Just wondering, does the pin connector at the back of the MD1 give you stereo sound? Or is the front output still the superior source of sound?
Back pin gives mono sound only I'm afraid. Found this out when I bought a normal RGB. Had to buy an RGB with an extra bit of lead with a headphone jack connector. Totally worth it and you can buy them for about £9 online- try eBay if need be!
Too bad, I have a spare mono cable I'd have been happy to give a discount on for you! I initially bought one too before I realised :P
I do have a headphone jack - jack wire I could use to plug into the TV, but I doubt Id even notice really. Its not something Id really pick up on unless I had proper speakers I reckon. The picture improvement was my mail goal, and thats sorted. I guess I can just use headphones anyway now I have the new and more functional MD.
While this topic is open- I still wanna get a brand old Megadrive... I'll be using it on an LCD and any connections are fine- WHAT DO. Should I go with Model 1? Model 2? Scart or other? I would like superior sound (if I am going to be using headphones) and the like...
If you don't mind paying for mods, I'd highly recommend a CCAM'd Model 2. The sound is great. With regards to cables, since you're in the UK, I'd highly recommend snagging an RGB SCART cable, it's quite difficult to top that quality (unless we get someone willing to somehow get HDMI natively out of the Mega Drive). I do worry about the TV itself, though. I have absolutely zero clue if it'll handle everything alright or not, this sort of thing varies from TV to TV.
SONY, Panasonic and LG's are good at displaying RGB Mega Drive, but not Bush TV's :P I'd go for the Mega Drive I with RGB output- it's what I use. Picture perfect quality and great sound on my surround!
They work pretty well with the Mega Drive, my brothers have a similar model. Reall,y I would suggest a SONY. They are awesome. I can take a video if you want?
Just noting that I updated this post with some new numbers, and wrote down all the board revisions I've seen but have no serial numbers of.
Better late than never, here's the pictures I took from my systems' serial numbers: Mega Drive PAL Mega-CD 2 PAL Mega Drive 32X PAL Mega Drive Japan Mega-CD Japan
I'm not sure I'll be able to go open those and take pics anytime soon, but I'll post them here when I finally can.
Bumping this as I picked this up and doesn't seem listed anywhere, either in this thread or on the wiki. Japanese NTSC Megadrive Serial 88M75461 No TMSS No RF Has Modem Port IC DB M5 315-5402: VA5 315:5313: VA6 Case with "AV Intelligent Terminal", and (R) after Sega logo. even has its Cartridge lock still attached.... I'm getting the suspicion the case and the PCB don't match up. I'm pretty sure I had a PAL version of this motherboard in a PAL/Asian MD I bought new in about 91. Sound out of the headphones is low and quite broken, hopefully an easy fix. If anything, it's a decent size pic of the Japanese VA6 for the wiki. EDIT: Somebody's definitely opened up this puppy before... JP4 has been cut and re-soldered underside.
I'll take some images of my various MDs sometime either tonight or later this week. I have one MD1 VA2, two MD1 VA6, one MD1 VA7, one MCD1 (tray needs fixing ), two MCD2, and a 32X (MK-84000A), all US region. Incidentally, one of my recent Sega CD purchases included two AC adapters that I wouldn't have expected to get: a Sega 3025 (Sega Master System, compatible with MD1), and an SA-160A (Japanese MD, why was that included with a US Mega Drive console?) EDIT: I have some board photos posted on Sega Mega Drive PCB revisions. They're the MD1 VA2 and MD1 VA6 (both USA). EDIT 2: ...for some reason I kept thinking that my older MD was a VA4. It's a VA2. Derp. I don't notice too many obvious differences between the VA2 board and the VA4 (PAL) board on the Sega Retro Wiki page, other than the different clock crystal due to the VA4 board being PAL.
Got another Japanese MD today. No (R) on the case, but exactly the same motherboard revision Va5/Va6 as the previous one and with no TMSS splash screen: Got a Mega CD, too. Haven't opened that one up, but it's a version 1.00 BIOS, but that doesn't really say anything as there's apparently 3 versions of that, 1.00l, 1.00p, and 1.00s (and also an Asian variant of S, which this could be considering it's from Hong Kong...)
You can narrow down what version it is by connecting it to a US or EU Mega Drive. If the MCD starts up normally, it's 1.00l. If it fails with a message saying it's for NTSC-compatible MDs, it's JP 1.00p or 1.00S. If it fails with a message saying it's for PAL-compatible MDs, it's the Asian 1.00S.
