Alex Mitchell

GCVideo Firmware 3.1 Released

Ingo Korb, one of the developers behind the GCVideo project—the basis of virtually every available HDMI and/or component video output mod for the GameCube and Wii—released a new firmware revision last Saturday that implements a handful of helpful bug fixes. Especially important for those of you revisiting the GameCube’s excellent catalog of horror games this October, v3.1 finally addresses a bug that caused the GCVideo to blank its signal in games like Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evil series:

  • GCVideo Firmware v3.1 changelog:
    • Made changes to the audio subsystem that reduce the chance of timing failures during synthesis
    • Improved compatibility with some Samsung TVs
    • Fix video info codes of 16:9 modes
    • Avoid excessive screen blanking during menu transitions in some games (e.g. Eternal Darkness)
    • Add 486-to-480 cropping for GBI

Bear in mind that updating any GCVideo products through homebrew is only possible if you’re already running at least v3.0 of the GCVideo firmware. Updating GCVideo products running v2.4 or earlier requires a hardware flashing setup that involves physically attaching a programmer to your GCVideo’s PCB, which is a bit of work if you’re using an internal modification. Your GCVideo’s current firmware revision should be viewable in the “About” page in the GCVideo OSD, so check that before you try to run any homebrew. It’s also worth contacting the manufacturer of your GCVideo product, as they will sometimes offer a free flashing service if you cover the shipping costs.

An Insurrection Industries Carby, being updated from a pre-v3.0 firmware.

A curious aspect of this release is that Ikorb began the changelog by mentioning that they’d planned to add something more significant to v3.1, but that those additions will have to wait until some time in the future. Given the maturity of the GCVideo project, and also the looming GCDigital project from PixelFX, one wonders what the future holds for GameCube and Wii fans…