PlayStation Development Network

Hi all, I would like to buy a ps1 1000. I red somewhere that this first model could run other region games (such as PAL)... is it true? Have I to put in a ntsc-J game and perform the CD player trick or is it automatic?
Thank you. ^ ^

It's true for most SCPH-1000s - this was a bug in the boot ROM and it was changed late in the production run so you might be unlucky and get one where it doesn't work.

You do need an original NTSC:J disc and there is a specific procedure you need to use.

Turn on console with no disc in it and go to the CD player
Put the NTSC:J original into the drive
Hold down the door switch and wait for the console to read the disc
Swap the disc with the import one (without releasing the door switch)
Exit from the CD player and the disc should boot

There are a couple of other things you should be aware of
One is that when booting non-Japanese discs the console doesn't show that black screen with the PlayStation logo but rather goes straight to the boot screen of the game.
The other is that if you want to run PAL games in color you need an RGB video cable because the composite and Y/C outputs will only display in black and white due to an out-of-spec colorburst. The video in PAL mode is also about 1% fast compared to a native PAL console but you are unlikely to notice that.

Thanks!! And do you know if there is a way to recognize them? In order to increase possibilities in the purchase... From serials maybe?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ITAAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg

I can't be 100%, but I have a unit here also made in the Kisarazu plant with a higher serial number than that and it has the old boot ROM in it, so I think there is an excellent chance that one does too.

"A56" is super early. I agree with TriMesh, it should have the early BIOS and work.

Wonderful!!! Thanks! Bought it..now just hope that it has the true pu7 motherboard in it, cause I forget to ask for a image of the back! ^ ^" two last questions: I have a 1002 perfectly working whit no "shadows banding"(sgram?), a 7xxx and this one from japan...wich one suit better for PSIO? I was thinking of putting it on the 1000 (cause of the told better video quality) but I red somewhere that it has some graphic problems (shadows banding included) that were fixed in later models...is it true? And the super noob question: there is a way to put newer cpu and sgram in a scph 1000? And why no? Thanks again, you are all great!

If it's an SCPH-1000 it will have a PU-7 board in it. Unlike the US and European markets where SCPH-1001/SCPH-1002 covered a wide range of hardware specs the Japanese changed the part number when they changed the hardware.

SCPH-1000: Early machines with a PU-7 board
SCPH-3000: Later machines, no S-Video jack, PU-7 or PU-8
SCPH-3500: "Fighting pack" machine - all the ones I've seen have been PU-8 - also no S-Video
SCPH-5000: Later PU-8 with SGRAM

All these hardware configurations were supplied under the same SCPH-1001/SCPH-1002 part number in NTSC:U/C and PAL territories.

From the sounds of it, your SCPH-1002 has the late model PU-8 in it with the new GPU and SGRAM. The 7xxx machines also have the new GPU and SGRAM. The SCPH-1000 will have the old GPU and VRAM.

The entire video subsystem (GPU, RAM, Video DAC) is different between the VRAM based machines and SGRAM based ones so there is no practical way of modifying one board to the other spec. About the only thing you could do would be to swap the main board since they are physically compatible with each other.

All the consoles you've mentioned will work with PSIO - which one to use is basically down to personal preference - for example, if you intend to mostly play PAL titles then it's best to start with a machine with PAL video output like the SCPH-1002.

Hi, question for TriMesh, what serial number is yours? I just bought a 617... serial number, attempted the action replay swap method, but it will stop spinning my us game after about 30 seconds and not load. Do you think I have one of them as you said later run scph-1000's?
I'd appreciate any help on this.

I see this is quite an old thread, but thought I would chime in with some info on the SCPH-1000, including some general launch period trivia.

The earliest retail model I have seen (which I own/ pictured) is an A53 serial purchased in December 1994. I also have an A54 serial, but I'm not sure when and where that was originally purchased. The serials can go as low as A50 according to some collectors, although the lowest serials (sub-A53) supposedly went to internal officials at Sony, press and promo partners (Famitsu, et cetera), or formed part of the first 100,000 machines made available on 3 December.

There was a really obscure PAL model which I came across many years ago too. It was in classic grey, but had an S-VHS port, and the entire A/V panel was black like a debug unit. I understand this was a 'show model' which had the motherboard of an early PAL DTL-H1002 reshelled for trade shows such as ECTS 95 (London Docklands). N.B. The early PAL Debugging units (in blue) with S-VHS were mostly owned by studios like Psygnosis and have the same tile based 50hz user interface which featured in PAL launch models.

But I digress, some key identifiers for the various iterations of the SCPH-1000 are:

[*] Upto A55 serial - the warning stickers inside the disc-bay are a dark grey colour
[*] Between A55 to A59 - the warning stickers are a lighter grey.
[*] A59+ - no longer have the drive warning stickers.

I'm fairly certain that all SCPH-1000s (and some early 3000s which are the Japanese equivalent of the 1001/1002/1002) have the music player bug which allows the easy swap method. It doesn't make sense why Sony would have patched this in the 1000 because (from memory) they phased out this model during Summer 95 (July) and the bug carried over (unnoticed and untouched) into the US and European launch units in September 95. The patched machines surfaced around November/December after EGM reported on the hack (screenshot below) soon after launch, and the whole 'blu-tac method' went mainstream. I can't see why Sony would have discovered this loophole early on, removed it, and then made the same mistake before the US and European launch?!

Any machines purchased around Christmas 95 (in UK at least) were definitely patched. A friend purchased a SCPH-1002 from Toys'R Us with Destruction Derby at the end of October (that worked with the easy swap method), but it needed replacing after the laser started failing. He was fairly upset when he discovered his US Import of Mortal Kombat 3 wouldn't work on the replacement using the easy disc-swap.

From what I've seen the patched boot-rom has two revisions:

[*] in the first revision the disc will stop spinning after it registers in the CD Player (like the original) and will do the disc check again after you exit - this requires a disc swap while its spinning.
[*] the second revision registers the disc in the CD player (as above) and leaves the disc spinning at all times - possibly to act as some sort of deterrent against dangerous disc-swaps.