Sega Saturn S/PDIF

[raisinland]

I was inspired by the SNES spdif mod to try it on the Sega Saturn. In an extremely unusual turn of events it worked first try! The details are on the wiki at http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:saturn_sp_dif It needs more pictures wich I'm working on.

One question: The S/PDIF transmitter I used is a Cirrus CS8406. The datasheet for the chip says "RST must be held low until the power supply is stable, and all input clocks are stable in frequency and phase." I hooked the RST line to the Mute line going to the D/A converter as it seemed reasonable the system would mute the audio briefly on startup. Does this make any sense? Would it do any harm to just tie RST to +5V?

Thanks,
-John

[ken_cinder]

That's cool, if I even knew what S/PDIF was. All I know is my DVD players have S/PDIF output and so does my PC soundcard, never heard audio via it though.

Upon reading this, I realized this particular forum should probably be renamed. Something like "Audio/Video Mods".

[raisinland]

I hope it's okay to post here, it seemed the best place to ask a general a/v mod question.

S/PDIF is a digital audio format. The interconnects that carry it come in two flavors, a coax rca cable or a toslink fiber optic. Adding it to a game system allows you to pick off the internal digital audio signal generated by the sound chip and pass it directly to your amplifier, thus skipping the console's internal digital to analog converter and amplification circuitry. This results in really clean audio and no background noise! Also since most modern amps use some form of digital processing on the audio it seems best to pass them digital audio directly.
-John

[Hojo_Norem]

That's a cool mod you've done there! ^_^

As I only have one of those chips (allready fitted inside my snes) when I do this mod Im going to have to make it modular...

Good work there!

[ManekiNeko]

Hmm... could someone spell this out for me?  I'm assuming that this S/PDIF format outputs to an HDMI cable, but I'm not sure.  Seems like overkill for a system with a resolution as low as the Saturn's, but hey, the crisper the display, the better the experience!

[Richter X]

Hmm... could someone spell this out for me?  I'm assuming that this S/PDIF format outputs to an HDMI cable, but I'm not sure.  Seems like overkill for a system with a resolution as low as the Saturn's, but hey, the crisper the display, the better the experience!

Ummm, the mod is for digital audio, not video. It will give the Sega Saturn crystal-clear digital sound. ^.^<3

Though a digital video mod for any console does sound pretty sweet.

[ManekiNeko]

Would it be feasible, though?

[radorn]

Hmm... could someone spell this out for me?  I'm assuming that this S/PDIF format outputs to an HDMI cable, but I'm not sure.  Seems like overkill for a system with a resolution as low as the Saturn's, but hey, the crisper the display, the better the experience!

Ummm, the mod is for digital audio, not video. It will give the Sega Saturn crystal-clear digital sound. ^.^<3

Though a digital video mod for any console does sound pretty sweet.

someone has already decoded N64 digital video protocol that goes into the video DAC and made a RGB DAC for it wich you can install regardless of what DAC is already on your console because it takes the data directly from the RCP.
A digital video mod could be made from that, although it would still be interlaced video because that's what the console processes.

I don't know any electronics nor I want to bug anyone for this, but yes, it would be interesting and cool, and the first milestone it already in place (knowing the data the video processor outputs), so it COULD be made, but I'm not implying it would be easy nor soon nor anything at all, I'm just ranting.

Anyway, great job with the mod, raisingland!!! I'll be sure to copy the docs to my hard drive, just in case, and perform it when I buy myself a Saturn, wich I hope will be soon.