Vita HDMI Mod Pinouts by xmax katsu (Not Verified)
Update: after we published this article, several trusted sources on the scene have called out that this pinout from xmax katsu is either a fake, or at the very least extremely misleading.
Yifan lu mentions:
The Vita TV uses the same CPU as the PCH [PS Vita]. However, it included an additional chip (from Analog Computers) that converts MIPI DSI (the format PCH’s screen uses) to TDMI (HDMI signals). That chip is pretty expensive: $10 a piece, So it would be stupid if they used it for no reason (aka if vita CPU already has TDMI output capabilities). This alone gives enough reasonable doubt that I wouldn’t jump on the bandwagon of someone claiming to do this.
Josh_Axey, who has studied the vita hardware at length, published an entire post explaining his position on xmax katsu’s claims.
So what about this image from Katsu? Well, if it is real, then he has all of the TMDS channels marked on his picture. Is this HDMI? No. This is the video/audio data that makes up a DVI, HDMI, DP, etc signal. It still requires a few things to make it work. It also doesn’t include the shielding for a very noise sensitive set of data lines which may need compensation. You should check out the HDMI information on Wikipedia or the HDMI org website for more info.
Why do you say “if”? Well, those traces are all connected to the ground plane as you can see. They then proceed straight into the SoC. That doesn’t make a lot of sense for a few reasons.
User Maddrake in the comments of this very post, mentions he tried the mod, following katsu’s pinout, and that he was not successful in outputing any sort of video signal. We’re putting his pictures here, because who doesn’t like to see a Vita being gutted?
Xmax katsu has been called out for repeated claims of hardware hacks that he never released, and today trusted hackers of the scene have labeled this new attempt a fake. in reply to Maddrake’s comment, katsu replied :
@yifanlu @Josh_Axey @frwololo @ReRepRep really 2xlol where transmitter IC 🙂
— xmax katsu (@xmaxkatsu) July 28, 2015
He also pointed to an old tweet of his:
@HackInformer Chip HDMI – HDMI female connection – a few resistors capacitors. 10 solder usb cable mainboard PSVita — xmax katsu (@xmaxkatsu) January 29, 2014
Which doesn’t help much, as it is a tweet for which YifanLu had already called him out back then
@xmaxkatsu Can you post the schematics?
— Yifan (@yifanlu) January 29, 2014
It is still not clear that xmax katsu is fully faking it, or simply not giving all the details of his mod. Yifanlu/Josh_Axey are saying an HDMI output mod is feasible, but would be costly (and therefore not really useful). Katsu says he had it done for dirt cheap, and this seems to be where the conflict really is.
The original article is kept below for reference:
Xmax katsu released pinouts for hdmi mod he teased some time ago. At the time of writing this article, it hasn’t been confirmed or denied that these pinouts are real. After an argument with yifanlu about a screenshot of Vita system files being fake (see below), xmaxkatsu decided to release the long awaited hdmi pinout for Vita. Unless trying it with the HDMI pinouts, it is hard to confirm this. We will be sure to update you about this though. Note: the ongoing argument between Xmax Katsu and Yifanlu:
@xmaxkatsu @Nzaki0716 @ReRepRep nice try with the fake SELF but the sizes aren’t right — Yifan (@yifanlu) July 27, 2015
@xmaxkatsu if you say so, show us instead of images of fake files 😉 — Yifan (@yifanlu) July 27, 2015
Source: https://twitter.com/xmaxkatsu
Amazing possibilities await. Hopefully, these folks will come together in the name of exploration
I could hook up my logic analyzer to those soldering points and compare the data to a hdmi source – but i guess someone already works on that so i dont have to rip my vita apart^^
Anyone who wants to try this, keep in mind that it is for 1000 version vita only. 2000 version slims are not compatible.
Hacker,i love you love you,Hacker!!
What, don’t you love Yifan exclusively anymore? You two timer!
That’s the Russkies for you. XD
Incoming Vita scene drama round two. We’ll have custom firmware released while everyone’s busy arguing about who has the bigger d!ck
Now there’s two sides of this, which is who has a bigger *** and who is the bigger ***.
They’re all still about dicks, nothing more nothing less.
Now there’s two sides of this, which is who has a bigger d!ck and who is the bigger d!ck.
They’re all still about d!cks, nothing more nothing less.
Definitely. And don’t forget about their Vita’s d!ck as well as that will be the next argument. And then their e-d!ck size will be after that. Gotta love scene drama
They’re all trying (and epic failing) to compensate for their millimeter peters. Don’t let it get to you.
It Might be the size that opens the eyes.. but its the throb of the knob that does the job.
They won’t work as a team because they don’t want to share credits 😉
TN x Zett and katsu x yifanlu! Im thinking about creating a fighting homebrew game to enter this year’s contest…
Best idea ever. Wish i could have such a partner myself.
You already have @GregoryRasputin xD
nope, he doesn’t count. He messes with everyone, i want someone special, only interested in me.
Fite me bb
He may mess with everyone but he has a special place in his hatred section reserved for Reprep!
Apple and oranges bro.
Apple and oranges.
They’re still fruit if you wanna insist.
*** dude! Except Yifan and Katsu are the only legit hackers in that list x’D
Why did l.m.a.o get bleeped? It’s not a curse word!!!
How about have corporations/guilds the fighters can work for, eg. the Free Community, the Apple Empire, Android Guild, Ninten Dojo, the Sons of S0ny, etc. 😀
Shut up Yifan Lu.
Just get back into the scene already.
what are you doing here for Kaz?
you have a company to run. get back to it.
ill try this right now. But first i have to find the ifixit teardown
Just did the mod and no video output what so ever. So ill say this myth is busted
Also dont do this unless you have god level soldering skills
no one will believe you unless you upload a pic/video.
you asked i delivered http://imgur.com/a/EkejB let me know if anything is wrong lol. Oh and the mod by the sony chip just has alot of flux :/
Well there we have it. Disproved. Thanks dude
Thanks for trying.
Welp, that solved that up real nice, well done sir. (and i mean that)
you sure you have it all connected right, and any res/caps in place? it might need something like that
i have everything hooked up correctly. Its just that whats his name says i need some chip . I dont beleive him though . Like whats next ? I forgot to get unicorn blood to drip on my vita board lol.
Thank you VERY much for doing this. For those of us who are not skilled to do it, you’ve proved that its not real anyway.
Who is katsu?He’s fake hacker :p
http://i.imgur.com/5QdBVLe.jpg
and you must be stupid one here.
Does this mean I should hang on to my old psvita 1000 with broken screen?
Yifan has been hiding UVL for 2 years? Is this true? And what exactly is UVL anyway?
*** man, if you did even 10 seconds worth of googling you’d have your answer. Stop being lazy
This isn’t news, he admitted to knowing about the PSMobile Dev “hack” on his blog dating all the way back to over two years ago. He didn’t release it until PSmobile was going to shut down. This is what Kaz is referring to.
So if one is proven right, who will be more affected: Yifan or Katsu?
if katsu is right, yifan will be blamed for being prejudiced, if yifan is right, katsu will be blamed for being an attention seeker and faker. I say katsu will be affected more.
As I see on twitter and not in your article. Mr.gas is sceptic about this. Either way you don’t have to link the xmax’s account until he’s proven right. He get’s attention with such articles being either right or wrong and as you see major part of the community knows nothing ( see most of the comments ). Don’t make it more complicated.
Mr. gas is sceptic about the vita cartridge dumping though it doesn’t make what you say incorrect.
I linked xmax’s account as i have to provide source.
I agree with you to the point that he gets the attention even if he is right or wrong. But if this proves to be fake, i don’t think anyone will believe him any more. An HDMI mod pinout is big news imo and it needs to be investigated. I hope this article will help it to be investigated by spreading the news and as i said, i will share the result here.
If it is legit (I’m not smart enough to know) wouldn’t their need to be firmware or OS support for it? Since vita 2.0 doesn’t have the ability and they released the vita tv wouldn’t they have pulled any ability in firmware updates?
You, sir, understand… You truly deserve a internet! I am being legit in saying you are right btw. Without software implementation, how would the vita even know it exists, it has a connection, and how to negotiate and pass data over it?…
To those who tested it, I ask, what are ya testing?
Again, this guy should get an internet
Why would they, if there is no HDMI output on console? It was said that Vita 1K have a scaler for HDMI output built in, which most likely isnt case for 2K (don’t quote me on that though)
Not necessarily, you COULD intercept the connection between the screen and the motherboard to get video out. which is what katsukitty over in japan did
what about a fake ps3 for pc task service
that connects to remoteplayps3 for pc
and can restore a backup ?.? xD
pinout.
Meanwhile, I’m just here waiting for PSM for Unity
Correction!! Rejuvenate for Unity.
Sorry, i get it mixed up #noob
Katsu, no disrespect, is a little iffy. The way he presents things and talks, plus he has lied in the past…. Yufin held off on releasing the loader, but only so he wouldn’t screw over the PSM developers, he waited for Sony to patch it and they never did. It’s rumored at the psvita’s “pointless” accessory port was supposed to be for video out but Sony decided against it because ps vita tv money grab. The only problem I have is, the usb 2 video mod that some sites do… why would they bother if the hdmi pinout works? Profit? Something stinks here, all we can do is see if Katsu is telling the truth, Yufin’s droughts or not.
They might have not found it on board – it might be easier solution to tap into known LCD connection with your own pre-made hardware to form signal than to scour board with oscilloscope. Or it is fake or don’t exactly work as intended (which might be the reason katsu didn’t release it back then).
Makes sense, I won’t be doing any more hardware mods but it would be interesting if we had access to a function that we should have had access to in the first place. Thanks old psp, you were awesome.
yup, that was made for gba systems. Downside is they are usually really, really hard. Though at least you know where the signals are.
Wouldn’t video proof be more effecient in convincing everyone that your not lying?
I’m very skeptical in this. A Japanese hacker has solution to capture Vita screen using hardware mod for a long time, i think HDMI out is impossible afterall so he made custom hardware to capture the video (with custom app too). I don’t think money is the reason, cus demand for HDMI out ofcourse will be bigger than custom kit.
Here is Maddrake’s pics about this HDMI mod doesn’t work http://imgur.com/a/EkejB and Josh Axey’s standpoint about this http://me.axeyworks.com/myself-the-vita-video-out/
Thanks Reprep, you always dig and keep us informed. I’m going to air on the side of BS.
Not you, Katsu.
as a reply to this, xmaxkatsu says it also needs transmitter IC .
This information needs to be in the article as an update. If anything else changes update it again. but Come on with Katsu..
Thanks Reprep.
Now why woukd katsu release an incomplete info? Someone already tried and it did not work. So what transmitter is needed? What else is missing from katsu’s teaser?
Found this on twitter http://pastebin.com/bDkatCpE, A nice log about katsu’s releases
“* SELF files in screenshot (size too small)”
katsu explained it on twitter, the content is only the offsets of the SELF files, which is 16bytes, not the full SELF dump.
I don’t think “PSM “without developer license” can be considered as fake, he explained it is possible via another psn account later. True it was known before and it was an official feature though it doesn’t make it fake.
You are probably right on this.
Personally I just don’t like the attitude of this guy, and everyone else with similar teasing-not releasing habits. I like less talking more doing kind of guys.
katsu has been attempting to fool us for months now. It’s fake, it’s all lies. They aren’t the pinouts he claims them to be, and Yifan lu is no idiot. He knows this. We’ve all known that katsu is a fake attention-seeker, and only the gullible idiots continue to believe him to be genuine to this day. Let’s stop giving katsu what he wants now.
Real hacks is shared,what’s the sense of the hack if you’re the only one know about it?
Life is boring when you are selfish,giving credit to yourself doesn’t make you a better person.
This is my opinion.
I would pay to have these to bare knuckle box each other till one falls and can’t get back up. Then they can do whatever they want with the money hopefully they use it for hacking and jacking.
These fights are the best :D:D:D:D:D:D:D.
Thank you for busting the Marijuana dude, Mandarake-san.
“the marijuana dude”
lol that makes my day.
Actually, he’s not busted yet. HDMI output won’t work unless the current video signal is converted. Simply soldering the way Mandrake did won’t achieve that. More hardware is necessary.
If more hardware is needed though, doesn’t that still make this a bust for consumers?
That’s what I thought, maybe he’s just giving the solder point but no others parts of the mod … but another thing is needed, like someone said above : You need to have some code on the firmware that let this communicate with the hardware and nobody knows how so Katsu I think you need to make a tutorial on how to do this…if this is real …
Personally I think its a load of ***. He made claims and he cant back them. He has no reason to hide his claims and release a howto because if it is real it requires hardware modification that is no profitable. If it were real he would release it, some will be bold enough to try and report back that it works and he would get mad rep. Since it doesnt exist I think he trying to do dmage control but just digging himself an een bigger hole.
And just becuase he had legit stuff in the past is not a pass at now being a fraud. Many ppl in history did something great and than try to continue that success only to fail. Thats when you hang up your hat and call it a good run… not make an *** of yourself.
too little too late IMO. and the point of this is? vita is pretty much dead now. No more AAA games. Plus there was already a tv mod anyway. A bit expensive but still.
actually the solution is way easier than soldering …
if provided u got dev acces or rejuvenale or soem …
then u could bind ur vita to a webphone hdmi convertor via wifi.
that way u have a hdmi out and a vita and a wifi convertor.
then no thanks as it takes big CPU cycles
its look like maddrake tap it directly to CXD5315GG (psvita processor) without signal convertion. why not compare the psvita and psvita tv? “http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PS_vita_tv_06-590×393.jpg” In this pic you can see a tiny chip near the hdmi port which i believe is the missing link.
then it’s not cheap.
marijuana-dude said it’s dirt cheap. lol
The scene is in drama again, no one could trust each other.
Let‘s remember the old good epsp time. We can use VHBL. We can use TN-V/ARK. We can play 150z. We can play emulators.
If the HDMI mod needs aditional ICs, then why the heck Katsu releases information about it without stating it? What does he expect us to do with that? It just doesn’t make sense. This is stupid. I’ll go to play with my PS3, tell me when you achieve something tangible.
when i was looking around at the ps vita capture card stuff i found some pics of the soldering. which is at a totally different area. http://optimize.ath.cx/shopv2_2/chuumon.html#cusb2 which is interesting.
these use an usb connection though
lol. he said “10 solder usb cable mainboard PSVita”, the picture only showing 8 points.
Soo…back on the cartridge dump, Katsu failed to answer basic sanity check questions about his method…ok if you don’t want to release, but if you want to prove legit, why not answer a simple question that would not reveal the method, but at least make it more plausible?
Even if his attention calls were harmless, now some person risked his vita and wasted hours on this fantasy (he knew what he were getting into, but stilll).
IMHO this guy claims should not make it to front page without being validated by another person or a credible video.
Still, there are always these guys that cries when there’s some news they found about and still aren’t on wololo’s blog…
Just random thoughts
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Obviously it’s a 3-lane MIPI DSI interface corresponding to vita’s AMS495KC OLED panel (it has a 3-lane MIPI interface too) rather than a TMDS interface.