Sony Discman with PS1 laser

[Vr-Mode]

Has anyone ever seen this Sony discman player model PRD-150 before? I came across this CD player randomly on ebay and notice it had a disc drive that looked like the one in a PS1 1001 so i bought one and it actually does have a PS1 laser in it.

[david4599]

Interesting finding! Btw, I just noticed that the CXA1782BR, CXD2516Q and CXD1199AQ chips (well, another revision to be exact, the CXD1199BQ) are also used in the PS1 PU-7 motherboard.
See https://problemkaputt.de/psx-spx.htm#pi ... setsummary in the list of CDROM chips.

[Vr-Mode]

As i was disassembling the discman I was hoping that the CDROM drive would be more robust but unfortunately it's was just the crappy all plastic disc drive that the ps1 scph-1001 launched with.

[alexfree]

As i was disassembling the discman I was hoping that the CDROM drive would be more robust but unfortunately it's was just the crappy all plastic disc drive that the ps1 scph-1001 launched with.

Just curious, did you actually test this in a PSX? I had a Sony discman from February 95 that was very similar to the PSX drives (but a bit different). I'm sure that with an adapter (like the KSS-213 one we have seen before) it could be used.

Also anything below late SCPH-1002/SCPH-3000/SCPH-1000 would have the crappy plastic CD drive

Interesting it says KSM-440ABM. PS1 models are

KSM-440AAM (all plastic)
KSM-440ACM (metal reinforcement)
KSM-440ADM
KSM-440AEM
KSM-440BAM

Notice how this fits exactly in the number system...

[Vr-Mode]

Yes the drive does in fact work on a PSX unfortunately its the all plastic drive.

[alexfree]

Yes the drive does in fact work on a PSX unfortunately its the all plastic drive.

That is insane. It does make sense that is all plastic... the AAM model was the all plastic PS1 laser found in all of the early launch consoles. The ACM model was the 'all metal redesign' that was also designated the model to use to fix launch consoles under Sony warranty back in the 90s. The ABM is in the middle somewhere before all the plastic related issues where realized.

Something positive on the flipside is, a 440BAM (the best PSX drive design ever) should be a possible 'upgrade' to this sony discman. Can you try this for the laughs?

[Vr-Mode]

Just tested the PSOne slim 440BAM laser in the CD player and it does indeed work.

[Yuri^Cybdyn]

Vr-Mode - could you show another side of PCB? wondering what type of mecha/mcu it's using)

[Vr-Mode]

Vr-Mode - could you show another side of PCB? wondering what type of mecha/mcu it's using)

Hopefully these help.

[alexfree]

Just tested the PSOne slim 440BAM laser in the CD player and it does indeed work.

Thanks for confirming that is hilarious.

There are a finite amount of PSX CDROM drives in the world, even though millions were sold it is my understanding from one of @shadow 's posts that the 'new' chinese drives are horribly done refurbs pulled from whatever dead consoles they can get their hands on, then they slap the fake sticker on the back that is different to the the Sony one (font-wise).

Because of my experience with the 'new' drives from china I vowed to never buy one again, and to instead attempt to refurbish/re-lubricate/clean existing ones. Worst case scenario if that fails I buy a PSone in whatever condition and pull that drive from it.

Even though these are all plastic, they still now 'increase' the amount of working CDROM drives for replacement purposes

[Vr-Mode]

Just tested the PSOne slim 440BAM laser in the CD player and it does indeed work.

Thanks for confirming that is hilarious.

There are a finite amount of PSX CDROM drives in the world, even though millions were sold it is my understanding from one of @shadow 's posts that the 'new' chinese drives are horribly done refurbs pulled from whatever dead consoles they can get their hands on, then they slap the fake sticker on the back that is different to the the Sony one (font-wise).

Because of my experience with the 'new' drives from china I vowed to never buy one again, and to instead attempt to refurbish/re-lubricate/clean existing ones. Worst case scenario if that fails I buy a PSone in whatever condition and pull that drive from it.

Even though these are all plastic, they still now 'increase' the amount of working CDROM drives for replacement purposes

I had no idea the chinese drives were that bad other then the press down spindles that didn't spin. What we need is a all metal disc drive for the PSX similar to the Sega Saturn.

[alexfree]

Just tested the PSOne slim 440BAM laser in the CD player and it does indeed work.

Thanks for confirming that is hilarious.

There are a finite amount of PSX CDROM drives in the world, even though millions were sold it is my understanding from one of @shadow 's posts that the 'new' chinese drives are horribly done refurbs pulled from whatever dead consoles they can get their hands on, then they slap the fake sticker on the back that is different to the the Sony one (font-wise).

Because of my experience with the 'new' drives from china I vowed to never buy one again, and to instead attempt to refurbish/re-lubricate/clean existing ones. Worst case scenario if that fails I buy a PSone in whatever condition and pull that drive from it.

Even though these are all plastic, they still now 'increase' the amount of working CDROM drives for replacement purposes

I had no idea the chinese drives were that bad other then the press down spindles that didn't spin. What we need is a all metal disc drive for the PSX similar to the Sega Saturn.

That's where that $100 discount from Sega Saturn USA launch price ($399) went


The KSS-213 adapter is pretty cool (and the mechanism may be superior design wise). Another thing that would be neat is a PSX motherboard socket to IDE adapter for external standard CDROM units.

[Vr-Mode]

Thanks for confirming that is hilarious.

There are a finite amount of PSX CDROM drives in the world, even though millions were sold it is my understanding from one of @shadow 's posts that the 'new' chinese drives are horribly done refurbs pulled from whatever dead consoles they can get their hands on, then they slap the fake sticker on the back that is different to the the Sony one (font-wise).

Because of my experience with the 'new' drives from china I vowed to never buy one again, and to instead attempt to refurbish/re-lubricate/clean existing ones. Worst case scenario if that fails I buy a PSone in whatever condition and pull that drive from it.

Even though these are all plastic, they still now 'increase' the amount of working CDROM drives for replacement purposes

I had no idea the chinese drives were that bad other then the press down spindles that didn't spin. What we need is a all metal disc drive for the PSX similar to the Sega Saturn.

That's where that $100 discount from Sega Saturn USA launch price ($399) went


The KSS-213 adapter is pretty cool (and the mechanism may be superior design wise). Another thing that would be neat is a PSX motherboard socket to IDE adapter for external standard CDROM units.

LOL there's no way the PSX disc drive cost $100. The cost of materials to make the drive was most lightly costing Sony penny's on the dollar to begin with. Even if the disc drive somehow cost Sony $100 to make Sony still could have updated the disc drive to all metal in the middle of the console life when the cost to make the drive came down. I think the PSX drive was just a bad design since every disc based console before and after the PSX has either all metal drive or at the very lease a plastic drive with two metal rails for the laser to slide on.

[alexfree]

I had no idea the chinese drives were that bad other then the press down spindles that didn't spin. What we need is a all metal disc drive for the PSX similar to the Sega Saturn.

That's where that $100 discount from Sega Saturn USA launch price ($399) went


The KSS-213 adapter is pretty cool (and the mechanism may be superior design wise). Another thing that would be neat is a PSX motherboard socket to IDE adapter for external standard CDROM units.

LOL there's no way the PSX disc drive cost $100. The cost of materials to make the drive was most lightly costing Sony penny's on the dollar to begin with. Even if the disc drive somehow cost Sony $100 to make Sony still could have updated the disc drive to all metal in the middle of the console life when the cost to make the drive came down. I think the PSX drive was just a bad design since every disc based console before and after the PSX has either all metal drive or at the very lease a plastic drive with two metal rails for the laser to slide on.

What I meant was not that the cd drive was $100 in the PSX, rather that the Saturn was $399 and the PSX was $299 because they didn't put in the best cd drive (and obviously other things also in play).

[Vergil]

Time to go find one