Alright, tv-out enabled, now it is black and white!!!

[travlen]

The card is out of a Dell.
128MB 64-bit X300SE.

Installed the Catalyst Control Center and got tv-out enabled.
Using an s-video to rca adapter and all I get is black and white.

Anyone know how to enable color? Is the card bad?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Travis

 

[gpgofast]

Bump...

 

[gpgofast]

From ATI's knowledge base:

"Knowledge Base
ATI Customer Care > Solve a Problem > Display >

Black and White image on Television using 3rd party SCART adapter with an S-Video jack
The information in this article applies to the following system configurations:
TV OUT using 3rd party S-VIDEO to SCART adapter
PAL or MULTISYSTEM TVs (most often found in European countries)
The symptoms described are not specific to ATI products. This Infobase is provided for the convenience of users especially in Europe. The signal on the TV set may show up black and white using a 3rd party S-VIDEO to SCART adapter.

A SCART connector only supports composite video. If you connect an S-VIDEO cable directly into a SCART adapter, the result will be a black and white signal, regardless of the type of graphics card being used.

There are preferred S-VIDEO to SCART adapters from 3rd party vendors that will properly give you colour display.

Third party S-VIDEO to SCART adapters are available from:

http://www.svideo.com
Please note: This site is a third party internet site on the World Wide Web. ATI provides such links for your convenience only, and is not responsible for the content of any site linked to or from this site. Links from this site to any other site do not mean that ATI approves of, endorses or recommends that site. ATI disclaims all warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, legality, reliability or validity of any content on any other site. If you decide to access any of the third party sites linked to this site, you do this entirely at your own risk."

 

[MDE]

Unplug the S-video cable and plug it back in, making sure it's completely inserted.

 

[Mitzi]

Also make sure the TV region is set correctly, if you are in the states ensure it is NTSC.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Mitzi
Also make sure the TV region is set correctly, if you are in the states ensure it is NTSC.

bingo

I'm almost sure that's going to be it.

 

[travlen]

The only setting other than Pal A, Pal B, etc.. is NTSCM.

I also tried all the PAL settings.

I'm guessing the S-Video to RCA adapter is too cheap.

It seems that SCART is completely different than RCA.

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: MDE
Unplug the S-video cable and plug it back in, making sure it's completely inserted.

I'm pretty sure I tried this, but I will give it another try when I get home.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you using the adapter that came with the card?

So NTSC is not an option, or it doesn't help?

 

[edm917]

S-Video is a type of component signal. It is also referred to as Y/C, where Y stands for luminance (the B&W signal) and C stands for chrominance (the color). The 4 pins in an S-Video cable are signal+ground for each of these. An S-Video -> RCA adapter should provide two RCA plugs, one with a normal B&W TV signal, the other with the color information. These cannot just be plugged into a TV directly. If you want a color TV signal, they have to be comined electronically. Where are you located? I've seen some comments on SCART which is mostly used in Europe. Are you trying to plug S-Video into a TV that has a SCART input?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: edm917
S-Video is a type of component signal. It is also referred to as Y/C, where Y stands for luminance (the B&W signal) and C stands for chrominance (the color). The 4 pins in an S-Video cable are signal+ground for each of these. An S-Video -> RCA adapter should provide two RCA plugs, one with a normal B&W TV signal, the other with the color information. These cannot just be plugged into a TV directly. If you want a color TV signal, they have to be comined electronically. Where are you located? I've seen some comments on SCART which is mostly used in Europe. Are you trying to plug S-Video into a TV that has a SCART input?

There are S-video to RCA adapters that will convert directly.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: rleemhui

Originally posted by: edm917
S-Video is a type of component signal. It is also referred to as Y/C, where Y stands for luminance (the B&W signal) and C stands for chrominance (the color). The 4 pins in an S-Video cable are signal+ground for each of these. An S-Video -> RCA adapter should provide two RCA plugs, one with a normal B&W TV signal, the other with the color information. These cannot just be plugged into a TV directly. If you want a color TV signal, they have to be comined electronically. Where are you located? I've seen some comments on SCART which is mostly used in Europe. Are you trying to plug S-Video into a TV that has a SCART input?

There are S-video to RCA adapters that will convert directly.

yeah, like the kind that comes with some X300SE cards

another example


is this the sort of cable you're using travlen?

 

[edm917]

Originally posted by: rleemhui

There are S-video to RCA adapters that will convert directly.

Not properly there aren't. S-Video -> RCA adapters were created for long cable runs so that you can extend the video signal on two RCA cables and re-combine on the other end back to S-Video. You cannot just combine these two signals and expect to have a proper color video signal.

 

[edm917]

Let me be more clear. You can place a 470 pF capacitor inline with the Chrominance signal (pin 4) and then combine. But, the video quality is going to look like crap. If you want to plug S-Video into a Compoiste (ie. RCA) plug, there are some very cheap (powered) adapters that will do a proper job of it.

My question about SCART was because most Televisions with SCART inputs will accpet a Y/C signal directly with the proper (non powered) adapter/cable.

 

[edm917]

If you guys use a cable like these ones, be sure to use as short a cable as possible. These cables are a "hack" that will end up reducing video quality quite a bit. If the card has a composite video output on it, you will be much better off just using it directly and avoiding S-Video, as the video circuitry in the card will certainly do a better job of creating a color signal than these cables.

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: rleemhui

Originally posted by: edm917
S-Video is a type of component signal. It is also referred to as Y/C, where Y stands for luminance (the B&W signal) and C stands for chrominance (the color). The 4 pins in an S-Video cable are signal+ground for each of these. An S-Video -> RCA adapter should provide two RCA plugs, one with a normal B&W TV signal, the other with the color information. These cannot just be plugged into a TV directly. If you want a color TV signal, they have to be comined electronically. Where are you located? I've seen some comments on SCART which is mostly used in Europe. Are you trying to plug S-Video into a TV that has a SCART input?

There are S-video to RCA adapters that will convert directly.

yeah, like the kind that comes with some X300SE cards

another example


is this the sort of cable you're using travlen?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok... we all know composite is crap, and converting between different analog video formats produces even crappier results, but there should be a solution to this guy's original question.

This adapter should produce a color image.

It's going to be kinda fuzzy, but if your tv doesn't have s-video there's nothing you can do about that.

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: rleemhui

Originally posted by: edm917
S-Video is a type of component signal. It is also referred to as Y/C, where Y stands for luminance (the B&W signal) and C stands for chrominance (the color). The 4 pins in an S-Video cable are signal+ground for each of these. An S-Video -> RCA adapter should provide two RCA plugs, one with a normal B&W TV signal, the other with the color information. These cannot just be plugged into a TV directly. If you want a color TV signal, they have to be comined electronically. Where are you located? I've seen some comments on SCART which is mostly used in Europe. Are you trying to plug S-Video into a TV that has a SCART input?

There are S-video to RCA adapters that will convert directly.

yeah, like the kind that comes with some X300SE cards

another example


is this the sort of cable you're using travlen?

That is what the cable looks like.
I have only S-Video out on my video card.
I have only RCA in on my tv.

I think SCART is completely different.
I'm guessing I need an S-Video in on a tv in order to get color in a good quality image.

Looks like I need to find an S-Video capable tv to test this card.

I can probably assume the video card is good though right?

Anyone know about inexpensive converters that will convert S-Video to RCA? Not just an adapter but an actual converter?

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: edm917
Let me be more clear. You can place a 470 pF capacitor inline with the Chrominance signal (pin 4) and then combine. But, the video quality is going to look like crap. If you want to plug S-Video into a Compoiste (ie. RCA) plug, there are some very cheap (powered) adapters that will do a proper job of it.

My question about SCART was because most Televisions with SCART inputs will accpet a Y/C signal directly with the proper (non powered) adapter/cable.

Any idea where I can find this cheap powered converter you speak of?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok, I decided to find my composite adapter and hook it up to make sure I knew what I was talking about.

The holes in the video card "s-video" port line up with an s-video cable, but there are also additional holes. The composite adapter has more pins than s-video cable. Is it possible that the two verticle pins between the 4 s-video pins are ones that are outputing a composite signal and the composite adapter just takes the signal from those? (the 2 other pins in the adapter fit into the area the plastic portion of an s-video cable has to help line up the pins).

My pics are pretty crappy because I took them kinda quickly and I have to manually move the camera back and forth to get macro shots in focus.

The picture of the screen is of the composite output going through a 25 foot rca cable :roll: and then going to a receiver and then output through another 25 foot rca cable to my projector and blown up to approximately 60". It ended up being pretty blurry, but it worked and it was in color.

You don't need anything fancy to get composite out to work with an ATI card as long as they didn't do anything drastic in their design changes from the radeon 9xxx series to the x300.

I still suspect it's something with your settings.

adapter pins

s-video pins

adapter pic

Look, it's color

 

[asm0deus]

my rca out was black and white on the tv, the cable was in at an angle and it went to color. try a different cable maybe. gl

 

[Mitzi]

Also, even though you are using an S-Video lead ensure the input type is set to 'Composite' in your software/driver

 

[RelaxTheMind]

I had black and white with my tv out before and i fixed it by getting a better cable. if it didnt work i would have just returned the stupid cord.

the sockets usually get dirty as most svideo ports dont come with a cover and they get all kinds of dirt and crap in them...

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: Mitzi
Also, even though you are using an S-Video lead ensure the input type is set to 'Composite' in your software/driver

Not sure where you would set this.
My tv only has RCA in.

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Ok, I decided to find my composite adapter and hook it up to make sure I knew what I was talking about.

The holes in the video card "s-video" port line up with an s-video cable, but there are also additional holes. The composite adapter has more pins than s-video cable. Is it possible that the two verticle pins between the 4 s-video pins are ones that are outputing a composite signal and the composite adapter just takes the signal from those? (the 2 other pins in the adapter fit into the area the plastic portion of an s-video cable has to help line up the pins).

My pics are pretty crappy because I took them kinda quickly and I have to manually move the camera back and forth to get macro shots in focus.

The picture of the screen is of the composite output going through a 25 foot rca cable :roll: and then going to a receiver and then output through another 25 foot rca cable to my projector and blown up to approximately 60". It ended up being pretty blurry, but it worked and it was in color.

You don't need anything fancy to get composite out to work with an ATI card as long as they didn't do anything drastic in their design changes from the radeon 9xxx series to the x300.

I still suspect it's something with your settings.

adapter pins

s-video pins

adapter pic

Look, it's color

I notice on the "adapter pins" pic it is a 7-pin. Out of the X300SE I have 4-pin and my adapter has 4-pin. I have nothing with 7 pins.

I will try just messing with the RCA cable and trying a different RCA cable.

 

[travlen]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
I had black and white with my tv out before and i fixed it by getting a better cable. if it didnt work i would have just returned the stupid cord.

the sockets usually get dirty as most svideo ports dont come with a cover and they get all kinds of dirt and crap in them...

Were you using a S-video to RCA adapter?