[Narenek]

Sorry to resurrect the old thread…. but i FINALLY got round to testing and figure it’s better to reply in this thread for context. I blame the split with my ex and putting the consoles away for a while after 🙂

Anyway I did the testing and the results might interest a few people. In the end the damn random black screen appears to be due to the scart switcher… as i’ve not had the problem when setting up the MD straight into the OSSC.

I have 4 of these Asian PAL MD’s, all Model 1 so the best looking version. 2 of them, including my original near launch buy, have HAA-2510 and 2 have 1601-11 on the bottom. The 1601 MD’s say PAL on the bottom as well, the second 2510 has an Ink stamp of PAL-1 on the box, which my original MD didn’t.

Thanks to the OSSC I could check the speeds these all ran at, and the conclusion is the 1601 are true PAL machines but the Asian 2510’s are really hobbled NTSC consoles… likely with the traces cut to make them this way.

The two 1601’s showed a frequency of 49.69 Hz on the OSSC, the un-modded 2510 showed a frequency of 50.15 as did the modded one in PAL mode.
When switched the modded ‘PAL’ console runs at 59.91 Hz, so it’s a true NTSC console when modded. If I stick in a 32x it still runs at 50.15 and 59.91 even though the 32X is a true PAL model. I think even the PAL Mega-CD shows as playing at 50.15 with the 2510 MD’s, though I didn’t write that result down so it’s from memory.

So if you want to mod get one of these Asian ‘PAL’ model 1’s with the HAA-2510 on the bottom. They will mod to true NTSC speeds, looks better than any other MD version and are generally cheaper than buying a ‘true’ NTSC-J machine

[Narenek]

Thanks for that, when i get a chance to check I’ll look at it. I’m pretty sure it’s true NTSC but this will confirm if it is or not 🙂

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