Hardware Review: We Look at a Definitive GameCube HDMI Mod

nice. i would've preferred vanessa schneider show off how it looks with rounder shapes but monkey ball works even better with the shape of the track. it looks like footage from a well set up emulator. this should be at every melee tournament from now on.

Gamecube definitely wasn't my first console (That'd be N64, though I played my parents' NES and SNES before then) but I remember going to Walmart and seeing the display for it.

And I saw Mario Sunshine on display. Sweet Arceus, I was taken aback. I needed. I wanted it. And you know what? I don't regret it to this day. The Gamecube was awesome.

I guess one of the perks of modern technology is getting to relive games like that with modern, upscaled resolutions (That the original system lacked the power to do) via emulation or just picture clarity modifications like this even.

I'd love to see what GBA games look like on the GBA player. This mod is crazy expensive, plus I don't want to ship my system to Europe. But that screen output is amazing. They need to do some side-by-side shots of the original output.

edit: oh, looks like you can do it yourself here -> http://www.videogameperfection.com/2015/11/16/hdmi-lands-gamecube/

Looks good. Me? I just run my GCN back catalogue through my Wii U.

One way or another I will surely be getting this thing. Considering the amount of time I still spend playing GameCube games on my Wii, this will surely be a very welcome addition (plus, recording GameCube videos in this instead of recording hem from Wii's Component output should give them quite a visual quality boost!).

I'd love to get my GameCube modified but it's just way too expensive, plus I don't think my console is an early one which according to the site, means it can be upgraded. 😭

Makes me want to mod my GC, but then I'd have to hook it up, and I have no room besides the 3 current gen systems and Wii. So I'll just keep playing GC from my Wii. Running from hard drive and through a component cable they look pretty good as is.

BTW: the RGB Scart cable is a lot cheaper than the legendary component cable and also delivers an excellent picture if your TV supports it.

@electrolite77
Correct, RGB only works on PAL GC consoles.
The NTSC console has S-video support instead or RGB.

@AlexOlney Gotta love your guilty face after the progressive pun, eheh.

For me it's too much cost and too much bother - I got my Gamecube on launch day so probably can't upgrade anyway. In fact the Gamecube is the only console I've ever purchased at launch. I should be ok as I don't have a big TV.

To me the GameCube games already look good to begin with so no mod for me. If I want to play GameCube games in HD, that dolphin emulator already got that covered, that and the Wii itself.

@electrolite77 Yes, PAL only as far as i know. Think they released it mainly for France where every TV used a SCART/Peritel connector in those days.

How is this better than progressive component output?

@DarthKirby The digital out port is digital only. The component cable has a DAC that converts it to analog. Few peo0le ever bought them so they became collector's items.

@wazlon If you purchased at launch, you're covered. Only the later released Game Cubes removed the digital port, because nobody used them.

But Wii Component is good enough in my opinion if you have a b/c model.

Too bad my launch Gamecube committed suicide (a 3 foot fall knocked something loose inside it and it refused to ever turn on again) and my replacement doesn't have the digital output. This looks really awesome. I'm quite happy with my Wii component cables.

@StarDust4Ever OK, I always took the "Digital Out" as a misnomer. Googled that. Glad I bought the cable from the Nintendo Online Store when they where available.

@mjc0961 Ideally, the best solution would have been an HDMI converter that plugs into the Digital out. I think there was a proprietary DVI adapter or something available in Japan.

I do sort of miss using the Wii Component but my current setup has a CRT for the retro systems and a 1080p ASUS LCD gaming monitor for my modern systems. The gaming monitor is VGA, DVI, and HDMI only. I also use an HDMI switch to pass sound to the stereo.

My Wii was starting to fail before I transferred all my data to Wii-U. Luckily the transfer went by with only a minor hiccup at 90%. I transferred what I could to the Wii-U and was then able to resume the process from my Wii and finish it. My launch Wii was getting crashes and errors and I haven't touched it since I transferred the data over, but sometime I'll see if a factory reset will revive it. I may install the Homebrew softmod if it still works.

I still use the Wii-U's HD upscaler for Wii games (they are still 480p prior to upscale) and the Game Cube's stock A/V looks fabulous on my CRT and sounds great through my stereo. I'm honestly more interested in the N64 HDMI mod as the composite on a stock N64 looks like [insert term for donkey's rear].

But is this better than an upscaler like Framemeister ?

Pretty pricy and a Framemeister upscales all your retro hardware.

i love Monkey Ball!!!

Nearly £200 including delivery of 3-4weeks? Ya right. See ya later!

This mod costs as much(if not more) as a component cable

I currently have a UK PAL GameCube but all my games are American. I use the Freeloader disc to play them. Can't remember why I did it that way! May have been because I used to have the Panasonic Q, but then I still needed to use the Freeloader disc anyway 🤔

Unfortunately it means I can't use my Wii to play the games as the freeloader doesn't work on it. I keep considering whether to buy a US GC or Wii as the best solution. This mod + region unlocking and postage would be approx £200 - that's ridiculous surely?!

I think at this rate I'm best just waiting for GC games on the Wii U (or NX) VC, and hope they put some effort into making them play well on modern TVs. The N64 Wii U VC games look ok don't they?

Long live the GameCube!!!

Instead of going through all this trouble I wanna recommend to all retro gamers to try and find a Sony Trinitron or a similar model; it makes some GC games look like late gen PS360 games (HUDs and menus aside)! These TVs usually cost a fraction of mods like these and can obviously be used for ALL retro consoles. Most people who are selling are usually glad they can get rid of it, these suckers way like 200 pounds, and it will make the transition from your old TV, CRT or PLASMA/ LCD, look like when you first played on the Wii U after all these years of SD Wii gaming.

@Boerewors I had a 32" Sony Trinitron. Fantastic TV and really was great for consoles up to the HD era. I sold it when I bought my Wii U, really it was a monstrous size, weighed a tonne and took up way too much space. I think I got about €50 for it if even that. If space wasn't an issue I would have kept it.

Thanks for the video Alex! A few things I need to point out

1) Port at the back, we've already got the cut neater in the newer mods, but we're actually hoping to get a custom design board in February that will fit perfectly and not even need the original digital out port to be removed at all.

2) The deinterlacer on the board isn't meant to replace the deinterlacer in your TV or negate the need for 480p compatible games. It serves two purposes. Firstly it deinterlaces with no input lag. Unfortunately this means you get combing artefacts. There's no way around this, you can either add input lag and have nice deinterlacing or you can deinterlace with no input lag. Ideally, users should try to find NTSC software that supports progressive scan or use homebrew to force progressive scan.

I'm actually surprised you preferred the mods deinterlaced image to your TVs, though deinterlacers do vary quite a bit. However you're 100% correct to say that the mods deinterlacer reduces lag, this will be true on almost all modern TVs vs native deinterlacing.

3) Scanline overlay is meant more for 240p games where scanlines would have been visible on an actual CRT. All the Gamecube games you showed in the video wouldn't have had scanlines anyway, though they can look kind of cool with them added sometimes. The GBA player looks pretty good with scanlines added.

4) Bad ass consoles in America is working on a plug and play HDMI cable for the Gamecube. However, it won't have the advanced features (deinterlacer, scanlines etc) that our board does. If you really hate the idea of a case mod on your Cube though, that could be the mod to go for, though gamers in PAL regions can really benefit from the deinterlacer.

@mjc0961 I understand your concerns. Our HDMI N64 mods are fitted perfectly and very neatly. This mod is based on a generic FPGA board though, so doesn't fit as perfectly in the case as the HDMI N64 mod. We're hoping to address that in future though.

I have a launch era GameCube and a year ago managed to pick up the official RGB cable at a retro game event in Leeds for £2! It was in a random box of cables and I couldn't believe that they charged me so little (I expected them to track me down later and admit it was a mistake, as the go for £30+ online.)

The difference in picture is like night and day! I use it on a 32" LCD screen and the picture is very good (I used to run them through my Wii with component cable on a 40" Sony Bravia and the picture was excellent, but the missus is always watching TV on that so my consoles are relegated to my study!)

A lot of games play full screen and I can access 60hz mode for them as well. For PAL territories that is the best you are going to get from the original system. Component will do nothing to a PAL GameCube as Nintendo disabled the better picture on all PAL games, so eve through the Wii with component you are still not getting the same picture as the NTSC/ Japanese releases. If you can get hold of the official RGB scart lead though the picture is excellent for what it is. It also looks quite nice on a little 14" CRT TV I keep around for Master System/ Mega Drive retro goodness.

@Alex_Olney Could we get a video of F-Zero GX being played on this please?...... Thank you bye!

Hoping to see a Wii HDMI mod. Couple that with Nintendont which allows for widescreen GCN games then you might have the most definitive home console Cube experience.

@liveswired confused?

@BuckoA51 Honestly don't mean to be rude but £200? How many have you sold? And as PAL owners do we see any benefit?

@FJOJR Isn't a Wii HDMI mod kind of pointless when you can buy a Wii U for what would probably be the same price?

The main game I played on the Cube was the original "Metroid Prime", to the exclusion of almost every other game. Nowadays, I'm not too impressed by the system's library, but its still far ahead of the N64. In my opinion, the only two excellent games for that were "Super Mario 64" and "Ocarina of Time".

@Sligeach About half a dozen, it was always intended as a niche product for hardcore Gamecube fans and in no way replaces Dolphin, Wii, etc etc. We're hoping to get a cheaper FPGA board in the near future too.

Benefits to PAL gamers playing interlace games are explained in the video and in my previous comment (number 31).

Thanks for the answers.

i don't need to play my GameCube or WIi game in HD i jsut need them to look good on a HD screen as they did on CRT screen...

that is why i am waiting ofr this mod on Wii

i don't need to play my GameCube or WIi game in HD i jsut need them to look good on a HD screen as they did on CRT screen...

that is why i am waiting ofr this mod on Wii

i don't need to play my GameCube or WIi game in HD i jsut need them to look good on a HD screen as they did on CRT screen...

that is why i am waiting ofr this mod on Wii

@StarDust4Ever Thanks, I think I'll stick with the Wii at that price. So nobody used the GC digital port, a bit like the broadband and modem adapters.

I want this for one sole reason: Game Boy Player. Anything else, I can pop it into our Wii for progressive scan. But then, perhaps there's something to be said for this...

@GravyThief You'd be better off doing a Letterbomb softmod and then install Nintendont to unlock the native GameCube compatibility of your Wii, which, by the way, is also region free...

@GravyThief And use Configurable USB Loader and a portable HD, such as the Western Digital Elements (either 500GB or 1TB), to display all your Wii and GameCube games in a digital carousel on screen to easily select them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gasxYvRivTM

Cool stuff and good results, but for videogameperfection's price?

No. Freakin'. WAY.

For £167.00 (or $240 in big boy money), I could wait for a component/D-terminal cable to show up on eBay/Amazon at a comparable price (I got mine for $100 in June 2014 after waiting for a month or two), or I can get a WiiU+Gamecube adapter and play GCN backups via Wii Mode homebrew, which I actually have done already (the video quality on vWii is kinda balls, but I still get HDMI video and the ability to officially play the library of two whole other consoles). VGP's service is disgustingly overpriced and shouldn't be encouraged, especially when it's a less professional and more volatile solution.

No offense to Alex Olney, but I dunno why VGP's service was plugged here, almost a week later after Badass Consoles (pardon the profanity) announced GCVideo, a solution that aims to be cheaper (~$80 IIRC) AND with plans for a plug-and-play solution on the way later on in the year.

@BullockDS Video quality is balls? What programs are you using? I don't know how much difference there is in modding a real Wii vs a virtual one (seeing as I have no Wii U) but on my 42" plasma screen with component cables, using CFG USB loader and Nintendont both Wii and GameCube games look great. And Nintendont offers several options to improve picture quality. (standard 60Hz, progressive scan, wide screen)

I saved up my money - and now it's no longer available

Asked them on Twitter and Apparently they may have a Wii mod coming in the future. The Wii is currently VERY anti biscuits on most hdtvs I try component and all. Yes, I even tried old 480p edtv as well, and Yes none are expensive sonys but it's kinda ridiculous that it's only down to your tvs internal upscaler or a frameister to get the system to look good non crt.