component out vs component cable on GCN

Hiya folks,
I'm seeking some information on whether it's possible to mod my GC to have component out rather than using the Nintendo Component cable. Prices for the component cable are ridiculous right now ($75-1XX :dejection and it seems easier to heat up the soldering iron.

Has anybody done this?

If no, does anyone know if there are there any 3rd party component cables I can use?

Thanks in advance

 

Nope. Currently you're looking at the component cable or nothing because Nintendo made it so you needed the cable by sticking a custom IC into the cable for DAC usage.

 

wait for some time like me. who knows your gamecube might have hdmi output soon. ozone got hdmi out working for N64 and gamecube uses similar output.

 

Not really. My understanding is that the digital signals are obfuscated somehow which is why the IC is there. If you can reverse engineer the chip or someone discovers a set of signals that you can latch onto and create your own DAC for (essentially what the FPGA is doing for ozone) you won't get progressive output any time soon. This isn't nearly as easy as the N64 is.

Someone did find a stash of the custom chips from a supplier in China and was putting together boards but he hasn't finished the work.

 

ozone didn't create a DAC, he still uses the digital signals. i am not much knowledgeable about gamecube internals, you might be right. i know the cable has an ic and it contains a DAC, ozone or someone else can use this digital signal for hdmi if reverse engineered, without a DAC, purely digital. i believe this digital signal must have something common with N64.

gamecube also has an advantage. it has its digital output port. no need to solder/wire a fpga to motherboard.

 

Based on what? Sure they both use digital logic but I don't understand why you think they "must" have something in common that makes the experience ozone is gaining from the N64 applicable to the Gamecube

Problem with using that digital port is finding a connector which is going to be extremely difficult given it looks like a custom connector rather than something "off the shelf". This actually makes it a lot harder to use than simply wiring something to the board directly and having a fancy HDMI connector installed into the back of the case. Unless you have a laser scanner to digitize the connector and can use a 3D printer to start producing new connectors. This would solve the plastic side of things but not the rest.

 

My own attempt to Frankenstien my 2 Gamecube's together showed that it's... a real pain in the ass not worth going through with. I have a launch N64 which is indego and has component out, I wanted to swap it's case with my not launch late run Platinum Gamecube From my own examination of both shells.... it's going to be a pain in the ass and I'm probably best off looking for a Platinum Cube with Component out.

 

http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendodigitalav

have a look at here.

do you see any similarities?

like vdata0 to vdata7.

i remember seeing more similarities but can't find the page now. at least the digital video is there, so it must be possible to extract it somehow.

there is already a nice clock set at 27 mhz and 54 mhz. this might even remove the dependency of an external vga sync creator like ozone uses now.

ozone uses a 13.5 mhz clock which is exactly the half of pin 6 of digital video out.

edit: a good link

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3281/gcdigitalformat.png

 

vdata0 to vdata7 is just 8 bits of video data.

But there is no major secret afaik about the gamecube - someone just needs to sit down and do it.

 

Not to be an ass, but this means jack shit in terms of the GameCube and N64 having something in common beyond what Bad_ad84 points out. 8 bits of video data.

This doesn't even mean they're using the same voltage levels for logic.

 

Only the digital audio format of GC is understood enough to work directly with. Video still lacks documentation in some way.

All present SCART or VGA video mods involve analog encoded by that same expensive proprietary DAC..

 

jackshit, really?

yes, they are not the same but this doesn't mean ozone's approach can't be applied.

the major difference i noticed is gamecube uses YCbCr in digital out not RGB as in N64 (remember hdmi both accepts RGB and YCbCr)

following the two links

http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendodigitalav

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3281/gcdigitalformat.png

and having a look at the rest of the nintendo's pattern application, you can have a fairly good idea about the digital output of gamecube.

i do not imply it is a piece of cake. but i think ozone's experience from N64 will help him if he decides to take a look at gamecube.

whatever, after the N64, the best and easiest candidate for hdmi looks like gamecube for me and they still share much more than any other console's documented or undocumented digital output.

 

Sure it'll help. Knowing how to work with FPGAs is always good help as well as digital signal processing and manipulation.

I'm just trying to point out that without some documentation it is extremely hard to say just how similar they are. For all I know they're identical and we can all toss out our component cables when ozone's work is done but I'd wager this won't be the case.

 

Also the potential issue of 240p. Megaman X Collection was among GC's few if not only software in history to use it. No clue what TVs accept that from HDMI.

 

yes, it is possible to output 240p through hdmi. but a better way is (this is what ozone does), simply line doubling 240p to 480p. as there isn't any deinterlacing going on, picture won't be affected and 480p timing is handled good via hdmi.

 

Play Gamecube games on a Wii with a component cable for 480i.

 

Or i guess you could get a GC RGB scart cable + RGB to component box. That would still be less expensive than the blasted original cable, and the converter box can be used for other consoles as well. I am actually considering this possibility.

 

NTSC GC doesn't output RGB. But a PAL GC has different issues, it lacks that Japanese mode switch for correct text and saving.

RGB from NTSC Wii involves softmods. I'm not sure of the details.

 

why use rgb from a wii when you can use component.

PAL GC might get jap mode with a bios change - would be an interesting experiment

 

If you use a RGB cable on a NTSC Wii then it'll just show a red screen. Same with JP Wii. You'd have to flash it to PAL, or there may be other software solutions.