Making Your Own Rgb Cable(?)

[Blaine]

I've been trying to source some RGB cables for my systems. I'll be picking up an XRGB2+ at the end of the month. And while I can't wait for the visual goodness, I'm not specifically jazzed about trying to hunt down Japanese RGB cables to use with*.

But... I've noticed a couple people around say they make thier own cables. I've also heard talk of modifing a standard SCART cable (which I've had better luck finding on eBay and such) to use with an XRGB2.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I've always been hesitant about hacking my consoles, since I know my soldering skills aren't to be trusted. But...if nothing else, making my own RGB cables would be the finest of exercises with not a whole hell of a lot of loss if I screw up.

(*although I did notice Lawerence is rocking out some Nintendo RGB cables, which will be handy later this month).

[NFG]

Making your own RGB cable requires two things: a cable with an RGB end on it, and a cable with the console end on it.  Most of the time you buy an AV cable it has only three or four pins in it.  You can't reuse these for RGB (Saturn, Dreamcast + Playstation are offenders).  Sometimes you get lucky, the Xbox AV connector has a shitload of pins, you can work magic with it.

If you don't feel like soldering up your consoles this is the only way to make your own, though with some older consoles like the Genesis you can buy off-the-shelf connectors for the console.  Also, with the SNES, you can open up the AV connectors and remove the teeth, putting  them where they're needed on another connector.

I also have a Saturn and PS RGB cable, if you're interested.  =)

[Blaine]

Ah. So unless it's a cable with 'unnecessary' pins (for it's intended purpose) it can't be a donor for an RGB cable?

hmm..not cool.

And...yes. Yes I would like them. As well as a Nintendo RGB cable (I've heard that you need to remove capacitors to get it to work with the N64? Something like that. If so,I'd need another one for that too).

I just spent a ton of money this week. But I'll pick them up (and maybe some other swag to make the shipping worthwhile) in a week or so.

Feel free to email me the prices.

Thanks!!

[RichieB]

Email sent.

[Endymion]

One smart thing to do is pick up any of the various SCART switchboxes on ebay. These are a couple of pounds, tops. You can make one modification to the box, and then just plug in new SCART/RGB cables as you get them without any sweat. This works great for lots of purposes, use with an RGB monitor or your XRGB2 Plus.