Sony's CXA Chroma Encoders

Sony's Chroma Encoders provided the video (and sometimes S-video) output of pretty much every modern game console, from SNK, Sony, Sega and others. There are three chips in this series:

  1. CXA1145 (PDF (Japanese))
    • MB3514 Fujitsu clone PDF)
    • ES71145 ITRI clone (PDF)
  2. CXA1645 (PDF)
    • MB1645 Fujitsu clone (PDF)
    • KA2195 Samsung Clone (PDF)
  3. CXA2075 (PDF)

The 1145 is the first chip, and it doesn't offer full S-video output. However, you can achieve a decent S-video signal from the chip by amping the two Y/C outputs from pins 15 and 16. See the schematic here The 1145 was used in most early consoles, up to and including the Genesis and Neo Geo. The MB3514 is pin-for-pin the same chip and was used for the Sega CDX and other Genesis models/variants. The 1645 powered many later consoles, including the Genesis 3, Saturn and NeoGeo CD/CDZ. One noted difference between the Sony chip and Fujitsu versions is that the Fujitsu circuit requires far less external components. The Samsung KA2915 is another clone used in some Genesis model 2 systems and is known for being the worst encoder of the bunch. The 2075 was never used in a console as far as I know, however it was considered for use in Sega's Saturn (it used too much power and had to be dropped).

The CXA2075 is the most powerful chip, requiring far fewer external components, and producing better output. Micomsoft used it in later revisions of their X-AV2s encoding product. According to one of the chip's designers it was pretty amazing. It was a drop-in replacement for the 1645, it didn't need an external circuit, and it produced much better output.

Etc

There is some specific application information of the CXA1645 on the GameSX.com site. The Genesis 3 page shows some very detailed info, including images of the chip itself. There's also the HiSaturn Navi RGB page.

There is no English version of the CXA1145 PDF datasheet, as far as I know. The two clone chips (listed at the top of this page) do have English datasheets however.

The chip's designer has a partial version of the CXA2075 datasheet on his site.