How to add S-Video to your N64 (For home console use)
Moderator:Moderators
Here is a very easy way to add S-Video to your N64. This is for use on your home console, not a portable.
All you need is an S-Video connector and some ribbon cable.
1. Open your N64.
2. Remove all the screws that hold the board in, which is pretty much all of them.
3. Solder 4 wires to Luminance, Luminance Ground, Chroma, and Chroma Ground, as shown in the picture below.
4. Find the pinout of your S-Video connector. I.E., figure out which pins on the bottom go to which holes on the top.
5. Solder Luminance, Luminance Ground, Chroma, and Chroma Ground to the appropriate connectors on your plug.
6. Remove a bit of plastic on the side of the case to make room for the connector.
7. Attach it with plenty of hot glue.
8. Reassemble N64.
See the first picture for help. After that you can see finished photos and a picture comparison.
Here is the finished product:
Here it is compared to composite:
S-Video:
Composite:
All you need is an S-Video connector and some ribbon cable.
1. Open your N64.
2. Remove all the screws that hold the board in, which is pretty much all of them.
3. Solder 4 wires to Luminance, Luminance Ground, Chroma, and Chroma Ground, as shown in the picture below.
4. Find the pinout of your S-Video connector. I.E., figure out which pins on the bottom go to which holes on the top.
5. Solder Luminance, Luminance Ground, Chroma, and Chroma Ground to the appropriate connectors on your plug.
6. Remove a bit of plastic on the side of the case to make room for the connector.
7. Attach it with plenty of hot glue.
8. Reassemble N64.
See the first picture for help. After that you can see finished photos and a picture comparison.
Here is the finished product:
Here it is compared to composite:
S-Video:
Composite:
-
- Senior Member
- Posts:1911
- Joined:Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:39 pm
- PSN Username:Denki_no_Ame
- Location:What's it to you? Stalker...
- Contact:
An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
- ShockSlayer
- Niblet 64
- Posts:5059
- Joined:Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:47 pm
- Location:In my inbox.
It does to me.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Oh, and the last time I checked, all you needed was a compatible s-video cable. I could be wrong, but what do I know?
Nice guide!
http://twitter.com/ShockSlayer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ehn, I follow ya, I guess those are just the little things that I don't really notice anyway.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Mario: it's LCD. Beautiful I might add.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts:1911
- Joined:Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:39 pm
- PSN Username:Denki_no_Ame
- Location:What's it to you? Stalker...
- Contact:
...You remind me of my older brother. Couldn't care less if he's using RF or HDMI, mono sound through a cheap 13" TV or 5.1 surround sound courtesy of Klipsch.Valium wrote:Ehn, I follow ya, I guess those are just the little things that I don't really notice anyway.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Mario: it's LCD. Beautiful I might add.
But why buy something when you can build it yourself?ShockSlayer wrote:It does to me.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Oh, and the last time I checked, all you needed was a compatible s-video cable. I could be wrong, but what do I know?
Nice guide!
Thank for the nice comment.
Does anybody know, how much better does RGB look? Is it much, much better? Or only slightly? I thing RGB may be the next step for this. (I want the BEST video quality I can get from my N64)
-
- Senior Member
- Posts:1911
- Joined:Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:39 pm
- PSN Username:Denki_no_Ame
- Location:What's it to you? Stalker...
- Contact:
I can't say for the N64, but I know the difference between composite and component on my PS2 is HUGE. Everything is much, much more crisp with component. This is using an SD TV, by the way. It's not common to have a standard definition TV with component inputs... but I has one.Mario wrote:Does anybody know, how much better does RGB look? Is it much, much better? Or only slightly? I thing RGB may be the next step for this. (I want the BEST video quality I can get from my N64)
That is me in a nutshell, although I do prefer stereo to mono at least ;DElectric Rain wrote:...You remind me of my older brother. Couldn't care less if he's using RF or HDMI, mono sound through a cheap 13" TV or 5.1 surround sound courtesy of Klipsch.Valium wrote:Ehn, I follow ya, I guess those are just the little things that I don't really notice anyway.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Mario: it's LCD. Beautiful I might add.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts:1911
- Joined:Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:39 pm
- PSN Username:Denki_no_Ame
- Location:What's it to you? Stalker...
- Contact:
Valium wrote:That is me in a nutshell, although I do prefer stereo to mono at least ;DElectric Rain wrote:...You remind me of my older brother. Couldn't care less if he's using RF or HDMI, mono sound through a cheap 13" TV or 5.1 surround sound courtesy of Klipsch.Valium wrote:Ehn, I follow ya, I guess those are just the little things that I don't really notice anyway.Electric Rain wrote:An easy way to tell: Look at the "S" in "Select". In the composite version, it's blurred to the point where you can't see the background through the openings of the letter... It's just... kind of a black smudge... In the S-video version, the lines are more crisp and you can see the background through the "hooks" of the "S".Valium wrote:Is it a bad thing that I really can't tell the difference?
Great guide though.
Does that make any sense?
Mario: it's LCD. Beautiful I might add.
This is an interesting topic, Mario. I always thought the video output for the N64 was terrible - even S-Video. But then perhaps that is because the N64 seemed to use some or sort of smearing technique in its video processing for anti-aliasing.
Not sure if I have my facts straight on that, but I am also curious if the RGB output is better because of how horrendous the S-Video output of mine is. Plug the same Nintendo multiport cable into the SNES, and it looks gorgeous.
Not sure if I have my facts straight on that, but I am also curious if the RGB output is better because of how horrendous the S-Video output of mine is. Plug the same Nintendo multiport cable into the SNES, and it looks gorgeous.
Component is RGB, right? If so, I have the same kind of TV. (Standard def w/RGB inputs)Electric Rain wrote:I can't say for the N64, but I know the difference between composite and component on my PS2 is HUGE. Everything is much, much more crisp with component. This is using an SD TV, by the way. It's not common to have a standard definition TV with component inputs... but I has one.Mario wrote:Does anybody know, how much better does RGB look? Is it much, much better? Or only slightly? I thing RGB may be the next step for this. (I want the BEST video quality I can get from my N64)
I'm not sure how the N64 uses anti-aliasing, all I know is that in some parts of games, the quality is much nicer. It's not always noticable, though, so I'm going to try RGB as well.ckrtech wrote:This is an interesting topic, Mario. I always thought the video output for the N64 was terrible - even S-Video. But then perhaps that is because the N64 seemed to use some or sort of smearing technique in its video processing for anti-aliasing.
Not sure if I have my facts straight on that, but I am also curious if the RGB output is better because of how horrendous the S-Video output of mine is. Plug the same Nintendo multiport cable into the SNES, and it looks gorgeous.
- hailrazer
- Portablizer Extraordinaire
- Posts:2764
- Joined:Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:57 pm
- Location:Georgia Sweet Georgia
Not really.Mario wrote:
Component is RGB, right? If so, I have the same kind of TV. (Standard def w/RGB inputs)
.
http://www.abccables.com/info-rgb.html
My Portable Systems:
-----Genimini---------Darth64---------Dreamtrooper--------Ncube---------Kamikazi64---N64Boy Advance
-----Genimini---------Darth64---------Dreamtrooper--------Ncube---------Kamikazi64---N64Boy Advance
Thanks, hailrazer.
I;m trying to add RGB to my N64. I know that it will work because I have the VDC-NUS chip on the board and it is revision 8. I know where to get the RGB signals, however, I do not know where C-Sync is. Can anybody tell me? It's not at the A/V connector. Also, on the RGB plug, is the center the color (R, G, or B) and the outside C-Sync? Thanks for any information you can give me.
I;m trying to add RGB to my N64. I know that it will work because I have the VDC-NUS chip on the board and it is revision 8. I know where to get the RGB signals, however, I do not know where C-Sync is. Can anybody tell me? It's not at the A/V connector. Also, on the RGB plug, is the center the color (R, G, or B) and the outside C-Sync? Thanks for any information you can give me.