Can the Wii use a Gamecube RGB cable?

[JazzFunk]

Quick question, just to save me from trawling through legions of cables in the spare room.

Got Madworld dirt-cheap earlier, just unboxed the Wii and noticed it comes packed with a (boo-hiss!) composite cable.

Can I just use my Gamecube's official RGB Scart cable instead???

[importaku]

Nope the sockets are a different shape this time round so you can't carry the cabels over. Not sure if theres a reason why but im guessing nintendo wanted everyone to buy new cables.

[JazzFunk]

Babber!

Guess I can cope with composite for now, mind.

Cheers for the rapid reply, saves me lots of rumination!

[speedlolita]

Better off with component really.

[JazzFunk]

^I don't have a telly that 'does' component, sadly.

[sj33]

In all honesty, the Wii has one of the highest quality composite outputs I've ever seen. When I switched over to Component, I was blown away by how much the difference was bugger all.

[speedlolita]

Yeah, I too noticed how good the composite was.

That's how I hook it up as my RGB cable comes out red because my Wii is japanaese.

[egparadigm]

I don't think we should be too negative about Ninty changing the cable socket. After all, they supported it for three straight generations – which is more than can be said for any other manufacturer!

[Link83]

I think it was a good decision to use a new port design, because even though they could have used the old "MULTI OUT" port and used 'switchable' multi-purpose pins to support Component Video/D-Terminal, it would have led to people trying to use their new Wii Component cables on a SNES/N64/GameCube and wondering why they didn't work, not to mention the fact that it might have done damage to the console/TV in the process. The GameCube only managed to get away with it because it had two AV ports (On the original DOL-001 models at least)

In addition, if they had used the same port it would also have meant that the NTSC and PAL Wii consoles would have had to use slightly different motherboard designs, because the old Composite/S-Video/RGB cables used on the SNES/N64/GameCube actually have different components inside them depending on if they are NTSC or PAL (A form of region locking on AV cables Nintendo tried to introduce with the PAL SNES, which meant they had to alter the video circuitry on all subsequent PAL consoles just to keep them backwards compatible)

[JazzFunk]

In all honesty, the Wii has one of the highest quality composite outputs I've ever seen. When I switched over to Component, I was blown away by how much the difference was bugger all.

I have to disagree here, I don't think the composite is all that. It's pretty damn good, I'll admit, but games like REmake look better in RGB, the composite muddies/blurs it out too much. It reminds me of the DC's composite, more than decent for most fast-moving action games, but lacking when it comes to slower, more adventurey games that require staring at detailed backdrops for a longish length of time.

Plus, I'm pretty shocked it doesn't load DVDs(!) I'm aware that homebrew's an option, but, you know, throw us a bone here...

But, been having a laugh playing Madworld and Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, plus quite liking the fact I also have a Gamecube built-in.

[Roddie]

Did Sony not use the same AV port on all the PlayStations? I never had a PS1 but for some reason I thought it was the same on that as well.

[egparadigm]

I have to disagree here, I don't think the composite is all that. It's pretty damn good, I'll admit, but games like REmake look better in RGB, the composite muddies/blurs it out too much.

I read somewhere ? and I don't even know if this is possible, but go with me ? that GameCube REmake only supported composite/s- video, not RGB.

Roddie, yes ? good point, the PS does have the same output as PS2/3.

[sj33]

^I dunno, I can play it over Component. It is 480i though, 480p was added on the Wii version.

[JazzFunk]

I read somewhere – and I don't even know if this is possible, but go with me – that GameCube REmake only supported composite/s- video, not RGB.

I did an experiment in the wee small hours, just to prove I wasn't imagining it, I dug my purple GC out, and found my official GC RGB after ten minutes of rummaging, then hooked it up to the same CRT telly I've got my Wii hooked up to (which is a great telly for RGB Scart). REmake through RGB looks much less muddy, it's sharper, the colours more vibrant, the contrast is better, the text slightly easier to read, it does look better.

But, like I said, it still looks pretty damn good through composite, it's still highly playable, it's just I get all OCD about these things and have to view them in a way that makes me able to play the game without feeling I'm sacrificing something. It's the clarity, one of the main things I like about the GC is the clarity of its graphics.

[Lyris]

The quality of the Composite display will depend *heavily* on the comb filtering inside the TV.

Also, NTSC Composite output from US/Japanese machines will look many times better (in terms of dot crawl and rainbow artefats) on modern TVs than the PAL60 output of Euro versions. (The Euro consoles output PAL60 rather than NTSC, right?)