Gamecube Digital out lag

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TurnBack
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Gamecube Digital out lag

Post by TurnBack » Sat May 11, 2019 11:50 am

Hi everyone! I am a speedrunner who is currently looking to update the output quality of my PAL Gamecube for streaming. I stumbled across this page: https://www.retrorgb.com/gamecubecompare.html . Since low input lag is important for speedrunning, I use a CRT monitor, that most likely doesn't support 480p (even though the manual doesn't specifically say so), so using 480p output is sadly ruled out for the time being.

According to the retroRGB page, the best possible output quality without 480p would be the so-called "Expert option", which entails modding the Component cables to RGBs or VGA and use the 240p output with these cables. I was wondering if doing so would be suitable for speedrunning or if I'm better off just using a SCART cable on the analog AV out port. How much lag does the DAC chip from either the original component cables or the GCVideo options produce? Thank you in advance for helping me out!
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Extrems
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Re: Gamecube Digital out lag

Post by Extrems » Sat May 11, 2019 1:41 pm

None, and the same interface is used internally to generate what comes out the analog AV out.
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Papy.G
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Re: Gamecube Digital out lag

Post by Papy.G » Wed May 15, 2019 10:19 am

I don't see where getting 240P would improve quality output over 480i, it's quite a nonsense! first, if you have a Pal GC, you're supposed to have 50Hz versions that will probably give you best quality in 576i, to begin with.

If your CRT monitor doesn't handle 480P, you won't have to mod a Component cable to output 240P since you have a PAL GameCube, you'd better get a SCART RGB cable.

In the end, if you want to get the full 480 (or 576) lines non-interlaced, SWISS offers you an alternative to progressive scan, with the sf modes, at the expense of an additionnal lag of 1 frame, and you'll only have 30Hz (or 25) real refreshing rate. It's up to you to (check first if the games you want to play don't run at half the speed then), see if you can live with it, and if your capture device doesn't mess the fields. I tried with MKDD and FZeroGX both EUR versions, their speed is halved, but Burnout2 US plays full speed! Maybe US versions will support this better?

Do you intend to play/stream GBA or GC games?

Edit: Beware the article you mentionned is from another era, where Digital-AV plugin solutions didn't exist.
You now have DAV-HDMI (Carby), DAV-HDMI/WII (EON GCHD MKII), and one last with only analog out (No HDMI) I don't remember its name.
DMG/MultiFreq OC/EDGB/EZF Jr, AGB/SC miniSD, NTR/NeoMK3, USG/flashme V8/SC miniSD
DOL001(EUR)/RGB/GCPlug/GBP/SD2SP2, RVL 001(EUR)/RGB/CMP/WiiSD

Zelda WW with Tingle Tuner in split screen was what the GC RF modulator was made for! (Video)
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