Looking for N64 S-Video cables: which ones should I avoid?

[Jelster64]

Hi,

I've seen posts from this forum many times on YouTube videos discussing the best possible image quality for retro consoles, and it seems like you're the biggest experts in that field. Personally, my knowledge goes as far as the RGB master class from My Life in Gaming has taken it.

This holiday season, I plan on getting an Everdrive for my (Japanese) N64, along with a controller with a decent analog stick and an S-Video cable (I'll probably do the UltraHDMI mod when I have enough money for it). I ordered the Everdrive, I'm still looking for a good controller and I've seen many S-Video cables listed on eBay, ranging from costing virtually nothing to $30 (and sometimes even more). Now, I'm kinda hesitant on deciding which one to buy, since Adam Koralik made a video about the N64's image quality in which he states that the N64 S-Video cables are all crap (except for the purple one from Monster), even stating some are worse than composite. I've seen other sources say that all the ones with the additional composite plug are crap and all the ones without the additional composite plug are equally good, and My Life in Gaming doesn't touch on the difference between the different S-Video cables at all.

Needless to say, I'm a bit confused. For the time being, I just want a decent S-Video cable that looks better than composite without paying out the ass for those elusive Monster cables. What should I buy? Are there any brands I should look out for/avoid?

Edit: forgot to mention that I live in the Netherlands.

[blizzz]

I've often seen the S-Video cables from consolegoods.co.uk recommended. Though I haven't tested it myself, since I got a Monster cable for cheap on eBay many years ago. Cheap S-Video cables that also have a plug for composite often use composite video instead of proper luma for S-Video. That's why you get some nasty artifacts.

Most (all?) S-video cables without composite are probably also fine. Just keep in mind that you need a cable for an NTSC console. Cables for PAL N64 consoles have extra resistors inside that would make the picture too dim on an NTSC console.

[paulb_nl]

I have been using a s-video cable for years with my japanese N64 that looks exactly like this: http://www.ebay.nl/itm/S-Video-Cable-fo ... SwPhdVTa8n
It looks much better than composite.

[accaris]

As others have said, avoid buying cheap cables, especially the ones that have a composite split. People will recommend looking for this one, but I'd actually avoid it:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gam3Gear-SNES-N ... Sw4shX5cmH

It's a cheaply made, poorly shielded Chinese cable that's just been bought in bulk and re-branded. I've bought two of them and they both had issues. One of them had improperly wired stereo sound (sound was coming out of the right channel only,) and the other had diagonal noise, probably from not being grounded properly. Chunked both in the trash.

The Monster S-video cable for SNES/N64/Gamecube is the #1 cable, but it's become extremely rare and it now sells for $80-100:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Nintendo- ... Sw4GVYMKGF

However, this guy from Sweden has been selling custom built cables for years that are functionally identical to the Monster cable. I use one, they're very high quality and YES, you can tell the difference. The picture IS noticeably brighter and crisper. Check his store, he also sells a PAL version:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NINTENDO-64-S-V ... SwsTxXjkG3

If you want to stay "original," you can of course buy an official brand Nintendo one from Japan, which has the Nintendo logo. These will probably be just as good as the Swedish cable, but I still went with his due to the high build quality:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Free-tracking-s ... Swal5YIyT8

[blizzz]

The Monster S-video cable for SNES/N64/Gamecube is the #1 cable, but it's become extremely rare and it now sells for $80-100

It's not that rare. There are currently 3 used Monster S-Video cables on sale on eBay Germany for 30€ incl shipping. That's still more than I would pay for an S-Video cable though.

[nem]

Cheap S-Video cables that also have a plug for composite often use composite video instead of proper luma for S-Video.

I bought one of these sometime back. It was genuine s-video and not composite. Cost a few bucks at most.

Of course, YMMV.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

I have a purple s-video cable with a Nintendo multi AV plug that's not by Monster but it's still pretty nice even though it does have the composite plug too. Any idea what the manufacturer could be? I can take a photo later if my explicit description doesn't ring a bell.

[tjstogy]

Does your tv accept component? With the price of the monster cable being ~$100, you can RGB mod your n64, buy a scart cable, and get a scart to component converter for roughly the same price... also you'll be in a more future proof situation.

[Lawfer]

Does your tv accept component? With the price of the monster cable being ~$100, you can RGB mod your n64, buy a scart cable, and get a scart to component converter for roughly the same price... also you'll be in a more future proof situation.

Yes, that would be the best, he lives in Europe, he could even get a Super Nintendo or GameCube Euroscart cable and get RGB through a CRT this way since the Nintendo 64 use the same connector, which is better than S-Video.

[Guspaz]

Does your tv accept component? With the price of the monster cable being ~$100, you can RGB mod your n64, buy a scart cable, and get a scart to component converter for roughly the same price... also you'll be in a more future proof situation.

First off, you can get a decent SNES/N64/GCN S-Video cable for $13 from maxwar82.

Second, in terms of your proposed solution being cheaper than a $100 cable:

N64RGB mod: ~$85 USD plus shipping for Tim's mod plus install
SNES/N64 RGB cable: ~$19 USD
SCART to Component converter: $50 USD to $75 USD plus shipping

Let's assume ten bucks each time an item gets shipped (two for the N64, one for the converter), so you get a total of $184 USD to $209 USD, depending on if you go for a generic converter that requires tweaking pots, or if you go for something like the shinybow converter that works perfectly out of the box.

If you're lucky enough to have an early N64 that can accept the simpler N64 mod, you can probably knock $20 off for being able to use the cheaper kit. Knock another $35 off if you can do the mod yourself. That's still well over $100.

[blizzz]

maxwar82 doesn't ship to the Netherlands.

Good S-Video cable: 7€ + shipping (based on http://consolegoods.co.uk)
Monster cable: 30€ + shipping (based on current eBay price)

The RGB mod would probably cost around 40€ + shipping for an early Japanese console, based on the prices in Germany.
RGB cable: 11€ + shipping
SCART to component converter isn't needed here in Europe

Going the RGB route isn't terribly expensive here in Europe, but better put the money towards the HDMI mod since that's his goal and get an S-Video cable for ~10€ shipped now.

[Jelster64]

Thank you very much, you gave me all the info I needed. I decided to buy the well shielded cable from Sweden for the time being, and I also picked up the $4 cable just for the heck of it.

Part of the reason I don't want to do the RGB mod is that I'd like to keep the composite/s-video functionality active on my N64. I currently have no way to capture footage from an RGB SCART source and I don't have any euroSCART to HDMI upscaler with decent quality either. (By the way, I don't know of any RGB euroSCART capture card other than the ones Micomsoft made. Is there really no competition for them in that field?)

[blizzz]

The RGB mod doesn't remove composite or S-Video output.

[mvsfan]

I have one of those Sheilded S-video cables for my gamecube from the guy in Sweden.

Its great and high quality. Nice clear interference free s-video.

Short of GCVIDEO i think its the best thing going for gamecube.

it will also work for n64.

[Jelster64]

The RGB mod doesn't remove composite or S-Video output.

Really? Hm. I wonder where I got that from. Thanks for the info.

[neorichieb1971]

The RGB mod doesn't remove composite or S-Video output.

Really? Hm. I wonder where I got that from. Thanks for the info.

In 1997-8 my friend had a RGB modded N64 and when I put my Svideo cable in it, I only got audio and a really screwed up image. The SCART lead which came out of it wasn't from the AV port and it was hard wired to the internal circuitry.

So there were historical RGB mods which screwed up the system AV ports normal usage. And its the reason why my system is still not modded.

I assume things have moved on since 1997 based on what I'm reading on these forums.

[Guspaz]

Sounds like it was just a poorly modded console: while the specific amps used in current mods weren't out there back then, there isn't anything special about the Multi-AV port back then, and there was no reason that they couldn't have wired it up to that.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

I have a RGB modded N64 that I bought before the RGB kits came out and S-video cables work with it just fine. There's not much I can say about the mod but upscalers can be pretty picky about the RGB signal.