Gamecube component vs S-video

[namarino]

So I recently checked out some games on my gamecube and I realized how shit it looked so I did some research. It turns out I've been using the most craptastic cables available. I did a little more research and I discovered that I can either get a component cable which is over 150 bucks or an S-video cable. They've 150 now because there is a very limited number of them and they have a proprietary DAC in them that was never released to other manufacturers. I was wondering if any of you guys have experience with the difference between the two and know how drastic of a difference it is....and also if maybe you have some component cables and want to sell it to me hahaha. I'm seriously thinking about getting a pair of component cables just because of the memories that I have of playing my gamecube with my dad. Sounds stupid but it's true. Thanks guys.

[PlayStation 2]

Many GameCube games support 480p and definitely look cleaner using the component cables. If you want to put that much down for component cables, I would do it. I would if money wasn't an issue.

[jeffmeyer5295]

HDMI mod FTW

[minibois]

Or just get a Wii for 30 USD and its component cable for like 10 USD. I'm a huge fan of the GameCube, but I would never pay 150 USD for a cable.

At that point you might as well emulate the console.

[namarino]

12 minutes ago, jeffmeyer5295 said:

HDMI mod FTW

I would, but I'm not thrilled about putting having my Gamecube being drilled into...lol But that mod looks pretty sweet.

 

[namarino]

1 minute ago, Minibois said:

Or just get a Wii for 30 USD and its component cable for like 10 USD. I'm a huge fan of the GameCube, but I would never pay 150 USD for a cable.

At that point you might as well emulate the console.

Yeah I have a Wii. I would just need to get a component cable....but it's just not the same as playing on the ol' cube. haha 

[jeffmeyer5295]

2 minutes ago, namarino said:

I would, but I'm not thrilled about putting having my Gamecube being drilled into...lol But that mod looks pretty sweet.

 

Yeah I feel you there! I am still debating on it for mine, I don't even play it much, just think it would be a cool project/addition.

[namarino]

1 minute ago, jeffmeyer5295 said:

Yeah I feel you there! I am still debating on it for mine, I don't even play it much, just think it would be a cool project/addition.

Same! I just turned it on this past weekend for the first time in a while and remembered the AWESOME games that I played on that thing. It makes me want to get one of those cables...damn you Nintendo for not making them anymore.....

[namarino]

If anyone has one or knows someone who has one and would be willing to sell it to me, let me know.

[TheBestUserName]

47 minutes ago, namarino said:

.damn you Nintendo for not making them anymore.....

They stopped making them because no one was using them.  Back in the day of the GameCube, Nintendo learned that less than 1% of customers were using the digital-out port. It was removed from a later revision of the console.  

The cable connector itself has a digital/analog converter built-in, and no other companies made any because people weren't using them. Those reasons combined is why the component cables are so expensive. 

 

So basically, GameCube owners doomed themselves because nearly all of them weren't interested in better picture quality. And now over a decade they all are because HDTVs have "upgraded" their eyes. 

 

Beat thing to do -- use a Wii ($50) and the component cables for it. ($20)

[namarino]

2 hours ago, TheBestUserName said:

They stopped making them because no one was using them.  Back in the day of the GameCube, Nintendo learned that less than 1% of customers were using the digital-out port. It was removed from a later revision of the console.  

The cable connector itself has a digital/analog converter built-in, and no other companies made any because people weren't using them. Those reasons combined is why the component cables are so expensive. 

 

So basically, GameCube owners doomed themselves because nearly all of them weren't interested in better picture quality. And now over a decade they all are because HDTVs have "upgraded" their eyes. 

 

Beat thing to do -- use a Wii ($50) and the component cables for it. ($20)

Oh yeah i know the story. It really sucks. I think I would pay 100 bucks for one if i could find it. I don't know that anyone would be that generous though...and I have a Wii, but it's just not the same as the gamecube....

[TheBestUserName]

8 minutes ago, namarino said:

Oh yeah i know the story. It really sucks. I think I would pay 100 bucks for one if i could find it. I don't know that anyone would be that generous though...and I have a Wii, but it's just not the same as the gamecube....

I feel yuh. I was gonna play Battalion Wars (bought it a couple weeks ago) on my GameCube, but I prefer the very-slightly better imagine quality on the Wii. So I left my GameCube in the closet. All I could find were $300 cables. Blah. No thanks. Funny this is, though, that I played a bit of Battalion Wars, but then I started playing The Minish Cap on my GBA.  It's all I've been playing now. Haha. It's the first Zelda game I've played that I like. 

[namarino]

5 minutes ago, TheBestUserName said:

I feel yuh. I was gonna play Battalion Wars (bought it a couple weeks ago) on my GameCube, but I prefer the very-slightly better imagine quality on the Wii. So I left my GameCube in the closet. All I could find were $300 cables. Blah. No thanks. Funny this is, though, that I played a bit of Battalion Wars, but then I started playing The Minish Cap on my GBA.  It's all I've been playing now. Haha. It's the first Zelda game I've played that I like. 

I'm probably just going to go look through some pawn shops or thrift stores. Maybe I'll get lucky. I just bought the minish cap! Huge Zelda fan but i never really played any of the 2d games. I've heard they're great though. I really want to try to get though them before the new one comes out which looks really fantastic. 

[Monkey Dust]

If your not already using one already I find the old consoles look best on a small TV. Or if you have room you can probably find a CRT for not much money, possibly free...

[TheBestUserName]

9 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

If your not already using one already I find the old consoles look best on a small TV. Or if you have room you can probably find a CRT for not much money, possibly free...

That's a good idea. I've actually been thinking about getting a small 20-ish-inch tv for my bedroom. There's nothing in there but a bed and dresser, so I'd want a wall mount or an arm. But I'm not in a hurry. I think I might end up playing more GBA. 

 

2 hours ago, namarino said:

I'm probably just going to go look through some pawn shops or thrift stores. Maybe I'll get lucky. I just bought the minish cap! Huge Zelda fan but i never really played any of the 2d games. I've heard they're great though. I really want to try to get though them before the new one comes out which looks really fantastic. 

The only 3D one I tried was Ocarina.  I couldn't get into it.  But to be fair, I also tried Spirit Tracks.  I couldn't jive on that either.   I'm not sure if it's the 2D aspect of it (it probably is) or if it's the lack of distance-traveling, but The Minish Cap is a lot of fun.  It makes me want to try A Link Between Worlds.  I'll probably hold off for BotW as my next 3D attempt. I'll have my son to watch play, though, before I try. He's been waiting for this game for years, so I'll be seeing it a lot after launch. Hah

[B16CXHatch]

OK, first of all, what type of TV are you using and what connectors do you have available? Also, does your GameCube even have the Digital Out port? If you don't have that, your are limited to Composite (the yellow RCA cable) or S-Video.

 

If you are using a CRT TV and it is equipped with either S-Video or Component, just get a Cinpel S-Video cable from Amazon (it's listed as for the N64 but they work on SNES, N64, and GC). They are cheap and work just fine. I have three of them, each on the SNES, N64 and GC. On a CRT, the massive cost of the component cable isn't worth it. The S-Video will look a thousand times better than composite and only cost a few bucks.

 

If you are using an HDTV that has component, get an early Wii (later black ones removed GC support) and use the component cable.

 

Just so you can have a reference, I'll give you some pictures. BTW, this crap is really hard to get pictures of, especially on a not so good TV (I really want a WEGA/Trinitron). Trust me, in real life, this looks better. Still, it gets my point across. Also, this is a PS2 game but the results are basically the same on a GameCube. This particular game (Mana Khemia 2) just illustrates the differences perfectly. It's actually the game that made me replace all my composite cables with S-Video (where applicable) because on composite, the text practically illegible.

 

This is with Composite (yellow RCA) on a kinda crap 27" Sanyo flat-tube CRT. And yes, the camera was in focus.

 

 

And this is with S-Video.

 

[namarino]

20 minutes ago, B16CXHatch said:

OK, first of all, what type of TV are you using and what connectors do you have available? Also, does your GameCube even have the Digital Out port? If you don't have that, your are limited to Composite (the yellow RCA cable) or S-Video.

 

If you are using a CRT TV and it is equipped with either S-Video or Component, just get a Cinpel S-Video cable from Amazon (it's listed as for the N64 but they work on SNES, N64, and GC). They are cheap and work just fine. I have three of them, each on the SNES, N64 and GC. On a CRT, the massive cost of the component cable isn't worth it. The S-Video will look a thousand times better than composite and only cost a few bucks.

 

If you are using an HDTV that has component, get an early Wii (later black ones removed GC support) and use the component cable.

 

Just so you can have a reference, I'll give you some pictures. BTW, this crap is really hard to get pictures of, especially on a not so good TV (I really want a WEGA/Trinitron). Trust me, in real life, this looks better. Still, it gets my point across. Also, this is a PS2 game but the results are basically the same on a GameCube. This particular game (Mana Khemia 2) just illustrates the differences perfectly. It's actually the game that made me replace all my composite cables with S-Video (where applicable) because on composite, the text practically illegible.

 

This is with Composite (yellow RCA) on a kinda crap 27" Sanyo flat-tube CRT. And yes, the camera was in focus.

 

 

And this is with S-Video.

 

Wow thanks for this! Now here's a question: If I have an HDTV, will the S video still look that much better than composite? 

[B16CXHatch]

21 minutes ago, namarino said:

Wow thanks for this! Now here's a question: If I have an HDTV, will the S video still look that much better than composite? 

Yeah, the S-Video will still look way better but it won't look as clear as an old SD CRT TV.

 

I'll save you some trouble too. Here's the link to the cable I use for my GameCube:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cinpel-S-Video-Cable-Nintendo-64-N64/dp/B00KZLEFAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485839673&sr=8-1

 

If you have the time, I would recommend watching the RGB Master Class on the My Life in Gaming channel on YouTube. TONS of info on getting the best image quality out of various consoles on various displays. I stick to just using S-Video on consumer CRT TVs due to simplicity (it also looks plenty good to me) but they give all kinds of crazy options. It's a fun watch but like I said, they take some time. LOTS of info.

[B16CXHatch]

And again, I'll save you a bit of trouble. Here's the video specifically about the GameCube but you may want to watch the 100-level videos first otherwise some of what they talk about may go over your head:

 

 

Here's the 100-level videos:

 

 

[namarino]

12 hours ago, B16CXHatch said:

And again, I'll save you a bit of trouble. Here's the video specifically about the GameCube but you may want to watch the 100-level videos first otherwise some of what they talk about may go over your head:

 

 

Here's the 100-level videos:

 

 

Thanks! I think i watched one of these. Question: does the type of S video cable that you use make a difference in the video quality? I've heard that some S video cables actually look similar to composite. 

[B16CXHatch]

27 minutes ago, namarino said:

Thanks! I think i watched one of these. Question: does the type of S video cable that you use make a difference in the video quality? I've heard that some S video cables actually look similar to composite. 

Yeah. If you get a cheap cable that's manufactured incorrectly it will either look like composite or have bad dithering. The Cinpel one I linked seems to be manufactured correctly. Like I said,  I have 3 of them and I haven't noticed any video quality issues. The quality difference from the original composite cable and the aftermarket S-video cable was staggering. I always thought things in the distance in Windwaker were a bit blurry but the S-video cable removed a ton of the blur.

[namarino]

11 minutes ago, B16CXHatch said:

Yeah. If you get a cheap cable that's manufactured incorrectly it will either look like composite or have bad dithering. The Cinpel one I linked seems to be manufactured correctly. Like I said,  I have 3 of them and I haven't noticed any video quality issues. The quality difference from the original composite cable and the aftermarket S-video cable was staggering. I always thought things in the distance in Windwaker were a bit blurry but the S-video cable removed a ton of the blur.

Awesome. Yeah I put that game in just to see how it's held up over the years and I was like, "I used to think this game looked awesome! Now it looks like shit." But thankfully it was just because of those damn cables. I'm going to go look around at some thrift stores to see if I can find one of the component cables. I think there's a chance that someone just gave them away because they didn't know what they had. If I have no luck, I'm going to go with the S-video. Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it!

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

I bought a gamecube with original analog AG and with digital port for 13 usd at goodwill during a sale. Plays 480i.

[namarino]

9 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

I bought a gamecube with original analog AG and with digital port for 13 usd at goodwill during a sale. Plays 480i.

Yeah the system itself isn't the problem, it's the damn cable that enables you to take advantage of that port that's hard to find. It costs about 200 bucks on ebay.

[skywake]

On 30/01/2017 at 11:47 PM, namarino said:

Yeah I have a Wii. I would just need to get a component cable....but it's just not the same as playing on the ol' cube. haha 

It kinda is. When you boot into a GC game on the Wii it jumps into full GC compatibility mode. The Wii was basically just a Gamecube with a bit more RAM and a higher clock speed anyways. All GC compatibility does is lock you out of the Wii stuff and underclock the CPU/GPU.

 

On 31/01/2017 at 0:36 AM, TheBestUserName said:

So basically, GameCube owners doomed themselves because nearly all of them weren't interested in better picture quality. And now over a decade they all are because HDTVs have "upgraded" their eyes. 

To be fair when the GC was around and even when the Wii launched most people didn't have HDTVs. A lot of TVs didn't even have component video input. It's part of the reason the Wii did so well against the PS3 and 360 early on. Sony and Microsoft pushed "HD" gaming with a premium pricetag at a time when most people still had SD sets. It's not that people didn't care about picture quality because people did. It's just that the screens they were playing on were probably running at 480i.