Gamecube component cables

[Nannuu]

Does anyone know how to build a Gamecube component cable from an existing cable?  They are selling for $50+ on ebay which seems a bit ridiculous (N doesn't make them anymore).  I just bought a multi-component cable (PS2, Xbox, GC) but found that it is only composite for the GC using the blue coded connector.  There must be something strange about the GC otherwise I would think this cable and others would output component for the GC.
Yeah, I can get a Wii to do it and play my Zelda in 480p but that isn't going to happen for a while.

[Nannuu]

Ah nevermind.  It comes from the second output on the console.  Poo.   
480i it is for a while then.


The GameCube has an analog A/V and digital A/V connector, which provide the following:

Analog A/V Out

Composite video
S-Video
RGB (PAL consoles ONLY, not available in NTSC consoles)
Stereo audio
The GameCube ships with a "Stereo A/V Cable" which has composite and stereo audio RCA plugs. Nintendo also makes a S-Video cable which is sold separately. In my experience, original and 3rd-party SNES "Stereo A/V Cable" and S-Video cables work fine with the GameCube. Nintendo also sells an adapter to get RF output from the GameCube, using the analog A/V connector.

Nintendo kept the RGB output intact for PAL GameCubes beacuse most European video hardware supports RGB through the widely-used SCART connector. In North America and Japan, the RGB connection type is not standardized, and 9-pin, 21-pin, 25-pin, and BNC connector interfaces all exist. In Japan the 21-pin type of connector somewhat more prevalent.

Digital A/V Out

Digital video (format unknown)
Digital audio (in Digital Audio Interface (DAI) format, not S/PDIF)
YPbPr / YCbCr component video (via component video cable only)
Analog RGB (via modified component video cable only)
There are no official or 3rd-party cables or adapters to enable RGB or digital audio output from the digital A/V port. Some inventive people have figured out how to modify Nintendo's component video cable for RGB output, and interface a DAI to S/PDIF conversion IC to the digital A/V connector, providing stereo 48KHz sound.

The component video cable has no audio outputs, you'll need to use the "Stereo A/V Cable" (packaged with the GameCube) in conjunction for sound.

The GameCube always boots up in 15KHz mode, and will switch to 31KHz (e.g. 480p, progressive-scan) if the 'B' button is held down during the boot sequence, and if the game supports a progressive scan display too. As far as I know this is only available from the component / RGB video output from the digital A/V port. RGB video from the Analog A/V port of a PAL GameCube is fixed at 15KHz (480i, interlaced) output only.

[Silver]

Yeah I picked up some N component cables for the GC a while ago - and yes when you hold down on booting most games pop up with a "Do you want progressive" video mode question.

In theory you could probably build your own, but you would probably have to solder directly to the interface as the connector is non standard. There is probably a short/resistor needed somewhere as well to let the Cube know the correct cable is attached.

Progressive is nice, but 480i RGB is still pretty good. Its not like going from the composite to RGB, where the improvement is massive.

[pmc]

Some inventive people have figured out how to modify Nintendo's component video cable for RGB output, and interface a DAI to S/PDIF conversion IC to the digital A/V connector, providing stereo 48KHz sound.

Digital stereo over a non-S/PDIF connector? That suprises me. Seems like a lot of work for stereo audio when you can simply use the analog connectors and get Dolby Pro Logic II. I wonder what they were thinking when they put that in there. It certainly wasn't AC-3.

-pmc