N64 S-Video Cables

[Hobie-wan]

I love my monster S-video cables gives an incredibly clean picture (no checkerboard pattern which is common with cheaper s-video cables on the N64) but god damn are those connectors tight, I ripped off an input trying to remove it from one of my switch boxes

IS there a way to make it not so tight?

Some careful tweaking with needle nose pliers.

[CRTGAMER]

I love my monster S-video cables gives an incredibly clean picture (no checkerboard pattern which is common with cheaper s-video cables on the N64) but god damn are those connectors tight, I ripped off an input trying to remove it from one of my switch boxes

IS there a way to make it not so tight?

Not sure on SVideo other then cutting back the insulation just a little if that is the interference. RCA outer plugs can be opened a little loosening nthe grip.

I make it a habit to leave all game cables plugged in permanent, especially SVideo. The four pins are very fragile.

[ninjainspandex]

the S-video plug isn't tight its the R and L RCA jack, I have discovered that if you just put the jack on just barely on that it doesn't fall off the sounds works fine and it isn't a pain to remove. Never plug those suckers in all the way.

[retrosportsgamer]

Never realized Monster (or Nintendo) made official ones for the N64. As others noted, I use the S-Video cables that RacketBoy used to sell for the SNES, N64 and GameCube.

[MyNameIsVince]

I only heard the dual s-video/composite cables created a checkered look on the screen. Many forums mentioned that, but it is hard to find out without actually testing a cable.

I had that problem with those cables too. It turns out that the solution is to plug in the composite video in addition to s-video.

People actually do that? I thought it would be kinda redundant to have 2 video plugs in on the same a/v setup at the same time. I mean, if I have S-Video hooked up, why would I need the yellow composite video cable plugged in as well?

For reference, yes I have a no-name red/white/yellow/S-Video cable for my SNES that I got for 6 bucks on Amazon. I plugged in red/white/S-Video because.....why would I need to plug in the yellow? I have no checkered look on my TV screen with just the S-Video and it looks fine.

[jay_red]

I have a couple different s-Video cables with the composite connector and never noticed any checkerboard image.

[CRTGAMER]

I only heard the dual s-video/composite cables created a checkered look on the screen. Many forums mentioned that, but it is hard to find out without actually testing a cable.

I had that problem with those cables too. It turns out that the solution is to plug in the composite video in addition to s-video.

People actually do that? I thought it would be kinda redundant to have 2 video plugs in on the same a/v setup at the same time. I mean, if I have S-Video hooked up, why would I need the yellow composite video cable plugged in as well?

Agree, not a good idea, keep the composite unplugged!

Some TVs will detect the composite signal and revert to that, reducing the video separation of the SVideo. This defeats the whole purpose of having the SVideo plugged in keeping the Chroma Luma signals isolated.

[Hobie-wan]

Sounds like perhaps some crappy cables have grounding or shielding issues and simply connecting the other cable helps minimize the issue.

[bmoc]

For the record, I got my cables from the Racketboy store years ago. I have tested them on several TVs and if s-video is plugged in, it will default to s-video when composite is plugged in as well. It is certainly possible that some TVs won't default to s-video but I haven't encountered that yet. I was just providing a simple solution to a common problem. If you aren't experiencing a checkerboard patter then clearly there is no reason to plug in the composite cable.

I agree that they are shoddy cables and I don't use them any more since upgrading to PVMs. Incidentally, the checkerboard effect is non-existent on PVMs with only s-video plugged in. So I also agree with Hobie that they are poorly grounded and/or shielded.

[JoeAwesome]

I haven't seen an issue with my 3-in-1 s-video on my TVs. That said, time to sell my official s-vid cable