PlayStation: history of development. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering / Телевидение

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Modern video game consoles (VPS) are not just toys. Getting acquainted with the technical and circuit solutions contained in them is useful not only for those who are involved in repairing IVP, but also for all specialists and lovers of electronic equipment.

It is believed that the active “life” of an IVP does not exceed five years, then it is replaced by a new model. The 32-bit Sony PlayStation is no exception. Today it has turned into a miniature "PS one". Along with the story about the history of the latter, information about previous PlayStation models has been clarified and supplemented. In the future, it is planned to provide a complete diagram of “PS one”, talk about the features of its design and repair.

Having signed a long-term agreement with Nintendo in 1988 to develop a CD-ROM for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Sony made its first attempt to enter the video game market. The action taken was a response to the plans of a competitor, SEGA, to supplement the Sega Mega Drive IVP with a MegaCD CD player. The joint development of Nintendo and Sony was supposed to give the user the opportunity to store game programs both on SNES cartridges and on laser discs.

At the beginning of 1990, a team of ten people led by Ken Kutaragi was already working on this project at Sony. And in June 1991, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, a representative of Sony officially announced the work being carried out and announced a new name - “PlayStation”. But then the allies did not agree on ways to protect information on the CD. The “divorce” took place peacefully in Japanese. The finished 200 prototypes of the "SNES-PlayStation" based on the NEC V800 processor never left the factory gates.

In the summer of 1992, Ken Kutaragi's group began work on their own 32-bit IVP - according to the authors' plans, it would be cheap, technologically advanced, have a CD-ROM, powerful XNUMXD graphics, high-quality sound and a simple game programming technique. The project was called "PlayStation R&D" (Research & Development). The American company LST Logic was involved in the development of a VLSI kit for set-top boxes.

At the end of the first stage of work in November 1993, a special division of the company was organized in Tokyo - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), whose executive director was Ken Kutaragi. In May 1994, an American branch appeared - Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) with headquarters in California, and in January 1995 - a European branch, called Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and settled in London.

The entire gaming world realized that a miracle was being born when, in December 1993, the proposed parameters of the PlayStation-X IVP were first officially announced. The letter X is interpreted differently here: “extreme”, “experience”, but most often - “experimental”. Journalists on the same day shortened the full name to PS-X or PSX. The last abbreviation caught on and became a household name.

Throughout the next year, Sony intensively advertised its brainchild and attracted well-known game software developers to cooperate. The new IVP was supported by more than 250 companies, including Namco, Konami, Williams. Sony's successful acquisition of the European company Psygnosis played an important role. It was its programmers who were able to quickly develop a powerful GNU-C compiler and debugger that made it possible to create and run games for the PlayStation on any IBM PC, without the expensive MIPS R4000 complex.

Sales of the first copies of PCX began in Japan on December 3, 1994. In the same month, at the ECTS exhibition in London, the new IVP was presented to the world community. Five months later, at the EZ exhibition in Los Angeles, PSX was recognized as the best IVP in the world. Since then, dozens of its varieties have been released, for which almost a thousand game programs have been developed. More than 90 million copies of the console have been sold - more than desktop IVP of any other type.

In 2000, “PlayStation-X” was replaced by “PS one”. The new name emphasizes the changes in the characteristics of the IVP, including the emergence of Internet access. At the same time, Sony released the 128-bit “PlayStation-2”. By the beginning of 2002, more than 10 million PS ones had been sold worldwide, twice as many as the entire Dreamcast IVP fleet. Currently, "PS one" confidently occupies a niche of relatively inexpensive high-quality consoles.

All PlayStation models are assigned symbols starting with the abbreviation SCPH, followed by a three or four-digit numeric code separated by a dash. Its first digit is associated with the year of production of the main model of the series in Japan: 1 - 1994, 3 - 1995, 5 - 1996, 7 - 1997, 9 - 1999. In the newest models (starting with "PS one") this number is no longer present, the code became three digits. The next two digits are the serial number of the development. The last digit is the regional code of the IVP: 0 - Japan, 1 - USA and Canada, 2 - Europe and Australia, 3 - Asia. Regional models of the same series do not have the same television output signal standard (NTSC or PAL), nominal mains voltage (100, 120 or 220 V), the design of the splash screen that appears on the TV screen when the IVP is turned on, and the regional identification system for game CDs.

In addition to the IVPs that are widely sold, there are so-called debugging ones intended for programmers, which, together with the IBM PC computer, form complexes for developing and debugging game programs. They are distinguished by black or blue (instead of gray) body color, the designations usually begin with the abbreviation DTL-H. The debugging IVP, together with specialized software and a proprietary boot disk, costs three to four times more than a regular PSX.

The table below shows the types of chips installed in various models of "PlayStation". The devices listed in its columns, separated by commas, are in most cases interchangeable. IVP printed circuit boards are made as universal as possible. Sometimes they provide separate seats for functionally identical microcircuits, differing, for example, in the type of case. Of course, only one of these places is occupied. Such microcircuits are even given different positional designations (in the table they are indicated through a fractional line). If, when installing a microcircuit of another type, it is necessary to add several other elements (resistors, capacitors, inductors), places on the board are also provided for them in advance.

(click to enlarge)

Like all other elements, microcircuits are assigned "proprietary" reference designations with three-digit numbers. The digit in the highest order of the number indicates belonging to one or another set-top box subsystem: 0 - initial installation, 1 - computing, 2 - videographic, 3 - digital data processing, 4 - audio channel, 5 - video encoder, 6 - power system; 7 - CD-ROM interface; 8 - adaptation block.

In all PlayStation models, including PS one, Sony retains the previously adopted element numbering. Newly entered ones are given the next serial numbers, the old ones remain unchanged, and the numbers of the deleted ones are not reused. For example, microcircuits IC102, IC103, IC203 perform the same functions in all models. But there are exceptions, for example, the IC202 chip.

Below we discuss the features of the main modifications of the "PlayStation" indicating the design of the printed circuit board of the processor unit. Sub-options that differ slightly from the main ones are not included in the list. The fact is that sometimes Sony made changes to the IVP scheme on a monthly basis. For example, four varieties of the SCPH-1002 model are known.

DTL-H1000, DTL-H1001 - debug IVPs, which began to be distributed among licensed game software developers before the first PSX went on sale. Features: blue case, 8 MB RAM (four times more than standard), you can run CDs of any region.

SCPH-1000 (board - PU-7, on sale since December 3, 1994) - the first (Japanese) variant of PSX. Only this model has a four-pin S-VHS (Hosiden) connector installed on the rear wall of the case for connection to the S-Video input of a color TV. Large power consumption leads to severe overheating of the IVP. Because of this, the set-top box may freeze after approximately three hours of continuous operation.

SCPH-1001, SCPH-1002 (board - PU-8, on sale since September 9, 1995) - the first modifications for North America and Europe, respectively. Similar to SCPH-1000, but without S-VHS connector. Connection to the TV's S-Video input is via a cable connected to the "AV MULTI OUT" connector. The European model was equipped with a SCART adapter. Like the Japanese prototype, these consoles overheat, forcing you to periodically interrupt the game. Due to high temperatures, the plastic parts of the CD-ROM drive are sometimes even deformed.

By the end of 1995, it became clear that regional CD protection for the PlayStation was extremely weak. The "swap trick" to bypass it has become widespread - changing the disk while the access control button to the CD compartment is locked. The answer was models unofficially called “new”. The improvements were reduced to adjusting the program in the ROM and changing the connection diagram of the video processor.

SCPH-2000 (board - PU-7) - debug IVP in a blue case. It was distributed only among full-time programmers and beta testers in single copies. The built-in software allows you to bypass regional protection and CD verification for authenticity.

SCPH-3000 (board - PU-8, on sale since July 21, 1997) is the second Japanese model to go on general sale. A third cheaper than SCPH-1000. The S-VHS connector has been removed and cheaper RAM has been used with an access time of 70 instead of 60 ns. This led to problems with several previously released games malfunctioning on "slow" RAM.

SCPH-3500 (board - PU-8, on sale since March 28, 1996) - a complete analogue of the SCPH-3000, produced by the American company SCEA in Japan.

DTL-H3000 or DTL-3000 - debug IVP (full name - "Net Yaroze Development System"). The capabilities are similar to DTL-H100x and SCPH-2000, but it is intended not for professionals, but for programming enthusiasts. The case is black, two black joysticks, the volume of main RAM is 2 MB, video memory is 1 MB, sound memory is 5 MB. It works in conjunction with a computer of a class not lower than IBM486-DX2-66 MHz, to whose RS-232 port it is connected with a cable. More than 1000 copies have been produced and sold exclusively to members of "Net Yaroze" (Japanese for "let's work together"), an association of amateur programmers officially supported by Sony. Members of the association had access to a special Internet site, through which they exchanged programs and created collective projects.

SCPH-500x (board - PU-8, on sale since June 22, 1996) - intermediate models, one of them (SCPH-5003) was first developed specifically for the Asian market.

SCPH-55xx (board - PU-18, on sale since November 16, 1996) - models with a reduced number of electronic components, which made it possible to increase production volume and reduce prices. The location of the CD-ROM drive has been changed. The "AUDIO", "VIDEO", "+5 V OUT" connectors have been removed. The SCPH-5502 model was the first to be widely sold in the CIS countries.

SCPH-5903 (board - PU-18, on sale since March 1997) - Asian modification of the set-top box, for the first time with a module for viewing video discs. The white color of the body earned it the nickname “snow white.” It was sold in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia based on VideoCD discs in the MPEG-1 format, which were widespread in this region.

SCPH-700x (board - PU-20, on sale since November 13, 1997) - models with the latest technological innovations, which made it possible to reduce the number of chips and place all elements on one side of the processor board. The consoles are equipped with a DUAL SHOCK joystick (instead of the usual one) with vibration feedback and dual analog-digital control. For the first time, the Sound Scope function was introduced, which allows you to observe a kaleidoscope of geometric shapes on the TV screen while playing music CDs on the IVP. The highlight is that the color, rotation speed and size of the polygons change to the beat of the music, creating beautiful futuristic landscapes. The founder of this trend is the famous Japanese musician and artist Fumija Fuji.

SCPH-750x (board - PU-22, on sale since August 25, 1998) - the 208-pin CXD2938Q VLSI is used for the first time in the CD-ROM interface channel. The number of parts on the processor board has been reduced, and the price has been reduced.

SCPH-900x (board - PU-23, on sale since May 24, 1999) - a lightweight (in the literal sense of the word!) version of the SCPH-750x. The "Parallel I/O" connector was removed, which made it possible to reduce the area of ​​the processor board. At the same time, Sony deprived users of the ability to connect “pirate” devices like “GameShark” to this connector, which made it possible to use immortality and invulnerability codes in games, and most importantly, bypass regional disk protection. Changes were made to the program stored in the ROM that block the operation of the IVP if unauthorized modifications are detected.

SCPH-10х (board - РМ-41, on sale since July 7, 2000) - the first models released under the new trademark "PS one". They are sometimes called "Pocket PS" or "Palm PS". While maintaining software and hardware compatibility with previous models, the dimensions are reduced by a third, and the weight is reduced by three times. Compare, 193x38x144 and 270x60x188 mm, 550 g and 1,5 kg.

The SCPH-10x scheme is similar to the SCPH-900x, but instead of the power board built into the system unit, a remote voltage converter in a “mains plug” housing is used. The interface for working with memory cards has become more convenient. However, due to the lack of parallel and serial port connectors, it is impossible to connect a video CD viewing module and a multi-user cable to the set-top box.

The widely advertised ability of "PS one" to access the Internet using a mobile phone turned out to be available only to a very limited circle of users who own telephones endowed with the appropriate capabilities. Moreover, the device must be connected to the Japanese DoCoMo cellular network or to some licensed networks in Europe and the USA. To connect "PS one" with a mobile phone, you need to buy a special "i-mode" adapter.

The SCPH-140 (on sale November 12, 2001) is the equivalent of the SCPH-100, equipped with a XNUMX-inch LCD display with built-in stereo speakers. The display is attached to the IVP body. The kit is cheaper than a set of its components, purchased separately. If you additionally purchase an adapter that allows you to power the IVP from a car battery, you get a good means of spending time on country trips.

Author: S.Ryumik, Chernihiv, Ukraine

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