Sega Master System 2 RGB & 50/60hz switch

[Vyothric]

Just modified another Master System 2 so I thought I'd take some pictures this time. mmmonkey already has a great guide, but I'll post as much info as I can anyway.

Some things you'll need:

- A/V socket. A "U" shaped 8 pin DIN (on the LEFT of the picture) will allow you to use the Mega Drive 1 SCART lead, but you can use another kind if you want and make your own lead. A good place to get the DIN sockets is here. I thought I'd ordered 2, but received 10, so a pretty good deal.

- Single Pole Double Throw switch (SPDT). Slide type is fine too, I just don't have the right screws for it.

- Screws for the DIN socket. I got these on eBay. Can't remember if the nuts came with them or if I got them elsewhere. But you'll know what size to get from the screws. If you have any old computer hardware lying around you can actually use these. They're a bit more awkward to work with though.

- Some wire, solder, vero board, 4 x 220uF Capacitors and 1 x 10uF capacitor.

I start off by making the holes for the switch and DIN socket. The hole for the switch is easy, but I don't have a drill bit big enough for the DIN socket so I have to sand it down, which takes ages. I do this by wrapping some sandpaper round a pen/pencil. You can remove the RF modulator and use the existing hole and make that bigger, but then you either need to have the wire go all the way to the right then back again or try and fit the board in place of the RF modulator, which I've actually done before it's just not very tidy.





For the 50/60hz switch you need pin 57 on this chip (315-5426). Wire it up to the middle point on the switch and then +5V & ground to the left and right points. I'm not sure if any Master System games are actually region locked so on my main console I just wired it up to 60hz permanently. You can use the negative side of capacitor C18 if doing this. For the switch I wired it to top-right capacitor (well, C32 too for the negative side as I couldn't get it to  bend out of the way properly).



There are some good pictures showing how to make the board and how to wire it up to the DIN socket on mmmonkey's site so I won't bother copying them over.

Here's what the finished thing looks like:





Here's where you need to wire it up on the CXA chip. You can use composite or C-Sync. Personally, using composite gives me jailbars so I use C-Sync.



Audio from negative side of C31.



Everything wired up:



...and how it looks:

[zapiy]

Brilliant stuff fella, thanks for sharing.  I may do something like this on one of my spare MS.

[onthinice]

Really nice job and thanks for sharing!

[zapiy]

Was thinking of make some How to... pages would you be happy if i did that.. you get the credit?

[Vyothric]

Er, yeah if you want 

[dcultrapro]

hmm.... I have a spare Master System 2, the title mentions RGB, so what would the connector be that goes to the tv after this mod? or is it still the same RCA cables?

very nice piece of work

[Vyothric]

You just use a standard Mega Drive 1 RGB SCART lead.

[dcultrapro]

aah ok and it allows 60hz? So what does the Master System 1 run at, 60? I thought it was much lower than that... I also didn't know you could get a true scart lead for the Master System 1, I thought it was a case of getting one of these:


and then plugging it into one of these:

[Vyothric]

aah ok and it allows 60hz? So what does the Master System 1 run at, 60? I thought it was much lower than that...

A PAL system will run at 50hz, that's what the switch is for. They can be made to run in 60hz. You will actually need an RGB SCART lead for 60hz to display in colour.

I also didn't know you could get a true scart lead for the Master System 1

You use a cable like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sega-Megadriv ... 1c1c506b9d

[dcultrapro]

aaaah ok interesting, so the cable isn't designed for the Master System but they both have that same fat plug/socket huh... cool

[dcultrapro]

So I'm probably going to pay someone to do a mod on my Master System 2, not a 50/60hz switched but I want RCA out (what would the plug be if I had RGB??) so I can record from it as I can't capture via the Analogue RF Output...

Reason I'm doing this is I want to be able to record from Alex Kidd in Miracle World which is built in to my MS2... and it might mean that all my other resulting Master System Games that I might want to record from will hopefully come through with a better picture. Currently my MS1 displays ok but it has a white flash every couple seconds.

does anyone else on here offer the service/mod? If so how much would you charge for the work?

[Vyothric]

I'm actually selling/trading the one featured in this thread.

I can do the mod too if you want.

Edit: Sounds like you want to record via composite/s-video - what are you using to capture video?

[dcultrapro]

I use an EZCAP device... it works fine but only supports Svideo/RCA

so to be clear, what would the ports on the back be? Would it be RWY  AND S-Video out?

how much would you want for it??

[Vyothric]

If you want yours modded for S-Video & composite I'll do it for the price of the parts (couple of quid)

Or I can add the outputs to the one from this thread and you can have it for £35 posted. I think it's a bit more complicated with this one as apparently I need to add an amp for S-Video (different video chip).

Or (probably the best option considering postage costs of sending things back and forth) I have a spare that I can do the mod on. It's one I did an RGB mod on but the picture quality wasn't as good as it uses a different video chip so I removed it. Adding composite & s-video to it should only take a few minutes. You can have it for £10 posted as it's not as tidy. I removed the RF modulator but nothing fits in that hole, so it's empty, the 8 pin din socket for the non-wired up RGB is still there too and it has a 50/60hz switch but as you'd need RGB to get a colour picture in 60hz, it's a bit useless. I could wire up the RGB socket again for an extra £5 but I can't guarantee it'll look any good. The colours looked wrong on my TV - might look OK on another TV but I can't be sure.

Er yeah..this is why I don't sell things often or have a proper mod service.

[dcultrapro]

I'm honestly not fussed about S-Video, if I can just have Red White and Yellow that would be fine, especially if it works out cheaper! Honestly not worried about RGB/50-60hz or S-Video... RCA/Composite is all I need

The guy I've spoken to via a friend on Youtube has said he would do it for £20 + return postage... obviously if you work out cheaper then that's awesome for me!