Wii Component cable is available in the US!!!

[timofonic]

You didn't read the forum and the wiki correctly. Of course they are different, Wii has a different connector than the previous Nintendo systems.

You responding to me or to Beders? I was responding to his post asking if the Gamecube RGB cable could be used on the Wii, which it can't. The Gamecube uses the same basic A/V port as the Super Nintendo and the N64 before it, which is a completely different port from the Wii. That was the point I was making by providing the two links.

-KKC

Yes, sorry. I was the Guest poster.

[Aeon]

And yes, sins R, G and B are in the same place as Y, Pb, Pr (with mode selected), I doubt that NTSC wii has RGB pinout at all. But then again, who cares? I mean, S-video is almost as good as RGB and you cannot tell the difference in normal TV's.

I can wholeheartedly assure you this is not the case - I'd be VERY grateful if you could please let us know what pins of the DAC are connected to the RGB/Component pins of the AV port if you have any notes. I'll gladly do the same on my NTSC unit so we can make a comparison to see if we can tweak it.

Seriously I cant afford a new TV and I cannot stand S-Video, this would help out a lot of people.

[Scott_Cameron]

And yes, sins R, G and B are in the same place as Y, Pb, Pr (with mode selected), I doubt that NTSC wii has RGB pinout at all. But then again, who cares? I mean, S-video is almost as good as RGB and you cannot tell the difference in normal TV's.

I can wholeheartedly assure you this is not the case - I'd be VERY grateful if you could please let us know what pins of the DAC are connected to the RGB/Component pins of the AV port if you have any notes. I'll gladly do the same on my NTSC unit so we can make a comparison to see if we can tweak it.

Seriously I cant afford a new TV and I cannot stand S-Video, this would help out a lot of people.

Seconded. I can tell a huge difference between S-Video and RGB scart, and unfortunately, my TV does not have component. If we could figure something out for the NTSC Wii owners here that would be great.

[timofonic]

I want to have a VGA output, since I don't have any TV with progressive support and preferring to take advantage of the better image quality possible on my computer and gaming system.

I prefer to get a great paronamic 25"+ computer monitor in the future than an expensive HDTV one, I use the computer a lot more than TV (I have my TV near my computer and is 99% of the times for retro and gaming stuff).

Just a curiosity: due to the big lack of Wii consoles in Europe, Nintendo will send systems in Europe and Japan that were to be released in USA. Maybe this is a clue about Nintendo doing an smart manufacturing method and using the same model for all countries, changing the NTSC/PAL output because some kind of firmware used on the Wii system. This can save a lot of money and less problems distributing Wii systems on other world zones depending on the demand, more logistic flexibility and saving money in production

[Pete]

Indeed, this pinout was discovered by me and I can confirm this as working. I looked at RGB pinout of gamecube and tried to figure wii's rgb pinout. With some testing I found it. And yes, sins R, G and B are in the same place as Y, Pb, Pr (with mode selected), I doubt that NTSC wii has RGB pinout at all. But then again, who cares? I mean, S-video is almost as good as RGB and you cannot tell the difference in normal TV's. Besides, if you have good display or psojector, you should always use Component for progressive scan.

Hey there, first of all -- amazing job - i didn't tried it out yet, but i have two questions:

1) Do i really need the 220uF capacitors between RGB and SCART?
2) and secondly, only to get it right, the construction of the RGB cable is actually the same as the component one, just without the bridge from PIN 8 to 10, right?

If i can save some bucks this way, this would be awesome

Thanks
Best wishes
Pete

[Scorpius]

Hey there, first of all -- amazing job - i didn't tried it out yet, but i have two questions:

1) Do i really need the 220uF capacitors between RGB and SCART?
2) and secondly, only to get it right, the construction of the RGB cable is actually the same as the component one, just without the bridge from PIN 8 to 10, right?

If i can save some bucks this way, this would be awesome

Thanks
Best wishes
Pete

Hi!

In fact, I'm not sure about those 220uF capacitors. I just looked at PAL GC pinout (and xbox pinout) and there is capacitors in every colour signal so I included them just in case. The pinout might as well be without ANY capacitor or resistor, but I'm not sure since I haven't got my hands on Nintendo's original wii RGB-cable to confirm it. All I can say that this works and most important is that signal levels seems to be correct i.e. Picture is not too bright nor too dark.

You can use component cable, but you still have to include 1 extra wire: Composite signal. Of cource you can do this: buy component cable and rip of composite cable to get nice pin for the modded component cable. Please post results if you get it done. My mod is so fragile that I avoid to touch the wii since I fear it will shortcut some wires. I had to make extra pins from metal wire and the contact is stil poor.

If somebody will figure out GOOD and intuitive method for pins that

1) fits perfectly
2) gives good contact
3) are easy to make
4) does not damage wii contact pins

it would be great. I highly doubt that paperclips will do it (since the space for the individual pin is so large and deep), but somebody prove me wrong.

[Scorpius]

I was thinking, since we know now all the pins except 14,15 and 16 + we have proof that wii cable capable of digital audio is out there we can now try to decipher that.  B)

My gues is that pin14 is "reserved" and pin15 is S/PDIF audio and pin16 is its ground. Or something like that. Also I think that wii's S/PDF is 0V - 5V so that amplifiers (with S/PDIF in) do understand it without problem. (In case you wonder wtf I'm trying to say. Well there is also other type of S/PDIF and its signal is -0.5V - 0.5V and not all amplifiers dont understand that signal [http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/mind/spdif/])

Does somebody want to test it out? xbox has it and I definitely believe wii has it.
EDIT: Intec component cable has Toslink optical out, so its just optical S/PDIF with optical port and 5V DC supply taken from 5V pin.

[Guest]

Re: SCART Cable

You can use component cable, but you still have to include 1 extra wire: Composite signal. Of cource you can do this: buy component cable and rip of composite cable to get nice pin for the modded component cable.

Is the SYNC on RGB over SCART derived from the composite signal or is it something like RGsB where the sync is put on the green signal.

If the latter then the additional composite video lead isn't needed.

Pat

[GZeus]

To my knowledge the Sync is derived if there's no seperate sync.
regardless, running the sync into the same place won't matter, as all it would do is try to filter out things that...aren't there.

[Julia]

If anyone wants an actual Wii component cable I have one.

I bought it for my nephew for Christmas, not realizing that he needs an HDTV to use it.

I obviously know nothing about these things, but I have a component cable I can't use so if anyone wants to buy it from me I'll ship it right out.  I paid $30 for it direct from Nintendo, so add $10 for shipping and handling.

Julia

[Julia]

Sorry...I forgot to leave an email address...

jvigue@gwi.net

[Guest]

I was wondering, is there really any reason to use the socket of the cable. I wonder if I was to directly contact the cables to the internal connections of the wii (where Im supposed to connect the graphics socket) if I would get picture or if theres some kind of switch inside to check if the cord is plugged... I'm going to try this tonight.

[Scorpius]

OK, I messed up with pin 13,14 and 15 searching for digital audio. Nope, no sound. I also checked google for that matter and ign claims that wii does not support digital audio. Which is wird because intec sells wii cables with "crystal clead digital audio sound".

My guess is that there is no digital audio for wii, Intec just has made this "pseudo"product before knowing wii's outputs. And when they actually get confirmation from Nintendo, they will just pull this cable from market.

[Guest]

anyone got the D cable already?

today i just bought it.

14, 15, 16 pin are using on it.

but i donno know it can make vga Cable or not......i still trying on it.....

[NFG]

Don't forget that a D-terminal cable is just a fancy component cable.  While it may have pins for 14, 15 and 16, I doubt they're used for much.

Or maybe they are!  Give us the details!  =D

[Hojo_Norem]

OK, I messed up with pin 13,14 and 15 searching for digital audio. Nope, no sound. I also checked google for that matter and ign claims that wii does not support digital audio. Which is wird because intec sells wii cables with "crystal clead digital audio sound".

My guess is that there is no digital audio for wii, Intec just has made this "pseudo"product before knowing wii's outputs. And when they actually get confirmation from Nintendo, they will just pull this cable from market.

A couple of nights ago I was looking to see if I could coax SPDIF out if my PAL Wii.  I dug out my old dual channel scope and hooked one channel up to my CD player's SPDIF output and then I set about pulling my Wii's composite cable apart so I could probe the 'unknown' pins.  Unfortunately I didn't find a signal that was comparable to the output on my CD player.  That means that either there is no proper SPDIF output on the Wii and that Intec cable uses a A/D converter (shudders)
OR
the Wii's audio output is controlled in a similar way to the video output (needs a jumper pin?)
OR
Its controlled in software and needs Nintendo to do a firmware update to give us the option
OR
I was doing it wrong!

Anyway, I contacted Intec about their cable, asking about the optical output and availability all they said was "It will be available but it'll be released early next year."

[Hojo_Norem]

Indeed, this pinout was discovered by me and I can confirm this as working. I looked at RGB pinout of gamecube and tried to figure wii's rgb pinout. With some testing I found it. And yes, sins R, G and B are in the same place as Y, Pb, Pr (with mode selected), I doubt that NTSC wii has RGB pinout at all. But then again, who cares? I mean, S-video is almost as good as RGB and you cannot tell the difference in normal TV's. Besides, if you have good display or psojector, you should always use Component for progressive scan.

Hey there, first of all -- amazing job - i didn't tried it out yet, but i have two questions:

1) Do i really need the 220uF capacitors between RGB and SCART?

I got my RGB 'cable' made just recently and the difference in picture is amazing.  Im running my Wii in 60Hz mode and I'm pretty sure its using NTSC rather than PAL60.
Anyway, here it is:


Im using a different pinout for the 9 pin D connector than the one shown on the GamesX main site.  I think it would be quite easy to add a component on/off switch and build a component adapter cable for it.  I put a 75Ohm resistor in series on the composite video line and I havn't used capacitors and the picture is spot on.

[Scorpius]

This is not real. Just started Zelda and my modded sensor bar is broken (other half). I guess I calculated the frontresistor wrongly.

I would be very[/n] appreciated if someone can measure the current flowing in sensor bar when its hooked to wii. Please help me!

[kent]

Hi

I have a little question - I'm from the pal region (germany) and I got a different composite cable than all of you




Do you know what exactly I have to do with it? I want a component cable too  :unsure:  

[Guest]

Don't forget that a D-terminal cable is just a fancy component cable.  While it may have pins for 14, 15 and 16, I doubt they're used for much.

Or maybe they are!  Give us the details!  =D

i was update some detail at wiki.

um....just try it. i think we cant make vga cable anymore....

because Wii seem havent V Sync and H Sync output..... :huh:  

[Rockard]

Are anyone trying to figure out if RGB is possible at all on a USA Wii with some hacking of some sorts?

I love RGB, but generally, pal stuff are more expensive and the virtual console-games that was released in europe will get the pal-version for the pal-wii - with the stupid black bars and slowdowns!! ;(

I have no idea what version I should buy right now. =(

[addps4cat]

I use a tv-tuner card so I am able to take screenshots.  The first image below is using the original wii composite into an s-video adapter:



The image below is using the wii's s-video straight into the s-video port on the tv-tuner card.



All in all, it is a large improvement, especially on small details like lines and text.

[Oldgamingfart]

Although the PAL SCART RGB pinout from Scorpius seems to work, has anyone managed to get hold of an official RGB SCART cable to confirm/ compare it? I'm tempted but they're going for silly prices on eBay, and all the shops in my area won't have any until mid January, you have to pre-order them as well! :rolleyes:  

[GZeus]

This is not real. Just started Zelda and my modded sensor bar is broken (other half). I guess I calculated the frontresistor wrongly.

I would be very[/n] appreciated if someone can measure the current flowing in sensor bar when its hooked to wii. Please help me!

What did you do to it and why?

[Guest]

GZEus: I modded the sensor bat to use external power supply, but calculated frontresistor incorrectly. As a result, too much current was flowing, and as you probablt know, LED do not like it. So 1 led got burned. Well now I fixed it, and now there is only 22mA current and all seems to be working well. Before it broke, current was 35mA (way too much for LEDs).

OldGamingfart: I compared the pins for the original and they are identical. Now I just have to convince someone to open the cable and see are there any resistor or capacitors...

[GZeus]

GZEus: I modded the sensor bat to use external power supply, but calculated frontresistor incorrectly. As a result, too much current was flowing, and as you probablt know, LED do not like it. So 1 led got burned. Well now I fixed it, and now there is only 22mA current and all seems to be working well. Before it broke, current was 35mA (way too much for LEDs).

Aaah. I understand.

LEDs can be somewhat frustrating in that respect.

[antony]

anyone will try?

i havent try it is work or not. but i hope it will work if anyone want to use NTSC RGB cable.




and i still keep trying to make VGA cable with D-terminal cable......

if anyone have idea. please share it.

[Rockard]

Uh whaat? I don't understand, how can this work? A tv never have rgb-input at those connections, havn't it?

[NFG]

He's using the pinout for Japanese RGB, as seen on the Wiki:

http://nfggames.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:japanese_rgb-21

[TotOOntHeMooN]

Hello !

I think there is chance that unknown wii AV connector pins are used for D-Tanshi data lines.
For example :
14 Line 1 : 0v=480 lines (525 lines "overscan" and 2,2v=750, 5v=1125 if supported)
15 Line 2 : 0v=60Hz i, 5v=60Hz p
16 Line 3 : 0v=4/3, 5v=16/9 (2,2v=4:3 Leterbox if supported)

Someone have D-Terminal c�ble to see if pins are wired ?

[NFG]

If what TotOOntHeMooN says is correct then I guess the information I have regarding the D-Terminal connector is wrong.  The specs I have say that there are only GND pins used to indicate to the TV what modes are being displayed, a simple binary setup for max resolutions.

Interesting.

[Scott_Cameron]

If what TotOOntHeMooN says is correct then I guess the information I have regarding the D-Terminal connector is wrong.  The specs I have say that there are only GND pins used to indicate to the TV what modes are being displayed, a simple binary setup for max resolutions.

Interesting.

Does all this recent information mean that there might be some crazy way to get RGB Scart out of the NTSC Wii yet? Here's hoping!

[Scorpius]

...

Dude, audio ground is supposed to go SCART ground, not the audio left

[antony]

Hello !

I think there is chance that unknown wii AV connector pins are used for D-Tanshi data lines.
For example :
14 Line 1 : 0v=480 lines (525 lines "overscan" and 2,2v=750, 5v=1125 if supported)
15 Line 2 : 0v=60Hz i, 5v=60Hz p
16 Line 3 : 0v=4/3, 5v=16/9 (2,2v=4:3 Leterbox if supported)

Someone have D-Terminal c�ble to see if pins are wired ?

there are wired. and it should connect to D-Terminal's 8, 9, 11pins. and those are the D-Terminal's data. so i updated it to wiki.....

anyway. i was try to enable p.scan and try to connect that 3pins to vga plug. still fail......

maybe need hardware mod to let vga out avaliable...  

[Guest]

...

Dude, audio ground is supposed to go SCART ground, not the audio left

thanks for your infomation.  :lol:  

[Guest]

success!
ok kinda crappy picture but you can just about see that the 480p mode has been selected






Top view. I finally realized I needed to use the original pins for the 3 video signals and the bridge. So hence my color codings are all over the place (white for y, yeallow for pb, red for pr) and I also had to sacrifice sound pins. Well, I managed to get monoural sound using a paperclip. the blue cable is connected to that clip.




Right side view.  The piece of a cdrom cover paper is separating Y and PB lines from shorting out.


THANKS ALL!

[TotOOntHeMooN]

Hello again.

Because I have no PAL Wii and no RGB cable I can't test it, but I think that a way to build VGA cable is :
- Using LM1881 to share Hsync & Vsync from Composite Video
- Using R G B Lines for Video

Off course, Composite line must output signal when progressive scan is enabled.

For enabling RGB on NTSC Wii, I think the only way is to hack the DAC setting into the Wii.
NTSC Wii output S-Video instead off RGB. ("jumper" set ?)

Please, how can I register my account on the board ?
Thanks.

[NFG]

Because I have no PAL Wii and no RGB cable I can't test it, but I think that a way to build VGA cable is :
- Using LM1881 to share Hsync & Vsync from Composite Video
- Using R G B Lines for Video

Off course, Composite line must output signal when progressive scan is enabled.

As soon as you short 8 & 10 the Wii puts Component video where the RGB used to be, you cannot get progressive RGB from a Wii at this time.  So, until this is solved, no VGA.

Please, how can I register my account on the board ?

Click the 'register' link at the top of the page.

[Guest]

As soon as you short 8 & 10 the Wii puts Component video where the RGB used to be, you cannot get progressive RGB from a Wii at this time.  So, until this is solved, no VGA.

You think that Progressive Scan only work if YUV is used ? (I don't know, but it's strange)
If pins 14, 15, 16 are D-Terminal data lines, I hope that we can force it.
(why I have no cable to test it )

I'm sorry, but I got an error when I whant to register my account. :ph34r:  

[NFG]

I'm sorry, but I got an error when I whant to register my account.

If you don't mention what the error IS it can't be FIXED.

If the Wii is anything like the GameCube then progressive will NOT be allowed unless the component cable is used.