mega drive black and white

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scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

dont know if i can ask this here ,but i have a pal megadrive that only playes in black and white no mods where dont to it
but i have a svideo box so far i tried panasonic plasma tv difrent settings ntsc pal secam auto etc all black and white picture is clear
all games are pal ! and i also tried a commodore monitor 1701/02 via chroma luma -svideo same thing picture is crystal clear but black and white
i orderd a svideo switch i saw a post here maybe it wil work for me
iam using this adapter
i dont know how to post pics of the internal componants
but see link https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=549 ... .N.35c5da2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GfcmhfbJxg&t=89s

update : i bought this selector works perfect but stil no color after changing consoles when they are on
i have color on n64 snes but not megadrive
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Audio-Visual-S ... 1251017163

i posted pics on this forum of the internal components https://gbatemp.net/threads/mega-drive- ... te.538505/
Last edited by scroeffie on Wed May 15, 2019 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Makinx
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by Makinx »

It's probably an issue with the colorburst frequency. I'm just assuming here as I don't know anything about the S-video converter you are using, but I think it only properly works for NTSC systems and not PAL systems (I see only 1 crystal oscillator in the device). If you send a PAL signal with NTSC colorburst frequency, the mismatch will cause the image to come out black and white.
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

Makinx wrote:It's probably an issue with the colorburst frequency. I'm just assuming here as I don't know anything about the S-video converter you are using, but I think it only properly works for NTSC systems and not PAL systems (I see only 1 crystal oscillator in the device). If you send a PAL signal with NTSC colorburst frequency, the mismatch will cause the image to come out black and white.

so i need to change it to a Crystal Oscillator 4.433MHz PAL
Makinx
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by Makinx »

Yes, taking a closer look at your pictures, I see that the crystal is 3.79545Mhz, which is the NTSC frequency. Changing that to a PAL frequency crystal should work. The crystals are readily available online and are very cheap.
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

man this makes so much sense now duhh ,and this adapter is from japan is a japan megadrive ntsc ?
i wil order one and change it asap thanks
i wil update if it works
if someone wants to order this adapter you need to do it via superbuy very easy !
Makinx
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by Makinx »

The Japanese Mega Drive is indeed 60hz NTSC, same as the Genesis in the USA/Canada.

The European and Australian Mega Drive are 50hz PAL. Your converter box was apparently not designed with those consoles in mind.

I hope replacing the crystal works! Keep us posted.
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

yes i wil tel you if it works or not
beharius
Posts: 274
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:32 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by beharius »

It would be better to use an RGB Scart cable instead of changing the xtal. It will give full color without any issues.
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Bratwurst
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:09 am

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by Bratwurst »

The commodore monitor he's using for chroma/luma doesn't have a scart input, but what I find odd is the 1702/01 monitors are supposed to support both NTSC and PAL interchangeably.

That's a neat rgb to s-vid conversion box, anyway.
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

true scart rgb is better but i dont want to i have 2 commodore monitors 1 for my c64 of course and the other for snes nes n64 and megadrive
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

oke i changed the crystal but the crystal has a difrent shqpe does that matter
it says 4.433619 ,but the image is crystal clear but stil black and white
all my games are pal sound is working perfect

bought this one https://www.ebay.nl/itm/Quartz-Crystal- ... 3804529046
Last edited by scroeffie on Fri May 24, 2019 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Syntax
Posts: 1774
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Location: Australia

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by Syntax »

how did you fit a 2 leg crystal to a crystal oscillator 3 leg slot?
scroeffie
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Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

the slot is not 3 legs you mean the pcb has 2 holes for the crystal not 3
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RGB
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Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:11 pm
Location: Europe

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by RGB »

In addition to the 4.433MHz you should change the MB3516A mode to "PAL" - lift the leg #7 of the encoder so that it doesn't touch the pad (+5V), and connect the leg to ground.
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

RGB wrote:In addition to the 4.433MHz you should change the MB3516A mode to "PAL" - lift the leg #7 of the encoder so that it doesn't touch the pad (+5V), and connect the leg to ground.

so leg 7 is that from above the chip how do i know wich one is leg 7
some of these legs are not solderd !!

http://pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datashe ... Xrxtqy.pdf

found the datasheed oke wil try after dinner ,so desolder leg 7 and connect it to ground
scroeffie
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 2:01 pm

Re: mega drive black and white

Post by scroeffie »

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ITS WORKING I HAVE COLOR ITS OVER 9000 :mrgreen: :D :D :lol: :lol:
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