Cloning the Gamecube component cable

[Ikaruga11]

So let's say I want to play on a BVM. No sound, right? Well, I need speakers (surround sound speakers) to get the best sound then. Do I need a receiver in my setup? What is it even used for? Why can't I just plug HDMI or toslink straight into the speakers for sound?

If your speakers have a built-in amplifier, you can. But then you'll have to put up with swapping audio cables or buying a dedicated hdmi/toslink switcher. A receiver will generally allow you far more customization as well.

Yeah, swapping cables out is the last thing I want to do. Thank you very much. I think I'll get a receiver then. What's the best one? Do they accept HDMI?

As a follow-up to my post on OEM vs. GCVideo Lite, here's a comparison gif with a few screenshots (first of each is official component cable, second GCVideo). Not much difference between them (btw, graininess was added in by gif compression, it wasn't there originally). Again, what differed significantly insted were the calibration settings I had to select on the capture card end (link.. I set it on full range RGB since there was an OSSC in between the consoles and the capture device), and I couldn't get them to look 100% alike anyway (the screenshots used for the gif were taken after adding a video processor in the chain - and recalibrating - to get them to 1080p, which levelled those differences considerably).

Amazing job! The only difference I could see between the two is that the GCVideo Lite is a bit darker.

What you should do is take screenshots of static screens (nothing moving), and save everything as a .PNG

That way there is 0% quality loss and we can just switch between tabs on our browser.

[Xer Xian]

Thanks - and yeah, I don't know if it was due to some limitation on my setup but I couldn't get the GCVideo Lite cube to look as bright/vibrant as the other without some little compromise on the brightness/contrast test patterns on the 240p test suite.

I don't have the direct screen grabs with me now, but iirc barring the grainy texture there's not much detail that's lost on those gif, if at all. I'll look into it as soon as I can and post back if needs be.

Yeah, swapping cables out is the last thing I want to do. Thank you very much. I think I'll get a receiver then. What's the best one? Do they accept HDMI?

They do, but there's no best one - it depends on the price range and on your needs. Think of them like video processor, but for audio (although some do process video as well).

[Extrems]

You have to make the adjustment on the OSSC, not the capture card.

[bobrocks95]

So let's say I want to play on a BVM. No sound, right? Well, I need speakers (surround sound speakers) to get the best sound then. Do I need a receiver in my setup? What is it even used for? Why can't I just plug HDMI or toslink straight into the speakers for sound?

If your speakers have a built-in amplifier, you can. But then you'll have to put up with swapping audio cables or buying a dedicated hdmi/toslink switcher. A receiver will generally allow you far more customization as well.

Yeah, swapping cables out is the last thing I want to do. Thank you very much. I think I'll get a receiver then. What's the best one? Do they accept HDMI?

You're going to need to do a lot of research if you didn't know that receivers accept HDMI. Big brands are Onkyo, Sony, Yamaha, maybe Pioneer and Denon. There are too many varying features and options on a receiver to even think about breaking it down to "the best one," so start checking AVSForum for some beginner's guides to buying receivers or something along those lines.

[andykara2003]

Would anyone be willing to capture some video footage of GVideo using a really excellent upscaler and upload it to somewhere so we could download a high quality video rather than see it on Youtube with all it's terrible compression?

It would be really nice to have a reference video in 1080p that's had the best upscaling possible (using something like a Crystalio ii?) to compare with the image we're getting directly using GCvideo on our TVs. It would be useful to see how the TV's internal scaler compares to the best scenario possible as it might pave the way for looking into alternative scaler solutions.

[Xer Xian]

@Andykara2003: If your goal is to evaluate how your displays fare with 480p upscaling in general, I would not use footage taken from a GC, as its picture quality is not exactly pristine. A DC or a PS2 with RGsB would be better for that. If instead all the 480p material you're interested in comes from a GC/Wii, then it would make sense. I could do it for the Lite version of GCVideo, but it would have to be at 20mb/s as that's the max bitrate of my capture device on PC free mode (my PC isn't beefy enough to record 1080p at 60mb/s without some nasty stuttering).

[andykara2003]

Ahh no it was to test how the TV scales in relation to the Gamecube specifically when using the CGvideo. I thought if I could directly switch between the digital signal from my GCvideo Gamecube via HDMI and a really high quality recording in 1080p of the same digital output from a GCvideo mod using a really nice upscaler; as long as the video is of good enough quality and the resolution is the same I'd get to really clearly see the difference between how a great scaler performs against the scaler in my TV.

I thought that'd be really useful because seeing what GCvideo can look like in the best case scenario might help people decide if it's worth buying a scaler to bypass their TV's for this mod (and the eventual Wii version).

So to get an exact apples to apples comparison, I think it would need to be clean 1080p60 video (with the least possible compression) of the Digital HDMI version of GCvideo.

[noonan2678]

I had a video of my GCVideo to my Crystalio II 3800 out to my D24 @ 720p. Here it is up on YouTube. There is ringing produced. If someone's interested to see this one, specifically, uncompressed, let me know.
I can't shoot another as my GCVideo scorched my GC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGwm2LN5IGg

[Lawfer]

Anobody saw this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUks9-jW9xw

[andykara2003]

I had a video of my GCVideo to my Crystalio II 3800 out to my D24 @ 720p. Here it is up on YouTube. If someone's interested to see this one, specifically, uncompressed, let me know.
I can't shoot another as my GCVideo scorched my GC. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGwm2LN5IGg

Nice one - this looks really good! Although in order to do a direct comparison with what we're getting at home with GCvideo+real hardware, we'd have to use a high quality capture rather than off screen footage - is there a chance you could do a video capture straight from the Crystalio?

EDIT: Damn sorry I didn't read the whole thing properly. Shame as I doubt too many people here have a Crystalio ii - that unit would give the absolute best representation :(

[noonan2678]

Nice one - this looks really good! Although in order to do a direct comparison with what we're getting at home with GCvideo+real hardware, we'd have to use a high quality capture rather than off screen footage - is there a chance you could do a video capture straight from the Crystalio?

As mentioned, both the GCVideo and the GC it was attached to were fried based on the GCVideo sliding within the digital out socket. I posted about this earlier in the thread as well. So, no chance to do a capture at this point.

To my eyes, the GCVideo was slightly sharper than the GC Component cables. It did a nice job going direct to my LCD TV as well. I don't have any pics or vid of that to compare.

[citrus3000psi]

I had a video of my GCVideo to my Crystalio II 3800 out to my D24 @ 720p. Here it is up on YouTube. If someone's interested to see this one, specifically, uncompressed, let me know.
I can't shoot another as my GCVideo scorched my GC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGwm2LN5IGg

Nice one - this looks really good! Although in order to do a direct comparison with what we're getting at home with GCvideo+real hardware, we'd have to use a high quality capture rather than off screen footage - is there a chance you could do a video capture straight from the Crystalio?

EDIT: Damn sorry I didn't read the whole thing properly. Shame as I doubt too many people here have a Crystalio ii - that unit would give the absolute best representation

Wish I had a crystalio II. All I have are the VP50 Pro and a DUO. I could do a test with one; I have an elgato HD60. If there is interests

[andykara2003]

Wish I had a crystalio II. All I have are the VP50 Pro and a DUO. I could do a test with one; I have an elgato HD60. If there is interests

Definitely, count me in :)

[arithmaldor]

Citrus,

Would you be willing to design an analog only board? With the board you have that goes over the digital and the analog connector, this would allow an analog solution that is solder in place with zero wires or case cutting. A jumper to select RGBS or YPbPr or some way to cable select it would be the only extra option needed.

[citrus3000psi]

Citrus,

Would you be willing to design an analog only board? With the board you have that goes over the digital and the analog connector, this would allow an analog solution that is solder in place with zero wires or case cutting. A jumper to select RGBS or YPbPr or some way to cable select it would be the only extra option needed.

I have one designed based on the GC-Video Lite hardware using the MachXO2-640.... but I will probably never test that design because the GCDual will accomplish this exact same thing but also have and OSD. Just don't hookup the HDMI extension board and there wont be any case cutting.

There is already a mode pad that allows you to force YPbPr output instead of RGB.

[Unseen]

As mentioned, both the GCVideo and the GC it was attached to were fried based on the GCVideo sliding within the digital out socket. I posted about this earlier in the thread as well.

Which reminds me... Did it come with any documentation? If so, did the documentation follow the (really simple) conditions required by the License?

[noonan2678]

As mentioned, both the GCVideo and the GC it was attached to were fried based on the GCVideo sliding within the digital out socket. I posted about this earlier in the thread as well.

Which reminds me... Did it come with any documentation? If so, did the documentation follow the (really simple) conditions required by the License?

No physical documentation that I recall. The seller just linked to the following video once the purchase was confirmed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0uPvMW1oOY

I know this has NOTHING to do with the work you did. It's just a really unfortunate implementation.

[citrus3000psi]

No physical documentation that I recall. The seller just linked to the following video once the purchase was confirmed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0uPvMW1oOY

I know this has NOTHING to do with the work you did. It's just a really unfortunate implementation.

5 min video on how to plug something in ... I've been in talks with Collingall over on the assembler forums. He is a wiz with the 3D printer and came up with a nice connector. I may adapt a board to fit up with it. http://imgur.com/a/zmuWt

[Guspaz]

Was it a v1.0 or v2.0 that caused the problems?

[noonan2678]

Was it a v1.0 or v2.0 that caused the problems?

It was 2.0. I noted that in the original post. It's a tight fit moving in a straight line into the socket, but very easy to rock on its center axis.

[Lawfer]

What caused the GCVideo to get scorched together with the GC?

[zeruel85]

What caused the GCVideo to get scorched together with the GC?

Probably the +12VDC coming out from pin 5 of the digital video port?

[Ikaruga11]

So this is only the plug-n-play GCVideo that's causing this? Not the internal mods?

[gordon-creAtive]

There are several implementations of GCVideo in the making. The one that caused this issue seems to be the one plug and play one made by zeldaxpro. See this and this post for details.

[andykara2003]

Hey Citrus,

Xer Xian mentioned that CVvideo lite has less bright and vibrant output than the official component cable. I understand that it's a little early to be talking about the Wii version of the mod - but would it be possible in the analogue part of that mod to bring the levels of brightness, saturation etc. to the same levels as in the Gamecube component cable?

[citrus3000psi]

Hey Citrus,

Xer Xian mentioned that CVvideo lite has less bright and vibrant output than the official component cable. I understand that it's a little early to be talking about the Wii version of the mod - but would it be possible in the analogue part of that mod to bring the levels of brightness, saturation etc. to the same levels as in the Gamecube component cable?

The DAC has a reference resistor that could be lowered and in theory raise the voltage on the RGB output. Unseen more than likely would have a software way of doing this as well.

[Lawfer]

Probably the +12VDC coming out from pin 5 of the digital video port?

So wait, are you saying that if I use this adapter it will melt itself and my Gamecube digital port?

[andykara2003]

Hey Citrus,

Xer Xian mentioned that CVvideo lite has less bright and vibrant output than the official component cable. I understand that it's a little early to be talking about the Wii version of the mod - but would it be possible in the analogue part of that mod to bring the levels of brightness, saturation etc. to the same levels as in the Gamecube component cable?

The DAC has a reference resistor that could be lowered and in theory raise the voltage on the RGB output. Unseen more than likely would have a software way of doing this as well.

Thanks, great to hear it's possible - I'm really looking forward to seeing the improvement in PQ over the existing Wii component. Which of the hardware or software solutions would be the preferable route in terms of getting the levels just right?

[NevynPA]

Sorry all - I forgot to check back in!

BOM is ready:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing


This is everything you need to build your own, except for the OSH Park boards.

[gordon-creAtive]

Probably the +12VDC coming out from pin 5 of the digital video port?

So wait, are you saying that if I use this adapter it will melt itself and my Gamecube digital port?

Not necessarily. There's one pin on the digital out carrying 12 Volts. If the plug is not fitting tight enough wiggling it may cause the pin to touch a neighbor pin on the plug and the 12 Volts end up in a circuit that doesn't expect 12 Volts.