Anyone fancy making me an NTSC N64 RGB cable?!

[cawley1]

Guys,
I have done the N64 NTSC RGB mod, but now need to sort out an RGB cable as the picture needs amplyfying!

I have had a look on the mmmonkey website, but I am crap with vero board, and wondered if someone on here with better technical skills would be interested in making me one for a fee (I can provide the standard RGB cable if needed). I have no idea how I would be able to get a small vero board working and fit it inside the SCART pluug!

Before I embark on all that, has anyone done this mod and tried the internal amplification by linking the two points, apparently this method can cause interference, so I was not sure if that was a good idea?

Please let me know,
Thanks,
Paul

[sanni]

Interesting topic.
I have a Gamecube RGB Cable but there are two problems, first the colors are not bright enough, sure I can fix that with the Tv settings and also it looses the sync signal when the screen goes black for a short moment. Removing the caps has no effect whats so ever.

I also have a custom made rgb cable with color boosters but it synchronises about a centimeter shifted to the right. The colors are nice though.

What I noticed is that the Gamecube rgb cable uses the composite video to sync and the custom made uses composite sync as sync cable.

[Alchy]

I also have a custom made rgb cable with color boosters but it synchronises about a centimeter shifted to the right. The colors are nice though.

All my RGB signals are shifted to the left to a greater or lesser extent. Never heard an explanation for why this is or what controls it.

[bobzee]

I think it's because the R/G/B signals don't carry sync, instead the sync pulses from the composite signal are used.

There is a small delay between composite & RGB signals which causes the picture to shift a little.

[sanni]

The way I fix the shift is by having a 140€ XRGB-2 in between the TV and the N64. A little expensive if you ask me ;)

Also I tried getting sync out of the composite video instead of composite sync in my custm made cable like it is on the gamecube one.
Then it would sync perfectly in the middle but it had a checker board kind of thing all over the screen. Only noticable up close but I don't like that kind of distortion.

RGB with the N64 doesn't seem to be the easiest topic ^^

[Alchy]

The way I fix the shift is by having a 140€ XRGB-2 in between the TV and the N64. A little expensive if you ask me ;)

There is an Extron RGB box which has horizontal shift adjustment. Really I just need to open up my CRT and sort it manually (I know mine has pots for adjustment inside)... too lazy.

[cawley1]

Guys,
Thanks for the comments on picture shifting! I managed to get hold of a cable now.
None of my RGB shifts on my 14" Sony CRT, so I hope this will be the same when it arrives...
Cheers,
Paul

[Jackhead]

Guys,
Thanks for the comments on picture shifting! I managed to get hold of a cable now.
None of my RGB shifts on my 14" Sony CRT, so I hope this will be the same when it arrives...
Cheers,
Paul

You will be happy with the cable. If anyone need one too, pm me. My cables based on the mmmonkey mod, and the pcb can also be used within the N64.
I test any cable, and they worked also with the SNES.
I think i post pictures from Perfect Dark "with and without" the booster cable before...?

edit: i found it ^^ Pics was made with a cam on my old Sony LCD TV...

With cable:


without cable:

A picture is worth a thousand words...

[sanni]

How much ya taking?
Does your cable use composite video or composite sync for the sync signal?
Do you boost only rgb or sync too?

[takeshi385]

question it off topic yet still on topic , is scart the best way to go ? is it even better that s-video , and will it look good on my 32 inch lcd?

[sanni]

RGB Scart is the best way to go, it is in fact slightly better than S-Video.
Your TV needs to be RGB compatible thought.

Beware: There are Scart cables that don't have the RGB signal but just the composite, these will look crappy. So buy one that says RGB.
Also your N64 must be RGB modded to use those RGB cables.

[Alchy]

SCART is not a video format, it's a cable. It can carry RGB, S-Video or Composite. RGB SCART is what you want but as sanni points out you'll need an appropriately modified N64.

will it look good on my 32 inch lcd?

Defined "good". I'll probably look better than composite, definitely better than RF, but modern digital sets aren't really designed for old games over their SD analogue connections so you may run into visual issues there regardless of what signal you choose.

As a general observation, an RGB cable on a digital set probably won't be noticeably nicer than S-Video. Or, to the extent that you can notice a difference, you'll probably be much more bothered by the losses incurred by the set's analogue to digital conversion and scaling.

[takeshi385]

well with s video there are weird vertical lines , now i know it is niot my n64 for it is common when you s video on a big lcd , though i may be better off getting an rgb scart to hdmi.

[Alchy]

Picture of the problem?

[valius]

Bumping this topic if only because I am in the same situation as the thread creator. I have done the RGB mod on my NTSC-U Nintendo 64 (no amp), but the picture is too dark, so I need a cable with the amp circuit in it... and I'm not quite skilled enough to make one. Would anyone be interested in either modding one and selling it to me... or I can also send one of my cables for modification?

Thanks.

[APE]

Far easier to install the amp circuit inside the N64 and use a stock cable. Especially since the cable won't amplify already amplified signals if used on a different console. It'll be considered faulty and thrown away.

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

Did you put the amp circuit inside my console or in the cable? I noticed there were some resistors (capacitors?) added in the cable. I don't know what an amp circuit is supposed to look like.

By the way, you may be interested to know that the cable still works with my Super Famicom. It seems like it looks a bit clearer, but I could just be imagining it. On a related note, the composite video output on the N64 no longer works. I get a kind of off-color, partial image. Not sure why.

[Bad_Ad84]

Amp looks like this: http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/ni...64_rgb_new.htm

Caps are supposed to be in the NTSC cable anyway.

Composite doesnt work because the composite line is cut and replaced with luma (Y) from svideo.

This is because using composite for sync gives a terrible picture, using luma or even CSYNC works great. Details in this thread: http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...ad.php?t=34083

However, you lose composite in the process.

[fathertime]

If you did the mod with the THS7314 and used the luma pin for sync you can actually use any SNES/N64/GameCube RGB cable. It works perfect for me with
- PAL Cube cable (caps and resistors only in it)
- PAL SNES Cabe (resistors only in it)
- A straight through N64 cable (no caps or resistors)

[valius]

Yeah, after reading some more info, it looks like I might end up making the circuit with the THS7314 to amplify the signal... feels a lot easier than the cable mod. :p