The Megalo 50" thread

[PrototypeShogun]

I'm going to use this thread as a repository for my research into the televisions that sega used in their 50" cabinets. Mine in particular is a virtua fighter 3, but I've also heard of these being in Alpine skiier.

The two model numbers that I have seen are:
the more common Mitsubishi VS-50se1
and the less common Hitachi (number coming soon)

I have begun to contact both the american and japanese divisions of each involved company.

Sega: would not help me in english, after I got my question translated

I stated that I owned a 50" virtua fighter 3 and needed a manual and/or schematics to the television used inside.

they told me that they cant help me, that I have to go through who I bought it from...

The person I bought it from would barely know more than me about it, he didn't build it, they did. I guess you face corporate bs all over the world.


I'm looking to contact mitsubishi now... tho I don't expect to get anywhere because when the american division was contacted they deny ever producing that model number television. But it's worth a shot I suppose.


If anyone has any information to add about these televisions please don't hesitate to reply, especially if you have either a manual or schematics to this or the machine in general. We need this information made publicly available.

Also it would be great to compile a list of games that included this tv as well as any experience you have with them.

[grantspain]

sega also used various toshiba rptv's,i have toshiba on wave runner,house of the dead,club kart,ocean hunter and lost world.
you tend to find the mitsubishi and hitachi in older games like daytona,sega rally and gunblade.
the toshiba suffer from more burn in than the others but have much better definition and control.
gettings schems for these is difficult,i have been looking for 3 years without luck but i have not tried to hard
the main fault on the toshiba is the convergence i/c which is an easy fix,the main problems i have had with the mitsubishi are the tubes themselves and the power supply board

[PrototypeShogun]

I think in all cases the manufacturers are denying responsibility for these tubes because they were sold so very cheaply and in bulk to sega, and as such schems are probably in sega's possession, but for whatever reason, be it copyright or other such intellectual property stances, they retain these from us by referring us to the people we bought the cabinet from.

My only hope for getting this information from sega is to upstream through a reseller, at some point in the chain sega has to take responsibility for their creation, and when this happens you better believe I'm posting the pdf's.

We all deserve to have every tool at our disposal for keeping these machines operational as long as is humanly possible.

[grantspain]

you won't get anywhere with sega,i know from experience
i may know someone with the schems-i will look into it

[grantspain]

actually,i have had another idea-try contacting ken westerfield at www.irepairsega.com
ken used to work for sega usa and he may have/sell the schems

[PrototypeShogun]

I've let him know what I'm trying to accomplish here. Lets just hope he is both on our side and has connections or information we don't... great find btw.

[qrz]

what is the set mfgr , model number and model year ?
 if this info is not on the set, look for a FCC identification number .
all tvs sold in the usa will have this #.  making a mfgr search possible..


and the important .. what is the symptom ?

qrz

[PrototypeShogun]

I'll hunt around when I get back to where its stored in a few days, I can also try to set it up and get some symptoms.

But more importantly we all need info on these things.

I got in touch with the japanese division of mitsubishi, they roughly in broken english state that they cannot release this information to the general consumer. Thus implying they do have the manual and schematics to the tv's in the sega machines... If anyone has any inside contacts with this company please peruse them so we might be able to keep these machines going.

[grantspain]

these are the model numbers on my rptv's in sega cabs
mitsubishi 50p-ghs41
toshiba p502sg
toshiba p503sgc

[PrototypeShogun]

Where exactly did you find the model number of your mitsubishi.... There are no labels on the back of mine, and I glanced inside but I dont want to go mucking around in there without knowing what exactly where im going and what im doing.

[ChadTower]

I had a 50" VF2 for a while... it's just a regular TV that has only RGB inputs.  It's very very likely working at 15khz like all regular TVs.  If you have an issue with it any competent indy TV repair shop should be able to fix it.  Mine was also a Mitsubishi but I don't remember the model.  The remote was in Japanese.

[grantspain]

all the mitsubishi i have seen from 1994 to 1998 are 50p-ghs model and just to add a crowning turd on the cake all the sega games i am aware of from daytona to lost world are medium resolution so a standard tv will not work.
i know people have been installing multi sync 39" crt into these games
if you are unsure of your model number you could try accessing the control panel at the front of the cab.
and you are correct you don't want to go messing around with these beasts as they pack a real punch

[ChadTower]

all the mitsubishi i have seen from 1994 to 1998 are 50p-ghs model and just to add a crowning turd on the cake all the sega games i am aware of from daytona to lost world are medium resolution so a standard tv will not work.

The megalo pedestal has a PCB that sits in between the game boardset and the TV that does the frequency conversion.  I still have mine sitting on a shelf someplace and can probably grab a Sega part number from it if you want.

[grantspain]

all the mitsubishi i have seen from 1994 to 1998 are 50p-ghs model and just to add a crowning turd on the cake all the sega games i am aware of from daytona to lost world are medium resolution so a standard tv will not work.

The megalo pedestal has a PCB that sits in between the game boardset and the TV that does the frequency conversion.  I still have mine sitting on a shelf someplace and can probably grab a Sega part number from it if you want.

i know the board you are talking about(4 bnc out ),i have never paid any attention to this board as i have never needed to.
tomorrow i will run a 15 khz game directly into the bnc connectors to see if it runs o.k
i just took it as gospel that the game board was 25k therefore the monitor would 25k,it would be fantastic if it runs because i can buy newer type rptv for less than the tubes of the older ones

[PrototypeShogun]

I didn't pay attention to that board either, I figured it was nothing but a repeater from the inside of the pedestal to the outside....

I still haven't found time to get to where its stored to play around a bit more with it.

I was mentioning it to a friend of sorts, and he gave me the idea to contact one of his friends who works for the local sega gameworks in their repair shop.... I'll let you guys know what I found out from that. I hadn't thought of that but of course they would have some info on the machines.

[PrototypeShogun]

Interesting developments involving my screen in particular, and this is not proving to be an easy fix.

If i run power to the pedestal I'm fine, if i run the power through the tv it doesnt even try to turn on (neither the tv nor the pedestal start). And what's more, the fuse by the plug looks fine....

Any ideas on what might be the problem?

Either way I have to get a repairman in there, either to fix it, or discharge it so i can yank it out of the cab.

[grantspain]

the power is distributed inside the pedestal for the power supply,monitor and marquee light.
if you run power direct(110v) to the rptv it will only try to power the rptv.if you get a red light on the control panel then you are getting power but due to fault condition the monitor is not starting.a green led will indicate correct function.
the most likely area of fault is the power supply board on the rptv,there are a couple of sk chips that cause problems BUT the fault could be anywhere on the monitor.
i know this is simple but you have checked the power on switch on the control panel is set to on?

[PrototypeShogun]

There is a push button toggle switch marked "main" on the control panel below the screen, ive toggled that on and off and also pressed all the buttons in both states. The led just stays dark..

I wish i knew how to diagnose something like this, im not even sure which 2 of the three wires that go from the pedestal to the monitor actually provide the positive and negative and which is the ground....

[grantspain]

first you need a multimeter,set it to ac volts then read the black and white wires(should get 110v),the other wire is earth
i think your monitor is not getting any voltage at all,if this is the case then using the multimeter you could trace the fault all the way back to the mains input