anyone using Sega saturn as cd player

[tonitonitoni]

anyone using it ? what could be improved on audio output , and i have some problems with freezes i think it could be power supply issue becouse it wont boot when cd reads screen start to flicker ,sry if bad languange and wrong place to ask

 

[Killingbeans]

I have a small collection of old consoles from Sega. Also have a few Saturns, but I've never used one as a CD player.

You can tap the internal digital audio and use the Saturn as a sort of transport:
av:saturn_sp_dif [NFG Games + GameSX]

 

[freax]

I know of the Sony Playstation SCPH-1001 being used as a transport/dac, never a Sega tho.

Problem using them as a transport tho is aging, both of the laser and the mechanics.

 

[tonitonitoni]

thats what i was thinking @Killingbeans nice link, but i dont fully understand that 5v and gnd connected to everywhere , basicaly i make this mod and conect sega to any dac and i get (i hope) good sound quality? i know people use ps but i want to use sega becouse cd unit looks well built and easy repaired if broken.
thanks

 

[Killingbeans]

but i dont fully understand that 5v and gnd connected to everywhere

The transmitter chips has a lot of pins that needs to be set at a logic level. It's just hardwired 1's and 0's.

basicaly i make this mod and conect sega to any dac and i get (i hope) good sound quality?

Yes, if the laser assembly is any good.

 

[tonitonitoni]

you mean that i just connect all those pins on one wire ?
edit: i dont understand logic level

 

[Killingbeans]

All the pins marked with red must be connected to +5V, and all the pins marked with blue to GND.

Most of the pins determin the function of the chip or are inputs that will cause instability if they are left floating. They need to be connected to certain logic levels (1 or 0) to make the chip work in the desired way. In this case 1 = +5V and 0 = GND.

It's very basic digital circuit theory

 

[tonitonitoni]

aha that connected pins make analog output off , and where i take digital output direct from this chip or from somewhere else?

 

[Pano]

From pin 26, it looks like. That's the S/Pdif output of the CS8406 chip.
Thanks killingbeans for the excellent link.

 

[Killingbeans]

aha that connected pins make analog output off , and where i take digital output direct from this chip or from somewhere else?

I think I understand your confusion now. You think the CS8406 is situated on the Saturn motherboard and is part of it's design, right? It's not. It's an additional chip that you'll have to build in to the Saturn in order to translate to S/PDIF.

What you need to to do is get hold of a CS8406 and interface it with either the TDA1386T or the PCM1710 on the Saturn motherboard, depending on the revision. This is done via pins 3, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 21. And then grab the s/PDIF output on pin 26 via the voltage divider show at the bottom.

 

[tonitonitoni]

i must dissamble saturn completly then i will answer becouse i dont understand nothing now i post tommorow ,now on work

 

[tonitonitoni]

after lot of time i managed to find suitable replacement laser , found crack on psu trafo from over-heating due to intensive (ab)use which was source of realy bad sound output and jibberish picture....now seems like internal tda dac is not that bad ...whatever now i can make it work as a transport after long long time now just need to get that one chip hope in time i post some pictures .also thanks on lot of info regarding digital tech