Neo Geo CD PAL to NTSC

[Takumaji]

Folkz,

I am looking for some advice to convert my CD console from PAL to NTSC. I have already used several search engines and found a couple of sites with some information, but they contradict each other. One ressources sez that jumper wire JN1 has to be cut open and resistor R47 (which is 16K in PAL mode) has to be replaced with a 20K one. That would be it.

But then there's resistor R52... In a PAL console there's no R52, just the jumper wire JN1. Do I have to put in a resistor at location R52 after cutting JN1 and replacing R47? If so: What kind of resistor (10K, 16K, 20K...) do I have to use?

bolo
---

 

[Arakon]

www.gamesx.com's mod works, so try that one.

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by Arakon:
<STRONG>www.gamesx.com's mod works, so try that one.</STRONG>

Thx for your answer. I've alread been at gamesx.com before posting to this forum and was happy about the picture of the video pcb, but the problem still persists: What resistor value is necessary for resistor R52? The site does not state it.

If any of you *NTSC* CD owners out there would do me the favour to unscrew his/her baby to look for the color code on resistor R52, I would be able to reconstruct the correct value...

Anyone...? <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Takumaji

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by Arakon:
<STRONG>www.gamesx.com's mod works, so try that one.</STRONG>

An hour ago a buddy of mine and I successfully mod'ed my CD console from PAL to NTSC <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> The suggestions found at www.gamesx.com were helpful, although the NGCD mod section of this site greatly lacks detail. I'm preparing a NGCD tech/gaming section on one of my sites with a more complete coverage.

We took the following steps:

1.) Replaced 16K resistor R47 on the NGCD video pcb with a 20K version

2.) Cutted jumper wire JN1

3.) Removed jumper R26 on the main pcb

Using an oscilloscope we found that steps 1 and 2 have the function to adjust the color according to NTSC. Gets a little greenish...

Then we used a potentiometer (adjustable resistor) to see wether slot R52, which is occupied by a resistor in the original NTSC version, really needs to be bridged that way. We started at 100K and moved downwards to 1K, but neither our osci, nor the TV showed any reaction. So we left the damn thing open.
If any of you tekkies out there knows what resistor R52 is for I would be happy to learn...

If you only perform step 1 and 2 you end up with a newly sync'ed half-PAL version. This is where most tech-oriented NG sites fail, because step 3 is the most important as it sets the console to 60Hz.

Because everything worked fine so far we also changed the default country setting from Europe to Japan...or from white to red blood...veery nice!

Uhm.. excuse me for a mo but have to play through my beloved Metal Slug fullscreen . .

 

[Wolferaizer]

u may hav an older style board like mine.

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by Wolferaizer:
<STRONG>u may hav an older style board like mine.</STRONG>

According to the prints on the video pcb it was made 12/12/94.

 

[ExeterIsLame]

Okay the above basically outlines what I have done to convert my machine to an NTSC signal BUT it does not work for me.

Here are the steps I took...

1) took apart my machine and checked jumper R26. Still open and looks to have never been soldered shut.
2) removed video board and desoldered R47 and the remnants of R52.
3) Jumper JN1 had already been cut, so I left that be.
4) Solder a 20k 1/4 watt resistor at R47.
5) Solder a 1k 1/2 watt resistor at R52.
6) Put together my machine and power up.

Picture is crystal clear but is in Black in White out of the A/V port, RCA jacks, and SVideo jack. I recieved the machine from a friend in a trade and he was always able to get color from the machine with an A/V to Scart cable which makes the think it is somehow stuck in PAL mode. It is obviously transmitting a 60hz signal since the picture is crystal clear without any vertical hold issues.

Can anyone offer a suggestion? When I get home I am going to try just removing R52 as stated above, but somehow I am doubting that it will work.

I love the NeoGeo CD but playing it in Black and White sucks.

Thanks in advance

 

[ExeterIsLame]

I cut out resistor R52 just above example did and still no luck... I have a 60hz PAL signal. I looked around for a oscillator as mentioned in some of the other questions but didnt find one attached to the video board. Would it be on the main board instead?

Anyways I would greatly appreciate any help on this issue... I really want to be able to play Metal Slug in full color.

 

[ExeterIsLame]

just a bump to get this back up in the stack to see any anyone else has any ideas...

 

[nick_th_fury]

OK,
Maybe I can Help.
Checkout my site here:
Neo CDrom Mod Page

Follow the instructions there in the
NEO GEO CD 50/60Hz Mod Section
& see if that helps you out.
Good Luck.

 

[bwi]

Originally posted by ExeterIsLame:
<STRONG>

Picture is crystal clear but is in Black in White out of the A/V port, RCA jacks, and SVideo jack. I recieved the machine from a friend in a trade and he was always able to get color from the machine with an A/V to Scart cable which makes the think it is somehow stuck in PAL mode. It is obviously transmitting a 60hz signal since the picture is crystal clear without any vertical hold issues.

</STRONG>

The black and white picture suggest that you are in Ntsc but you have to use a scart cable with RGB conncetions (or get a NTSC compatible TV)

Bri

 

[ExeterIsLame]

I'm in American man... all the TV's I own are NTSC. I've performed the mod spec to all the guides I can find and still end up with a stable but Black & White image. I even ordered an RGB cable that hooks into the Mini DIN port on the back of the unit and ends up with two RCA jacks on the other end from redmond cable. The exact same problem occurs.... crystal clear image but in black and white. When I connect out of the SVideo... same thing clear picture B&W. RCA ports do the same thing.

The unit is really beginning to severely frustrate me. With all that I have said does anyone have a clue what might be up? I think it is surely more than something covered by that standard PAL to NTSC mod.

 

[ExeterIsLame]

Also of note... when I got the unit there was no resistor whatsoever in the R52 slot... just legs from where there was one. Currently I have a 1k resistor in there as that is what a friend of mine tested his NTSC machine out to be.

 

[nick_th_fury]

I wish I had an answer for you.
Im no tech head, so it's all over my head.
I do know, that several people have succesfully done this mod with the guides on the net.

If your positive you did everything right, then you'll need to talk to a real techie.

I posted your problem to the older neo mail list, & hopefully we might get lucky there.

In the meantime, I recommend you contact Chris Ray at www.neogeofreak.com

He is extremly knowledgable about Neo's & their mods & conversions.

I Imagine that if anyone could answer your problem, it would be him.

 

[TonK]

cray@neogeofreak.com

Thats Chris Ray's address, a lot less confusion...

 

[ExeterIsLame]

Thanks for the help... the rogue factor here is it seems like the unit started its life as a Japanese NTSC unit then was modded to PAL and I traded for it... and now I am trying to put things back to NTSC again.

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by ExeterIsLame:
<STRONG>Okay the above basically outlines what I have done to convert my machine to an NTSC signal BUT it does not work for me.

[...]
Picture is crystal clear but is in Black in White out of the A/V port, RCA jacks, and SVideo jack. I recieved the machine from a friend in a trade and he was always able to get color from the machine with an A/V to Scart cable which makes the think it is somehow stuck in PAL mode. It is obviously transmitting a 60hz signal since the picture is crystal clear without any vertical hold issues.

Can anyone offer a suggestion? When I get home I am going to try just removing R52 as stated above, but somehow I am doubting that it will work.

I love the NeoGeo CD but playing it in Black and White sucks.

Thanks in advance</STRONG>

Sorry for late reply - I exactly had the same problem when converting my former PAL unit to NTSC. After modding it I could see a fullscreen 60Hz picture, but it was b/w. I got around this problem by using an RGB cable and switching my second scart bay of my TV set to RGB sync mode. My TV offers video, RGB, svhs and "normal" sync mode; after that I could see the colors again.

Like I mentioned at the start of the topic, we (a buddy and me) used an adjustable resistor to check wether R52 really does something useful, but we could not get a reaction, with or without R52 soldered in. So we left it out and it works anyway.

T

 

[Wolferaizer]

Originally posted by Takumaji:
<STRONG>According to the prints on the video pcb it was made 12/12/94.</STRONG>

dont believe what u see. at gamesx, da info was incorrect slightly. i forgot how to do it, coz it was my fren helpin me, years ago. btw, use 40k resistor.

 

[ExeterIsLame]

okay...

Can anyone confirm or deny the 40k resistor bit? Has anyone converted a PAL to NTSC and actually used it on an actual US NTSC television? In Color no less?

I am working on getting a 40k resistor cause at this point I am willing to try anything.

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by ExeterIsLame:
<STRONG>okay...

Can anyone confirm or deny the 40k resistor bit? Has anyone converted a PAL to NTSC and actually used it on an actual US NTSC television? In Color no less?

I am working on getting a 40k resistor cause at this point I am willing to try anything.</STRONG>

Again: I tried R52 with *any* resistor, from 1K to 100K, but there were no results, neither visible ones (on the TV), nor anything which could have been measured using our oscillator.

The original PAL setup would be R47 with 16K, no resistor at slot R52, jumper JN1 and R26 closed. NTSC would be R47 with 20K, a 1K (why 40K??) resistor or *no* resistor in slot R52 and both jumpers JN1 and R26 open.

Currently I'm talking to a technician about the color/NTSC/PAL problem and will report my findings as soon as possible.

 

[ExeterIsLame]

Thanks for the help... I have tried the 20k in R47, 1k in R52, no jumper in JN1 and no jumper at R26. One question tho... the resistors I am using are 5% tolerance... should they be 1% tolerance? They are also 1/4 and not 1/2... I couldnt even get a 20k in 1/2 to test the diff.

[ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: ExeterIsLame ]

 

[Takumaji]

Originally posted by ExeterIsLame:
<STRONG> [...] One question tho... the resistors I am using are 5% tolerance... should they be 1% tolerance? They are also 1/4 and not 1/2... I couldnt even get a 20k in 1/2 to test the diff.

[ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: ExeterIsLame ]</STRONG>

The resistors we used have a 5% tolerance, 1/4 I believe. My buddy just has a small selection of standard spare parts and confirmed the values of the resistors a couple of min.s ago.

 

[Amano Jacu]

I live in Spain and have a PAL Sony TV that is compatible with 60 Hz NTSC, and a RGB scart cable compatible with Neo Geo CD, so I wanted to convert my PAL console to NTSC 60 Hz to see it full screen. I followed instructions at http://www.gamesx.com/ and did all 3 things. Anyway it now seems that for my purpose it was only needed to cut R26.
But now the screen flickers and I can't see a thing! Here's what I've done:

1- My PAL console doesn't have any resistor at R52 but has a wire in JN1. I've cut this wire. Then I've replaced resistor R47 with one of 20.5 K (!!!! could that be the cause? should it only work ith an exact 20K one???? Here you are talking about resistance tolerance, is that 0.5K difference noticeable?) I have done nothing with R52, it's just empty.

2- I've cut whatever it was between the two points R26 in the downside of the board.

Any suggestion about what to do now will be welcome.

Thanks in advance

 

[highrise]

Hi

here's what I know - to completely change a PAL machine to an NTSC or vice versa, you need to do the mod in gamesx, and also change the crystal on the video board. Once I knew this I gave up and got an RGB to SCART cable. This works perfectly.

You can't use S-VHS or composite it just won't work. If you dont have SCART, it may be possible to build an RGB -> VGA adaptor, but I'm not sure. I think you could get it to work on an old Commodore monitor for instance - any thoughts ??

Al

 

[Takumaji]

Ah yeah, here comes the old thread again! <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I suggest that you use a genuine 20K resistor instead of a 20.5K one. I am not sure wether the NGCD video board works properly with 20.5. However, highrise's post sheds some new light on the whole problem, so the morale is to build/buy an rgb-to-s/vhs/composite adaptor if you experience any b/w (and flickering?) problems. At least this seems plausible. I will go back digging some web pages to find a place where you can order this kind of adaptor. Meanwhile, if any of you have a good link to an electronic supplies shop it would be helpful to post it here.

Btw., Amano: You're right, if you own a so-called multinorm TV set (as most Europeans do) with scart you just have to set the display ratio to 60Hz by removing jumper R26. The cutting of JN1 and other mods on the video pcb do a color-/sync correction but they have no effect on the display ratio/picture size.

And: The resistor tolerance of R47 should be 5%. There are 1% and 5% crystals; this tolerance is different from the resistor value of 20K. For instance, 5% tolerance means that a crystal with 20K would not exceed its resistor value by more than 5%, likewise with 20K/1%.

Finally, make sure to *properly* remove the jumper R26. A reason for your flickering problem may be that bits of R26 are still in the slot and cause short cuts on the board.

Good luck.

|Tak