Is there any way to contact Retro Access anymore?

[Taiyaki]

Makes one wonder if Retro Access is still in business. They were pretty active a few years ago. They came out with the flexible yet thick material for their cables but never bothered updating the connector tips to be able to use it on other common systems like PS/PS2. Their customer service seems to have reached pit bottom. I can understand with Covid that people are not operating normally, but least they can do is give their customers a short reply showing signs of life.

As for the sales part, no, as far as I know they don't do any sales. Maybe they did at one point, but then hasn't been in a long long time.

[Lawfer]

They came out with the flexible yet thick material for their cables but never bothered updating the connector tips to be able to use it on other common systems like PS/PS2.

Wat?

[shroom2k]

They are in business and they have the best quality cables right now afaik

But they are just two people, who make cables by hand. They get hundreds of orders and can only make a few cables per day. This is why they have this limited preorder system where you can only order during a short time window once a few months. And this is why they probably don't have time for answering emails and giving proper customer support.

Basically, if you want their (excellent) cables, you should know and be okay with what you're getting into.

[davidwhangchoi]

finally got a response. looks like posting here and the other thread while e-mailing them again may have worked.

I got a return label and shipped it off today.

[Taiyaki]

They came out with the flexible yet thick material for their cables but never bothered updating the connector tips to be able to use it on other common systems like PS/PS2.

Wat?

I forget the name, they have a new line of cables that isn't coax but something more flexible. It's great stuff, but they only offer it for certain systems because they never finished reworking the hoods to expand it.

finally got a response. looks like posting here and the other thread while e-mailing them again may have worked.

I got a return label and shipped it off today.

Congrats. Glad that worked.

[ldeveraux]

With the uncertainty in quality and support from RA, why not just buy from RGC? Are the RA cables really that much better that you need to jump through hoops for every purchase? In my experience, no they aren't.

[darcagn]

With the uncertainty in quality and support from RA, why not just buy from RGC? Are the RA cables really that much better that you need to jump through hoops for every purchase? In my experience, no they aren't.

Personally, I've gotten bad cables from RGC before. Granted, this was like 7 or 8 years ago and I'm sure RGC is very different now. But I've never ordered from them since, and they're all the way in the UK vs. RetroAccess which is close to me.

finally got a response. looks like posting here and the other thread while e-mailing them again may have worked.

I got a return label and shipped it off today.

Probably more that they started another sale today and probably got around to catching up on customer emails.

I haven't had to interact with them myself but it sucks that their support is getting this bad. But I think they will always try to make it right eventually...

They have had some personal issues in their marriage lately, they have tweeted about it in the past, so that may mean they have limited time to focus on the business or something.

[Austin]

With the uncertainty in quality and support from RA, why not just buy from RGC? Are the RA cables really that much better that you need to jump through hoops for every purchase? In my experience, no they aren't.

I generally buy from RGC. No hoops to jump through and despite them being overseas, the cables still arrive relatively quickly. Only issue is that it's not obvious that a cable you may want is sold out until you get to the order page for the actual item. Kind of annoying. "Oh look! They have an Xbox cable! *clicks on it* Oh... Out of Stock."

[davidwhangchoi]

finally got a response. looks like posting here and the other thread while e-mailing them again may have worked.

I got a return label and shipped it off today.

Wanted to give an update:

I just recieved a repaired dreamcast cable back today.

For those who are not getting a response as there are several on FB having the same issues. be persistent and you may get a response.

[Lawfer]

Anybody knows what's going on with Retro Access? Nothing is in stock anymore and their Twitter hasn't had any posts since October. I wanted to order a few cables, but everything is "TBD" and looks like they got rif of the "custom cables" option.

[Gara]

Anybody knows what's going on with Retro Access? Nothing is in stock anymore and their Twitter hasn't had any posts since October. I wanted to order a few cables, but everything is "TBD" and looks like they got rif of the "custom cables" option.

I'm guessing the current silence is due to their usual Christmas break. Their communication has gotten pretty bad. Looks like they are still working on the last few orders from the previous ordering window in October.

https://retro-access.com/pages/order-status

You can no longer pre-order cables with the custom cable builder. They now only open the builder during their 1 hour ordering windows. Going by that status page I'd imagine another window will be announced this month.

[Sirotaca]

Anybody knows what's going on with Retro Access? Nothing is in stock anymore and their Twitter hasn't had any posts since October. I wanted to order a few cables, but everything is "TBD" and looks like they got rif of the "custom cables" option.

I only just a couple of days ago received the cable I ordered during their last window at the end of October. Guessing they're swamped, like everyone else.

[kitty666cats]

Seems like there's a zero chance of getting a response from them if you have a question about a cable unless it's non-functional or perhaps one of their newer items/hot sellers. Bleh, I don't personally need anything from them but I hope someone steps up in 2021 and makes console-specific BNC cables for people that are readily available! They'd be a hero, haha. Right now there's just RCA RGBS cables from AliExpress / AxunWorks / one or two people on eBay ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Nintendo ... 4187552790 this guy makes Nintendo AV multi and a select few others... I hear the cables are pretty good but also may smell like tobacco, lol)

[headlesshobbs]

Are pack-a-punch just as good or does this site still have the better quality?

[TooBeaucoup]

Are pack-a-punch just as good or does this site still have the better quality?

The actual cabling and shielding are as good, however I've ordered several cables from Retro Gaming Cables UK and almost all of them had pretty poor soldering at the SCART connector custom PCB board. One of my Super Nintendo SCART cables stopped working after a month, but thankfully, they were kind enough to send me another one. I also had a PS1 SCART cable suddenly lose color after a couple months. I opened up the SCART head and was horrified at the soldering job. I re-soldered all of the connectors myself and thankfully, that was all it took. The cable works great now. But, I've seen Voultar and several other modders complain about the quality of their soldering. I don't know if this is something they've since addressed, but they've been called out more than a few times for it. I like their products, but the constant soldering concerns keeps holding me back from placing any more orders from them. It's a shame, because they always have stock and ship quite quickly, which hasn't been the case for Retro-Access lately. I would recommend anyone who has purchased any cables from them in the last few years to open the SCART heads and check the soldering work.

Here are my two cables below... Both sets of pads have connections that don't have enough solder applied. They also look borderline like cold solder joints. And look at the bare red wire just hanging out, exposed, where I have circled.

[bobrocks95]

I get custom DSub cables from Retro-Access, does anyone else even offer those? Thankfully only need maybe one more and I'm all good for quite a while.

[thchardcore]

I started rolling my own recently and can't say it is worth the time and effort. I didn't have a choice as I was all JP21 and wanted to converter over to Euro pinout.

I used some old vga cables which are just about perfect if you can manage the ferrite cores getting a bit close to the clamshells and making them a bit difficult to close.

Food for thought if you are bored and poor/cheap/like problems.

[ldeveraux]

Are pack-a-punch just as good or does this site still have the better quality?

The actual cabling and shielding are as good, however I've ordered several cables from Retro Gaming Cables UK and almost all of them had pretty poor soldering at the SCART connector custom PCB board. One of my Super Nintendo SCART cables stopped working after a month, but thankfully, they were kind enough to send me another one. I also had a PS1 SCART cable suddenly lose color after a couple months. I opened up the SCART head and was horrified at the soldering job. I re-soldered all of the connectors myself and thankfully, that was all it took. The cable works great now. But, I've seen Voultar and several other modders complain about the quality of their soldering. I don't know if this is something they've since addressed, but they've been called out more than a few times for it. I like their products, but the constant soldering concerns keeps holding me back from placing any more orders from them. It's a shame, because they always have stock and ship quite quickly, which hasn't been the case for Retro-Access lately. I would recommend anyone who has purchased any cables from them in the last few years to open the SCART heads and check the soldering work.

Here are my two cables below... Both sets of pads have connections that don't have enough solder applied. They also look borderline like cold solder joints. And look at the bare red wire just hanging out, exposed, where I have circled.

For what it's worth, I had the exact same problem with RA cables. The soldering inside the SCART head was such that removing the cable from the console caused 3 resistor joints to pop. Luckily I was able to fix myself, but couple that with their extremely limited availability, I now order exclusively from RGC. Always in stock and ship (to US) very quickly. Email back immediately when I did have issues, sent me a replacement as well. Maybe it's 6 of one, half dozen the other?

[fernan1234]

I get custom DSub cables from Retro-Access, does anyone else even offer those? Thankfully only need maybe one more and I'm all good for quite a while.

I've been wondering the same thing. Feels like RA has removed custom cable orders for several months, maybe close to a year?

If only RGC made custom Dsub cables.

[kitty666cats]

I get custom DSub cables from Retro-Access, does anyone else even offer those? Thankfully only need maybe one more and I'm all good for quite a while.

I've been wondering the same thing. Feels like RA has removed custom cable orders for several months, maybe close to a year?

If only RGC made custom Dsub cables.

Yeah, only accessible when they are actually taking orders. A shame, because I liked fucking around with the cable builder GUI just for fun lol. There should be some d'sub15 options available this year, I know Shmups user maxtherabbit has posted pics of some cool console-specific breakouts he is working on where you could either attach a secondary VGA cable to the end or a VGA to 4BNC etc (3.5mm jack on the breakout for audio)

[Sirotaca]

Are pack-a-punch just as good or does this site still have the better quality?

While I don't have any real complaints about the video/audio performance, the injection-molded connectors on a few of my older cables from RGC have started to crack. No issues with any of my Retro Access cables thus far. My Retro Access Nintendo multiout cable also has a more secure fit than my Packapunch one. So I'm not in any hurry to replace my Packapunch cables as long as they keep working, but all my new cables I buy from Retro Access. I personally don't mind waiting to get something really high-quality, though I can't blame others for not wanting to deal with the ordering process.

[jd213]

I get custom DSub cables from Retro-Access, does anyone else even offer those? Thankfully only need maybe one more and I'm all good for quite a while.

I've been wondering the same thing. Feels like RA has removed custom cable orders for several months, maybe close to a year?

If only RGC made custom Dsub cables.

Yeah, only accessible when they are actually taking orders. A shame, because I liked fucking around with the cable builder GUI just for fun lol. There should be some d'sub15 options available this year, I know Shmups user SamIAm has posted pics of some cool console-specific breakouts he is working on where you could either attach a secondary VGA cable to the end or a VGA to 4BNC etc (3.5mm jack on the breakout for audio)

That would be sweet, I'd love to replace all my JP21 cables with such breakouts. Already have a SyncBaby but it can only be used with the SNES multi-out (unless you mod it).

[kitty666cats]

http://www.tabalabs.com.br/videogames/s ... /index.htm

Here is a link with a fun lil guide for a DIY VGA breakout on Saturn - just need to factor in sync separators if you were to make these for Sony consoles, resistors for Genesis, those THS amps people swear by for SNES, yada yada...

Can just use a cheap ol RF box!