Will a Wii component cable work on a GC?

Includes PS2, Xbox 1, GameCube (but not the Phantom Game Console)

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Kyosho
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Will a Wii component cable work on a GC?

Post by Kyosho » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:20 am

I was looking to get a component cable for my gamecube and it seems they're running really high in price these days. Wii component cables are cheaper. I know Nintendo likes to reuse technology, so, would a Wii component cable work on a gamecube? It looks like the same connector, in the images I can find, but I can't be sure.

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Post by Turbo Tax 1.0 » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:03 pm

no, they use different connectors
and the GC component cable has some hardware inside it
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Post by Electric Rain » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:12 pm

Nintendo removed the Digital port (the one you would use for component video) on the later Gamecube models because they discovered that less than 1% of GC owners were using it. In addition, the cables themselves are also difficult to find and expensive when you do, since they are no longer manufactured.

Nintendo used a proprietary chip named "CMPV-DOL" inside the cable to decode the digital signal... no one has reverse-engineered it yet, so there are no 3rd party GC component cables. Link.
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Post by bicostp » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:00 pm

Why not just play the Gamecube games on the Wii, if 480p is that big a deal?

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Post by Kyosho » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:12 pm

bicostp wrote:Why not just play the Gamecube games on the Wii, if 480p is that big a deal?
I think you misunderstand. If I could afford a Wii, I would not be bothering. It's not 480p I want. It's RGB for a portable. I want a better quality picture, and that's the best option, to buy a component cable.

Anyways, thanks for the info guys.

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Post by w00tLOL » Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:11 pm

hehe. my Australian gamecube has rgb on the multiport, ever wonder what all those unused pins are for?
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Post by Kyosho » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:58 pm

As far as I know, NTSC Gamecubes do not have analog RGB. They have digital, and you need the official component cable to change it to analog. That's if you (you being some one with an NTSC GC) have one with a digital port at all. Does Australia have PAL? If it does, we're not in the same boat, my friend.

Consequently, do you need a modchip or anything to be able to play imports on a gamecube? I could possibly get a PAL cube for my portable. Ah, but that would cost more money. Hm. Oh well. I guess I either fork over the cash for the component cable, or stick with composite. Unfortunately it will probably be the latter.

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Post by Electric Rain » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:10 pm

A GC component cable will cost you about $60 on eBay, but I'm waiting to hear back from a company in Colorado that has some CMPV-DOL chips in stock. (I don't know how they got them...) There are certain websites, usually ones based out of Hong Kong, that stock rare chips like this... but I don't really want to deal with that. I would much sooner trust a US-based company. :? You always have to buy in bulk though, is the problem. I told them they probably don't sell many of these particular chips, so I was hoping they could give me a good deal on them. :lol: I asked how much it would cost for 20 of them, and if it's a good price, I might order some and make my own component cables to sell. :twisted: I wanted one for my GC laptop, which is going to use a 480p screen with component input, so I wouldn't have to buy and hack apart a component cable.

Does anyone have a GC component cable they can give me schematics for? There are a few SMD resistors and caps on board, but other than that, I think it's pretty straight-forward.
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Post by Super Cameraman » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:52 pm

If you're doing it for a portable, can't you just open up the Gamecube and solder the wires to the component video out? Or do you still need that proprietary chip?
If you're looking at this post and it was made before 2008, just ignore it.

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Post by bicostp » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:02 pm

Kyosho wrote:t's RGB for a portable.
Oh, okay.

In that case, S-video should be more than adequate, especially if the screen is less than 10 inches. (If 1024x768 from my video card on our 27" SDTV is perfectly legible, there's plenty of resolution there for a smaller display.)

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Post by Electric Rain » Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:48 am

Super Cameraman wrote:If you're doing it for a portable, can't you just open up the Gamecube and solder the wires to the component video out? Or do you still need that proprietary chip?
Still need the chip. ALWAYS need the chip... :?
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Post by Kyo » Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:32 am

ha! Silly americans, we HAVE RGB

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