PAL Gamecube - best video quality

[FatPope]

Hi there,

I have a PAL gamecube with both analogue and digital ports. What's the best possible solution for hooking it up to my tv? I could just go the standard way of hooking up an RGB SCART cable to the analogue port but would I be better off if I used the digital one? As far as I'm aware the digital port can only be used to connect to D-Terminal or component ports and my tv possesses neither of these. Some modified cables, however, change the component cable to hook up to a RGB SCART tv port instead.

My question is this: Is there any advantage to using one of these modified cables over simply using a standard RGB SCART cable? Is going through that digital port better? I'm aware that in any of these "digital" cables there is a digital to analogue conversion chip in the cable itself  so there's no way to actually get a real digital signal (like DVI-D) from them.  Obviously then, a conversion is going to have to take place somewhere. Is it better to use the digital port and have the conversion take place in the cable or use the analogue port and let it take place somewhere inside the gamecube? If it's the former then what kind of picture improvement will I get by using the digital port?

...Actually, that's many questions but still, I'd be much obliged if someone could help me out with this!

[NFG]

You're overthinking this a lot. 

The analogue port only puts out 15kHz, low-res RGB.  For the games that support it you should use a progressive cable, either component video or VGA (made from a component cable).

There's no real difference in the signal quality between RGB and VGA, just a resolution difference.  There is a slight decrease in quality when using component cables, but the amount is trivial and you're unlikely to notice.

[FatPope]

Ok well as I said I'm using a PAL gamecube. That means there's no chance of using progressive scan and thus no VGA without some external hardware box, right?

I could buy such a device and connect the cube up to my pc screen but I'd like to hook it up to my tv ideally. That's why I mentioned using scart. What I was really asking is what's the difference between using a scart connection from the analogue port and using a (hacked together) scart connection from the digital port? Is there one? Will they both output at 576i?

Sorry if you've already answered this

[davizonshay]

hi FatPope, if i remember correctly the modified RGB cables are for the NTSC models of the cube, this models don't have native RGB output so you have to hack the digital out to get it, I've read that the quality is also better but never saw it for myself so i can't really say. as for the progressive scan, i don't understand why you'd think that you can't get it on a PAL model that's why you have the digital out to begin with, you should remember however that not all the games support 480p and that you will have to switch back and forth between the cables while changing games. my advice to you is to stick with the RGB, less hassle, constant quality.

[NFG]

The PAL systems output RGB on the analogue port, the NTSC systems do not.  The PAL systems CAN output VGA, but there are no PAL softs that support the feature.

So either use SCART/RGB out the analogue port or get yourself a component/VGA cable and play import games in high res.

[zedrein]

I am actually quite surprised how good Y Pb Pr (component) implementation can be. I swapped out the S-video cable for my Wii with an inexpensive component alternative and the quality increase was very substantial. Obviously Lawrence is right when he recommends using the progressive output that can send 480p resolutions. It will be much better than 15kHz RGB, at least for a progressive-enabled screen (unless -of course- you want to play some of those classic collections on a RGB CRT display).

[FatPope]

Sorry, yes. I meant PAL games can't play in progressive scan rather than the system. All my current games are PAL though so it isn't really an option for me.

Ok realistically at this stage  I think I'm just going to go for the easiest option and hook up a scart cable to the analogue port.

If you guys want to bear with me a moment longer though I think we're getting closer to where my confusion may be coming from. So, here goes: What scanning format can I get by using the digital port? Is it always going to be progressive scan or can you get an interlaced signal from it too? If it's the former then the port is pretty much useless to me. If it's the latter though I'm still kinda curious as to what it can do.

Like I said, I'm just going to go ahead and use the standard analogue port. If you feel like answering my musings though please go ahead.

Thanks guys

[NFG]

The digital port can put out 15kHz, yes.  The only thing it's good for with your PAL games is low-res (non-progressive) component video.  But, since you've already got RGB, the only reason to go with component would be if your display doesn't have SCART.