Neo Geo MV2F Scart pinout question

[Jelleko]

Hi All,

Been following this forum as a guest for a long while now, but decided to finally register as a user!

I am currently busy with the consolization of a NEO GEO - MV2F board. Since I live in Europe, and regular Scart cables are everywhere, I thought it would be a nice idea to have a regular scart connector on the outside of the metal casing of the Neo geo board. I looked at many guides, which also detail the creation of a dedicated scart cable (Usually a DIN 8 type plug, which then goes to a scart plug for the tv.

What I would want to try is to make every regular male to male scart cable work with my neo geo board. I still have a a couple of questions how to wire all cables to the scart socket on the back of the neo geo, so I can indeed use (theoretically) every regular scart cable.

I have listed all pins of the scart socket, with some possible questions.

pin 1 - empty
pin 2 - Audio R
pin 3 - empty
pin 4 - Audio Ground (Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground? Or do I need to extract it from pin 21? or should I leave this empty?)
pin 5 - Blue Ground (Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground? Or do I need to extract it from pin 21? or should I leave this empty?)
pin 6 - Audio L
pin 7 - Blue Signal + 75 ohm/pot
pin 8 - Is this needed for switching the tv to RGB with +5v? (Do i get the +5v from the neo geo power circuit?)
pin 9 - Green Ground (Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground? Or do I need to extract it from pin 21? or should I leave this empty?)
pin 10 - empty
pin 11 - Green Signal + 75 ohm/pot
pin 12 - empty
pin 13 - Red Ground (Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground? Or do I need to extract it from pin 21? or should I leave this empty?)
pin 14 - empty
pin 15 - Red Signal + 75 ohm/pot
pin 16 - Is this needed for switching the tv to RGB with +5v? (Do i get the +5v from the neo geo power circuit?)
pin 17 - empty
pin 18 - Sync Ground Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground? Or do I need to extract it from pin 21? or should I leave this empty?)
pin 19 - empty
pin 20 - Sync signal (Does this also need 75 ohm or a pot?)
pin 21 Ground (Where do I pick up this ground? Same as from the power ground?)

Has anyone done a similar mod like this?

Thanks in advance for any help! Been wanting to complete this project, and the routing to the scart port is the final step (Hopefully!)

[Kez]

A few of the wires in regular SCART leads are actually cross-wired rather than pin to pin. You need to wire your port as an output to be compatible.

That means 1 & 3 for audio r/l and pin 19 for sync.

You'll want to put around 150 ohms in series on the RGB lines, 75 will leave the image looking very washed out. I believe the csync output of the MV2F is TTL, so you'll want a 470ohm resistor and 220uf cap on that line.

Just using resistors in series to your SCART connector will work okay but I think you are still likely to be slightly out of spec and have an impedance mismatch, so you should keep your cables fairly short if possible.

Should be fine to pick up ground from anywhere, and just daisy chain it onto all of the output pins.

[Syntax]

Link all grounds.
5v to pin 8, link pin 8 to 16 with a 180R resistor.

Make sure that the MVS does not output amplified video or audio before connecting it up to a TV.

[Jelleko]

A few of the wires in regular SCART leads are actually cross-wired rather than pin to pin. You need to wire your port as an output to be compatible.

That means 1 & 3 for audio r/l and pin 19 for sync.

You'll want to put around 150 ohms in series on the RGB lines, 75 will leave the image looking very washed out. I believe the csync output of the MV2F is TTL, so you'll want a 470ohm resistor and 220uf cap on that line.

Just using resistors in series to your SCART connector will work okay but I think you are still likely to be slightly out of spec and have an impedance mismatch, so you should keep your cables fairly short if possible.

Should be fine to pick up ground from anywhere, and just daisy chain it onto all of the output pins.

Thanks for the info! So If I understand correctly, for the Sync line, the path is as follows:
Sync signal from board -> 470 ohm resistor in line -> 220uf in line -> pin 19 of scart socket?

For the 150 and 470 ohm resistors, is there any specific load in watt you used (0.25w or 0.5w for example)?
I was thinking to order this one for the 150 ohm: https://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/ ... archDetail

Same question applies to the 220 uf capacitor. Is this a correct one?
https://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/ ... archDetail

Link all grounds.
5v to pin 8, link pin 8 to 16 with a 100R resistor.

Make sure that the MVS does not output amplified video or audio before connecting it up to a TV.

Also thanks for the reply! Would this be a correct resistor?
https://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/ ... archDetail

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it!

[Kez]

Thanks for the info! So If I understand correctly, for the Sync line, the path is as follows:
Sync signal from board -> 470 ohm resistor in line -> 220uf in line -> pin 19 of scart socket?

Yeah with the negative leg of the cap going to the scart socket.

1/4W resistors should be fine and a 16v cap is good too.

There is a good guide here for consolizing an MV2F:

http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/files/cmvsmv2f.pdf

It's not really geared toward RGB output, but worth a read anyway if you haven't seen it before.

[Jelleko]

Thanks for the info! So If I understand correctly, for the Sync line, the path is as follows:
Sync signal from board -> 470 ohm resistor in line -> 220uf in line -> pin 19 of scart socket?

Yeah with the negative leg of the cap going to the scart socket.

1/4W resistors should be fine and a 16v cap is good too.

There is a good guide here for consolizing an MV2F:

http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/files/cmvsmv2f.pdf

It's not really geared toward RGB output, but worth a read anyway if you haven't seen it before.

Thanks again!

I actually looked at that guide for the location of all wires I needed to solder to the board!
Do you know of any guide specific for scart implementations? I think I will get the hang of it with the answers in this forum topic, but maybe for other users wanting to perform the same kind of mod to their neo geo boards!

[gray117]

...I actually looked at that guide for the location of all wires I needed to solder to the board!

... whilst I'm sure this'll just remain as a consolized board, and perhaps you are hoping to hide wiring a bit more but I'd still suggest using a loom/jamma plug edge... you can buy fully wired jamma looms pretty cheap, and even if you're fine with the soldering it can save a bit of time... if you're not too confident with the soldering then it's a no brainer

[Jelleko]

Just bought all of the missing components! Will update you all this weekend if I managed to get everything working!

Had one more question.. I have a power supply as mentioned in the Jamma Nation 2 slot guide. 5v, 3A and did the mentioned 5v only mod.
I am only wondering if it would be necessary to add a fuse in line, and if so, what fuse would i need to use with this board?

...I actually looked at that guide for the location of all wires I needed to solder to the board!

... whilst I'm sure this'll just remain as a consolized board, and perhaps you are hoping to hide wiring a bit more but I'd still suggest using a loom/jamma plug edge... you can buy fully wired jamma looms pretty cheap, and even if you're fine with the soldering it can save a bit of time... if you're not too confident with the soldering then it's a no brainer

Thanks for the tip! Is there any Jamma cable / loom you could recommend for this case? For now I will try it at first with the soldering iron

[mvsfan]

a seller on Ebay sells wired jamma connectors wired for Neo-Geo specifically, for around $25.00.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEO-GEO-JAMMA- ... xymiVQ98Og

they are good quality, and you really dont need a fully wired harness because youll never use all the wires for neo geo.

[Jelleko]

Thanks for all the help and tips all! I just managed to create my first consolized Neo Geo!!
Now I know that everything’s working, I just need some games and a controller! Any recommendations of controllers? Neo Geo CD controller looks nice, but seems a tad bit expensive for what it is..

[Syntax]

One of these or a Saturn version?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/psx-playsta ... Sw5bFZY9Iy

[werk91]

There's the Brook USB to Neo Geo adapter as well. What I've realised in the last months is that nothing to do with Neo Geo is ever not expensive

[mvsfan]

You can use a sega saturn controller with an adapter. I saw the adapters for sale a while ago but i dont remember where.

Its good, because the second version saturn controller has a D pad thats close to the neo geo one.

[Jelleko]

Thanks for the tips! I kept on looking for a Sega Saturn to Neo Geo converter, but I can’t find it anywhere unfortunately.

In addition to all suggestions, I also found this:
http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php? ... ucts_id=50

Anyone experience with this ps1/2 to Neo Geo converter?

[mvsfan]

i found the controller adapter. It was here in shmups. here is the link to that adapter.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52895&hilit=supergun

[Jelleko]

i found the controller adapter. It was here in shmups. here is the link to that adapter.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52895&hilit=supergun

Thanks for the link!!

Now managed to also get 1 working Neo Geo CD controller fairly cheap at a retro game store (25 euro’s). But I Will defintely look at the adapter!

[Jelleko]

So.. I have an issue with the Sound from the board. At first, I thought there was no sound coming at all.
But when I plugged in Some headphones in the headphone Jack, I hear the beeps from the sound test very very faintly.. with both the speaker and headphone sliders all the way up.

I followed the guide from Jamma nation, and took the audio signals also from the points from which you could alter the volume with the headphone slider. But I also hear the sound only very faintly when Connected with my speakers.

Is this a sign I need to recap the board? Or is there another solution perhaps?
I did do the 5v Only mod, does this affect the output of the volume?

[Kez]

No you should get pretty decent volume with the 5V mod.

Sometimes that slider can be pretty dirty so it might just need a clean, but capacitor related audio issues are definitely a possibility in the MVS.

[Jelleko]

No you should get pretty decent volume with the 5V mod.

Sometimes that slider can be pretty dirty so it might just need a clean, but capacitor related audio issues are definitely a possibility in the MVS.

Hmm, just cleaned the contacts to be sure, but alas no difference in sound output..
Would it be beneficial if I try to solder the points to the constant line level output?

[Kez]

It's pretty simple so worth a try, and if you don't get any sound from there then the caps are the next logical step. Assuming you're fairly comfortable replacing caps then it isn't gonna hurt to do it anyway, even if they're fine now it's worth doing for insurance.