gamecube / n64 s-video cable?

[KabuTheFox]

i looked around and noticed a common issue with s-video cords for these systems are low quality, thus making a checkerboard display pattern in the display.
can anyone direct me to a good quality cable to use? please and thank you.

[BazookaBen]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

[darcagn]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

I have this cable, it's worked great for me; I've tried other ones and they were shit.

But to be honest I don't really use s-video on anything so I don't have a ton of playing time with it.

[KabuTheFox]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

monster cable is actually down around 40-60 at the moment....still more than i want to spend on a singular cable
but thanks for the link to an alternative

[Guspaz]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

I also have the same cable (bought from the same guy on eBay), and it works quite nicely. I used it for a while with my SNES and noticed no issues with image quality beyond those you'd expect from S-Video. I've since switched to RGBS on my SNES, but I've got a GameCube in the mail from eBay that I'll be using S-Video with on a more permanent basis.

[KabuTheFox]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

I also have the same cable (bought from the same guy on eBay), and it works quite nicely. I used it for a while with my SNES and noticed no issues with image quality beyond those you'd expect from S-Video. I've since switched to RGBS on my SNES, but I've got a GameCube in the mail from eBay that I'll be using S-Video with on a more permanent basis.

good to see that alot of people are rooting for this inexpensive cable it would seem, i grabbed a cheapo $5 one awhile back , and ended up running into the checkerboard pattern issue. probably because it is not a dedicated s-video (its a composite + svideo, that was also cheap)

[BazookaBen]

But to be honest I don't really use s-video on anything so I don't have a ton of playing time with it.

Yeah, it's funny, I have both the official and the monster s-video cables, but I only use s-video when I'm using my N64. Every other console I've made RGB cables for. So I could make a quick $100 plus if I wanted but the collector in me says to keep them both. I didn't make a huge investment in either thankfully, got the monster in 2008 for $5, the official cable around the launch of the gamecube for whatever Nintendo was asking at the time.

[Hoagtech]

My monster s video for GameCube looks like butt too. They cannot display progressive either. I would reccomend spending a fortune on the component cables . The same cable makes my n64 look much nicer than without. But it's been awhile since I used s video because I had my n64 modded for RGB. (Dynamic colors, less bleeding. Especially noticeable when white is on the screen). As far as your checkerboard pattern. That seemed to be an issue with later model flat screen crts for me. You wouldn't happen to playing on a Sanyo or Emerson by chance?

[Josh128]

Havent had the checkerboard issue, despite having owned a couple cheap S-Video cables and some official Nintendo ones. I did have one of the cheap ones fail on me outright though.

Surely its caused by interference from the composite video wire somehow? I have experienced very faint checkerboard issues using RGB with comp. video as sync, when going RGB on the 64 you definitely need either composite sync or luma signals for sync.

[Laughingman.s9]

I think this guys posts on this forum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-best-S-vide ... 1e962dd2ef

Sounds legit to me, he has sold quite a few. Cheaper than the official cable which goes for over $30, and way cheaper than the Monster cable which goes for close to $100.

Can confirm, I use bought these from him few months a Back for my GameCube. He's legit

[KabuTheFox]

haveto wonder if this is the same cord

http://www.ebay.com/itm/S-Video-SVHS-Ca ... xy3NBSjjkc

[Guspaz]

Could be, but it's more expensive and not guaranteed.

[bobrocks95]

My monster s video for GameCube looks like butt too. They cannot display progressive either. I would reccomend spending a fortune on the component cables . The same cable makes my n64 look much nicer than without. But it's been awhile since I used s video because I had my n64 modded for RGB. (Dynamic colors, less bleeding. Especially noticeable when white is on the screen). As far as your checkerboard pattern. That seemed to be an issue with later model flat screen crts for me. You wouldn't happen to playing on a Sanyo or Emerson by chance?

That is an awful recommendation considering the component cable has now been cloned and an alternative using an FPGA can be installed by anyone with soldering experience. Megalomaniac on gc-forever is also working on a presumably plug-and-play solution that should be out within a couple months assuming there's no problem with testing. Nobody should be jumping to buy component cables, at least until we see mega's design (in case it still requires soldering for those who are really against it).

[darcagn]

I have the HDMI FPGA in my GameCube, but to be honest, S-video is good enough. Component/RGB is not that much better. If you're extremely serious about your GameCubing, I understand going the extra mile, but dropping $200 or so on the component cables is honestly not worth it for most people.

[Guspaz]

$200 for the official component cables, versus how much to ship your gamecube to a modder, buy the board, have it installed, have it shipped back, and then buy another set of nintendo-av-to-scart adapters?

The final cost to get your cube modded with that board and get it hooked up to something might not end up being much cheaper than the gamecube cables.

On the other hand, if their plan is to produce a small box with various outputs that you plug into the back of a gamecube via the digital port (like how dreamcast output boxes work), then that could be a very interesting solution. I'd imagine the problem would be sourcing the connector to use for the cable of such a box. It looks custom, and would probably need to be scratch built.

Then again, if you're just buying a gamecube to use the gameboy player, you'll want to do that at 240p, and probably neither the component cables or the FPGA solution would be worth the cost unless you're really hardcore.

[Hoagtech]

My monster s video for GameCube looks like butt too. They cannot display progressive either. I would reccomend spending a fortune on the component cables . The same cable makes my n64 look much nicer than without. But it's been awhile since I used s video because I had my n64 modded for RGB. (Dynamic colors, less bleeding. Especially noticeable when white is on the screen). As far as your checkerboard pattern. That seemed to be an issue with later model flat screen crts for me. You wouldn't happen to playing on a Sanyo or Emerson by chance?

That is an awful recommendation considering the component cable has now been cloned and an alternative using an FPGA can be installed by anyone with soldering experience. Megalomaniac on gc-forever is also working on a presumably plug-and-play solution that should be out within a couple months assuming there's no problem with testing. Nobody should be jumping to buy component cables, at least until we see mega's design (in case it still requires soldering for those who are really against it).

Well I didn't try and beat around the bush. I even said it would cost a fortune. But if your like me and you don't like the thin picture of GameCube games through component on the wii, what options do you have? I've seen the rumors of clones and because the chip has to be robbed from a d terminal component cable it makes the price the same for either.

Am I wrong? I would not have spent money on a whim but I can't find link to a buyable clone for the life of me. Do you currently own a GameCube and a cloned component cord? Help this whole thread and put a link to where I can buy a "FPGA" or a cloned cord. Please elaborate so we can all see what I'm seeing for cheap

[darcagn]

If you want HDMI output on your GameCube then all you need is the $60 Pluto-IIx XC3S200 HDMI board from KNJN. It's a generic FPGA development board that has an HDMI port on it. You just flash the GCVideo-DVI firmware onto it and solder it into the GameCube and that's all. Unfortunately I haven't gotten it to work properly with an HDMI-to-Component adapter to play on my CRT. This solution should be way cheaper than getting the component cables.

This is what I have in my GameCube.

Spoiler

If you want analog (RGB/Component) output, then you'll need to take the files on the GCVideo-Lite page and send them in to a PCB manufacturer like OSHPark, who will do it for extremely cheap (not sure how much the GCVideo would cost but I've gotten other PCBs from them for less than $15 shipped). Then order all of the components off of the bill of materials and solder them to the PCB, flash the FPGA will the correct firmware, and then install into the GameCube. I have no idea how much a modder would charge to do all of that though.

[bobrocks95]

Well I didn't try and beat around the bush. I even said it would cost a fortune. But if your like me and you don't like the thin picture of GameCube games through component on the wii, what options do you have? I've seen the rumors of clones and because the chip has to be robbed from a d terminal component cable it makes the price the same for either.

Am I wrong? I would not have spent money on a whim but I can't find link to a buyable clone for the life of me. Do you currently own a GameCube and a cloned component cord? Help this whole thread and put a link to where I can buy a "FPGA" or a cloned cord. Please elaborate so we can all see what I'm seeing for cheap

I wasn't that clear, sorry. An FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) is basically a general-purpose CPU you can program to do whatever you want. In the case I'm talking about, the user Unseen developed a reverse-engineering of the component chip that you in the past would have imported from China or taken out of a D-Terminal cord (though it doesn't make much sense to rip it out when you could just get a D-Terminal to component adapter). So the FPGA acts as the chip and you can wire it up to the component connector and get HDMI or component depending on which version of the software you use.

darcagn did a good job of explaining current options- the Pluto-IIx is the best choice right now I'd say, and relatively simple to install.
If you're not that soldering-savvy keep an eye on this Twitter page for Megalomaniac's version of the mod, which will likely take less work, maybe no soldering at all: https://twitter.com/BadAssConsoles

[Josh128]

About the component vs S-Video difference-- IMO if you are gaming on a non-480p capable tube the difference is worth the original $39.99 price, but definitely not the current $200+ price. Same goes for 480i only games on a 480p set.

On a good 480p capable CRT or panel with good 480p conversion though, 480p enabled games look much better, in my experience. Back on my old Hitachi Ultravision HD CRT, I started with composite, then stepped to SVideo. The improvement was easy to see, but it still had strange line -doubling effects that looked off. I bought a set of component cables straight from Nintendo in late 2002, right after the Metroid Prime release, and the 480p difference on that set was mind-blowing. 480p superiority over 480i is the most significant advantage the YPbPr cable has over S-Video.

Even today, with my modern plasmas, 480p looks much better from GC than 480i using the same component cable, even on still pictures-- its my belief that many GC games utilize a flicker-filter by default in 480i that is not used with 480p. Most games (with the exception of a few, like SSB Melee) do not allow you to turn the 480i filter off. On those that allow you to, 480i stills look identical to 480p, but still fall flat with motion in comparison.

Some examples:
480p

480i

480p

480i

[Hoagtech]

If you want HDMI output on your GameCube then all you need is the $60 Pluto-IIx XC3S200 HDMI board from KNJN. It's a generic FPGA development board that has an HDMI port on it. You just flash the GCVideo-DVI firmware onto it and solder it into the GameCube and that's all. Unfortunately I haven't gotten it to work properly with an HDMI-to-Component adapter to play on my CRT. This solution should be way cheaper than getting the component cables.

This is what I have in my GameCube.

Spoiler

If you want analog (RGB/Component) output, then you'll need to take the files on the GCVideo-Lite page and send them in to a PCB manufacturer like OSHPark, who will do it for extremely cheap (not sure how much the GCVideo would cost but I've gotten other PCBs from them for less than $15 shipped). Then order all of the components off of the bill of materials and solder them to the PCB, flash the FPGA will the correct firmware, and then install into the GameCube. I have no idea how much a modder would charge to do all of that though.

Wow I didn't even know there was a way to do that. To be fair though. None of what you said sounded "easy". I am very impressed with your gc mod. Have you ever thought about making 100 of them and just selling them for 200 or 300 bucks. I'd buy one. I don't know the right modern to flash my pcb or install it. I had to ruin 3 game ears just to do a proper cap replacement.
This forum never ceases to amaze me

[darcagn]

Wow I didn't even know there was a way to do that. To be fair though. None of what you said sounded "easy". I am very impressed with your gc mod. Have you ever thought about making 100 of them and just selling them for 200 or 300 bucks. I'd buy one. I don't know the right modern to flash my pcb or install it. I had to ruin 3 game ears just to do a proper cap replacement. This forum never ceases to amaze me

If someone invested the money in 100 GameCubes and had me do installations, I'd be happy to quit my day job and work on video game mods instead!

Unfortunately, I have nowhere near the financial security necessary to invest in such an endeavor. In, fact, I have a decent chunk of debt cause by buying tons of vintage video game hardware and modding it.

But all the credit should go to Unseen, it's his hard work reverse engineering of the component cable chip and his development on the FPGA firmware that has made all of this possible for everyone else to do.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

I have the purple monster s-video cord, it has no checkerboard. the only problem with the purple monster s-video cable is that the connectors are way too tight when put into a slot. It ripped out one of my av switchboxes metal ground when trying to unplug.

also lol at them being 40-60 dollars, truly inflated. They were on amazon for 13-15 for years, around 4 years ago.