Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

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Taiyaki
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Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

Many years ago I was able to get into contact with her/them during Retro Access' ebay days for assistance, but now on their website you can only go through a contact form which I have tried but then never got a reply (been weeks the last time I tried). I bought some cables and would need a tweak on one of them but have no way to contact. Does Retro Access have an account here or an email address one can use? Not a fan of the new system growing sites use of not even sharing a proper contact email address...
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Gara
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Gara »

Taiyaki wrote:Many years ago I was able to get into contact with her/them during Retro Access' ebay days for assistance, but now on their website you can only go through a contact form which I have tried but then never got a reply (been weeks the last time I tried). I bought some cables and would need a tweak on one of them but have no way to contact. Does Retro Access have an account here or an email address one can use? Not a fan of the new system growing sites use of not even sharing a proper contact email address...
They are usually pretty good about responding to form submissions but I have had them get overlooked before. Twitter works well

https://twitter.com/retroaccess?lang=en

Come to think of it the last time I had a question ignored was when I inquired about modifying an existing cable. I ended up dealing with it on my own.
fernan1234
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by fernan1234 »

I've been having no issues getting in touch with them with questions about cables I bought. Try replying to the same address that notified you of your order shipment or delivery and they should reply quickly.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

fernan1234 wrote:I've been having no issues getting in touch with them with questions about cables I bought. Try replying to the same address that notified you of your order shipment or delivery and they should reply quickly.
Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. I'll give it a try. :)
Gara wrote:Come to think of it the last time I had a question ignored was when I inquired about modifying an existing cable. I ended up dealing with it on my own.
That's exactly what I want to contact them about as well.

I have a Sega CDX in a very tight corner and their cable connector end has a very long section that is as sturdy as a rod and won't bend at all, as a result it won't fit into that space. So I wanted to ask if they could attach a 90 degree right/left angle adapter.

Meanwhile I tried looking online for one and can't find any for 9 pin mini din connectors, so maybe these don't even exist. :? I can find it for 6 pin or 8 pin however. Maybe it's something a modder can easily attach to any adapter I'm thinking, but I'll ask Retro Access if this is something they can do, and of course I would pay for their time.
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Gara
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Gara »

Taiyaki wrote:
fernan1234 wrote:I've been having no issues getting in touch with them with questions about cables I bought. Try replying to the same address that notified you of your order shipment or delivery and they should reply quickly.
Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. I'll give it a try. :)
Gara wrote:Come to think of it the last time I had a question ignored was when I inquired about modifying an existing cable. I ended up dealing with it on my own.
That's exactly what I want to contact them about as well.

I have a Sega CDX in a very tight corner and their cable connector end has a very long section that is as sturdy as a rod and won't bend at all, as a result it won't fit into that space. So I wanted to ask if they could attach a 90 degree right/left angle adapter.

Meanwhile I tried looking online for one and can't find any for 9 pin mini din connectors, so maybe these don't even exist. :? I can find it for 6 pin or 8 pin however. Maybe it's something a modder can easily attach to any adapter I'm thinking, but I'll ask Retro Access if this is something they can do, and of course I would pay for their time.
You're probably boned. My Supergrafx cable from Retro Access sticks out a good 5-6 inches on the side. It stands alone! If you find a solution be sure and share it. An angled adapter would be great
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

Gara wrote:You're probably boned. My Supergrafx cable from Retro Access sticks out a good 5-6 inches on the side. It stands alone! If you find a solution be sure and share it. An angled adapter would be great
Yeah after spending some time looking for something online it looks like this would either have to be modded with some creative solution, or one just has to live with it. There doesn't appear to be any right angle adapter for this.
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Bratwurst
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Bratwurst »

Get this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Din-9-Fem ... 140100165?

Buy a 9-pin mini din cable, something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HQRP-9-pin-Min ... 024213492?

Cut and strip a short section out of the cable and feed it into the breakout connections. Dead easy, and you get an adapter that feasibly shunts the cable left OR right.

If you want something fancy in an enclosure, I could 3D print a casing but I'd need the adapter in person to model the housing. PM me if you want to commission me to assemble the entire thing.
thebigcheese
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by thebigcheese »

Taiyaki wrote:
Gara wrote:You're probably boned. My Supergrafx cable from Retro Access sticks out a good 5-6 inches on the side. It stands alone! If you find a solution be sure and share it. An angled adapter would be great
Yeah after spending some time looking for something online it looks like this would either have to be modded with some creative solution, or one just has to live with it. There doesn't appear to be any right angle adapter for this.
On top of that, I was never able to find a proper right angle connector at all. I really wanted one for my CoreGrafx, and there are some for, say, 5-pin DIN, but none for us PCE enthusiasts.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

Thank you Bratwurst! That's a great idea. Since I sent Retro Access an email I'll wait to hear from them first, but for all I know they won't even answer a direct email. Communication has really gone bad with them when comparing to the old ebay days where it was possible to reach out to them for questions or assistance.
thebigcheese wrote:On top of that, I was never able to find a proper right angle connector at all. I really wanted one for my CoreGrafx, and there are some for, say, 5-pin DIN, but none for us PCE enthusiasts.
Yes the only right angles I was able to find were for 6 or 8 pins. :/
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by citrus3000psi »

I'm getting some male mini dins soon (coincidence) I'll take a look and see how hard it would be mount this on a PCB. The female mini din is the easy part.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

citrus3000psi wrote:I'm getting some male mini dins soon (coincidence) I'll take a look and see how hard it would be mount this on a PCB. The female mini din is the easy part.
I'd love to hear how this turns out. :)
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

This is Retro Access - we got your email but we’re a bit behind as we have had flu this week (again) - still it’s probably best that I answer here because of the previous thread comments.

In other words - yes it’s difficult to get right angled mini dins. We’ve hunted for them before and they are usually a fixed orientation, ie you can’t make the plug lie in the hood in the direction you actually want. Either that or they bizarrely hang down or go up - while some may want that, we want total customization, ie a right angled plug that you can make face right, left, up, down whatever you want. This would cover orientating the cable for whatever console you use.

An example of this problem: I found an 8 pin mini din that was right angled but it forced the cable to the right. You couldn’t reorient it to have the cable going left. So if you plugged this into a Framemeister, the cable would cover up the infra red remote sensor. This is fixed by chucking out the hood and making your own but....

The other problem is this: mini din is already a really small space to work in, coax is not easy to bend at such a sharp angle and so close to solder points without it compromising said solder points.

If you open one of our black coax Scart hoods, that is, one without a pcb in it you’ll see that in a right angled plug that’s as big as Scart, that it is indeed possible to bend coax lines and anchor them down with heat shrink but Scart hoods give you so much space to arch this bend without the angle being sharp. Mini din gives you no space, it’s an immediate right angle after the pins and the solder joint, or rather the coax line itself will break eventually under this stress.

A pcb will indeed fix it but presents a few problems:

1. Nobody makes pcb mount 90 degree male mini dins, only sockets. I really wish that a pcb mount male mini din was a thing that existed but I’ve searched for years with no luck.

2. You then have to make a custom casing to house this whole thing. It requires R+D for each case scenario, ie you don’t want this inevitably larger hood to compromise ports or other accessibility on a big long list of consoles:

Genesis 2
genesis 3
32X
Nomad
Multimega/CDX

There’s something I missed off of that list, I’m certain (and I don’t own it hence it escapes my mind.)

So this request is a bit more complex than you’d think.

We will have a solution in the near future with *very* flexible cable we sourced but this cable won’t be coax: you can’t get super flexible coax beyond what we’ve actually managed to work out already with our supplier.

Take a HD Retrovision cable and compare. Or a proper coax VGA cable. That level of flexibility is the best you’ll get with 75 ohm mini coax.

Short adaptors would help, yes. Or a short thinner cable going into a box (maybe with necessary components a la HDRV’s transcoder box on their SNES and Genesis cables.) But this adds extra work ergo extra time which adds cost to cables:

Normal cable:

DIN (soldered here) ———————————————————- (soldered here) SCART

Cable with adaptor:

DIN (soldered here) ———(soldered here)box with pcb(soldered here)—————————- (soldered here) SCART

Two extra soldering jobs. Not that I’m lazy but I do my best to keep costs down.

You can simplify the soldering jobs, sure, with PCBs, but again: R+D.

We are definitely looking into it, however. But when the part (right angled pcb mount male mini din) to simplify things in the most simple way does not exist, it makes things a tad more complex and requires workarounds.

Want a short, flexible 9 pin to 9 pin adaptor? That I can do: with individually shielded lines even. It’ll cost about the same as the non coax 32x patch cables, mind.
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

dseleski wrote:Want a short, flexible 9 pin to 9 pin adaptor? That I can do: with individually shielded lines even. It’ll cost about the same as the non coax 32x patch cables, mind.
Thank you for that in depth explanation on this matter. I really appreciate it. I figured such a part probably didn't exist but I wasn't even sure what it would be (so a right angled pcb mount male mini din). Maybe someday, but it's great to know you've looked into it, and thank you for sharing all that with us.

As for the last question quoted above, yes I would like to buy a short flexible adapter if this is something you can do, please sign me up. There's a bit of wiggle room, so this should allow me to hook up the Sega CDX from the right side connector without changing the setup (the coax cable is just too inflexible and moves out to the right too long before being able to gently flex it out towards the back).

If this is something you can do please let me know how I could proceed to order one.
energizerfellow‌
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by energizerfellow‌ »

Speaking of connectors on custom Retro Access cables, do you think there'd be any interest in DVI-A connectors? Virtually all modern capture cards with analog support have a DVI-I port and require the use of a DE-15 to DVI adapter.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

Bumping this up again in hopes that dseleski sees it cause I can't get a hold of anyone from Retro Access again (including emails). Still interested in getting that flexible adapter.

EDIT: Ok so actually I received a message today. For anyone else who might have been interested in this type of adapter, Retro Access is not able to make this yet as it would need some designing and has too much going on at the moment, but sounds like it might happen somewhere down the line.
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

I designed the small hood, cap, short strain relief whatever you want to call it to go on the back of din hoods, to fit this cable as well as not be sticking out too far, to enable the bend that the cable itself is capable of.

This is being launched most likely on Monday for mini din only for the time being, for other cabling going forward.

What people don’t know is we’ve had this cabling in stock for months, we tend to not announce things in advance to prevent disappointment (I am working on a ton of other projects besides) and we’ve been testing the reliability and practicing methods to efficiently build these cables since November. Normally this stuff takes time but we already had it in the works. I was going to wait until we had designed hoods for our entire range: but! I recognize the demand for more flexible patch cables, mod cables and adaptors.
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

energizerfellow‌ wrote:Speaking of connectors on custom Retro Access cables, do you think there'd be any interest in DVI-A connectors? Virtually all modern capture cards with analog support have a DVI-I port and require the use of a DE-15 to DVI adapter.
We’ll look into it, and by that I mean I’ll ask my husband to look into it so that he can then pester me to get my arse in gear.

This has happened for all the projects I’ve been working on bar this DIN thing. He actually thought *censored - TBA* and a component to BNC cable (I’m working on that) were more important to nag me about this past few weeks.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

dseleski wrote:I designed the small hood, cap, short strain relief whatever you want to call it to go on the back of din hoods, to fit this cable as well as not be sticking out too far, to enable the bend that the cable itself is capable of.

This is being launched most likely on Monday for mini din only for the time being, for other cabling going forward.

What people don’t know is we’ve had this cabling in stock for months, we tend to not announce things in advance to prevent disappointment (I am working on a ton of other projects besides) and we’ve been testing the reliability and practicing methods to efficiently build these cables since November. Normally this stuff takes time but we already had it in the works. I was going to wait until we had designed hoods for our entire range: but! I recognize the demand for more flexible patch cables, mod cables and adaptors.
Wonderful! Thank you so much. Looking forward to buying one next week.
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

dseleski wrote:https://retro-access.com/collections/fo ... 9677790259

This is the one you want I think.
Thank you! Looks like the one I need for the Sega CDX for it to go in the angle the cable towards the back is the " - goes right looking at console" one. It seems to be sold out at the moment, hopefully tomorrow. :)
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

That;s an error it looks like, I made the variant and forgot to add stock. Just added stock right now.
Ikaruga11
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Ikaruga11 »

dseleski, will you ever make YPbPr cables?
jd213
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by jd213 »

Hi,
Sorry to piggyback onto this thread, but I haven't had much luck using the contact form either.

Would it be possible to get a PS2 to Framemeister cable (I pretty much only use the Framemeister for PS2 nowadays)? It doesn't seem like the custom cable form has a Framemeister option, but I'm hoping this wouldn't be too much trouble to make.
dseleski
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by dseleski »

Just buy the ps2 cable and leave a note when checking out.

This is not something we can do for most consoles. But for ps2 it’s possible because of the lack of components in the standard Scart. I even made a ps2 cable like that for myself. Mainly because - I have a tendency to sell any cable I make for myself, like next day when I see the same cable sold, I’ll just send it out! So all my cables are sabotaged in some way, the ps2 one was just a 2 foot straight to Framemeister. Then I got an OSSC, so....

No clue where we put that cable in the move mind you. Back to using very short sabotaged scarts right now.

By tomorrow I’ll have a cheaper version of the ps2 cable too I’m pretty sure. Playstation is next on the list to get a Fortraflex version so it’s either that or coax that we can turn into a straight to Framemeister cable.

Far as component cable goes though:

We’ve tried to imply this before. For YPbPr, we recommend HD Retrovision. We can certainly make the cables, sure. We don’t have a transcoder circuit for non component compatible consoles. We do have the ability to make simple cables for consoles that already output YPbPr. However! You are not going to get a $30 pricing from us, because we make our cables by hand and don’t have the kind of machinery that can mass crimp rcas (I presume RCAs like this are added by machinery in a factory, while scarts are still hand soldered by pretty much any company, just because for RCAs it’s possible.) Tbh I don’t know how they (HD Retrovision specifically) are made but we can’t make them for that pricing - not least because the only rca plugs we stock now are Rean, which are not cheap. So we haven’t bothered to date because we know HD Retrovision will be making say, a Wii cable and already make playstation 2. Because of the price of 5x Rean plugs over a single Scart plug, you are looking at a pricing somewhere between coax Scart and BNC cables. True 75 ohm BNCs are more expensive still.

I don’t have a tendency to jump on somebody’s market if I like that product and can sign off on it. If I don’t think it can be improved. And I use HD Retrovision cables for my PS2, for 480p.

But our main focus *has* become the ability to customize seeing as it fits a gap in the market so of course, we can make simple coax cabling with rca connectors on request. Or BNCs for PVMs/extron.

Up to you if you want to pay the price but as it stands we are not officially jumping on that market.
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Gara
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Gara »

jd213 wrote:Hi,
Sorry to piggyback onto this thread, but I haven't had much luck using the contact form either.

Would it be possible to get a PS2 to Framemeister cable (I pretty much only use the Framemeister for PS2 nowadays)? It doesn't seem like the custom cable form has a Framemeister option, but I'm hoping this wouldn't be too much trouble to make.
Are you looking to use RGB for the PS2? I'm guessing you're only interested in 480i so that fits your use case. Framemeister won't work with PS2 RGB 480p without a mod. Not a lose since it sounds like you already have another doubler/scaler.

I'm sure you can request a Playstation to 8-pin mini-DIN, but you probably shouldn't if you already own the Scart adapter. It won't save you any money and it limits you. Just want it for the cleaner appearance?
jd213
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by jd213 »

dseleski wrote:Just buy the ps2 cable and leave a note when checking out.
Thank you! I'll do that next time I make an order.
Gara wrote:
Are you looking to use RGB for the PS2? I'm guessing you're only interested in 480i so that fits your use case. Framemeister won't work with PS2 RGB 480p without a mod. Not a lose since it sounds like you already have another doubler/scaler.

I'm sure you can request a Playstation to 8-pin mini-DIN, but you probably shouldn't if you already own the Scart adapter. It won't save you any money and it limits you. Just want it for the cleaner appearance?
Several reasons:
- I have an official Sony PS3 and a Monster component PS3 cable, but the only RGB cable I have is the official Sony JP21 cable for PS1, which I assume isn't optimal for use with a PS2
- The JP21 Framemeister adapter disconnects from the FM too easy, like when I accidentally pull on the cable or bump the FM
- My OCD doesn't 100% trust the quality of the adapter, possibly because the looseness makes it feel cheap
- For the above reasons and since I only use the FM for PS2, would rather just get a cable that connects directly instead of having to use the adapter
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Gara
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Gara »

jd213 wrote:
dseleski wrote:Just buy the ps2 cable and leave a note when checking out.
Thank you! I'll do that next time I make an order.
Gara wrote:
Are you looking to use RGB for the PS2? I'm guessing you're only interested in 480i so that fits your use case. Framemeister won't work with PS2 RGB 480p without a mod. Not a lose since it sounds like you already have another doubler/scaler.

I'm sure you can request a Playstation to 8-pin mini-DIN, but you probably shouldn't if you already own the Scart adapter. It won't save you any money and it limits you. Just want it for the cleaner appearance?
Several reasons:
- I have an official Sony PS3 and a Monster component PS3 cable, but the only RGB cable I have is the official Sony JP21 cable for PS1, which I assume isn't optimal for use with a PS2
- The JP21 Framemeister adapter disconnects from the FM too easy, like when I accidentally pull on the cable or bump the FM
- My OCD doesn't 100% trust the quality of the adapter, possibly because the looseness makes it feel cheap
- For the above reasons and since I only use the FM for PS2, would rather just get a cable that connects directly instead of having to use the adapter
Fair enough. PS2 scart cables don't need any components so your cable should be simple enough. PSX cables have 220uf caps in the cable. Retro-access by default puts giant 1000uf caps in the Playstation scart cable to keep them compatible with PSX and PS2. Your custom job will be without caps and only suitable for PS2.

Keep in mind you're going to loose the flexibility an adapter provides. Retro-access coax cables are rigid as heck. It's gonna demand some frontal clearance and stick out quite a bit. Factor in the extra length you'll need if you want to make any attempt to route it. This is part of what makes the Retro-Access "Fortraflex" cables an exciting development. Flexible adapters to pair with the rigid coax.
jd213
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by jd213 »

Gara wrote: Fair enough. PS2 scart cables don't need any components so your cable should be simple enough. PSX cables have 220uf caps in the cable. Retro-access by default puts giant 1000uf caps in the Playstation scart cable to keep them compatible with PSX and PS2. Your custom job will be without caps and only suitable for PS2.

Keep in mind you're going to loose the flexibility an adapter provides. Retro-access coax cables are rigid as heck. It's gonna demand some frontal clearance and stick out quite a bit. Factor in the extra length you'll need if you want to make any attempt to route it. This is part of what makes the Retro-Access "Fortraflex" cables an exciting development. Flexible adapters to pair with the rigid coax.
Thanks, using the adapter is already a PITA due to the disconnecting so I can deal with a rigid cable if that's what it takes.
Taiyaki
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by Taiyaki »

dseleski wrote:That;s an error it looks like, I made the variant and forgot to add stock. Just added stock right now.
Thank you! Order placed. :)
GojiFan90
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Re: Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

Post by GojiFan90 »

dseleski--would you ever consider making a good quality, shielded S-video cable for the SNES/N64?
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