Gaming Signal dies randomly with component cables.

[metallica48423]

I don't think it should be assumed that all third party cables suck or that all nintendo's cables are rock solid. There's always a proportion of product that is faulty. What is important is this -- OP's cable is probably faulty based on the experience of others in this thread. The proposed solution is to purchase a new set of cables. The recommendation seems to be that Nintendo's seem to have a lesser failure rate in others' experience and therefore there is less chance of OP wasting his money.

I'm sure at least some of the third party cables work just fine, and i'm also sure there's some of the nintendo cables that don't.

 

[Lucif3r]

Indeed, I bought some weird brand cables for ~10usd, they work perfect
Compared it to a mates nintendo ones on my TV, and I couldnt see any difference between them.

The reason why people are recommending the official cables is pretty much what metallica said, they have less chance to be faulty cause of strict quality control.
There will always be production errors in everything, but its a small chance compared to some random child-powered chinese company.

 

[mauroots]

i had this issue before and it was related to my EXTERNAL HD which needed external electric power.... i simply solved this by buying a new external drive which gets energy from the wii itself... it's definitely related with your electricity system, try to reassemble plugs, put grounded wires or change ur hard drive. hope this helps

 

[pwnsweet]

To those advising he/she just buy another set of 3rd party cables:

DON'T. I have used no less than 3 different component cables from 3rd parties and they have all had some degree of interference in the resultant image compared to the official cables. By interference I mean horizontal banding lines that are most noticeable on grey/brownish backgrounds (such as the main menu of Black Ops Multiplayer). This interference is 100% due to how well the cable is electronically shielded, and does not appear at all when using the official Nintendo component cables.

 

[TerraPhantm]

The official cables aren't even that expensive... $27 shipped on Amazon. IMO it's worth spending the extra $10 or so to have the peace of mind.

I personally have a set of 3rd party cables which seem to work fine - only bought them because I got my Wii at launch and Nintendo didn't have the component cables ready yet (so I bought some super expensive cables at Best Buy... I think it was like $60 *sigh*). I have a set of the official cables on the way just so it's easier to move my Wii to a different room.

 

[Lucif3r]

Good for you Terra.
Here in Sweden they cost around 500SEK, which is around 83USD.
So basicly that means, in my case, I could go through roughly 8 3rd party cables before the official cables wouldve been better.

 

[TerraPhantm]

Good for you Terra.
Here in Sweden they cost around 500SEK, which is around 83USD.
So basicly that means, in my case, I could go through roughly 8 3rd party cables before the official cables wouldve been better.

Import them then? The component cables aren't region specifc. In any case, seems some people have gone through 3 or more and still had issues, so it'd probably still be worth the expense. Personally I've been burned too many times on "cheap" alternatives for me to ever recommend them in any context.

 

[Lucif3r]

That is an option, but its long shipping time and expensive shipping, except from the ones with worldwide free shipping obviously.

... But Im happy with my cable , it works flawless.

 

[TerraPhantm]

That is an option, but its long shipping time and expensive shipping, except from the ones with worldwide free shipping obviously.

... But Im happy with my cable , it works flawless.

Hey as long as yours works, that's all that really matters. My suggestion was mainly for those who don't have one yet or have gone through multiple cables, you know?

For anyone who might need one - right now the Monster component cables for the Wii are for $15 shipped on Amazon. Normally I don't recommend Monster since they're typically way overpriced, but the cables themselves are fairly high quality. At $15, they're a steal. I was tempted to order a set, but I really don't need them since I just bought the official cables for my travel kit.