[CLD-S315] PAL analog sound modification

sweetconnection · Posted: 22 May 2026, 22:01

Since the player can do NTSC analog sound and detects analog sound on PAL discs - it seems to me that it could play back the analog sound on PAL discs but it is disabled by choice.

Has anyone tried modifying the player to do that or knows if the necessary circuitry is on the mainboard?
Analog sound on PAL shouldn't be that different to NTSC analog sound, maybe it uses the same parts. But that's speculation from my part.

I did find this thread on the CLD-S310 which suggests that it could be possible: https://www.avforums.com/threads/laserd ... elp.73682/

Knowingly that AI can be wrong, "Claude" suggests doing this after I provided the SM:

Quote:

On the FLKY assy, find IC101 (PD3313A) pin 16. If it is currently tied to +5V (H), cut or lift that connection and tie it to GND. This tells the mode controller it is a DUAL model, which should permit PAL analog audio playback.

Can someone with more technical knowledge check that? Would be awesome.

Thanks in advance!

signofzeta · Posted: 23 May 2026, 04:58

Why would anyone disable this by choice? I can’t think of a single reason. Therefore I think you will probably not find a way to turn it on.

takeshi666 · Posted: 23 May 2026, 10:59

The fact that analog PAL audio support was only found in the higher end player leads me to believe it required a whole additional circuitry which was not included on the lower end models for cost reasons.

sweetconnection · Posted: 23 May 2026, 22:16

signofzeta wrote:

Why would anyone disable this by choice? I can’t think of a single reason. Therefore I think you will probably not find a way to turn it on.

There is no option to turn it on or off. My thought was that Pioneer may have disabled it by default to encourage users to purchase a higher-end player.

takeshi666 wrote:

leads me to believe it required a whole additional circuitry which was not included on the lower end models for cost reasons.

It detects analog audio on PAL discs. Analog audio playback on NTSC discs works. The question is whether analog PAL audio requires a separate circuit compared to analog NTSC audio, or whether it can be enabled, for example, by connecting certain pins on an IC.

edwin240170 · Posted: 24 May 2026, 08:19

There are 2 things:

Hardware : PAL analog need 2 different bandpass filters + different point to take the RF signal, see highlighted in yellow in picture attached + mute signal
Software : get the message from the screen (some players continiously show "no sound")

Technically the HW on a Pioneer isnt the problem.

Br, Edwin

sweetconnection · Posted: 24 May 2026, 13:21

edwin240170 wrote:

Hardware : PAL analog need 2 different bandpass filters + different point to take the RF signal, see highlighted in yellow in picture attached + mute signal
Software : get the message from the screen (some players continiously show "no sound")

Technically the HW on a Pioneer isnt the problem.

That sounds promising!
Could connecting SQ1 and SQ2 each to GND through a 1kΩ resistor at the PALB assy connector CN101 (pins 7 and 8) "enable" PAL analog audio?

takeshi666 · Posted: 29 May 2026, 06:09

If it were that simple, don't you think they'd done it at the factory?

yaffle2345 · Posted: 29 May 2026, 07:51

takeshi666 wrote:

If it were that simple, don't you think they'd done it at the factory?

It's not unknown for manufacturers to deliberately disable features on entry-level models, to push customers to buy the more expensive ones... (I'm not saying that's definitely the case here)

signofzeta · Posted: 29 May 2026, 21:07

yaffle2345 wrote:

takeshi666 wrote:

If it were that simple, don't you think they'd done it at the factory?

It's not unknown for manufacturers to deliberately disable features on entry-level models, to push customers to buy the more expensive ones... (I'm not saying that's definitely the case here)

I see no logical reason to assume that in this case. Pioneer worked very hard to keep LD affordable and it was a constant challenge for them. They wanted as much value as realistically possible in the entry level players because they needed to sell as many as possible to break even.

You’re thinking of stuff like microchips where they disable cores for value engineering reasons. There is not a great deal of that going on in analog electrics since it requires a BOM and has no payoff.

sweetconnection · Posted: 30 May 2026, 10:33

yaffle2345 wrote:

takeshi666 wrote:

If it were that simple, don't you think they'd done it at the factory?

It's not unknown for manufacturers to deliberately disable features on entry-level models, to push customers to buy the more expensive ones... (I'm not saying that's definitely the case here)

That was my guess.
What’s missing is confirmation of whether that’s the case, or whether important components are missing.
I would do that but I'm not technically skilled enough to safely confirm if that's true.

edwin240170 wrote:

Technically the HW on a Pioneer isnt the problem.

Is that screenshot from the S315 manual or from another service manual?

signofzeta wrote:

I see no logical reason to assume that in this case. Pioneer worked very hard to keep LD affordable and it was a constant challenge for them. They wanted as much value as realistically possible in the entry level players because they needed to sell as many as possible to break even.

Could be true but it looks like there is a possibility, see here. The question is what that modification was.

sweetconnection wrote:

I did find this thread on the CLD-S310 which suggests that it could be possible: https://www.avforums.com/threads/laserd ... elp.73682/

yaffle2345 · Posted: 04 Jun 2026, 22:25

Flipping through my old LaserDisc Review magazines, spotted this in Issue 46 - Nov-Dec 1993:

Quote:

Analogue Sound Remedy

Thames Valley Laser, has developed a modification for both the new Pioneer players to restore the analogue sound which - it is claimed - does the job better than the usual quality of sound circuits in production players too. Audio improvements are often very difficult to pin down but it has become apparent that recent players do often have trouble with sibilance on analogue discs. This is one quantifiable problem that TVL claims to improve by increasing the number of components it employs in its analogue sound board.

The players in question were the Pioneer CLD-1850 and Pioneer CLD-2850.

I merely mention this as it might be of historical interest. Thames Valley Laser are long gone of course - taking £29.99 of mine with them, for a copy of The Search For Spock which never arrived. Not that I let that rankle after 30+ years, of course...

yaffle2345 · Posted: 18 Jun 2026, 21:16

Another snippet from LaserDisc Review, this time Issue 18. Most of it is not relevant, but at the end it says that the extra circuitry for analogue sound costs £25 per player...:

Quote:

Super LaserVision

Well over a year ago a technical bod in one of the video/audio companies told us of a really impressive NTSC LV demonstration he'd seen. Apparently the technology had been tweeked a bit to achieve the desired result but he would say no more as to how it had been done. Subsequently news of a 'Super LaserVision' format leaked out with an apparent intention of marketing it in time to match the 'threat' of Super-VHS and ED-Beta. But, in spite of some fairly confident whispers from various Pioneer USA sources, nothing much has been heard of Super LV since.

So far as can be made out, Super LaserVision is a 500-line horizontal resolution upgrade (425 is about the most any manufacturer has claimed so far for conventional NTSC) that achieves its extra picture resolution by dropping the analogue soundtrack. (Unlike PAL, NTSC videodisc presently carries both digital and analogue audio.) One would expect the new type of Super LV disc to be playable on any conventional digital sound LV player, but not on one of the older analogue sound only players. There is some similarity here to the incompatibility situation we are having to endure with PAL LV/CD Video. (And Super LV is going to be an NTSC-only upgrade. PAL will remain as is.)

The move out of analogue sound seems inevitable - and this does involve the PAL LaserVision standard. PDO's recent reluctance to press any disc in analogue bears a strong relationship to Philips' apparent desire to drop the analogue audio circuits on CD Video players at some future date. When you think about it on a pan-European scale there is some logic to this, even if it will cause some inconvenience to the best established PAL LV market, the UK.

Dropping the analogue circuit from the player is reported to cut £25 from the retail price, a not inconsiderable saving. As there has never been any LV in the majority of European countries the omission of the analogue circuitry from future players will be of little consequence to the new CD Video market.

[CLD-S315] PAL analog sound modification

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