Gamecube VGA/Component cables

[ryu]

Iirc people were reverse engineering these to bring new cables to the market at sensible prices. Does anyone know what came of that?

[Guspaz]

All the third-party analog component solutions are pretty terrible, so pretty much everybody settled on pure digital, GameCube to HDMI. If you still want analog, connect the HDMI adapter to a DAC.

The Carby is affordable at $80 and one of the more recommended options: https://insurrectionindustries.com/product/carby-v2/

[neorichieb1971]

I bought a HDMI adaptor for the cube and I already have component cables and can't see much of a difference.

You really only want component cables for the cube if you still have a TV from the 2003 era or you want some kind upscaling going on.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... mi+adapter

[ryu]

Just getting any kind of 480p is good enough for me at this point. Thanks a lot!

I didn't even know that these hdmi adapters existed. Been a really long time since I last worried about getting good pictures from old consoles.

[neorichieb1971]

Just getting any kind of 480p is good enough for me at this point. Thanks a lot!

I didn't even know that these hdmi adapters existed. Been a really long time since I last worried about getting good pictures from old consoles.

The only problem with HDMI it doesn't pass through 240p in any shape or form. So if you buy one for PS2, make sure you know it only works on 480i/480p titles. I think in my collection the Cave PS2 JP games are 240p throughout, and also the Wonderboy collection.

Gamecube doesn't really have any caveats because I believe all the games are 480i/p.

Same for OG Xbox.

You'll get better results with the retrotink options with 240p software. Rad2x, Retrotink 2x etc. As these actually only work on 240p content and give you a pretty decent picture and response times. But in all cases on modern TV's you want a good upscaler in your TV as everything is upscaled. In the 2x range, you'll want RGB out of the box preferably.

[Guspaz]

240p is an explicit part of the HDMI spec, there's no reason that HDMI won't work with 240p. It's possible that some HDMI devices might not work with it, but it's not a given, and in theory, should be an unexpected outcome.

With GameCube, 240p output was useful for the Game Boy Player, but if you have one of the HDMI adapters, the best option is 360p output if you have an OSSC or RT5X (which both have special Game Boy Interface 360p modes) or 480p if you don't. You may also want to force the N64 Zelda games to 240p on the GameCube using Swiss? I don't think it's natively 240p.

The Rad2X/RetroTINK 2X work with 480i content using bob deinterlacing. The RetroTINK 2X Pro Multiformat supports 480p passthrough, but is not currently available for sale.

[fernan1234]

Yeah HDMI is perfectly capable of passing digitized 240p signals. The Tink 2X/5X devices in passthrough/downscale mode can do it, so can a Raspberry Pi, MiSTer's direct video mode, etc. Most HDMI switches can pass it through also, and many DACs can convert it back to analogue for CRTs. The question is whether the flat panel display will support it (most don't, especially consumer TVs).

[RebeL9]

240p is an explicit part of the HDMI spec, there's no reason that HDMI won't work with 240p. It's possible that some HDMI devices might not work with it, but it's not a given, and in theory, should be an unexpected outcome.

With GameCube, 240p output was useful for the Game Boy Player, but if you have one of the HDMI adapters, the best option is 360p output if you have an OSSC or RT5X (which both have special Game Boy Interface 360p modes) or 480p if you don't. You may also want to force the N64 Zelda games to 240p on the GameCube using Swiss? I don't think it's natively 240p.

The Rad2X/RetroTINK 2X work with 480i content using bob deinterlacing. The RetroTINK 2X Pro Multiformat supports 480p passthrough, but is not currently available for sale.

Which monitors support 360p?

[matt]

Which monitors support 360p?

The OSSC can be configured to line double it to 720p.

Otherwise, some older multisync CRTs will display that resolution.

[Guspaz]

360p is intended for scalers. The OSSC can double it to 720p and the RT5X can triple it to 1080p. The PAL GameCube can actually do 360p with the built-in analog RGB output without needing the digital port, though.

[Extrems]

Uh, the OSSC can triple it to 1080p just fine.

[neorichieb1971]

Using the PS2 adaptor I've never gotten a 240p game to work at all. It was reviewed as not been 240p compatible.

I was under the impression that DVD playback was the farthest back they went with HDMI and the reason PS3 has to upscale the image.

[fernan1234]

Using the PS2 adaptor I've never gotten a 240p game to work at all. It was reviewed as not been 240p compatible.

That's due to whatever chipset they use, not because of anything inherent to HDMI. Again, HDMI can and will pass it through, it's on the devices in the middle or at the end of the connection to be able to work with it or not.

Strangely, both 480i and 240p need the same kind of pixel quadrupling when digitized for HDMI, so if this dongle of yours can pass 480i it should also be passing 240p. Maybe it's not the adaptor but your display that's incompatible.

You can see 480i and 240p listed as HDMI CEA modes listed on the Raspberry Pi docs here:
https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentati ... eo-options

[neorichieb1971]

Well my TV is pretty old that I used it on. Its a 2008 Sony.

Seems strange that a HDMI dongle wouldn't pass 240p if it was capable of it. I watched youtube videos on it so I knew what I was buying and it definitely stated numerous times that Ps1 and some PS2 won't work with it. It was aimed at US market which to my knowledge doesn't have any PS2 240p games, but I may be wrong. But thank you for the heads up. It means either our TV's all don't support 240p or the dongle just doesn't support it.

[ryu]

btw can any ntsc gamecube play any ntsc game?

[bobrocks95]

If you mean NTSC-U vs NTSC-J you can either install a region switch by soldering to resistor pads or install a XenoGC for full region-free which is what I'd recommend.

You will want to keep separate memory cards for Japanese and US games to avoid save file corruption though- unless you get a lot of Japanese games could probably get by with a 59 block one for JPN.

And oh if you meant booting from Swiss instead of original disc you might be able to just play anything without any modifications.

[Extrems]

You will want to keep separate memory cards for Japanese and US games to avoid save file corruption though- unless you get a lot of Japanese games could probably get by with a 59 block one for JPN.

Keep in mind the XenoGC cannot change the console region.

And oh if you meant booting from Swiss instead of original disc you might be able to just play anything without any modifications.

Swiss can boot original discs.

[ryu]

Eh, too bad that NTSC cubes can't play both regions out of the box. The memory card issue is the only thing I knew about, actually.

Thanks!

[bobrocks95]

I mean, the only disc-based system prior to PS3 that is vaguely region-free out of the box is I think the PC Engine CD (unless Jaguar CD, CD-i, or 3DO are region free, but I don't know anything about those).

[Rulumi]

Swiss can use virtual memory cards in most games, that could ease the memory card switching in some cases for some people I guess.

A problem with NTSC GameCube's playing other region games through the AV Multi-Out that I can think would be 50Hz games, the output would either be in NTSC 50Hz or PAL-M 50Hz, which isn't a proper standard format, so there won't be proper colors. Using the digital signal instead of the NTSC units video encoder would bypass this of course and a lot of PAL games can switch to 60Hz officially anyways.

[neorichieb1971]

Eh, too bad that NTSC cubes can't play both regions out of the box. The memory card issue is the only thing I knew about, actually.

Thanks!

I have 2 Cubes from Japan both modded. I think I paid $30 each (for the mods, not the cubes). Strangely my orange cube was a later model that the modder had never seen before. It has the DOL-001 component digital jack but underneath there is no trap door where the mod takes place (some slot that was never used). So he did it in a way that uses the memory card or something, I can't remember. It works great though, even plays PAL discs.

After a while I stopped buying JP games and just stayed with US, but I need the mod for the Swiss disc so I can enjoy the GBA player much better.

[Extrems]

Swiss can use virtual memory cards in most games, that could ease the memory card switching in some cases for some people I guess.

If you would look at my table, you would know that's not relevant.