Spider RGB Cable (8 console to SCART) reviews?

[grey]

I noticed this recently:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=...roducts_id=2355

Looks pretty nifty, and thrifty.  Albeit, digging up reviews on the product is another matter (seems like mostly only Euro folks have talked about it as it goes to SCART).  My thinking was that for the price, this would be a pretty decent option for some folks like us, presuming that we could convert the SCART pinout to something suitable for whatever the hell kind of signal one could stick into a North American RGB capable monitor.  In my case, that would entail something like SCART -> RGBHV BNC connectors (unsure if such a premade beast exists, but it doesn't seem completely unlikely).

That said, has anyone seen or used this cable?  Digging around it seems that it might suffer from a darkened picture if you have every console attached, but this sounds like a problem rampant in the Euro SCART switchbox world (apparently even the most braindead SCART switchboxes there tend to be automatic as the SCART connector has a power feed and thus can tell when one unit is turned on or something).  Still, for the price - seems mighty tempting, I'd be really curious to know if anyone in North America has used this cable and could comment on the quality, and what method they used to hook it up to their monitor as most likely NA folks wouldn't have SCART connectors on whatever set they hook up to.

I'd also be curious to see if any other mods might be able to be performed on the cable (e.g. similar to the GC D-Terminal mod to get RGB for NTSC consoles).  Any thoughts?

[Guest]

I bought one cheap just to get some DC, XBox and Saturn (prewired) connectors.

I didn't even test the cable as I'm sure it will degrade the image quality considerably, not to mention problems like SNES and automatic RGB switchboxes have.

[davidleeroth]

That was me...  :rolleyes:  

[NFG]

I have a friend who's got one and it works for him without trouble.  As always YMMV, but even using a signal degrading cable like this, it's RGB - you can degrade it a LOT before it's composite-bad.  =)

[Kouske]

Recently bought these, haven't arrived yet though.
Live in EU.

Anyways, wanted to ask if anybody knew wether the PS2 RGB cabel in it was Japanese or EU/US.
Heard that the JAP gives better picture quality due to more pins or something like that.

[Vertigo]

Heard that the JAP gives better picture quality due to more pins or something like that.

No. Whoever told you that is on drugs. It's a myth borne from the old days of SNES magazines where noone knew what they were talking about.
You only need 7 pins connceted in a SCART socket to get RGB with stereo sound, or 8 if you want the auto-switching voltage (which you generally do).
Also, as a rule, all cables of this type will be Euro spec as the Japanese 'SCART' connector isn't exactly widespread.
Plus with cables like this you will get more signal degradation than if you had a per console cable, but as Lawrence says still not as bad as composite. It just depends how fussy you are. Me personally I wouldn't buy one.

[Kouske]

Ok, the cable arrived today. But im not getting any picture on my television. Sound is there but no picture.
Any idea to why this is happening.

EDIT: Just played around with it somemore. I i plug the RGB to my SNES and the PS2. I get picture for the PS2, but when it's on, the snes indicatot turns red even though it's off. And if i want to play SNES. i have to remove the RGB from the console in order to get picture.

Why is this happening. And just tell if you don't understand. :huh:  

[ido8bit]

I don't have one of these cables, but I've got some idea of what is going on.  The cable probably carries power from the PS2 (12V?) to a pin (pin 16?) on the SCART connector that is used to tell some SCART TVs to switch to RGB mode.  This same pin is also connected on the SNES end of the cable, so when the PS2 is on it is sending 12V to the TV and the SNES...

Do you have to remove the RGB cable from the PS2 when you want to play SNES?  Maybe with the PS2 connected the same connection that causes the LED on the SNES to light when the PS2 is on places too much load on the SNES when the PS2 is off?  

Just a theory... Never liked the idea of spider cables myself, thought they could lead to problems similar to what you're having...

Nice idea though, need some way to sort of the cable jungle caused by many consoles.

[NFG]

really the only advantage to these cables is not having to crawl behind the TV to swap them, you only have to plug it into the console you're using.  Unplug all the rest and you'll be fine.

[ido8bit]

Heh...  That's why I have a SCART/S-video/Composite extension cable hanging out the front of the TV... The way stuff is crammed into my room I can't get at the back of the TV, or the back of the consoles.

Cables hang out front of the TV, cables hang out front of the consoles in the crates I use for racking.  Add controllers and power cables and I can't even see the carpet in front of my setup

[Kouske]

It's really wierd.
The snes plays fine without the RGB cable attached to it.
But when the RGB is attached to the ps2 while the snes is unattached. It doesn't show anything.
But if both are attached, PS2 shows but the snes doesn't.

I don't have a GCN yet to test it further. But a solution would be superb.

EDIT: Browsing the forums. and stumbled upon this guy who has seemingly same problem.

http://nfg.2y.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=267

Can anybody confirm if this is the same problem and also where the 16th pin is located on a RGB lead.

[davidleeroth]

I don't know what happened but it's not pin 16 I meant to write. It's pin 8.
I'm sorry, I promise I'll get stronger medication ASAP.

As for your problem, the "PS2 attached only- no picture"- part does sound very weird.
Ripping the 8 pin from the SCART probably wouldn't help in this case as the cables are connected together before, inside the little box on the cable.

But if you trace the pin 8 back from the SCART end to the box and disconnect the SNES and PS2 there, it might work. That's what I'd try anyway.

 
 

[Guest]

Would it damage the scart cable if i removed the 8th pin. And what tool is preffered for the job.

[Kouske]

Sorry, that was me.
Forgot to ask if any of you could tell me how this is performed.

[phreak97]

could you stick a diode in there somewhere? stop the power going the wrong way into the snes?