Gamecube to PC monitor

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:00 pm

Okay, so i've scored a Gamecube produced before 2004 that still has the digital video out on the back for component cables so now i have both the standard AV output and the "Digital" output as options. The monitor in question is a nice HPw19b i got a couple years ago which has both VGA and DVI inputs on the back of it.

Gamecube looks like shit on my HDtv and pretty much ruins any game i'm playing by making everything look like barf, especially in Resident Evil Remake and Zero. Id do Bette Midler before i played through anything like that. Also, i don't want to buy a bulky SD tv to play it.

There are a few different Gamecube VGA cables out there and they are all going to be at least 30 dollars. I haven't come across any DVIs yet. Because i trust you guys opinion, i'm asking about it here first. What is the best way to go about this? Peez

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:10 pm

Ah, those fabled Gamecube to VGA adapter that are out there in the wild...at best, they convert S-Video input to VGA. Yeah, I've got an Innovation produced one but it works just fine for the job that it performs.

Now, if you want the best that the Gamecube offers at 480p, you'd have to source a Gamecube Component Video Cable or a Japanese Gamecube D-Terminal cable setup and have it further modified to output in 31kHz VGA signal. That, right there, is what the hard-core Gamecube owners are using nowdays. ^_~

Playing Sega's GCN game of FX-Zero in 480p at 60fps is pure gaming bliss indeed. ^_~

You'd still have to use the regular Gamecube A/V to get stereo sound as the Digital I/O port handles only just the video output portion.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:20 pm

The problem with that GameCube cable is that AFAIK it can only play games that support 480p. I don't remember which games those are, but it might be most games actually. I might be getting the situation confused with PS2.

Anyway, I have a GameCube sitting around which I use just with S-video, but if I want some better picture, I just use my Wii with its easily available component cable and a component->VGA transcoder which can accept both interlaced and progressive inputs.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:29 pm

If you check on the back of said Gamecube game case and it says 480 progressive scan output, you're in luck. There are some Gamecubes games that don't mention of anything of 480p but it's still implemented. ^_~

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:49 pm

The GC VGA cable is a hacked component cable. Most games support progressive scan 480p. Most of the resident evils don't though. Apart from 4.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:03 pm

It seems like i would simply be able to find a component to DVI cable for best picture instead of having to buy some bulky switch box like dis but to keep it simple it looks like this is the way i'll have to go. This thing uses the regular AV cables though, i don't even see an S-video input. Blah.

Or i could try this one that has S-video but apparantly doesn't come with a power supply :/

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:59 pm

You need the component cable hack to have anything resembling good quality. According to some reports, Nintendo owns the rights to one of the chips inside the component cable, which is why 3rd parties never made one.

This is an expensive exercise.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:26 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:You need the component cable hack to have anything resembling good quality. According to some reports, Nintendo owns the rights to one of the chips inside the component cable, which is why 3rd parties never made one.

This is an expensive exercise.

Or you could pick up a 1st party produced Japanese Gamecube D-Terminal cable and hack that up properly and still have a very high quality VGA cable for those cool 480p GCN gaming sessions. Either way, getting ahold of a Gamecube Component Video or D-Terminal cable ain't cheap in the first place. ^_~

I paid $100+ for my modded GCN D-Terminal cable to VGA output a few years back on eBay. Well worth the $$$ spent if you want 480p for those GCN games that do support that picture resolution anyways. ^_~

Suppose if Nintendo did end up licensing it's properity chipset inside the Component Video/D-Terminal cables, I'm sure that we would have seen a cool gold-plated Monster Cable produced "Monster Game" GCN Component Video/D-Terminal cables that would blow the doors off the 1st party versions. You do get what you pay for with the Monster Game produced A/V cables -- definitely better than most 1st party A/V cables supplied by the game console manufacturers themselves. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

antron · Post by **antron** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:48 pm

or get a good component to VGA converter like the X2VGA. like 80 bucks.

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:55 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:According to some reports, Nintendo owns the rights to one of the chips inside the component cable, which is why 3rd parties never made one.

They don't just own the chip; they may as well own the manufacturer (Macronix). In short, someone could conceivably have made a chip that does the same thing, but it's a hell of a lot easier for Nintendo to get a custom chip made than it is for any of the accessory manufacturers.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:22 am

I have a similar problem here, only that I'm pretty much screwed since I have a early model PAL GC; now the thing is that my cube really has a D-Terminal output but PAL GC games don't support progressive scan. figures...

BTW I think this belongs in the hardware section

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:23 am

I have a Matt-constructed VGA cable for my GC. It's pretty nice. I think you're going to have to get homebrew. Easier solution is a Wii, since there's a readily available 3rd party VGA cable.

Post by **nZero** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:28 am

ZOM wrote:BTW I think this belongs in the hardware section

I think you're right

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:35 am

Go to Star! I mean Hardware?

Also, wasn't it PCE-Fan X! who said that the non-component models were rarer? Yet, they were made past 2004 apparently (?!)

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:14 am

The GC wasn't that popular after 2004. It had ran its course by then.

Nintendo dropped it due to less than 1% buying a component cable. Was a waste of their manufacturing costs to add the port. I talked to several game shops and TV electricians who said that the GC didn't support component in America.

The reason being is that only importers and NOA website sold the cables.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:24 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:The GC wasn't that popular after 2004. It had ran its course by then.

Nintendo dropped it due to less than 1% buying a component cable. Was a waste of their manufacturing costs to add the port. I talked to several game shops and TV electricians who said that the GC didn't support component in America.

The reason being is that only importers and NOA website sold the cables.

I saw at my local Circuit City speciality A/V chain in the USA when they first got their intial Gamecube shipment and they had the USA region Gamecube Component Video cable for sale at $39.99 USD on the retail shelves. So yes, it was available during the USA Gamecube console launch...it was that most folks hadn't upgraded their CRT-based TV monitors to that new fangled component video setup yet. This was during the time that you could easily spend a whopping $15,000-$20,000 for one of them cool plasma based flat screen TV monitors. The prices have come way down since then. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Pat70 · Post by **Pat70** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:59 pm

antron wrote:or get a good component to VGA converter like the X2VGA. like 80 bucks.

I have the x2vga 2 and got my cube connected with component cables to my Hantarex vga monitor. Looks incredible! You can't get better than that, I'm sure.