Changing the video encoder on a NTSC Saturn to PAL 4.43mhz

I was looking through this as I'm considering the option of grabbing a Japanese Saturn to replace my dead PAL machine. I'm curious how the NTSC and PAL PCBs are configured differently in terms of what is fed into the video encoder on Saturns to get it to spit out NTSC or PAL colour (I'm not talking refresh rate here as that's covered already). The rationale is two-fold - an NTSC signal at 50hz is likely to make my TV cry if I'm playing a PAL-optimised game, and to my eyes PAL colour looks better on my TV than NTSC colour. RGB isn't an option as I use an RGB to component transcoder and light gun games stop working when the video signal's been transcoded.

Looking at the PDF hosted on Geocities, this suggests that pin 7 on the encoder uses the output from H29 and either plugs +5v or GND from JP1 or JP2 (respectively) to configure the behaviour.

Thus, I'm assuming a Japanese Saturn has JP1 linked and JP2 is open; conversely, JP2 is linked on a PAL Saturn and JP1 is unlinked. When I've made changes to the video encoder on the Mega Drive I've often used corresponding crystal oscillators (4.43mhz or 3.58mhz for PAL or NTSC respectively) and fed them directly into the encoder and found that worked, but I'm unsure how the encoder on the Saturn differs from the CXA1145 on the Mega Drive.

Curious if anyone else thinks this would work?

 

x

 

Awesome, thanks for that - I was concerned I had over-simplified it (which I had). I noticed when going through the schematics that I could find the clock generating from at least one IC to the encoder and wasn't sure where to trace it back after that, but a master clock would do the job. I'll keep that all in mind depending on what happens, but it's good to know that it's possible to mod a Japanese Saturn if it's going to continue to be unnecessarily expensive to grab a PAL Saturn, and I have a spare spot on my step-down transformer to suit.

 

Very good idea

 

x

 

Cool - sounds like the same theory behind the colour mods on Mega Drives where you run a 4.43mhz or 3.58mhz crystal oscillator through a few components into the CXA1145 (cut the trace from the IC generating the signal and whack in your own), but doing the same on the Saturn's encoder.

Thanks again for the tips mate - I'm hoping I'll be able to get one locally, but it's handy to know that it should be possibly to sort it out if I grab a NTSC console. Really appreciate you breaking down the PCB revisions as well.