Danger! Danger! Cheap brandless PS2 component cables on Ebay?

[crispyambulance]

I'm pretty late to the party on this whole cable connection types and quality thing. I ordered a component cable for my Xbox which works great. No artifacting, checkerboard or other weird things in my TV, the connectors fits the jacks at both ends great for like 5 bucks. Noticeable jump in quality despite how I am working with a pretty crappy little LCD HDTV I got for free until I move and get a CRT.

I ordered some PS2 component cables for like 3.43 on ebay because, like the Xbox ones, it didn't seem like much of a risk. They came and the jack was too big for my slim PS2. Got a refund because my baby's gotta last until the aliens come and messing up the AV port is a dumb way for this thing to go. Bought a second PS2 cable for 5.87, possibly because I'm a moron, we'll see, and the connector actually can fit but it's really tight. The original composite slips right in neatly and doesn't give me none of that. The composite actually even seems to be able to wiggle just a little in there. This second PS2 cable works as well as the Xbox one, no complaints in terms of picture quality on the TV. My question is is a component cable fitting tighter than a composite cable into a PS2 normal? Would I get this if I ponied up the 10-20 for a component cable with a brand or god forbid an official one? Anybody have experience with a PS2 AV jack getting messed up longterm because you used a cable with a connector that just didn't seem to fit as well as it should? Could it like warp or modify my AV port on my PS2 in frightening ways?

I'd really appreciate some opinions here. Let me have it. Do your worst.

[bb_hood]

If you are spending 3$-5$ shipped for a cable, I assume you are getting cheap, made in china quality.
Thats probably the reason it seems a little too tight.
I had the same issue with a dreamcase scart cable I bought. The plug that sticks into the dreamcast was really tight, and I had to kinda cram it to get it in all the way. At first I would only get one channel of sound so I thought the cable was faulty but after messing around with it for like 30 minutes it began to work properly. I purchased the cable from a seller in the UK, but after I asked him about the issue he confessed that he just bought them in bulk, and they are made in china and cheap quality.
I dont think the tight connection will damage the console's port unless you mess around with it alot. Just set it up so that it works and leave it that way.

[crispyambulance]

Definitely Chinese. Wasn't expecting anything besides. On the second one I made sure to look through the seller's feedback for feedback left by buyers of the cable, which was positive. It does fit with a little pushing. Not like quite like I have to jam it in.

How long did you use that SCART cable, and you didn't notice any problem for that DC after you used it?

It would be cool if anyone else had an experience with a jack too big and how it affected their console over what timeframe. Get all scientific.

[Gameguy]

I would just stick to first party cables. Cables for common systems tend to turn up at thrift stores near me every few weeks or months so it's not like they're really rare.

[xelement5x]

I would just stick to first party cables. Cables for common systems tend to turn up at thrift stores near me every few weeks or months so it's not like they're really rare.

I do this and have a solid stable of backups and have even gotten some upgrades along the way.

[crispyambulance]

Thanks for the advice. Just to confirm, a component cable fitting tighter than a composite cable is NOT normal for a PS2? The jack does look different when I examine the pins for obvious reasons.

I'm gonna return this one either way though because my composite cable does seem to fit just a little looser having used the component for a day and visit a few such shops the next time I have errands. Trawl ebay for the extremely elusive deal on a reputable cable too maybe. I mistakenly found a psyclone component for Xbox with a digital out jack for 8$ today that I snatched up while looking for a good deal on a PS2 branded cable, so maybe ebay's not such a huge waste of time even though it is pretty barren for real deals.

[bb_hood]

How long did you use that SCART cable, and you didn't notice any problem for that DC after you used it?

The cable and the DC are still hooked up, havent played it in a few months. Bought to play MvC2 in RGB after I got a nice DC fightstick.
I doubt that the cable will cause any damage to the av jack over the long term.
The thing about chinese cables (or any chinese products, really), is that they are cheap. Cheap construction and cheap retail price. Considering we are talking about cables, sometimes its worth it to go the cheap route. Paying 3.50-5$ for a cable might be a better decision than spending 50-100$ on an authentic 1st party cable. Considering how cheap used dreamcast and ps2 systems are, it might be cheaper to replace a broken system than buy one authentic component or scart cable.
So sometimes you can get away with buying cheap quality. Other times the shit breaks months down the line and you end up having to buy something else.
Awhile ago I bought one of the 50$ scart RGB converters off ebay to use with my CRT tv. It worked fine for about a year then it started to fail. Total chinese p.o.s., it still kinda works but everytime I want to change scart cables I need to spend like 10 minutes jiggling the scart connection around in the box.

Thanks for the advice. Just to confirm, a component cable fitting tighter than a composite cable is NOT normal for a PS2? The jack does look different when I examine the pins for obvious reasons.

I would assume that a 1st party component cable would not be tighter fitting than a 1st party composite. A first party cable should fit in easily without having to be forced at all. Chinese shit is just poorly made so the dimensions of the plug are probably just slightly off.

[Rickstilwell1]

One third party component cable I would trust is one I found in a thrift store. It is one of those multiple system cables that works on Wii, PS3/PS2 and Xbox 360.

[Richter Belmount]

Thank you for alerting me Im very scared now Oh noooo!

[crispyambulance]

So I found a Sony component cable on ebay for 12 and pulled the trigger. I can confirm that at least on my slim PS2 the official component cable does fit just a smidge tighter than the official composite cable. But if anything my composite cable seemed to fit loose. The component one is perfect and a world of difference away from the two chinese ones I tried.

Anyway, for all who might search these forums on this matter in the future, I had a good experience with the one chinese Xbox component cable I bought and bad experiences with two chinese ones for PS2. Go fancy with PS2 or go home.