Are third party RGB cables for the Gamecube worth bothering with? I have a PAL console, currently hooked up via composite and was thinking of getting a RGB cable. Reviews for third party ones suggest they're an improvement over composite, but I heard that only the official Nintendo cables provide true RGB. Anyone shed any light on this issue?
Forgive me for linking out to GamesX, but this page has a rundown of the information about the various Nintendo video output options: http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendomultiav The reason this is confusing is because Nintendo locked out different formats depending on the region of the hardware. PAL Gamecubes can produce RGB from the standard AV connector with a minimum of fuss. If you want the same result from an NTSC Gamecube, you need the proprietary cable that fits into the digital video slot. The advantage there is that many NTSC Gamecube titles supported Progressive scan and VGA resolutions, whereas no PAL software does so. Hope that helps you out. To answer your question directly, an SCART cable with the RGB connectors should work fine with a PAL Gamecube, whether or not it's first-party.
Don't bother with 3rd party cables , only the official Nintendo one is any good. Unfortunately online merchants are asking silly money for it, I found mine fairly cheap on Ebay some time ago, or you can probably build your own but I don't have the skills for it.
I've been running a Gamecube with a 3rd-party MadCatz RGB cable for years, never given me any trouble and looks amazing. The only major issue you'll have with cheap cables is that they'll tend to skimp on the shielding, or worse they'll sell you a cable that isn't RGB (had a couple of Wii ones that had that, much to my chagrin). However, if you do find a suitable one, over 1-2m the difference will be negligible & shouldn't compromise PQ - unless, of course, you suffer from terrible grounding issues in your house. If you can find an official one cheap, that's great, but don't kill yourself over it.
I find it tends to be the cheap no-name cables that you find on eBay that are the most problematic. The ones manufactured by Joyech, Blaze, MadCatz (even the GAME own-brand one), were fine. Yes the shielding (or lack of it), usually manifests itself as video noise/ crosstalk on the audio, but it's only really noticeable on headphones or large Hi-Fi speakers.
Theres a guy on ebay who sells decent cables. You pay extra than the cheapy ones (like 2x the price) but its worth it.
