JVC TH-A35 lost RGB after hack

[nemetroid]

Hello!

Quite a while ago, maybe 3 years, I modified my JVC TH-A35 to work with all regions, using the hack available at https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/jvc-th-a35/2716 . It worked perfectly and I have watched various region DVDs all after. I'm in PAL territory.

However, as I more recently have become more of a videophile (partly due to getting a new TV), I have noticed that the best signal I can get out of the player is S-Video, which is not so nice. The player lets me select between "CVBS YUV" and "CVBS S-Video" (which I assume is only an incorrect use of terminology, as CVBS = YUV). However, in the same menu the player also has a line that says "Progressive: YPbPr", which eludes me a bit, since the player only has composite, s-video and scart connection on the back. At first I thought it meant that the A-35, although non-standard, could transfer component through SCART. But when I looked it up I saw that the pins inofficially designated for this also transfer S-Video, getting component would not be possible as the menu didn't let me choose between S-Video or YPbPr, only between different formats for interlaced and progressive video.

So then I checked the (european, of course) manual I got with the system, which to my surprise didn't say anything about progressive video. On a screenshot that menu line was simply missing. Another difference I noted was that the option for interlaced video was stated to be a selection between "CVBS S-Video" and "CVBS RGB". Downloading the (US) manual from JVC.com I could find a description of a menu that looked like mine, however with one difference: it stated that selection between NTSC and PAL was not possible (the same was stated in the european manual). On my system this is possible.

So, my guess is that the custom firmware that enables the region hack is based on the US version of the TH-A35, which actually has a component connector instead of a SCART connector, and also has no RGB compatability. However this, obviously, puts me in a kind of bad situation as I'd certainly like a video signal that's:

• Better than S-Video
  Available in my system firmware
  Actually available on my systems hardware

What are the possibilites I have? As I can see it there are three:

1: Finding the person that made the custom firmware and asking if one with RGB support would be possible. Probably not, but asking is always worth it!

2: Opening up the player, finding the chip on which YPbPr is output, soldering new jacks and watch with component video. This would be the best theoretical solution, but my soldering skills aren't top-notch and there's a lot of added risks in doing it.

3: Actually buying a new DVD player.

So my question is, has anyone ben in a similar situation? How did you solve it? And in general, how do you think I should proceed with this?

A great thank you simply for reading through this long post!

[Krispy Kritter]

Just my 2 cents, but I'd just get a new player with the outputs you want/need and that officailly supports region free.