Help me find some Component Cables for the GC

they seem to be backordered nearly everywhere. www.gamechoiceclub.com has them in stock at $30, but shipping is really expensive...might be worth it if you're ordering something else as well. i recently ordered a set from them along with a game i wanted.
 
Call Nintendo directly. Someone on the GameFAQs board got them while the website said they were back-ordered.
 
Unless you have an HDTV display, the difference between S-Video and component is negligible. I can barely tell on my TV - Just pick up an S-Video cable for now if you're that desperate for a better picture. In a few weeks the shortage of these cables will even itself out. Come on, this is Nintendo - they still sell cables for the NES. These component cables aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
 
What I could never understand is that Nintendo always said that less than 1% of GC owners purchase component cables, hence the lower availability. You have never NEVER been able to find the cables in brick-n'-mortar stores, so how the hell were people supposed to get them in the first place?!
 
I do have an hdtv display and I'm trying to get the proper cables for all my systems. I'd rather not wait because I have a large backlog of games and I'd like to play them in progressive cause they don't look to hot on a hdtv with composite.

I'll call nintendo
 
Baron said:
Unless you have an HDTV display, the difference between S-Video and component is negligible. I can barely tell on my TV - Just pick up an S-Video cable for now if you're that desperate for a better picture. In a few weeks the shortage of these cables will even itself out. Come on, this is Nintendo - they still sell cables for the NES. These component cables aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
I got mine direct from Nintendo and yes they were a pain to track down, but trust me it's worth it even for 70 dollars imo. Games like Metroid Prime and Fzero etc look fantastic.

Off topic: Baron did you get my reply about the psone component situation?
 
Baron said:
Unless you have an HDTV display, the difference between S-Video and component is negligible. I can barely tell on my TV - Just pick up an S-Video cable for now if you're that desperate for a better picture. In a few weeks the shortage of these cables will even itself out. Come on, this is Nintendo - they still sell cables for the NES. These component cables aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

whatever anyone does in this thread. Dont listen to this person. Component gives a better picture whether its progressive or not.
 
Deg said:
whatever anyone does in this thread. Dont listen to this person. Component gives a better picture whether its progressive or not.

I'm glad you said this. I've been holding off on the cables based on similar advice.
 
btrboyev said:
I do have an hdtv display and I'm trying to get the proper cables for all my systems. I'd rather not wait because I have a large backlog of games and I'd like to play them in progressive cause they don't look to hot on a hdtv with composite.

I'll call nintendo

I want to know whether it makes a difference calling. I am also looking for the cable.
 
I tried calling Nintendo, and they said they're out of them. They don't know when they'll be back in either...
 
They used to sell them in Japan for around $40, but I dunno if they're still available or not. Most people in Japan don't use the same component cables as you guys (we use D cables). so they might be tough to find here as well.
 
Deg said:
whatever anyone does in this thread. Dont listen to this person. Component gives a better picture whether its progressive or not.

I'm not disputing component gives a better picture than S-Video - that is a fact. What I am trying to say is that if you are stuck using the stock composite cables while waiting for a retailer to get the component cables in stock, it's not a bad idea to grab an inexpensive S-Video cable to tide you over until you can get the component cables.

It goes like this:

Component>S-Video>>>>>>Composite>>RF

It's not a big jump in quality from S-Video to component. There's a difference, of course, but as I said, it's nowhere near as noticeable as the difference in, say, S-Video and composite.
 
Yeah, I heard even though they were backordered on nintendo.com they were still being shipped and getting to people pretty quickly.
 
I love my Component Cables. Every major GCN release this past year has been beautiful. Pikmin 2's environments, Paper Mario's crisp animation, Metroid's breathtaking atmospheres, and the haunting environments of RE4.

Get ahold of them.
 
I got a set from NOAus yesterday for $46AUD, only took one business day to ship!

I am playing SMS again but also Paper Mario they are worth every penny!

Look’s like I will be playing WW and Rogue leader again 2!
 
Hey Guys. Is there a digital audio cable for the gamecube. i just got RE4 and a reconditioned gamecube and I'd love to hook up the audio via digital optical or whatever to my receiver.
 
I think the component cables are worth it if you don't have to pay an exorbitant amount for them. I used S-Video before I made the switch and even on my non-HDTV set, I can quite easily tell the difference.

I also tried these cables on my gf's HDTV with progressive scan, and the picture quality is even more gorgeous . So I recommend component to everyone if their set has the input for it, and they are a MUST if you've got a HDTV set, some games look downright flawless.
 
I still can't believe I found a set of these for like $9 used at Gamestop
 
I got mine directly from Nintendo about 2 years ago I think. While I've been away at school, my dad cleaned out behind our TV and "got rid" of a bunch of cables that weren't needed, including my PS2 and NGC component cables (I have no need for them at school)

Needless to say I was a little pissed, but apparently they were still around the house somewhere. I could never find them, but the night before I was set to go back out to school my mom just so happened to come across them :|

So I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas without having progressive GC games. Whaa.
 
olubode said:
I still can't believe I found a set of these for like $9 used at Gamestop

What? I can hardly believe that either as there shouldn't even be any sort of SKU in the system. It seems to me that the cables are not intended to be sold at retail (B&M) and that GS would not even have any sort of price for it.

I suppose someone traded them in or something and they just tossed them onto the shelves for a random price. I dunno...
 
dark10x said:
What? I can hardly believe that either as there shouldn't even be any sort of SKU in the system. It seems to me that the cables are not intended to be sold at retail (B&M) and that GS would not even have any sort of price for it.

I suppose someone traded them in or something and they just tossed them onto the shelves for a random price. I dunno...

Used cables are always taken in under a generic SKU at Gamestop. That's how I was able to get a set of PS2 Monster component cables for like $8.
 
Deg said:
whatever anyone does in this thread. Dont listen to this person. Component gives a better picture whether its progressive or not.

this is not at all guaranteed. there are many things that can cause this to be false. if your TV does any adjustments on the 480i component inputs being that most TVs put 480i all on the same service menu setup despite the input. also if you have a kick ass color decoder in your TV there won't be a difference at all. there are many reasons where this statement is not true. I have already seen TVs that do clamping only on the component, shift the geometry slightly on the component, have different color decoder pushes on the component, etc (all on 480i I should mention, not 480p which would be a different setting in the service menu).

so no, component 480i does NOT always give a better picture. It entirely depends on the TV it is being connected to. What CAN be guaranteed is that the cables will ALWAYS give a picture that is at best virtually unnoticeably better than s-video, and at worse can actually look worse than s-video.

the only guarantee is that 480p will always look much better.

and anyone who says they can easily tell the difference is lying. even calibrators will tell you the difference is virtually imperceptible in most cases. the guy who did my TV (Mits 55819), CraigM, a VERY reknowned calibrator (go to Home Theater SPOT for references) was the one who informed me that my TV, far from low quality and even well above the mid-tier, has issues with signals coming in 480i on the component inputs...
 
Minotauro said:
Used cables are always taken in under a generic SKU at Gamestop. That's how I was able to get a set of PS2 Monster component cables for like $8.

Ah, well that explains it then.
 
Holy crap. 100 dollars for a recently completed ebay auction. I remember when my Gamecube was collecting dust right around Christmas, I toyed with the idea of selling it (Before deciding it was a stupid idea) and just using s-video for the couple of games I wanted to play in the future. But there were so many on Ebay and the prices sucked, it made my decision real easy. What a temptation now though.

borghe said:
and anyone who says they can easily tell the difference is lying. even calibrators will tell you the difference is virtually imperceptible in most cases. the guy who did my TV (Mits 55819), CraigM, a VERY reknowned calibrator (go to Home Theater SPOT for references) was the one who informed me that my TV, far from low quality and even well above the mid-tier, has issues with signals coming in 480i on the component inputs...

Well call me a fucking liar then. Because I would bet my life for 1 dollar that I could tell the difference between component and s-video on my 480i television. And the TV is properly calibrated with Avia's Guide to Home Theater DVD. The difference is so pronouced, I'd make the bet with somebody for a penny. Because there's zero chance of me picking incorrectly.
 
and anyone who says they can easily tell the difference is lying. even calibrators will tell you the difference is virtually imperceptible in most cases. the guy who did my TV (Mits 55819), CraigM, a VERY reknowned calibrator (go to Home Theater SPOT for references) was the one who informed me that my TV, far from low quality and even well above the mid-tier, has issues with signals coming in 480i on the component inputs...
The difference you see has a lot to do with your TV, I think. On my set, it is quite pronounced, even my gf, who is not into this sort of thing, noticed the difference. So on some sets, the difference can be minimal, while on others it could be quite noticeable.

PS. I also believe it has something to do with the relatively weak S-Video cable (the official one) Nintendo has.
 
Enigma said:
Well call me a fucking liar then. Because I would bet my life for 1 dollar that I could tell the difference between component and s-video on my 480i television. And the TV is properly calibrated with Avia's Guide to Home Theater DVD. The difference is so pronouced, I'd make the bet with somebody for a penny. Because there's zero chance of me picking incorrectly.

Avia is the first step to television enlightenment, but only the first step. There are many other picture elements that require service menus and expensive equipment. color of grey, color push, etc.

Component cables do two possible things. First, they carry a progressive scanned signal. If your TV does not support progressive scanning you won't benefit from that. Second, they send the subtractive blue and red color information across separate cables already separated. In theory this is better, it is splitting the color at the source before it goes analog. However, in reality today's color decoders in TVs, even crappy TVs, are more than capable of separating the two colors in the C wire on an s-video cable.

now as gaming-ryu said, there could be some exceptions to my rule. a really really crappy s-video cable as comprison, an unusually crappy s-video input on a TV or an unusually shitty color decoder in the TV. Yes there are exceptions. But, for 99% of the people choosing between 480i component and s-video, there will be no difference. by definition of exactly what component separation does in the first place there isn't that much of a difference.

so yes I was a little strong in what I was saying (no you are not a liar.. I suppose there could be an exception). but for most people I could not recommend the cables. $30 to have most people not be able to tell a difference and then hold it against me... no way. if someone is fine with the minimal to non-existent gain, that is their deal, or if they are one of the tiny percentage of people who's 480i component looks markedly better than s-video.... but most this won't be the case for.
 
F-Zero running on component is truly gorgeous. Sadly I decided to sell the little cube and cash in. I sold it without the component cable though because those cables drove up the price I was asking and not everyone wanted them. After selling the cube imagine my surprise when I saw the cable selling for as much as $105 on ebay. I still had mine so I put it up and sold it for $90. I orginally bought it from Nintendo for $35. It's just stupid that this situation exists at all. IMO the cables are worth about $10 (exactly how much I paid for my PS2 cables. Nintendo wanted to profit by not allowing 3rd party cables (I gather) and now Joe consumer gets screwed.
 
Sysgen said:
I saw the cable selling for as much as $105 on ebay. I still had mine so I put it up and sold it for $90. I orginally bought it from Nintendo for $35. It's just stupid that this situation exists at all.


You're part of the problem, pal. If you really wanted to contribute to resolving the "shortage" of component cables presently, you'd have offered your set up for sale to someone at the cost you paid for them - or even less than cost, as, after, all, they were used. Instead you opted to cash in and profiteer from the fracas. Joe Consumer gets screwed because of people like you.

Boo-hoo.
 
Demigod Mac said:
Component gives me richer colors and sharper image compared to S-video. I have run tests before.
component does nothing to make the image sharper or the colors richer over s-video. at best it makes colors more accurate, but even then to usually a very slight degree...
 
Sysgen said:
F-Zero running on component is truly gorgeous. Sadly I decided to sell the little cube and cash in. I sold it without the component cable though because those cables drove up the price I was asking and not everyone wanted them. After selling the cube imagine my surprise when I saw the cable selling for as much as $105 on ebay. I still had mine so I put it up and sold it for $90. I orginally bought it from Nintendo for $35. It's just stupid that this situation exists at all. IMO the cables are worth about $10 (exactly how much I paid for my PS2 cables. Nintendo wanted to profit by not allowing 3rd party cables (I gather) and now Joe consumer gets screwed.

You do realize that the GC cables have a DAC built in right? That is why they are more expensive and why 3rd parties didn't bother to fuck around with producing them. It has nothing to do with Nintendo profiting--the problem is that they gambled on the adoption of digital video connections during this generation and miscalculated.
 
For some reason, I picked up component cables last year after I heard the new GC's were removing it from the hardware. I had a feeling something like this might occur. Now I'm going to shake my own hand and congratulate myself...

480p looks very good with most GC games. I was impressed. I generally use S-video on my Sony at home (which looks damn good), but component it notably better, and with progressive scan it's hardly even a contest. The cables are worth the money, if you can find them at the standard price.
 
borghe said:
component does nothing to make the image sharper or the colors richer over s-video. at best it makes colors more accurate, but even then to usually a very slight degree...

You're whole 99 percent comment is way to harsh IMO. My old Toshiba used to have fantastic s-video (Didn't have component), but my JVC (Did a lot of research before buying, right after buying it was at the top of Consumer Reports lists) doesn't. And as the AV/Computer "guy", I've played with quite a few newer televisions and none have s-video the way my old Toshiba did (Which isn't to say there aren't some, I just haven't seen them.) So, for example, viewing text from a computer sucks with my s-video, but with component, is very sharp and solid looking. Extremely readable. The sharpness gained is a lot (And by sharpness, I'm not talking the artificial garbage you gain with the "sharpness" setting on the tv.)

And the Avia DVD is pretty damn good (Ships with Red, Green, and Blue trasparancies for calibrating). It may not be perfection, but my tv produces a much truer color than my computer monitor that I've calibrated (with utilities) for gaming.

EDIT:

ge-man said:
You do realize that the GC cables have a DAC built in right? That is why they are more expensive and why 3rd parties didn't bother to fuck around with producing them. It has nothing to do with Nintendo profiting--the problem is that they gambled on the adoption of digital video connections during this generation and miscalculated.

From what I've gathered, he's got a real communist/angry tilt to his posts. But you're right, at least the GC cables have some reasons to justify the cost. What's the reason for Sony charging 30 bucks?
 
Baron said:
You're part of the problem, pal. If you really wanted to contribute to resolving the "shortage" of component cables presently, you'd have offered your set up for sale to someone at the cost you paid for them - or even less than cost, as, after, all, they were used. Instead you opted to cash in and profiteer from the fracas. Joe Consumer gets screwed because of people like you.

Boo-hoo.

The guy used Buy It Now. I listed them at $49 which would of been a small profit on my part. No I am not part of the problem. The people spending major dollars on a cable and Nintendo are the problem.


ge-man said:
You do realize that the GC cables have a DAC built in right? That is why they are more expensive and why 3rd parties didn't bother to fuck around with producing them. It has nothing to do with Nintendo profiting--the problem is that they gambled on the adoption of digital video connections during this generation and miscalculated.

Didn't know that. Thanks. Do you know why Nintendo choose not attach the sound cables to the component? I bet profit.
 
Baron said:
You're part of the problem, pal. If you really wanted to contribute to resolving the "shortage" of component cables presently, you'd have offered your set up for sale to someone at the cost you paid for them - or even less than cost, as, after, all, they were used. Instead you opted to cash in and profiteer from the fracas. Joe Consumer gets screwed because of people like you.

Boo-hoo.

I can't believe your post. Its not Sysgen's problem; he's not a shop nor is he Nintendo. Its the demand supply problem and you should get off his back.
 
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