So I buy a new black Gamecube at Best Buy today to replace my old one whose lens assembly conked out. I get it home, open it up, begin to hook it into my system…and am confused when I can’t find anywhere to plug my component video cable in.
Check the manual to find out that only a PARTICULAR MODEL of the Gamecube has the component out port. My old one had it, the new one doesn’t.
What the fuck is that about? How do you tell the difference between models? Why should you even have to worry about something like this on a console system? This is utterly retarded, and I don’t have time to get back to Best Buy and return it tonight. Mighty pissed, just venting. Blech.
They removed it to save costs. There was a lot of talk about it like six months ago or so. I think we even had that talk on this board? Basically, they know exactly how many people use Component because they were the only ones selling the cable and the demand was so low it made sense for them financially to remove the port from the design.
Unfortunately I never heard about this, or I would have taken more care to try and fix my old system. So now what do I do? Hunt around for an “old” Gamecube? Are they even obtainable anymore? I don’t care how many people used the component feature, removing the port is absurd.
Sony did the same thing with the PSX. The first version that came out had a full set of RCA outs on the back, but in later versions they were removed and you had to buy an adapter if you wanted to convert it from coax to RCA.
So Nintendo’s website is the only place to buy the component cables? I was going to make a trip to Best Buy this weekend to grab some, since I just bought an HDTV projector this past weekend. I guess I can save the trip.
You can send that GC in to Nintendo and they will exchange it for one with a component jack on it. That is the only way to get one now, which is utter fucking bullshit.
God help them if they lose progressive scan support from more 3rd parties and/or decide to stop supporting it themselves. I will get an XBox so quickly…
Basically, they know exactly how many people use Component because they were the only ones selling the cable and the demand was so low it made sense for them financially to remove the port from the design.
…but I’m pretty sure I saw 3rd party RGB cables for the cube, and I know that Nintendo’s cables are always insanely overpriced. I can well believe that nobody bought their stuff but that’s because it was too expensive, not because nobody wanted RGB output.
I have both versions… Version 1 was full RCA on both ends (the back of the PSX) and to your TV (like a normal cable)… Version 2 was RCA on the tv end and a little connector piece on the other. I don’t think coaxial was involved unless you got a special adapter.
I thought I’ve seen combination cables that allowed a component connection to any of the three consoles, but those might have only been S-Video.[/quote]
Those aren’t Component- those are S-Video and Composite. I’ve never seen third party Component Cables for the Cube.
Yes, blurred text would be one noticeable difference between composite and component. The other big differences are sharpness of picture and saturation of color.
The biggest difference, though, is that component gives you the ability to play games in Progressive Scan which gives a huge boost to image quality provided that your TV and the game support it.
If your TV doesn’t support ProScan then just upgrading to an S-Video cable would likely be enough. The visual difference between S-Video and Component is fairly negligible for a non-Progressive Scan capable TV.
They probably shifted some functionality to the cable in order to make it illegal for third parties to reverse engineer and build compatible cables. The DMCA is a hell of a law.
The mystery of component cables for the GameCube is about to be revealed…
Googling for “GameCube RGB-Kabel” (German for component cable) brings up a Dutch website (€10.99) and a German website (€7.49), and the German web shop where I usually buy has another one (€19.99).
However, the Wolfsoft site also says that this cable only works on European cubes, and that US models must use the expensive Nintendo cable (€69.99). On the other hand, it seems only the original cable supports progressive scan on US cubes.
I guess that’s why it includes that special chip – Nintendo never advertised progressive scan in Europe. If US buyers somehow identify component output with progressive scan I can understand why 3rd parties wouldn’t want to offer RGB cables without that feature.
They probably shifted some functionality to the cable in order to make it illegal for third parties to reverse engineer and build compatible cables. The DMCA is a hell of a law.[/quote]
I think it’s more the cost factor. Moving the DAC to the cable means less stuff to include in every Gamecube. I remember reading Storm Shadow’s column over at Penny Arcade where he explained that Monster Cable didn’t make a component cable set for Gamecube because the chip increased the cost too much.
Wow. That’s just really fucking pathetic. Fuck you, Nintendo. Fuck you very much. I’ve got a component-enabled television, my PS2 and Xbox use component cables, and I’ve got a component switcher - but my Gamecube is still s-video, because the idea of buying a fucking 70 dollar cable that was only availible from Nintendo just did NOT sit well with me. And now I find out that the cable is so expensive so that Nintendo could shift the cost of producing component video compliant consoles from themselves to the consumer? Fuck you, Nintendo. Fuck you forever.
