Patching the Sony PS3 for RGB Scart When Playing DVDs and BluRay

A PS3 VSH plugin that retains RGB output on the AV MULTI port during DVD and Blu-ray playback using the PS3's native player.

Without it, the PS3 switches AV MULTI from RGB to component video (YPbPr) whenever playback of a DVD or Blu-ray begins. On a SCART RGB display, the picture becomes green and purple. With this plugin, the output remains RGB, with correct colours for both the content itself and the on-screen menus.

The plugin also shows the video output mode, for example 576i RGB, as a pop-up whenever it changes. The PS3's player switches the output to the disc's own standard, so a PAL DVD on a 480i system plays at 576i, and the pop-up shows when that happens.

Feel free to join the official Discord server for development updates, discussion or to request assistance!

A PS3 running Evilnat 4.92 CEX and Cobra 8.5.

Video output set to AV MULTI / SCART, RGB.

A means of transferring files to the PS3's hard drive, such as webMAN MOD's FTP server or a file manager like multiMAN.

The plugin checks the exact 4.92 system code before changing anything. On any other firmware it does nothing and writes an error to its log.

Tested on a CECH-L04 with webMAN MOD 1.47.48n, at 576i and at 480i (including a PAL DVD on a 480i system). HDMI output is never affected.

Download disc_rgb_fix.sprx from the Releases page.

Copy it to /dev_hdd0/plugins/ on the PS3.

Add this line to /dev_hdd0/boot_plugins.txt (create the file if it doesn't exist), on its own line below any other plugins:

/dev_hdd0/plugins/disc_rgb_fix.sprx

Reboot the PS3.

The plugin installs its hook 5 seconds after being loaded at boot. Nothing changes in the XMB itself; only disc playback behaves differently.

Play a DVD or Blu-ray. The picture should remain RGB.

The plugin writes a log to /dev_hdd0/tmp/disc_rgb_fix.log. After a DVD or Blu-ray begins, it should contain the lines below. The log reports "DVD-start" for both Blu-ray and DVD; the correction is the same.

READY: DVD-start AV MULTI batch will be kept RGB REWRITE: DVD-start batch kept RGB; total 0x00000001 REWRITE: send result (0x74 = accepted) 0x00000074

Output-mode pop-up

About 5 seconds after the output mode changes, a pop-up shows the new mode, for example 576i RGB. The plugin waits that long because the picture is blanked while the mode switches, and because the XMB did not show pop-ups sent sooner after leaving disc playback.

In every test so far, the player started in the mode the system was already in, so there is no pop-up when playback starts. With a PAL DVD on a 480i system, a 576i RGB pop-up appears once the player has read the disc (about 14 seconds in), and a 480i RGB pop-up appears after leaving playback.

Every change is also logged, whether or not a pop-up is shown:

MODE: 576i RGB; video_vid 0x3 port 0x10 av_vid 0x5 cs_out 0x0 total 0x2 POPUP: 576i RGB; vshtask_notify returned 0x0

The system sometimes also sets up the HDMI port by itself. A pop-up such as 480p RGB (HDMI) then appears. It doesn't change the AV MULTI output.

Temporarily: create an empty file at /dev_hdd0/tmp/disc_rgb_fix.disable and reboot. The plugin loads but does nothing. Delete the file and reboot to turn it back on.

Pop-ups only: create an empty file at /dev_hdd0/tmp/disc_rgb_fix.nopopup and reboot. The output stays RGB and mode changes are still logged, but no pop-ups appear.

Removing it: delete the line from /dev_hdd0/boot_plugins.txt, reboot, and delete /dev_hdd0/plugins/disc_rgb_fix.sprx.

If the PS3 won't boot

If the PS3 freezes during boot after you add any plugin:

On Evilnat, this boots without plugins, but it also deletes boot_plugins.txt and turns Cobra off. Turn Cobra back on (for example by renaming /dev_blind/sys/stage2.bin.bak back to stage2.bin), then recreate boot_plugins.txt.

Building needs the Sony Cell SDK, which is not included and not distributed here. See disc_rgb_fix/README.md.

docs/how-it-works.md explains what the PS3 changes when a disc starts, and what the plugin does about it.

avtrace is the diagnostic plugin used to find the cause. It records the commands the system sends to the PS3's video hardware.

logs holds the captures and test results the fix is based on.

Licence

MIT. See LICENSE.