Wow I remember that part. There was something with that laser that was trash and we had to flip the console upside down to play games. Since then I've had a dislike for anything using a laser because it'll break eventually and a reason why mods like these are truly amazing.
You know, I've always heard of this joke going around. About having to play the playstation upside down. But out of every single playstation I've ever owned, none of them required that. So is it actually real?
@@blunderingfool PCM CD-AUDIO 44.1khz/16bit is all you need. Benefits of going higher than that are negligible. That's why any newer audio format never made its way to CD/DVD. I agree that games are using lower quality sounds and nothing will change that.
What's funny is it's recommended to use the multiout due to the RCA path using cheap opamps. Yet the 550X series with the same DAC but without the RCA connectors (that you shouldn't use anyway) isn't "audiophile" 😄
Xbox are also notorious for bad caps, a lot of hardware in the 90's and 00's were effected, Samsung also had a lot of bad caps in their Plasma TV's and a lawsuit was filed in the U.S.
I had my 1st PS1 die after 6 months as it had the plastic disc drive, and the next unit I got had the metal disc drive and last for 3 years before failing. My friend had his PS1 hooked up to his TV, he hotwired that to a massive amp and a pair of Jamo speakers, and used his PS1 as a CD disc drive, those speakers were massive and very loud. Brings back memories of the 90's. The current generation consoles probably won't last like these units have done over the years.
Claiming these new consoles wont last is kinda ironic, after starting your statement saying how your ps1 broke after 6 months and the replacement only lasted 3yrs.
now that you've made me aware that the caps are already leaking. i've got a pile of fat ps1s that i'm going to have to go through. thanks for showing me how to install the x-station.
Did this mod 3 weeks ago on one of my PS1s, my very first mod I ever tired, it turned out just fine, just take your time lifting those pins, check and double check them, make sure your tip touches only one pad at a time.
Gotta have Tomb Raiders, Need For Speed III and onwards, GTAs, Tenchus, Destruction Derby 1 and 2, Nuclear Strike, Soviet Strike, Future Cop, Lunar Silver Star Story, Lunar Eternal Blue, Spyro, Namco Museums , NBA Jams, Pinball Fantasies Deluxe , Road Rash 3D, Dark Forces.
But…. What if you just stored ISOs of music discs on it as well? Would it boot to the CD player and let you play them? Then you would be able to save your CD library too and play it!
I wish I could ship my unit to you to re-cap and mod, but I really don't play my PS1 enough to put in the $$ (and you probably don't offer that as a service). You make the soldering look so easy. I always struggled with SMD components. Some of my favorite PS1 games were pretty much any of the Crash Bandicoot or Spyro titles. I also liked Tiger Woods Golf and Tony Hawk Pro Skater. I grabbed Castlevania Symphony of the Night awhile ago and haven't had a chance to play it - but it looks really good.
Our PSX was still working when my brothers and I moved on to other tech, but this is one way to make old tech new again. Not the easiest soldering work though. SMD soldering is hard for me with such shaky hands.
Based on your PlayStation videos I opened up my original PS1 to check the capacitors and was happy to find they’re all in perfect condition with no leakage. Same for the slim PS2. (Now I just have to locate my never-used PS1 to check it too. It would be a shame for that to get destroyed from cap leakage without ever having played a game.)
@TheRetroChannel HI! SCPH-1001(with XStation installed)owner here. You know you can just convert any Audio CD into a supported format and the Xstation will boot into the CD player so technically you haven't "destroyed" the audiofile Playstation. If anything now they can back up those aging physical music CDs. Also fun fact, the later models have a visualizer that can be accessed while playing audio disc but sadly our old launch model cannot do that. 😔
I know, I did look that up before installing the X-Station. But I think the audiophile status is a little overblown for these anyway. I'm working on another audio related mod for these that may make the audio enthusiasts happy
Lets just put it this way, for the price of a psx today you get more for your money than alot of the chinese budget cd players people are looking for today. And its got the retro classy vibe playing a cd on an old ass console
Back in about 2020 I installed a xStation in my 5502. I also got the optional microSD to SD cable adapter and the really nicely made grey plastic sdcard slot top section that fills in the hole where the laser was. This thing is _super_ nice. I just updated my firmware to the latest because of this vid. For some reason no games were found even though the sdcard was already configured and working. I had to turn on directory browsing then manually go to one dir and then the game showed. Then I added it to the game list manually. Then I went back to refresh games list and it magically found all the games. Weird! heh!
I‘ve never had an expensive stand alone CD Player other than Boomboxes etc, put I compared the First PS model with two never ones, a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and in this comparison it was a pretty big upgrade. But as you said they need some love in this high age..
I just installed one of these in my 1000 series PS1, so another one bites the dust. The laser was kind of ok on pressed discs; but my totally legitimate backups were not reading well at all, so I didn’t feel bad about deleting the optical drive.
Every video i see on internet about working with flux... You guys use a lot of that stuff. Or is it 'the new way' of soldering? (if solder has already flux in it?)
Where did you get that "Pin with that edge on it" tool? I need something like thatz always when removing pins from SMD's the whole pin broken everytime, because I force it with another tool
1001 PS1 needs a cap replacement, i had to do it on my PS1, doing that fixed my ps1 laser problems, it struggled reading games till i changed all the capacitors
When doing a similar modification to the Dreamcast, it's recommended to either remove the 12v power regulator or input a resistive load on the 12v rail since the optical drive is no longer present, would this be something the PlayStation needs as well? Have you noticed the PSU running hot?
Not that I'm aware of, and I haven't noticed it running any hotter than normal. The Dreamcast thing is interesting. I don't own a DC but I wonder why that happens. If it uses a 7812 it should generate almost no heat without a load, unless it's going into oscillation I guess. If I ever pick up a Dreamcast I'll run some tests
FRom scph 1001 USA to SCPH 3001-2 PAL graphics have still the banding problem that affects only 3D games like Silent hill and Tomb Raider, MGS and a lot of others. Subsequent models wit serial Input are 75001 and 55001, which are arguably the best models: specially scph7501. if you wat look in youtube TR1 banding problem an you0ll see what does backgrounds like.
Ive never once came across leaking Caps on a Fat Model PS1. Depending on how you are removing them, ie (Hot Air) I'd suspect that could cause the smell fishy smell. That's how I'd do it anyway.
I found the total opposite, none of them were really obvious without removing the cap first. And no, I didn't use hot air for this one, that cap juice was old and crusty
@captain3186 Likewise, I've worked on dozens and still own a handful. Never seen any bad caps. Plenty of broken disc spindles. A couple bad drive/laser units.
There's certainly a trade-off. On one hand you can easily play anything. On the other you lose the whole inserting discs feel (and choppy FMVs with scratched ones), it also runs completely silent which is weird at first. But that's what the 2nd PS1 is for, and the 3rd, and 4th, and... I may have a problem
Just finished installing an xstation and tested it before I screwed the console back together and it worked fine. So I closed the console back up and screwed it all together and now it just boots to a black screen. Any ideas?
Double check the flat flex didn't get pinched by part of the case. It could also be a poor solder joint that was just hanging on, and putting the screws in has flexed the board just enough to break the connection. I've had that with something else and without screws it worked, put screws in and it didn't. Took a while to track it down, but a bad joint on a QFP was the cause. What a nightmare
@@TheRetroChannel thank you I'll check that. It's such a bummer. I felt so good about having it work on my first try. I also tried updating the firmware when I first ran it but because it said I needed to have the lid closed, I just turned it off. Is it possible I blocked it?
You can select multiple "discs" in the X-Station menu before starting the game. Then when the game asks for the next disc, you just open and close the lid
Let me guess. You tested the audio using the RCAs. Common mistake. Sony knew that some user will use cheap cables. So they buffered the signal. But they use low cost. Low power opamps. The signap goes to some opamps and capacitors. The RCA out is considered bad. Use the AV multi out with a sony cable. The signal is not buffered with cheap opamps. Is the better option if you are not gonna mod the console to go direct to the DAC.
@@Keepskatin great options. I have some old CDs and I love electronics. Modding was easy for me and I got a ps1 model 1001 for 5dlls. There is something weird with that old 1bit DAC, many believe it was a happy mistake. The sound is not linear. Is colored somehow, reminence to the loss of frecuencies on vinyl. Making the sound more warm.
If you have an original Playstation SCPH-100x with a bad laser, replace the laser and sell it to a collector. Use the profits to buy another later revision Playstation, the X-station, and capacitors.
Its hilarious that audiophiles still beleive this myth that the original ps1 had superior sound quality like that. Then again they also believe flat wires produce better sound.
Yeah, but the thing is PlayStation still looks like shit on modern TV's dark station is the way to go anymore because you can clean up the resolution. Get rid of all that blocky bullshit and that wobble. And it actually looks really clean and modern. You can read everything you can actually see their faces in detail and they're close. You can see what things are in the distance instead of just a bunch of blocky pixels. I'm sorry I like real hardware but PlayStation just didn't age very well. Neither did PlayStation 2 to be honest. They both look amazing through emulation especially duck station 0 Or ether f s x
I don't think xstation is ideal option for people wants to feel ps1 in full its glory. It's much of like taking the soul of of the body. You know you collect games, you hear disk read that all charm etc. If someone wants compact reliable solution emulation might be an option, you already use windows based machine that's a power house you can emulate all consoles possible lol
No fucking way i would ever pay that much for xstation what a ripoff there arent $10 worth of components on that board. jlcpcp and make my own for less than $20. Why does everyone that makes stuff like this think they should make $100 profit on each unit. Crazy.
Oh wow really? Hey, do you reckon you can make one for the PS2? You'll provide documentation for how to install and use it right? Also, how will I purchase one? I'm really not keen on just paying some random so maybe you'll need to find some resellers to stock them. What will compatibility be like? I guess it doesn't matter as you'll continue to work on it and release updates for years to come right. Alright, you've sold me. I mean for $20 bucks it sounds too good to be true! Thank you sir, you truly are an asshat to the community.