Any recommendations on an s-video cable for SNES/N64/GC?

[kainemaxwell]

I have a third-party set, no problems. But always up to get a better set.

[Sneak613]

Interesting. I've always been curious about the option of S-video for the SNES. I've always just used the standard A/V cables, but now that I've seen this thread, maybe I should get in on some of this "S-Video Action" ...

[Peonpiate]

Interesting. I've always been curious about the option of S-video for the SNES. I've always just used the standard A/V cables, but now that I've seen this thread, maybe I should get in on some of this "S-Video Action" ...

It looks great on the SNES, much better than composite obviously. I also had the Monster cables [purple] and they didn't dissapoint. GC games benefited the most from it vs SNES. TV quality is another point. If you have a good CRT tv it will only look that much better once its hooked up.

I got my cables at Gamestop aswell years ago, for $10. They were used and listed as generic. They are extremely sturdy and well made, the cable itself is thick like a Ethernet cable. Compare that to the pic someone posted of a Pelican cable and its no wonder the Pelican cable sucks - the cable thickness is tiny and it feels flimsy, it also likely has no shielding [hence interference] since its so small.

[Aussie2B]

The older the system is, the less it benefits, if you ask me. SNES gets a nice improvement, but if you're playing a N64 and GameCube with composite, then that should be the real reason to pick up an s-video cable. N64, PS1, GameCube, etc., they all look like mud on composite.

[j_factor]

The older the system is, the less it benefits, if you ask me. SNES gets a nice improvement, but if you're playing a N64 and GameCube with composite, then that should be the real reason to pick up an s-video cable. N64, PS1, GameCube, etc., they all look like mud on composite.

I think anything from Genesis up benefits about equally. Hell, there are people who claim that you shouldn't use s-video on N64. Of course I don't agree with that...

Then again, N64 is the main reason I picked up this cable, because SNES supports RGB and N64 doesn't. Gamecube is secondary, as it also doesn't support RGB (except the PAL unit), I'm not paying $90 for a component cable, and I only use it for a few imports and the GB Player anyway.

[Aussie2B]

I wish the Genesis supported s-video out of the box, considering it has pretty poor composite output. I think the difference would be more striking than with the SNES since, relatively speaking, it has pretty good composite, although this is just conjecture since I've never seen an s-video modded Genesis in action. I'm not interested in mods myself, but I'll always try to take advantage of the best that a system supports naturally, even if the difference isn't that significant.

[BetaWolf47]

Found the ones I use. They're Madcatz.


They work as they should. No interference. Crisp, clear video. Plus, they work on PSX, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 as well. But like I said before, the pins in the s-video connector are a little flimsy.

[Leo_A]

Found the ones I use. They're Madcatz.

They work as they should. No interference. Crisp, clear video. Plus, they work on PSX, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 as well. But like I said before, the pins in the s-video connector are a little flimsy.

There are other varieties of this cable out there. Before the 360 was released, their design just had the standard Nintendo connection, the standard Sony connection, and a Xbox connection.

Then, they did what you said when the 360 was released. And when the Wii and PS3 were released, they did a redesign that eliminated everything except the three connections for the current gen consoles.

And they also had a component version of all three cables (Although you could just use the optional composite connection when you had it plugged into a GameCube or PSOne).

These are what I've bought to upgrade many of my consoles with due to being so cheap and I've been pleased (Component for my Xbox and Playstation 2, s-video for my PSOne, and s-video for my SuperNes and Nintendo 64, and for a time, my GameCube). They get the job done with no apparant problems, although I sure wouldn't want to plug and unplug these very often. Bent a s-video pin on one of them the very first time I tried to plug it in since they're so fragile.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Found the ones I use. They're Madcatz.


They work as they should. No interference. Crisp, clear video. Plus, they work on PSX, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 as well. But like I said before, the pins in the s-video connector are a little flimsy.

Are you kidding me, those are just as bad as the Pelican ones!

[Leo_A]

Their build quality is poor, but I see no apparant problems with the video signal. And since they're not being constantly plugged and unplugged, how cheap they are hasn't became a problem for me. Five of my consoles these cables or variations of them with no problems, including no sign of the common mesh effect some people notice with cheap s-video cables on the SuperNes and N64.

[Ace]

If you see a mesh pattern in S-Video, it's because the cable itself is not actually passing Chroma/Luminance into the S-Video plug. They're passing COMPOSITE on the Luminance pin instead. If you were to take a multimeter to the Composite plug and to one of the top pins of the S-Video plug(not too sure which), you'd hear your multimeter beep, indicating there's a connection between the Luminance pin on the S-Video connector and Composite. A lot of dual Composite/S-Video cables are like this(I was burned by one of those cables, but it was for the Dreamcast), though my MadCatz Super NES/Nintendo 64/GameCube/PlayStation/Xbox dual Composite/S-Video cable actually passes true S-Video into the S-Video connector(I can confirm this as I don't get any video when using the S-Video plug on my A/V modded Top-Loader NES, AV Famicom or Super Famicom Jr., none of which output S-Video), however on my Super NES, it induces some video noise in the audio signal which is typically almost inaudible on the Super NES when I use standard Nintendo Composite cables.

At this rate, you might as well just get one of those off-brand cables, open it up and wire up your own Composite and S-Video cables(or rewire those already on the cable). This will only work on cables with all the pins in the plug.

[William_the_Saint]

Racketboy has some cheap S-video cables ($5.99) that work well for me. Saturn as well.

http://www.racketboy.com/store/