle the luma signal. Then I straight-tapped pins 1 and 24 for the chroma signals. The chroma does need to be boosted, but since I have 3 billion inputs on my TV, I just use one of them dedicated to the SNES specifically and turned the saturation up to compensate. End result is a fantastic picture.

[Ziggy]

I still haven't had any time to work on this mod more, but I'm a little more interested in it now that I recently bought a new HDTV with no S-Video inputs.

@ Firebrandx: I just saw that you posted in the NesDev thread. Don't worry, some of kyuusaku's talk goes over my head too, but I think I understand pretty much everything he said in that thread. I've been planning to try his ideas, I just haven't had the time yet. What don't you understand about them? I can try to explain in plain English.

[Drakon]

Forgot to post this here. I have a parts snes pcb that someone mailed me years ago. The video encoder on the pcb says right on it "ba6594". I desoldered the ba6594, soldered it into a sop to dip adapter, and wired it up as a self contained rgb to component...thing. The results were interesting, the chroma lines needed amps....so whatever video encoder the snes uses that doesn't need amps on the colour lines must be different. Also the colour tint looks really off using the ba6594.

[Ziggy]

Nothing pertaining to the component mod, I just have to rant sometimes

I'd actually prefer NOT to use this component mod, but I have limited options. I recently got a new HDTV and AV receiver, neither have any S-Video inputs. So, I either have to use composite or come up with another option. This is an obvious option, but the Pr and Pb lines have to be amped before it'll look right. I haven't had the time to mess with it, but I'll have to try it and then go from there.

I could also buy or make an RGB-component converter, but meh. I don't feel like paying for one, and I don't know when I'll have the spare time to make one. And that's assuming the schem that I have works, and that all the parts it uses are obtainable. Even if I did this, I'd then have to worry about my N64. See, in my room with the HDTV, the SNES and N64 are the only retro consoles I have in here. Everything else is HDMI, with a Wii and PS2 over component. All my retro consoles (including duplicate SNES and N64s) are in another room with a Sony Wega Trinitron CRT.

The only other option I have is to some how adapter S-Video to component. I thought since it uses the same Y, wouldn't it be nice if I could just adapt C into the Pr and Pb inputs? Apparently that doesn't work, but that would have been nice. I did find a converter on eBay that claims to input composite or S-Video, clean it up, and output it as component or (selectable) RGB. It's $80 though, and I'm not paying that much for something that might not even be that great. If it worked though, I could also use it for my N64 on my HDTV. That would be nice considering the N64 doesn't have RGB (though I haven't checked the N64's I have on hand to see if they can take the RGB mod) so its only other option is composite.

On top of that, I checked out the SNES composite on my new HDTV. It looks surprisingly good. And I haven't even tried a 1-chip PPU SNES yet. I still have that PAL SNES with the one PPU design, I need to modify it to 60Hz first and replace the lockout chip. Also wanna do the digital audio mod to it since I finally got a new receiver. But again, lack of time. So I guess my current plan is to turn my PAL SNES into an NTSC SNES and see how it looks with composite. Then if I ever get the time I'll try amping the Pr and Pb on the other SNES and compare that to the PAL SNES. I know the component SNES will look better than composite, just because of how clear it is. But if I can't get the colors to look right than I'd rather use composite. As lame as that is. Fuck you, AV world, for dropping S-Video!!!

Sorry for the wall of text, I guess I just wanted to rant.

[elmagicochrisg]

I still have that PAL SNES with the one PPU design, I need to modify it to 60Hz first and replace the lockout chip.

Keep in mind the 60Hz image from a PAL SNES will be a little less stable than its original 50Hz image.

It's less visible on a CRT screen, but can be quite annoying on a High Definition screen.

[Ziggy]

Ummm... Why?

All the PPUs in PAL and NTSC are the same. They both can output 50 or 60 Hz. They're not specially made to output one or the other, so I fail to see why a PAL SNES set to 60Hz would be anything less than an NTSC SNES.

[elmagicochrisg]

Ummm... Why?

Don't ask me why. That's just my personal experience.

Here's an example I found on YouTube: 50 Hz / 60 Hz SNES

Don't remember having the more extreme problems you see in that clip. But the KI and Diddy's Kong Quest parts are definitely recognizable. That's why I play my PowerPak on my SFC, not my modded SNES...

Didn't even notice the problem until I connected that SNES to a flatscreen. But once I knew it was there, I could not unsee it. Not even on my CRT...