PS1 questions.

[yankii]

I'm looking to buy a PS1 but I'm really confused by all the models and what they need in terms of power.

1. a. I am in a 240V region and the PS1's I can find online are all from a 100V region. Will I need an AC step down converter?
b. Some PS1s I saw said external DC supply on the back and some said 100 V 9W, does it mean the first one will work if I can get a DC power supply that's 240V in but the second one won't?

2. Is there a specific model I should get, or is anything fine? I only plan on playing real discs for now but music CD playback and running backups without a modchip would be appreciated.

3. Is $100 a fair price for the PS1 portable screen?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

PS1 power supplies are not like modern wide input range things. You must have the correct voltage. Connecting 230V to a 115V PSU will go boom.

Older models have more connectors, notably the parallel connector and the oldest have composite video out an dedicated audio out. They can be modified as higher end audio CD player (not that this makes much sense nowadays). I would not want to wear down the drive for playing music, but that's just my personal stance on this.
On the other hand oldest models tend to have more issues with the optical drives requiring refurbishment while the small PSOne models have more mature CD readers.

Running CD-R without modchip can be achieved on every PS1. Tonyhax International; FreePSXBoot memory card exploit. But having, for example a PSNee, installed is more convenient though.
Use a high quality burner (full sized, not USB slim drive) and preferably old stock 74min/650MB CD-R

Depending on the location it might be hard to find a PS1 without modchip preinstalled. They were ridiculously common. Older (non-stealth) modchips can cause issues with some games.

 

[yankii]

PS1 power supplies are not like modern wide input range things. You must have the correct voltage. Connecting 230V to a 115V PSU will go boom.

Older models have more connectors, notably the parallel connector and the oldest have composite video out an dedicated audio out. They can be modified as higher end audio CD player (not that this makes much sense nowadays). I would not want to wear down the drive for playing music, but that's just my personal stance on this.
On the other hand oldest models tend to have more issues with the optical drives requiring refurbishment while the small PSOne models have more mature CD readers.

Running CD-R without modchip can be achieved on every PS1. Tonyhax International; FreePSXBoot memory card exploit. But having, for example a PSNee, installed is more convenient though.
Use a high quality burner (full sized, not USB slim drive) and preferably old stock 74min/650MB CD-R

Depending on the location it might be hard to find a PS1 without modchip preinstalled. They were ridiculously common. Older (non-stealth) modchips can cause issues with some games.

Thanks for the detailed answer. I'm considering a PSOne as I don't want to deal with drive failure, but I'm still drawn to the ports on the older ones. Are they useful if I'm just trying to play games and nothing else?

As for the CD-Rs, I only have a superdrive that connects over USB, so can just I write at a really slow speed like 1x?

 

[RAHelllord]

The ports aren't really used on the old PS1s, I believe there are maybe one or two accessories and that's it. One is a gameshark, another allows playing backups (though not really recommended because of drama), and an unlicensed game boy player. The fact basically nobody used them is why Sony dropped them pretty fast as a cost cutting measure.

PS2 memory cards don't work on the PS1, however if you want you can grab a Memcard Pro (or pre-order the Memcard Pro 2) which will work on both PS1 and PS2 consoles, and support (almost) endless virtual memory cards for either system.
Both are functionally identical, they recently updated the original one to offer full PS2 memory card support, and I can vouch for the thing working splendid.
MachoNacho has a decent review of the original, and even a preview of the upcoming one, too

 

[Ryccardo]

1. a. I am in a 240V region and the PS1's I can find online are all from a 100V region. Will I need an AC step down converter?

As he said most PS1s are not multivoltage (only the Asian, SCPH-???3 ones, are), so yes you'll need a proper transformer (not a cheap diode-based voltage halver only suitable for resistive loads - they're probably still around somewhere), or some other way to generate the suitable mains voltage, or to replace the console's power supply (if you think about it, this latter point makes the premise questionable as you cannot be 100% sure of what's in the console you're buying!)

b. Some PS1s I saw said external DC supply on the back and some said 100 V 9W, does it mean the first one will work if I can get a DC power supply that's 240V in but the second one won't?

If it uses an external power brick, the console doesn't care about the voltage at the wall, only about voltage and polarity (and minimum current) at the small plug, so yes you can substitute another compatible power brick
The only consoles like that, though, are some developer models and PSOnes (slims)

2. Is there a specific model I should get, or is anything fine? I only plan on playing real discs for now but music CD playback and running backups without a modchip would be appreciated.

Largely agree with Kleines on this point too:
older models have more connectors but anything past the very first Japan-only SCPH-1000 and you're not getting the ultimate model (no builtin S-video),
builtin RCA is not that much of an advantage when all newer PS1s+all PS2s+all PS3s came with the appropriate composite cable and later models are generally better built,
having serial and parallel ports is better than not having them (especially the latter, if you're interested in "running backups without a modchip" as that is indeed the next best solution but only for American and European consoles - SCPH-???1 and ???2)

3. Is $100 a fair price for the PS1 portable screen?

It's high for what you're getting (spend a quarter of that on a Trinitron, to stick with "original accessories"!), it's probably average or even slightly competitive when you factor in the "collectors" you're competing with

 

[yankii]

however if you want you can grab a Memcard Pro (or pre-order the Memcard Pro 2) which will work on both PS1 and PS2 consoles, and support (almost) endless virtual memory cards for either system.

Do you have a link? I can't tell which sites are scams and which are legit, lol. And is there a way to dump normal memory cards?

The only consoles like that, though, are some developer models and PSOnes (slims)

I got the PSOne in the end, but I'm not sure about the pin size. Is it 5.5mm by 2.5mm or 5.5mm by 2.1mm?

older models have more connectors but anything past the very first Japan-only SCPH-1000 and you're not getting the ultimate model (no builtin S-video),

I don't have anything with s-video so it's not a big deal.

It's high for what you're getting (spend a quarter of that on a Trinitron, to stick with "original accessories"!), it's probably average or even slightly competitive when you factor in the "collectors" you're competing with

I'm a dumbass who gave away his 32 inch Trinitron, and all I have now is a JVC(?) CRT that I got from a friend. And I can't find anything better. CRTs are basically pre historic here.

Point taken though, I'll skip it.

 

[Ryccardo]

I got the PSOne in the end, but I'm not sure about the pin size. Is it 5.5mm by 2.5mm or 5.5mm by 2.1mm?

Neither, it's 4.75 x 1.7 mm, better known as EIAJ-03

 

[SylverReZ]

The ports aren't really used on the old PS1s, I believe there are maybe one or two accessories and that's it. One is a gameshark, another allows playing backups (though not really recommended because of drama), and an unlicensed game boy player. The fact basically nobody used them is why Sony dropped them pretty fast as a cost cutting measure.

The parallel port I/O for the PS1s are only found on the SCPH-750x and below. The later 900x's have this connector removed. Personally, I do not recommend using something like a GameShark flashed with UniROM or whathaveyou. Not only that it's inconvenient because you have to perform swap tricks each time to boot, but too much can put wear and tear on the laser (I don't know how correct that is, but this is what I've heard from folks).

Running CD-R without modchip can be achieved on every PS1. Tonyhax International; FreePSXBoot memory card exploit. But having, for example a PSNee, installed is more convenient though.
Use a high quality burner (full sized, not USB slim drive) and preferably old stock 74min/650MB CD-R

I second this. If you have PIC chips on hand, then aim for Mayumi v4. It is a lot more stable compared to the OG Stealth chips from way back, in a sense that it uses the XLAT timing signal from the motherboard to determine when it will stop the SCEx injection. Compared to other earlier stealth chips where it would feed the SCEx string several times before it stops the chip's operation at the PlayStation logo, which can be quite cumbersome. Because if you insert the disc after powering on the system at the main menu, then it will ask you to insert an original disc because it missed the injection routine.

PSNee is about the same as a Stealth chip but requires an Arduino board, use the Pro Mini boards as you can install them inside the case without using one that'll dangle out of the casing. They only cost about $2 a pop.

 

[RAHelllord]

Do you have a link? I can't tell which sites are scams and which are legit, lol. And is there a way to dump normal memory cards?

The creator is https://8bitmods.com/. They also make a bunch of other stuff that might be interesting, like a few BT adapter based on the BlueRetro standard, and more similar memory cards for other systems, too.

And yes, if you insert both the MemCard Pro in one slot of your console, and the cart you want to dump in the other, you can simply copy all saves over to the MemCard Pro. Just boot the console without a disc inserted and you'll see the memory card manager menu. On a PS2 you can do that with both PS1 and PS2 memory cards, and on the PS1 only with PS1 memory cards, naturally.
Once on the MCP you can then simply copy them down from the MicroSD, or even grab them over wifi using the built in FTP server.
You can also do the opposite, grab your saves from a PS1 or PS2 emulator and put them on the MemCard Pro to play them on original hardware. The virtual memory cards also use an open standard, so they can be freely edited on a PC with one of the many memory card managers.