Monster Cable Gamecube cables

[undamned]

Does anybody here have one? I'm curious if all the pins in the connector are present? Some connectors only populate pins that are used, for example some composite cables only have the pins necessary for that, making them useless for RGB cables.
-ud

[neorichieb1971]

Doesn't the RGB signal derive from the digital output though?

I might be wrong, you might need both the analogue and digital outputs to get RGB. From what I gather, you only need the audio from the analogue output.

I heard that only Nintendo cables will work for RGB due to a proprietory chip inside the actual cable. This is why monster never brought out a component cable.

[undamned]

Sorry, maybe I should have clarified my intent. SNES/N64/Gamecube all have a standard Nintendo A/V port (Gamecube has an extra digital port, too). Monster made both Composite and S-Video cables which can be used on the standard A/V port on the Gamecube (as well as the SNES/N64). I want to hack this cable and use it as an RGB cable for my SNES/N64.

Also, do the official Nintendo A/V cables for SNES/N64/Gamecube have all pins populated?
-ud

[Fudoh]

Wouldn't it be easier to just get a SNES RGB cable ? The official japanese SFC Scart cables are of excellent quality. Close runner up are the euopean Cube RGB cables.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For undamned,

Monster Game (a division of Monster Cable) made a special Gamecube A/V cable set that has both composite video and S-Video outputs along with the usual RCA L & R audio jacks. This special MC Gamecube cable has all the pins (8 of them to be exact) and are gold plated for maximum signal transfer. It wouldn't be hard to hack it to get RGB from your SNES and/or N64 consoles if that is what you're inquiring about. ^_~

Yes, I've always wondered why Monster Cable didn't make such a Component Video cable for the Gamecube console -- surely it would've been better than Nintendo's 1st party version. Your answer makes sense now.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[trivial]

For the longest time I was convinced I'd seen a third-party component video cable for the GCN in a store. But it is true that RGB is obtained from the chip onboard the component cable's console-side connector. It would be a simple mod if space weren't so cramped.

To the best of my knowledge, the chip itself isn't proprietary. Pinout would have been hard to come by in that case. It might even be found on some PC vidcards (not sure about that)

[undamned]

This special MC Gamecube cable has all the pins (8 of them to be exact) and are gold plated for maximum signal transfer.

Thankyou, PC Engine Fan X!

Like this, eh, Fudoh?


-ud

[Fudoh]

That's the one. The cable has fantastic quality. The funny thing about it is that it delivers notiably sharper picture than all other RGB cables I've used on the SFC and those weren't any cheap ones either. If you buy a japanese one the Scart plug will be in japanese layout so you need to switch around a few pins if you want to use it on a Euro television.

[neorichieb1971]

The N64 does not support RGB at all out of the box. That cable will not work.

There is no way your going to get one cable to work with all 3 Nintendo consoles without some heavy modification to the cable. For a start, the SNES is the only native RGB console out of the 3. The Gamecube and N64 will output RGB in very different ways.

The N64 will need a hard modded cable.

The Gamecube will require a modded component cable thats going to cost in excess of $50 to get RGB. And even then, since undamned is in the USA, what kind of monitor is he using that will except such an RGB signal. I doubt it has a SCART socket.

[Fudoh]

You can do the N64 RGB mod on american and japanese machines, so that a SFC RGB cable can be used. My N64 was running this way.

The european Cubes have RGB on the analog multi-out, the japanese didn't. I guess the american ones (at least the earlier ones) were as the japanese.

[undamned]

There is no way your going to get one cable to work with all 3 Nintendo consoles without some heavy modification to the systems.

Fixed

Thanks for the warning, though. Just wanted to know about some of the cables I don't have in hand. My N64 is RGB modded to the A/V port and I already own the Cube's component cable (still needs to be RGB modded), which I'm fancying the idea of just hard wiring inside the Cube so that the A/V port has RGB avail.

@ Fudoh: that's interesting. Have you ever unscrewed the SCART connector to see if the video lines are shielded? Maybe that's the reason for the clarity. Official Nintendo SFC SCART cables are in the 1000JPY range from most JP dealers. Nice.
-ud

[wrdaniel]

for the Gamecube Monster cable. As far as i know it features only s-video & stereo left/right out. at least the one i got. and as my european GC only has composite and RGB out, i can't do anything with it

[undamned]

Yeah, it would require some fidling to use It is doubtful that, although PC Engine Fan X confirmed all pins are present, Monster put wires for each of those pins through the length of the cable. My thought was to dismantle the plug and add my own cable. I really just wanted a nice plug w/ all the pins, heh.

By the way, if you are a Monster Cable fan, they actually made a SCART cable for the 360. I was quite surprised!
-ud

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Monster Game branded GCN is this one that has both Composite Video and S-Video outputs:

Monster Gamelink Standard GLS 250 - Shielded S-Video/Composite Video AV by Monster Cable

Upon looking directly at the pinout interface, it does have 12 pins that are gold plated (and not 8 as listed in my last post). ^_~

Monster Cable made this particular GCN cable as their very last one, hence it's HTF these days. Gamestop was selliing it for a mere $7.50 USD on clearance and I managed to snap it up at that cheap-ass price. Well worth the asking price and definitely better than most other 3rd-party GCN composite video & S-Video cables out there.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~