Second Monitor Black and White Vista

guile45

help please i am at my wits end with this
ok i have an Advent ert2250 using a Intel Accelarator Graphics card
when i plug in my s video cable and connect it to my tv my Tv will only display in black and white

i checked the properties of the card which originally had the tv settings as NTSC but i changed it to PAL there are about seven PAL option PAL - I PAL - M and so on but none of them made a difference, i also changed the colour bit from 32 to 16 still no luck. in the graphic properties PAL is now the preset for the TV but its still in black and white

help please!!!!
if someone knows a lot about this and i am not explainin myself well i can provide screen grabs of the problem maybe to get a solution. everythin seems so be the way it should. i have tried it on two tv's and still no luck just this damn black and white display

muggyog

Maybe too obvious but is the s-vid cable faulty?

Overheal

well B&W does sound like a PAL/NTSC conflict from my experience. Not with computers but with a portable DVD player I had - it could switch between the two to hook up to a TV and the LCD was NTSC - so it would go B&W when the player switched output to PAL.

All I can advise is keep fiddling with the different PAL settings and refresh rates (typically 50-60Hz) if not the S-Video could be faulty.

actually there was one case last year i used an S-video to hook my desktop to a TV: but it was a proper Graphics card and not integrated crap (no offense I just resent it) it worked fine - the TV was PAL and it was never an issue. My laptop also works fine when used with an HDMI cable. Try getting an HDMI-to-SCART (or VGA/DVI-to-SCART depending on your laptop) cable if you still arent having any joy.

rrpc

Is it S-Video to S-Video or is there SCART involved at the TV end? This can give the B&W result.

Generally the problem is at the TV end when this happens, not the PC. You could try using another device (e.g. DVD player) through S-Video to see if it's repeatable. Then you will know which device is at fault.

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

Is it S-Video to S-Video or is there SCART involved at the TV end? This can give the B&W result.

Generally the problem is at the TV end when this happens, not the PC. You could try using another device (e.g. DVD player) through S-Video to see if it's repeatable. Then you will know which device is at fault.

it is s-video to one male piece. i have a removable scart head so i just insert that one male end into the yellow video input on the scart head. my tv also has just a video and audio input. tryed both ways and nothin worked.

to the guy who said try it thru another device, well that s the porblem i wanna use it as a dvd player, i have the st*rbox which does have an input but i dont no how to change from st*rbox viewin to its other output. i have tried this but there is no AV 2 if you like on the remote control or in the menu.

it could well be the scart but i doubt it as it is brand new lead.

muggyog

Now that I know your setup here is what is wrong Link.
The colour component is not passed to the TV ( luminance only ). Possible solution at the end.

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

it is s-video to one male piece. i have a removable scart head so i just insert that one male end into the yellow video input on the scart head. my tv also has just a video and audio input. tryed both ways and nothin worked.

That's the problem. The scart isn't taking all the input from the s-video hence you're not gettng colour. Have you not got an S-Video input on your TV? Most of them do, even the very old ones. You can use an S-Video male-male lead in that case and leave out the SCART altogether.

What's the brand and model of your TV?

to the guy who said try it thru another device, well that s the porblem i wanna use it as a dvd player, i have the st*rbox which does have an input but i dont no how to change from st*rbox viewin to its other output. i have tried this but there is no AV 2 if you like on the remote control or in the menu.

Most of those remotes don't have a separate button for the different inputs, they cycle through them with each press of the input source button, so you just keep pressing until you get the desired input coming up.

it could well be the scart but i doubt it as it is brand new lead.

It's nothing to do with the SCART lead, but the fact that you are running S-Video through SCART and they're not completely compatible. That's why you're losing the colour.

guile45

muggyog wrote: »

Now that I know your setup here is what is wrong Link.
The colour component is not passed to the TV ( luminance only ). Possible solution at the end.

i dont really understand where the solution is here sorry

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

That's the problem. The scart isn't taking all the input from the s-video hence you're not gettng colour. Have you not got an S-Video input on your TV? Most of them do, even the very old ones. You can use an S-Video male-male lead in that case and leave out the SCART altogether.

What's the brand and model of your TV?

Most of those remotes don't have a separate button for the different inputs, they cycle through them with each press of the input source button, so you just keep pressing until you get the desired input coming up.

It's nothing to do with the SCART lead, but the fact that you are running S-Video through SCART and they're not completely compatible. That's why you're losing the colour.

the tv does not have a svideo input, the TV is an old Panaonisc VCR combi, dont have model number to hand sorry. is there any other solution here?
thanks for the help guys

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

That's the problem. The scart isn't taking all the input from the s-video hence you're not gettng colour. Have you not got an S-Video input on your TV? Most of them do, even the very old ones. You can use an S-Video male-male lead in that case and leave out the SCART altogether.

What's the brand and model of your TV?

Most of those remotes don't have a separate button for the different inputs, they cycle through them with each press of the input source button, so you just keep pressing until you get the desired input coming up.

It's nothing to do with the SCART lead, but the fact that you are running S-Video through SCART and they're not completely compatible. That's why you're losing the colour.

p.s. i wont be using the st*rbox as this is connected to a tv in another room
i want to connect the laptop to the tv in my own room.so basically laptop, tne panasonic TV (no svideo) input. so is there a lead i can get to connect here or a solution to my svideo scart dilemma

thanks

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

p.s. i wont be using the st*rbox as this is connected to a tv in another room
i want to connect the laptop to the tv in my own room.so basically laptop, tne panasonic TV (no svideo) input. so is there a lead i can get to connect here or a solution to my svideo scart dilemma

thanks

What connectors do you have on the TV?

If I knew that it would give me some idea as to how you could connect.

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

What connectors do you have on the TV?

If I knew that it would give me some idea as to how you could connect.

a video and audio socket on the front (rca type???)
scart
and ur normal NTL type female input

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

a video and audio socket on the front (rca type???)
scart
and ur normal NTL type female input

The RCA sockets are red, white and yellow?

If so you should be able to get an S-Video to RCA cable with the red, white and yellow RCA plugs at one end and the S-Video + a 3.5mm jack plug for your PC at the other end.

I think they're called pro-S-Video cables, but that could be just a brand name.

If you can't get them in that configuration, then you should be able to get an S-Video to yellow RCA cable and a separate 3.5mm jack to red/white RCA plug cable for audio.

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

The RCA sockets are red, white and yellow?

If so you should be able to get an S-Video to RCA cable with the red, white and yellow RCA plugs at one end and the S-Video + a 3.5mm jack plug for your PC at the other end.

I think they're called pro-S-Video cables, but that could be just a brand name.

i think thats what i have, i have svideo to this jack and then this jack to one output which i put in the yellow video input of this scart head i have.....

the tv's front panal only has input for yellow and white

so even tho in theory i have this pro svideo cable to u think buyin it wud be any differnt?

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

i think thats what i have, i have svideo to this jack and then this jack to one output which i put in the yellow video input of this scart head i have.....

the tv's front panal only has input for yellow and white

so even tho in theory i have this pro svideo cable to u think buyin it wud be any differnt?

Did you try plugging the yellow RCA into your TV instead of into the SCART?

The white only input means you don't have stereo sound on the TV, so you need a mono 3.5mm jack to single RCA lead for the sound.

guile45

guile45 wrote: »

i think thats what i have, i have svideo to this jack and then this jack to one output which i put in the yellow video input of this scart head i have.....

the tv's front panal only has input for yellow and white

so even tho in theory i have this pro svideo cable to u think buyin it wud be any differnt?

must i have all three outputs?? yellow white and red?
is that the problem?
i only have one output goin into the jack and that has a male end on it which can either go into the yellow input on the tvs front panal or into the scart head and then into the scart input on the tv

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

must i have all three outputs?? yellow white and red?
is that the problem?
i only have one output goin into the jack and that has a male end on it which can either go into the yellow input on the tvs front panal or into the scart head and then into the scart input on the tv

In RCA speak - yellow is video, red is right channel stereo and white is left channel stereo or mono if there's no red.

S-Video will not output sound, only video. You need to connect your headphone jack to your TV as well to get sound.

guile45

rrpc wrote: »

In RCA speak - yellow is video, red is right channel stereo and white is left channel stereo or mono if there's no red.

S-Video will not output sound, only video. You need to connect your headphone jack to your TV as well to get sound.

yeah got ya there..but back to square one lol why is my output black and white?
the jack?
hmmmm what ya think?it proves it works i get picture on the TV except its just B&W

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

yeah got ya there..but back to square one lol why is my output black and white?
the jack?
hmmmm what ya think?it proves it works i get picture on the TV except its just B&W

Well in that case I'd have to look carefully at the cable. Poor quality cable can also cause loss of colour on S-Video output. The Chroma signal on S-Video is extremely phase sensitive so any loss will result in a black & white picture.

Get a good quality shielded S-Video to cmposite cable and that should solve your problem. Expect to pay up to €30 or more for one.

MunsterCycling

Is the S-Video a 4 pin or a 6 pin?

rrpc

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Is the S-Video a 4 pin or a 6 pin?

It's normally 7 pin, not six. There's no real difference as they're cross compatible, you can plug a 4 pin into a seven pin socket and it will work fine.

The 7 pin as far as I know carry the composite signal separately, the 4 pin just carry the S-Video.

muggyog

Your problem is caused by the different video standards that exist. Composite (lowest quality), s-video, Component or RGB(highest) Composite video is the most common consumer option and this is where you get the yellow video connector. Composite carries what is a complex mix of signals on one conductor. S-video separates them into two conductor and Component even more. This is the crux of your problem, you are using a composite cable to carry s-video signal.

Lets go through the linked page

The luminance (Y; greyscale) signal and modulated chrominance (C; colour) information are carried on separate synchronized signal/ground pairs.

Two separate wires on s-video cable carry separate video information. You are only connecting colour signal through your single ( yellow ) cable. If you connected a s-video to s-video all would be well as both signals are needed.

S-Video signals are generally connected using 4-pin mini-DIN connectors using a 75 ohm termination impedance. Today, S-Video can be transferred through SCART connections as well. S-Video and RGB are mutually exclusive through SCART, due to the S-Video implementation using the pins allocated for RGB. Most SCART-equipped televisions or VCRs (and almost all of the older ones) do not actually support S-Video, resulting in a black-and-white picture if attempted to use, as only the luminance signal portion is used. Black-and-white picture in itself can also be a sign of incompatible colour encoding, for example NTSC material viewed through a PAL-only device.

Because the colour information is missing the TV can only display B&W.

A hack exists to possibly attain color on devices that do not support S-Video through SCART. This is done via joining the pins 15 and 20 in the SCART connector (either directly or using a 470pF capacitor), and may not yield optimal results.

This is an attempt to combine luminance and colour signals.

You can get a SCART adapter that has s-video option instead of the Composite version that you have.
Link
or one that has both
Link

If you understand wiring diagrams, this shows how the SCART is connected.

RCA is the red, white and yellow connectors.

guile45

muggyog wrote: »

Your problem is caused by the different video standards that exist. Composite (lowest quality), s-video, Component or RGB(highest) Composite video is the most common consumer option and this is where you get the yellow video connector. Composite carries what is a complex mix of signals on one conductor. S-video separates them into two conductor and Component even more. This is the crux of your problem, you are using a composite cable to carry s-video signal.

Lets go through the linked page



Two separate wires on s-video cable carry separate video information. You are only connecting colour signal through your single ( yellow ) cable. If you connected a s-video to s-video all would be well as both signals are needed.



Because the colour information is missing the TV can only display B&W.



This is an attempt to combine luminance and colour signals.

You can get a SCART adapter that has s-video option instead of the Composite version that you have.
Link
or one that has both
Link

If you understand wiring diagrams, this shows how the SCART is connected.

RCA is the red, white and yellow connectors.

oh my!!!
ha ha ok i have a 4pin s video input on my computer
so ok if i get a non composite version like u suggest, this will fix it? but see on that diagram there is a male input where does that go on my comp?
so basically i have the same thing as the non composite version, but mine is like hacked togther using a jack and thats the problem?
cheers

rrpc

guile45 wrote: »

oh my!!!
ha ha ok i have a 4pin s video input on my computer
so ok if i get a non composite version like u suggest, this will fix it? but see on that diagram there is a male input where does that go on my comp?
so basically i have the same thing as the non composite version, but mine is like hacked togther using a jack and thats the problem?
cheers

What he's suggesting is that you get a SCART adaptor that has an S-Video input on it. This will keep the chroma and luminance separate all the way to the TV.

What you will have is an S-Video male-male cable, a SCART adaptor that has an S-Video female input and bob's your uncle (in theory). Why I say in theory is because some SCART adaptors screw up the phases and you can be back to square one.

The other option is the one I suggested which is a high quality shielded S-Video to Composite cable (that's with an S-Video male plug on one end and a yellow RCA plug on the other). Make sure it's not too long, because distance is a factor here.

What that will do is keep the phases from interfering and thus losing the chroma phase which is what's happening with your cheap cable and with the adaptor as well.

Both options will work.

guile45

thank you very much gentlemen , you guys have been more help than most internet sites, i will try this out soon and report back
just had to buy a new firewire and get a new MP3 playa! so when money is an option i will get goin...once again thanks for all the help

muggyog

Possible ( cheap !) solution to your problem.
http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/2867_5809.htm