GCN the differences of video cables for the gamecube?

[migles]

what official gamecube video cables exist for the gamecube and what are their capabilities?
are there regional differences aside from the connector being targeted for each region?

i am asking this because it's well known the standart 480p component video cable goes for like 200+ bucks last time i checked... (the one that goes from digital out to green red blue rca connectors)

i seen so many varients of the scart cable, there is one that plugs to both the digital and normal video out ports...

there is also the D terminal cable for the janapese tv's

i think i heard something special about the pal gamecubes but i am not sure...
can someone enlight me in what official cables and differences there is for the gamecube?

 

[Armadillo]

PAL cube can get rgb from it's analog port, NTSC cube can't. PAL can't do s-video, NTSC one can.

D-terminal and component cables are expensive because they are rare and have a DAC built into the cable. There are third party solutions to get YPbPr and even hdmi from the digital port now (like gcvideo) and some others I forget the name of. Some are solder, some just plug into to the digital port. Still fairly expensive though.

Scart cable that plugs into both the digital and analog port is a special one to get RGB scart out of a NTSC cube. Uses the digital port to get RGB and analog for sound.

Other cables, nothing special about them. Official cables you know what you are getting quality wise, 3rd party as always, quality varies. But there is nothing special about the normal s-video, composite or rgb scart cables.

 

[migles]

PAL cube can get rgb from it's analog port, NTSC cube can't. PAL can't do s-video, NTSC one can.

D-terminal and component cables are expensive because they are rare and have a DAC built into the cable. There are third party solutions to get YPbPr and even hdmi from the digital port now (like gcvideo) and some others I forget the name of. Some are solder, some just plug into to the digital port. Still fairly expensive though.

Scart cable that plugs into both the digital and analog port is a special one to get RGB scart out of a NTSC cube. Uses the digital port to get RGB and analog for sound.

Other cables, nothing special about them. Official cables you know what you are getting quality wise, 3rd party as always, quality varies. But there is nothing special about the normal s-video, composite or rgb scart cables.

thanks for the reply but i am now even more confused
i am aware the digital port cable are explensive because the DAC situation.. (the cable needs to convert the signal from digital to analog)
but what is the difference between a cable that has the dac and not? if i have a pal gamecube and i can get the rgb signal out from the analog port, is there a difference between that and using the normal component cable?

 

[Armadillo]

if i have a pal gamecube and i can get the rgb signal out from the analog port, is there a difference between that and using the normal component cable?

Yes. RGB over scart can't do 480p.

 

[tunip3]

thanks for the reply but i am now even more confused
i am aware the digital port cable are explensive because the DAC situation.. (the cable needs to convert the signal from digital to analog)
but what is the difference between a cable that has the dac and not? if i have a pal gamecube and i can get the rgb signal out from the analog port, is there a difference between that and using the normal component cable?

look if you want the highest quality possible and money is no issue grab a gc video (for hdmi) and sd gecko (for video quality hacks such as force progressive scan)

 

[Ryccardo]

First, there are 3 major versions of the GC: the original, the one without "serial port 2" (without an official use on non-dev consoles), and the one without that and "digital video out"
Actually, multiply that by 2, because there are important differences between the PAL and NTSC models!

The analog video port (mechanically also compatible with NES (French model)/SNES/N64) can do: composite (which can be converted to RF), S-video, and RGB...
...but NTSC gamecubes don't have RGB, and PAL ones don't have S-video, plus some other minor differences

The digital video port doesn't have any standard signal (it's technically YCbCr - "digital component" - but not in its "common" 3-wire format), so that's why the cables require active electronics inside (which yes, do boost the price - but scalpers do more)!
The only official cable converts that to YPbPr, although with a simple mod it can output RGB plus separate sync instead; and the "GCVideo" is the first/only series of 3rd party digital cables...

D-Terminal stands to Japan and YPbPr, like SCART stands to Europeans and composite+RGB: it's just an all in one connector with some simple control signals (but probably can be bought for less than an official RCA-jack component cable!)

 

[migles]

look if you want the highest quality possible and money is no issue grab a gc video (for hdmi) and sd gecko (for video quality hacks such as force progressive scan)

i am mostly trying to understand the mess, because i was looking for cables and seen so many differnt models all being official and got me confused, specially because the different kinds of scart cables

First, there are 3 major versions of the GC: the original, the one without "serial port 2" (without an official use on non-dev consoles), and the one without that and "digital video out"
Actually, multiply that by 2, because there are important differences between the PAL and NTSC models!
The analog video port (mechanically also compatible with NES (French model)/SNES/N64) can do: composite (which can be converted to RF), S-video, and RGB...
...but NTSC gamecubes don't have RGB, and PAL ones don't have S-video, plus some other minor differences

thanks i was aware about the 3 different models of an us gamecube ( and the serial 2 port situation)
and i remember some other post about a guy who mentioned something about the pal models being "special" (or maybe they where talking about the n64, i can't remember well)
very informative that link, i also seen somewhere even tought the connector is the same, there are differences between a gamecube snes and n64 but i was not really sure what

 

[Armadillo]

very informative that link, i also seen somewhere even tought the connector is the same, there are differences between a gamecube snes and n64 but i was not really sure what

Difference is between gamecube and pal snes.

Gamecube has three caps on the rgb lines and a cap on pin20. PAL snes has resistors on the rgb lines and no cap on pin 20. While it will fit, if you use a scart that is properly wired for the gamecube (with the caps & no resistors) on a pal snes, the picture will be too bright, sometimes fades to black as well (seems to depend on tv).

http://members.optushome.com.au/eviltim/gamescart/gamescart.htm#gamecube

 

[migles]

Difference is between gamecube and pal snes.

Gamecube has three caps on the rgb lines and a cap on pin20. PAL snes has resistors on the rgb lines and no cap on pin 20. While it will fit, if you use a scart that is properly wired for the gamecube (with the caps & no resistors) on a pal snes, the picture will be too bright, sometimes fades to black as well (seems to depend on tv).

http://members.optushome.com.au/eviltim/gamescart/gamescart.htm#gamecube

one last question
i got component cables for my wii (with the green blue red rca+), they are not official, not sure if that has any difference...
but its a pal wii, tv is a "modern lcd" it's pal but displays both ntsc and pal just fine

but with this cable my tv doesn't show video in some game, mainly the VC nes stuff not sure if they are being output in maybe 240p?
now i am not sure if its the cable, (the wii is trying to send only composite) or it's my tv for some odd reason doesn't support that video input through component?
however if i use the standart composite cable it works just fine

 

[Lumstar]

You might have to use that VC button code to switch the video to interlaced. Some HDTVs don't properly handle 240p through component.

It's less often an issue for NTSC consoles. Most NTSC VC games support upscaling to 480p.

 

[migles]

You might have to use that VC button code to switch the video to interlaced. Some HDTVs don't properly handle 240p through component.

It's less often an issue for NTSC consoles. Most NTSC VC games support upscaling to 480p.

i do believe the games display in NTSC either way, i think i recall reading they are the USA versions or maybe i am mistaking it for other stuff
i think there is a gamecube game or other that also has this issue
anyway, what is the code to make it interlaced?

 

[Armadillo]

anyway, what is the code to make it interlaced?

Press home once the game has started, go into operations guide, then press Z + A + 2 at the same time.

 

[Lumstar]

Nintendo has info about the interlace mode.
https://en-americas-support.nintend...-problems-while-playing-virtual-console-games

240p issues are much rarer on gamecube. Mega Man X Collection is affected, but that game was not released in PAL.

 

[migles]

Nintendo has info about the interlace mode.
https://en-americas-support.nintend...-problems-while-playing-virtual-console-games

240p issues are much rarer on gamecube. Mega Man X Collection is affected, but that game was not released in PAL.

cheese.. why nintendo had to make it so complicated... i mean, i need to go into the manual and press the combo... they could just put it as an option in the home button menu..

 

[Ryccardo]

cheese.. why nintendo had to make it so complicated... i mean, i need to go into the manual and press the combo... they could just put it as an option in the home button menu..

I would guess it's too technical or scary for some people like save backups or imported games - it would break the established standard design of the home overlay