Gamecube Digital Out

[panzeroceania]

I have been researching the gamecube digital out port as of late. I have been searching for the means to find someone who has, or find a way to create a gamecube DVI (digital) or HDMI cable. I'm aware that it would only work for gamecube games that support 480p, and that I still would just be getting a 480p signal and not a higher resolution. I am also aware that the Wii plays gamecube games, unfortunately the wii does not have digital video or audio out.

There are several reasons I am interested in this. Nintendo only ever released a component cable to be used with this port, which is an analog cable and signal. Secondly, they never provided any way to use the digital audio out.

I know the difference would be minimal but I would be very interested to build some sort of a digital breakout box, or cable that connects the gamecube digital out port, to a DVI (digital) or HDMI signal or video, and a optical, coax, or hdmi audio.

One large problem is the chip in nintendo's official component cable that plugs in there. Cannibalizing one of these cables would be the easiest way to get the plug for the gamecube side of the cable, unfortunately to get the digital signal, you would almost have to reverse engineer that chip.

I was wondering if anyone could provide any information or assistance in this matter. My knowledge about cables is very limited and I have never attempted anything like this before.

It would be interesting to find out what kind of pin input the gamecubes digital port has. Is it completely proprietary or is it some kind of obscure Asian cable input.

I have heard someone speculate that is is similar to the Japanese D-Terminal, but I think this is incorrect because I count a different number of pins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D4_video_connector

in any case, any information that sheds any light on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

additional info

http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id= ... odigitalav

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendogcda

[NotBlaine]

Gamecube will only output analog RGB.

So that means no HDMI. You could do analog over DVI, which is the same as VGA. At that point all you're doing is slapping a DVI connector onto a VGA cable.

But you already hit the nail on the head. You're not getting ANY RGB without the Macronix DAC encoder chip inside of the GC component or D-Terminal (which is just a different shaped component connector) cable.

Get a component cable, slap in a resistor, put on a 15 pin D-Sub hood, plug it into a VGA port and call it a day. It's as good as it'll get.

**Edit for clarification**

The reason you won't get it is because the only encoder chip that exists is the DAC- Digital to Analog Converter.

Since Nintendo never made a DVI cable, you'll never find a Digital Encoder Chip. And considering we haven't the foggiest idea how the DAC works, chances of anyone making a DEC out of thin air is remote at best.

[panzeroceania]

ah, thank you, I was about to say that the gamecube DOES have digital out, but you are quite right, with the materials given all we have is analog out unless someone knows how to reverse engineer or create a new chip which the chances of that are very unfavorable.

I feared as much but wanted to get a more experienced opinion. Well, I guess that's it then, it would have been cool, oh well. Thanks again.

[elvis]

As long as the digital out of the GC is not encrypted, it should be relatively easy to reverse engineer it and convert it into something else (DVI/HDMI for instance).

When I say "relatively easy", of course I mean by someone qualified (electronic engineer, etc). I certainly am not capable of that. But it's not impossible. The hard part is finding the person to do it, and providing them with the motivation (if they don't possess it already).

[NotBlaine]

As long as the digital out of the GC is not encrypted,

The reason why there aren't any 3rd party or DIY RGB cables for the GameCube is it requires proprietary chips to work.
So while it might not be encrypted in a true sense, you can't access the RGB output without a chip.

[elvis]

The reason why there aren't any 3rd party or DIY RGB cables for the GameCube is it requires proprietary chips to work.
So while it might not be encrypted in a true sense, you can't access the RGB output without a chip.

Proprietary != encrypted.

Reverse engineering something proprietary is exponentially easier than reverse engineering something proprietary+encrypted.

Given also that there is serious progress made into GameCube emulation (with projects like the Dolphin emulator), many of the GameCube's internal secrets are already being cracked open. Combining that knowledge with some signal analysis on the digital out line (and again, assuming the necessary intelligence) would get you what you wanted.

The GameCube's output signal is 480p max, and the YUV/RGB conversion in the cables is done realtime by a small ASIC made by Macronix. Again, armed with all the information above, making a small custom PIC to do conversion to HDMI would be reasonable cost effective (ie: cheaper than your average mod chip).

Again, not impossible. The hardest part is finding the people with a combination of the right qualifications and motivation.

[gradualmeltdown]

absolutely no sane person would ever spend the time. How many games supported 480p? Maybe 5 or less.

[BigTinz]

I'm confused...why wouldn't you get a vga cable for the wii?

[3yE]

Hello.

I came here through google, searching for a vaguely related topic.

There are tons of games which support 480p, perhaps 80% of japanese and US releases or more, but usually not european releases.

The digital output of Gamecube should be trivial, it is supposed to be more or less standard DAC input with slight variations at most. Capturing it with a PIC or any other microcontroller is not a possibility due to pixel clock being in about 20-25MHz range, a CPLD or FPGA based solution sounds possible though. But frankly, i've got trouble enough at capturing pixels at 1MHz from a gameboy and trying to output them onto simple VGA or TV.

When it comes to DVI output, things get highly hairy though. You get to negotiate with the display, then time everything properly and the inputs of typical DVI encoders expect serial signal with a data rate of a GHz or so - i wonder with what exactly kind of programmable electronics you would want to reach that. If someone has any links to any homebrew devices which output proper DVI, i'd certainly be interested in seeing it. If you have to re-time the signal, you also need some RAM for framebuffer, and interfacing memory fast enough is a major problem too. As a rule of a thumb, go over something like 30-40 MHz in a homebrew design for signalling between components, and it just has to fail.

I do see a device which is at least capable of parallel input, which is CH7018, and seems to have other smart things built in too.

Still, this doesn't quite sound like a fun little project, and i'm not sure it's really necessary, since quality difference compared to analog VGA is going to be unnoticeable, as semi-modern digital displays and beamers are amazingly good at getting the best out of it.

-i.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Hello.

I came here through google, searching for a vaguely related topic.

There are tons of games which support 480p, perhaps 80% of japanese and US releases or more, but usually not european releases.

The digital output of Gamecube should be trivial, it is supposed to be more or less standard DAC input with slight variations at most. Capturing it with a PIC or any other microcontroller is not a possibility due to pixel clock being in about 20-25MHz range, a CPLD or FPGA based solution sounds possible though. But frankly, i've got trouble enough at capturing pixels at 1MHz from a gameboy and trying to output them onto simple VGA or TV.

When it comes to DVI output, things get highly hairy though. You get to negotiate with the display, then time everything properly and the inputs of typical DVI encoders expect serial signal with a data rate of a GHz or so - i wonder with what exactly kind of programmable electronics you would want to reach that. If someone has any links to any homebrew devices which output proper DVI, i'd certainly be interested in seeing it. If you have to re-time the signal, you also need some RAM for framebuffer, and interfacing memory fast enough is a major problem too. As a rule of a thumb, go over something like 30-40 MHz in a homebrew design for signalling between components, and it just has to fail.

I do see a device which is at least capable of parallel input, which is CH7018, and seems to have other smart things built in too.

Still, this doesn't quite sound like a fun little project, and i'm not sure it's really necessary, since quality difference compared to analog VGA is going to be unnoticeable, as semi-modern digital displays and beamers are amazingly good at getting the best out of it.

-i.

Welcom to the forums