Wii HD Link Component Cable Reviews

• I'm happy - excellent cable, sharp picture!

  
  By A1FOQVJ4R2V4LC on 2007-09-22
  I decided to give these cables a shot since they were half the price of the official Nintendo component cables, and audio/video cables are a product well-known for some companies (you listening, Monster?) seriously trying to rip off consumers. I found these cables to work wonderfully; despite some other opinions, I think they make a significant improvement in picture quality, well worth fifteen bucks if you have an HDTV to hook your Wii up to. When compared to the composite cables that come with the system, object edges are really sharpened up. You don't need to pay $30-$50 for quality component cables. Highly recommended!
  
  

• Wii HD Link Component Cable

  
  By A1XLQ79LALAK25 on 2007-11-05
  Wii HD Link Component Cable
  
  A Wii dealer had advised that purchase of a component type cable would probably not improve performance significantly; however, I had run out of AV ports on the HDTV and needed the component type cable to make a permanent connection as opposed to having to swap AV cables. This component cable works fine but I can see no difference in performance.
  
  

• Does what it's supposed to do

  
  By A3CTL2HT15IGRT on 2007-06-13
  Despite previous reviews, I would say this is a good product from Nyko. The connectors are strong and gold-plated. The cables on the end are slightly thicker than the official Nintendo cable. There is minor image quality improvement over the official cable. If you get problems, the connectors may have been plugged incorrectly or the receiver (television, etc) device doesn't support progressive scan input. These are not a fault in the cable itself.
  
  

• Works great; important for latency reasons

  
  By A1HR9ZR9M5TDW0 on 2008-01-26
  I bought these cables due to them being cheapest at the time, and they work fine.
  
  To those stating they can't notice a performance difference, it's true that the picture quality is almost the same. However, if you're going to play your Wii on an HDTV, I would highly recommend component cables due to the fact that using the AV input on an HDTV requires it convert the incoming signal, which adds lag to the display. Not noticeable usually with something like a DVD player, but with games the added latency is very noticeable between your button press and the reaction of the HDTV. The difference between AV and Component lag was very noticeable in my experience (I tested this with Mario Galaxy on a ViewSonic 19" HDTV).
  
  Although, if lag is your biggest concern, best to just use an old crummy non-flatscreen TV, as they still have the quickest response times (even vs. component) in my experience.
  
  

• Works but whats the point?

  
  By A1FM9W70YO0K1 on 2007-04-13
  I brought htis home and hooked it up to a brand new LCD 46" 1080 TV and I originally had the composite cables in. I changed it to this one and set the Wii to the HD and barely notice a difference. I really don't think its somethignw rong with the cable. I think thats the best the Wii has. Component cable really isn't necessary but if you want a slight increase in color depth pick it up.
  
  
• Not recommended for people who wish to plug the sound and video cables into two different objects.
  By A29C0AW43FV9V1 on 2007-11-07
  These cables work well enough, but I wish I had done a little research online before buying this brand. As the image up there clearly indicates, the Video and Audio connectors cannot be separated by a good amount, and while it wasn't completely impossible, it took a LOT of work and shifting objects around to connect these cables to both my TV and my stereo systems.
  I bought this cable in a store, and the packaging completely hides this setback by covering up that part of the cable. Thanks, Nyko.
  
  
• Don't buy this cable
  By A24D5E1I6HVE87 on 2007-04-03
  Bought the cable thinking it was a good, inexpensive product. The colors are completely distorted, it looks worse than the component cables that came with the system, it is constantly flickering. I recommend going with the official nintendo cables. You pay more but you won't get ripped off.
  
  
• More of a convenience than an upgrade
  By A17AGDQJDPBA8D on 2008-05-27
  Since the Wii only supports 480p resolution, these are not HD cables. I purchased them as more of a convenience because I did not have an extra composite input. I did not notice any difference in picture quality. On the plus side these cables are well built and appear to be shielded. If you can find them at a reasonable price I would upgrade and keep the original set as a spare, If you have enough composite inputs on your TV then I wouldn't bother.
  
  
• Wii HD Link Component Cable
  By AUYT2H281GPNJ on 2008-06-13
  I recently purchased a Wii System and decided to look for an HD cable to get better video on my HDTV when I used the Wii. Prices for these cables are very expensive and I almost decided to forget it until I ran across this particular cable which was reasonable in price and appeared to have decent ratings from other users. So, I gave it a try.
  
  Basically, it works as advertised. I did not see a lot of difference in using this cable over the component cable that came with the Wii except for games that have some kind of water content - like the golf game that comes with the Wii. With the component cable, the water does not look very realistic - pretty fake in fact. With the HD cable, the water looks like water and gives the game a little more realism. I do not have many games yet for my system so I cannot comment on other game differences with the 2 cables in comparison. My thought is that for $20, I got a cable that improved the graphics (water scenes) enough that I can better enjoy some games that are available with the Wii.
  
  Note that when you replace the component cable that came with the Wii system with this cable, you have to go back into the Wii video options menu and change the screen resolution to take advantage of this cable's better properties.
  
  
• I didn't realize this only upgrades you to 480p from default 480i
  By A2K9GVYAPKVVDX on 2008-08-03
  I bought this cable without doing much research so please make sure you know this before purchasing: The only upgrade this cable offers is 480p (over the standard 480i cable that ships with the Wii)! The difference between 480i and 480p is that 480p is progressive scan and 480i is interlaced. This means that all 480 lines of definition are showed at once on 480p. 480i shows you half that amount at any given time so therefore it is called interlaced. In addition component video has less signal loss than composite. This translates to a sharper image with less noise.
  
  With that said, this cable does exactly what it should do and I have no complaints with it's performance. Simply with the fact that you are nearly purchasing the same cable you already have.
  
  
• Improves picture a whole lot!
  By A28JC5EEEJN3K2 on 2007-11-16
  I have a 20" EDTV and this cable really improved the picture. It makes the Wii's graphics look almost Xbox-ish(not 360). Definitely an improvement.
  
  
• A must for big screens
  By A2L7AZXL9YPK6M on 2008-04-26
  I have a 40 inch HD widescreen and this has improved the picture sooo much. With the original cable that came with the Wii, a lot of the video was fuzzy. With things I bought on virtual console (like Zelda Ocarina of Time) everything was way too dark on top of the fuzzy.
  
  As soon as I plugged in this cable I noticed everything looked much more crisp and virtual console games were much brighter. It's not as crisp and clean as my PS3 but I didn't expect it to be.
  
  I wonder if some of the other people who don't notice any difference have changed the Wii's screen settings to 480p yet. Just a thought.
  
  Anyway, if you have a bigger screen I really recommend getting this cable, it works great for me.
  
  
• Debatable picture quality improvement
  By A3A15L96IYUO6V on 2008-08-03
  I always look for the best sound / picture possible out of a source without spending hundreds of dollars to make it perfect. For a reasonable price, I thought I'd try this out with my new Wii as component is always known for being better that composite video...
  
  I've set all the widescreen and progressive scan options in the Wii and the image quality is good. The question, however, is there any improvement over the standard Wii cable included. I'm using a 32" LCD TV, and perhaps with a larger TV you'd see a bigger difference. I've never actually tried the original cable, but I've seen other Wiis with composite, and it's still decent...
  
  If I was giving the component feature of the Wii a review, it would probably be 3 out of 5 starts. But because this review is really to focus on the quality of the cable itself, the Nyko equivalent definitely gets 5 stars. Connectors are gold plated and the wires don't seem skimpy. Definitely a reasonable substitute for the Nintendo branded cable.
  
  
• Essential for text, such as web content
  By AJE5BC5M8083Y on 2008-02-18
  Very easy installation (assuming your TV has component video input).
  
  We installed this component cable onto a Wii equipped with a ethernet/usb connector for web browsing. With plain out-of-the-box Wii video, web text was annoyingly fuzzy. With this cable, text is much sharper.
  
  I don't know that games are all that much better with the added sharpness provided by this cable. Half might say yes, while half might say no. ...But I would rate this (or similar) cable as essential for reading text. It also makes our photo slideshows pleasingly sharper.
  
  The production quality of this cable seemed on a par with that of the original -- plugs fit perfectly, etc.
  
  Worth the money.
  
  
• Does the job, and does it very well.
  By A2M2BRTFY1ZOAZ on 2007-10-16
  Very nice, clean, strong, gold plated cables.
  
  I bought these over the official component cables and I have not had any problems.
  
  Good priced and does the job.
  Although the jump from 480i to 480p isn't a visually stunning difference, I can now enjoy my Wii on my HDTV through a progressive signal.
  
  If you plan on getting component cables for your wii for the use with a HDTV, just get these, same yourself the cost of official or more expensive cables.
  
  
• It does work
  By A35CA8HLN740PC on 2007-11-17
  I can see noticeable improvements in quality, but it is not great. I wish wii would put out 720p and included a DVD player! I bought it on Amazon, but don't do the same mistake as me! Head over to monoprice and you will get it for less.
  
  
• uhmmm...
  By A1HCLZMSE8JWS6 on 2007-12-08
  just wondering all you people who gave this cable a bad review and saying component cables don't do anything for the performance, have you tried going to the system settings and changing the screen resolution to 480p and screen ratio to 16:9 instead of 4:3? that might help. and the person who said that the wii comes with component cables... well it doesn't. it comes with av cables which are inferior in today's world. I myself have never used these cables but I know nyko makes quality 3rd party accessories for wii. but any component cables should enhance the picture quality.
  
  
• As good as you can get
  By AIHUH7I7HHNUT on 2008-07-18
  
  Since the Wii isn't really true HD, these cables are the very best that you can do. Never go out and buy Monster cables at Best Buy for $$$. These work exactly the same and are a lot cheaper. I recommend these cables to replace the crappy ones that come with the Wii.
  
  
• Works great! Highly recommend for large HDTVs
  By A32V9TDZ4W28AB on 2008-06-05
  I have a brand new 58 inch Samsung Plasma TV and one night I hooked up the Wii for my sister and her friends with the factory supplied cables. Even with the 16:9 setting selected the picture still had the black bars on the sides and the picture was a bit blurry and horrible!
  
  A week later I bought the Wii HD Link Component Cables, put it on the 480P setting, and the picture now fills up the whole screen and the picture is a lot better but not HD quality at all.
  
  These cables work as advertised, very affordable, and I highly recommend them.
  
  
• Stray Pixels
  By A3SJM07ZDCCMVX on 2007-11-14
  I have an LCD TV and hooked this cable up. However, I get tons of stray pixels on games. I don't know if it's just a cheap cable or what, but I'm returning mine and going with the official nintendo brand cable.
  
  Also, the sound cables can't be split from the video cables.
  
  
• Works as advertised...
  By A2RD8WPCSQKBXX on 2007-12-21
  ...but I really wish the audio connection cables were longer.
  
  I don't have a TV; I have the Wii attached to my 24" computer monitor, and Logitech surround sound system. It's only by luck that the input "node" for the surround setup is right next to my monitor, and even then I had to go to Radio Shack and get RCA cable extensions, so the audio would reach.
  
  Once plugged in, it works like a champ!
  
  
• NYKO HD-LINK
  By A392WKNNH7IUZZ on 2008-03-15
  Wii HD Link Component Cable The cable was bad directly out of the box. The blue channel does not work at all so there is no blue on the screen. Funny color to be absent since it is a primary color on the wii dashboard. Also the picture is very bad. A little static in the background. My Standard cables are way better.
  
  
• Nyko quality is satisfactory
  By A1MR2M068PJNWE on 2008-04-22
  They may not be the best quality gaming cables out there, but the Nyko HD Component cables give you a much sharper, vibrant picture. I noticed during the CG scenes in SSBB on the AV cables everything was darker and the edges were real fuzzy. The HD cables just cleaned everything up rather nicely. Even though they say HD, everything is, obviously, still 480p picture quality, but it's the best 480 I've seen yet. You don't need a sis by side comparison to show you the difference between the two you'll notice it the second you hook them up. Good bang for your buck.
  
  
• Broken out of the box
  By A1ZJRDE5JGIO12 on 2008-06-09
  The cables produced static and hissing in the audio and actually made the picture worse then the cables that came with the Wii (everything has a green hue). Buy at your own risk.
  
  
• HD Link
  By ASEJE55JVWS69 on 2008-08-05
  The only complaint about this product is that you cant plug in the white and red cables into a stereo system. What i've done before is to plug the yellow cable to the T.V. and the others (red and white) into the stereo, which gives you a whole different sound quality than any T.V. could. That said, it's a shame i bought it.
  
  
• HD Cable Review
  By A2WQPXCDJ2EUZS on 2008-08-12
  Cable is of high quality. Connected it up and it works well. Ends are gold plated. Why pay more for the official Nintendo brand when these do the same job. I would buy them again. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Inexpensive ticket to 480p
  By A3L44866N42DAU on 2007-10-30
  These cables worked as advertised and didn't set me back much. Better than buying OEM from Nintendo!
  
  
• Worth the price
  By A2XLJS6PNVV308 on 2007-11-07
  I bought these because my receiver is ONLY connected to the HDTV via component cables. Although it has 3 composite video inputs, it cannot switch a composite video source and output video through the component cables to the HDTV. The other alternative was to connect the video directly to the TV, but then I'd have to switch source on the TV and sound on the receiver... not very elegant. I have a logitech unified remote that I could program to do this but still... not very elegant :)
  
  Anyway, the cables give a slight improvement in color, but barely perceptible. 480p, after all, is S-VIDEO so basically late 80s technology. Anyone with a Wii knows not to expect 1080p resolution with complex shaders and effects, so I don't think you'll be let down with this product, especially if your receiver is like mine and can't switch composite video to a component signal.
  
  
• Amazing Product
  By AVSYVX06HV7PV on 2008-01-12
  all i had to do was switch out the composite cables in the back, put these on, and set the wii to display in hdtv (480p).
  
  
• Better than I expected
  By ANJYD1R6825Z8 on 2008-02-06
  Comparing the price of this cable with the official one, I almost didn't believe it was going to work perfectly. But, the first time i booted my Wii with it, the image was perfect: great video quality with no interference (there are 5 tv antennas around my apartment, so the problem with interference here is huge).
  It is really reinforced, the plug is golden, the white color gives a nice touch, and it came without any scratch (the box is quite resistent).
  
  I really recommmend it.
  
  

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