S-Video TV displays only Black and White

[Zrl201]

I brought a s-video cable from Radio Shack recently. I plugged one end into my laptop and one into my TV. The image looks very sharp on my TV but it's only in black and white. What am I doing wrong? TIA

 

[MercenaryForHire]

A couple potential issues, but they're all software.

- Your drivers aren't installed right
- Wrong region output (NTSC vs PAL)

What laptop make/model do you have?

- M4H

 

[Zrl201]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
A couple potential issues, but they're all software.

- Your drivers aren't installed right
- Wrong region output (NTSC vs PAL)

What laptop make/model do you have?

- M4H

Hmm. I'm using a compaq 2100Z using Radeon IGP 320M. I update my graphics whenever XP Update discover a new ati drivers as ati dosen't seem to have the drivers on their site.

As for region - not sure how I can set it.

BTW does it make any difference which end I plug into TV. I tried switcing both ends to no avail. Thank you MercenaryForHire

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Zrl201
Hmm. I'm using a compaq 2100Z using Radeon IGP 320M. I update my graphics whenever XP Update discover a new ati drivers as ati dosen't seem to have the drivers on their site.

Catalyst Motherboard/IGP drivers

As for region - not sure how I can set it.

Should be in the latest Catalyst driverset under the Display control panel applet.

BTW does it make any difference which end I plug into TV. I tried switcing both ends to no avail. Thank you MercenaryForHire

Nope, won't make a difference. If you've got some other device to test the cable with, try that just to rule out the cable flaw.

- M4H

 

[BenSkywalker]

Sounds like a bad cable to me.

 

[monzie]

Maybe the TV's not selected to the correct input for S-Video (the Y/C input)...the Y/C channel tells the TV to accept a S-Video feed. This is important as S-Video is a composite signal as its carried on two channels: one for Black & White and brightness (the luminance signal or Y) and one for colour and saturation (the chrominance signal or C) .
If you try and use a s-vid cable on a TV input only designed for a single video signal (like ext.1) you will only ever get black and white.
If you dont have a Y/C input then get a rca/s-video to SCART convertor and use an ordinary ext. input........this can also help getting your audio into the TV and tidy up the cabling if you dont have rear mounted rca's and s-vid.

Could also be a faulty s-video cable (a common problem on cheap cables).

 

[Lonyo]

I found that when I had a similar problem it was a driver setting, but that was with an nVidia card and I can't remember what exactly I changed, but I remember it being a driver setting issue.