Pulling multiple 480p RGBHV video signals from a Wii

[Kadano]

Greetings, I’m Kadano, Super Smash Bros. Melee frame data and technical enthusiast.

People frequently turn to me when they have questions what hardware they should buy for a perfect and Smash setup that can be used both for lagless playing and recording, with the highest video quality possible.

I solved this problem with Gamecube DAC cables modded for RGBHV output (and a D-SUB HD15 / VGA connector), which I connect to an Extron distribution-amplifier. The Extron has four outputs which I feed to my StarTech PEXHDCAP / Yuan SC-500 capture card and three CRT monitors (Sony GDM-F520, Mitsubishi 2070SB and Philips 109MP). This is working very well for me, but I’m afraid most people are not able to use Gamecube VGA cables due to the high price.

So the obvious solution would be to use a Wii instead. Mayflash sells “Wii+PS3 VGA cables” for as little as 20$, which as far as I know is the lowest price for a device with an in-built YPbPr→RGBHV converter.
When I connect the Mayflash cable to a CRT monitor, it works perfectly fine; just as if I was using a Gamecube. (I also have not noticed the lower video quality innate to Wiis, but that’s probably just my perception not being critical enough.)

For some weird reason, the same is not true when I put a distribution amplifier between the Wii VGA cables and the CRT monitor. I have three dist-amps (the Extron and two sold under the brand name “Digitus”), all of them work perfectly fine with the Gamecube, yet all of them always return a black image with the Wii VGA cables. They don’t return nothing—when a monitor is on standby and I connect the (supposedly) dist-amped cable, it does turn on, but it displays nothing except black.

I see three possible reasons that cause this weird issue:

1. The Wii’s video output is flawed (it is known to be of inferior quality than the Gamecube’s and has this weird behavior of occasionally outputting interlaced frames when in progressive mode, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it has more issues—I’d still really like to know what exactly it is that causes the black output). In this case, Wiis are not eligible for “perfect Melee setups”.

2. The Mayflash VGA cables do not convert to RGBHV correctly, outputting an RGBHV signal that differs from the standard the distribution amplifiers expect. In this case, it should be possible to get the device chain working by substituting the Mayflash VGA cables with Wii YPbPr cables and a YPbPr→RGBHV converter. Is there anyone here that has done this and got a working RGBHV signal out from the distribution amplifier?
I also thought that the Mayflash cables might pull the csync from the Y line and output RGBS instead of RGBHV, which most CRT monitors support, but by testing with BNC cables, I was able to rule out this possibility.

3. The distribution amplifiers I own are all rather picky and don’t accept certain oddities of the Wii / Mayflash video signals.

I’m really no expert with these things, so help / insight is very appreciated. I’m also considering asking Mayflash directly, but I’m afraid I would only write with sales guys and not with technical guys who know how their devices work.

EDIT: So, I think I just confirmed that it’s reason two. I took a YPbPr (cinch/RCA) to DSUB-HD15 adapter and pushed it into the Extron’s socket, with the Wii component cables connected. This did give me a proper picture, except for the strong green tint resulting from the monitor interpreting YsPbPr as GsBR (not sure if proper notation).

I opened up the Mayflash cable and it seems to be just a little chip with two capacitors (47µF / 25V). What part of its workings could be responsible for the issue? Is it possible that soldering in different capacitors will solve the issue?

[Fudoh]

I've transcoded countless YPbPr signals and run them through an Extron RGBHV matrix afterwards.

There's a good chance that the Mayflash cable doesn't clean up the sync levels or leave sync on the Green channel intact. You could try putting a RGB interface between the Wii and your distribution switch/matrix. This would clean up the sync signal and normalize the sync levels.

[BazookaBen]

I just use a Component>RGB converter to play 480p Wii games on my CRT monitor. There are a few companies that made them, like Crescendo Systems. You'll probably get better results with something like that. Totally lagless since it doesn't use a digital framebuffer or anything like that.

[Kadano]

I've transcoded countless YPbPr signals and run them through an Extron RGBHV matrix afterwards.

There's a good chance that the Mayflash cable doesn't clean up the sync levels or leave sync on the Green channel intact. You could try putting a RGB interface between the Wii and your distribution switch/matrix. This would clean up the sync signal and normalize the sync levels.

With “RGB interface”, do you mean something like this?

Is it possible to tell whether unclean sync levels are the problem?

I hooked up the Mayflash cable via BNC RGBHV cables directly (without the distribution amplifier) and everything worked as expected (when I unplugged the green wire, white became violet; when I unplugged hsync or vsync, the monitor went into standby mode).

[Fudoh]

The Extron (matrix) switches are known to require absolutely clean sync signals. I don't know what the Mayflash does, but obviously the sync signals are not up the Extron's "standards".

Since the sync interfaces are dirt cheap ($20+), it's worth a try.

[Kadano]

The Extron (matrix) switches are known to require absolutely clean sync signals. I don't know what the Mayflash does, but obviously the sync signals are not up the Extron's "standards".

Since the sync interfaces are dirt cheap ($20+), it's worth a try.

Can you give me a link to one that can be bought for ~20€ in Europe, please?