PlayStation PAL Series Colour/Color Modification (PAL60)

[Administrator]

In order to play NTSC games on a PAL system, a colour mod is required. The information is listed for the models below. They just involve simply lifting pin 157 on the GPU (or cut the trace going to it), and then bridging the points shown in the images below (the pad of the lifted pin 157 to ground).

This mod will allow you to play NTSC games in colour on your PAL system if RGB isn't available for you.
How this works is the PAL colour carrier signal isn't correct for the RGB encoder. This mod places the correct frequency (4.43MHz) onto the colour burst line. Most if not all PAL TV's can accept this signal as PAL60.

In order to colour mod anything below a 7000 series, an external oscillator is required, and is mentioned below in another post.

SCPH-7002



SCPH-7502




SCPH-9002

[Gradius]

RGB all the way!

[Greg]

I have a NTSC system, a SCPH-7501, how to modify it to play PAL game?

[CosmoGuy]

Will my ps1 be able to play PAL games too? Also, color burst on my trinitron which hasn't SCART input is very annoying sometimes [specially in GT2 menus, i can see "waving" lines, but in other games too...]. I'm plugging yellow cable to video input and thats why my picture isn't great. I bought CRT specially for old games and i'm a bit disappointed , back then i had NTSC cable to my ps1, and image on my small 20' PHILIPS through SCART input, was great without single word, here i have just colors... :/ (Sony KV-2584MT from 1990).
By remaking my console, like on picutre, will i get image more clear?

Regards

[Administrator]

You should be able to play PAL games on an NTSC system with this mod. Someone please try it and let me know if it works. I will update the information above once confirmed. Thanks!

[nocash]

Here are my own modding notes (tested on a PAL PSone, should be same for SCPH-7500):

Code: Select all

Composite NTSC/PAL Mod
  /PAL (IC502.13) --/cut/-- /PAL (GPU.157)
  /PAL (IC502.13) --------- GND (for PAL) or VCC (for NTSC)
This forces the console to be always producing the desired composite color
format (regardless of whether the GPU is in 50Hz or 60Hz mode).

That description it might be a bit clearer about pin 157 of which chip is to be disconnected, why it's done, and where it should be connected to. And no, you cannot use the same mod on PAL and NTSC consoles, you'll either need to connect the pin to GND or VCC.
And a basic note: That mod fixes problems with distorted color clock, it doesn't bypass region locking (for that problem you would need something else, like a modchip for example).

[K4DoS]

Shadow,I checked your picture against another colour mod picture I found,and I came to the conclusion that the mod can be done in another way.
Just lift pin 157 and then solder a link between 2 points,as in this picture:

I did this myself and now my 7502 plays NTSC games with correct colours.
Here's proof from my custom painted blue 7502.Game is Need For Speed 3,NTSC-U copy:

[Shendo]

Those diagrams are basically the same. Both connect trace under pin 157 to ground.
Doesn't really matter to which point on the board you connect it as long as it's ground.

[K4DoS]

Yes,but the one that uses a wire to connect pin 157 to GND through a wire is easier if you have a 40W or higher soldering iron.
If I would have tried the method in the first picture I would have ended up with a dead 7502 board.
Still,what happens if the same mod is done on a NTSC 7501?

[Administrator]

Topic updated with a 9002 series image.

If this mod is done on an NTSC console it will not work.
If you would like to to this mod on an NTSC console and make it output with colour on an NTSC console instead, you must tie the pad high to Vcc (3.50V) (just like NO$CASH stated). That pad runs to pin 13 (NT/PAL) of the video D/A converter MCU, so in any case you mess up the solder via just link the pad under pin 157 of the GPU to that pin.

[Administrator]

SCPH-7002 added.

[erucoco]

To do the colour mod on any PlayStation 1, simply lift pin 157 on the GPU (or cut the trace going to it).

Hi guys,

First of all say that PSXDEV is AWESOME! The job you do here is great. I'm very impresed with hte PSIO project, can't wait to see it out for buy.

I just registered to ask in this post if it is possible to apply this fix to a scph-5502 PAL PSX console. First post from Shadow says "on any PlayStation", but this is the only site on the internet where I found that this can be applied to all models. Other sites sugest that it has to be done by a little circuit with an oscilator.

I'll be very glad if someone could answer me.


Thanks in advance and best regards.

[Administrator]

Oh, that's a mistake by me. I apologise, but you can not do this modification to all PlayStation models. The 5502 model will need an external oscillator soldered in.

Thank you for letting me know my mistake and welcome to the forums. Hope you enjoy it

[Gradius]

The clock is very easy to install and cheap.

Nothing to worrying much about it.

[erucoco]

Hey guys, thanks for the replys.

Gradius, or anyone, do you have a how to or tutorial on how to install the clock?


Thanks in advance.

[Administrator]

You don't have to use a crystal oscillator if you know how to build a simple XTAL based oscillator, but a sealed oscillator will always provide a much more accurate running clock

The 'QXO-1100' must be 5V TTL or CMOS. The frequency you need is 4.433MHz as mentioned in the first post

[nocash]

I came across that same jpg yesterday, too. The missing info in the jpg is: what-the-fuck is a QXO-1100? As far as I understand, QXO-1100 is some product line that can have different frequencies and maybe also different voltages. The forum where I found the above jpg stated that the QXO-1100 should be 5V, 4.433MHz (which looks quite right for a PAL mod).

The ugly thing about mods is that they are usually not telling what they are doing, and why they are doing it. Instead of signal names, they are just talking about "connect the green wire" and the "to solder pad shown on the photo". After some reverse engineering, I found out that the four CXA-1645 pins are:
Pin1 is GND (how stupid is that? Can't they say GND instead of Pin1? grmph)
Pin12 is VCC (5V, coming from the 7805)
Pin7 is NTSC/PAL select (normally goes to GPU.Pin157) (must be GNDed to force PAL mode at both 50Hz+60Hz)
Pin6 is SCIN color clock (normally goes to GPU.Pin153) (must be 4.43361875MHz to get intact PAL colors at both 50Hz+60Hz)

Ie. the part about GPU.Pin157 is just same as on later PSX models. The problem is GPU.Pin153 which seems to output 53MHz/12 in 50Hz mode (PAL color clock), and 53MHz/15 in 60Hz mode (NTSC color clock). Later consoles (PSones at least), are using an external clock divider, which does always output a constant color clock, regardless of whether the GPU is in 50Hz mode or 60Hz mode.

For modding the older PSX boards, one could use the 4pin crystal (as shown the jpg above), or one could use a 2pin crystal (which may be easier to get, but which might require some additional amplifier, the CXA-1645 datasheet may contain more info on that), or one could probably use some clock divider instead of a crystal (eg. in case that the GPU should output an amplified constant 53MHz test signal somewhere, then one could divide that by 12). Just some ideas.

[Administrator]

Heh, basically what I stated but elaborated in detailed depth by you
The division of the 53MHz clock by 12 would be quite interesting actually, but 11.954 into 53 is more close to the 4.43361875MHz precision which is the super accurate PlayStation nuclear fusion powered clock frequency to use

[nocash]

Yeah, well, it isn't exactly 53MHz. The exact values are 53.203425MHz (PAL mainboard), or 53.693175MHz (NTSC mainboard).

[Greg]

CXA-1645 Data Sheet