Powerbook & S-Video Out = Black & White - Want Colour!

Hi,

Now I finally have some time to play around with my Powerbook I decided to hook it up to the TV. I already owned some expensive gold plated scart to s-video and audio cable so it was easy enough to get it hooked up. Sound is top notch but the display is black and white. I checked the Mac's display settings and they are defo colour.

TV is PAL but even on NTSC and various resolutions it remains b/w.

Only thing I can think of is that my s-video connector only has 4 pins whilst the Powerbook's female connector allows for 3 more. But surely, my cable can do colour!

I haven't tried the supplied Mac s-video to composite yet, since that will force me to pull out more cables.

Should the S-Video on a PAL TV work? Any tips for getting it to show full colour?

Thanks...

 

Don't know your specific setup, but it could be the cable, the TV or the MAC. If you have an extra of each, you'll be able to find the culprit. Good luck.

 

LOL, unfortunately I only have one Mac, one working TV (which isn't even mine) and one of these exact cables. Might try composite but believe that's meant to be inferior quality so was hoping to get S-Vid to work.

 

I have the same problem but with my PC. One of the TV's we have just does not like it. I went through all the possible settings and it was still black and white. All other TV's work just fine.

 

Yeah. As I understand it, composite is not as good as S-Video, which is not as good as component. I admittedly don't know a lot about MACs, but I think you might be on to something there, with your comment about the shortage of pins in the s-video cable. Maybe check the MAC website for specifics about the s-video port. Maybe there is some proprietary s-video cable for it.

 

The S-Video to Composite adaptor that came with the Mac does has more pins than my cable. But mightyb's comment reminded me of other quirks of this TV, it's not the most modern of all. My guess is that it's the TV's funny behaviour. Since this will be re-claimed soon by former flatmate, I'm in the market for a replacement.

 

It might be the cable. I have a monitor I use for video camera. Everything worked fine and then the next shoot I went on the monitor was black and white. I switched out the S-video cable and everything was ok. I tried hooking up my laptop to my TV at home using that same cable to test it out and everything was black and white as well.

Edit: I just realized that you said your adapter has more pins than your cable. I'd be willing to bet it's your cable. When mine went black and white it was because one of the pins was damaged.

 

Hmmm well let's get the big bucket of random cables out then, I'm sure I have some more of these.

 

You might have an American cable and it's wondering what the hell colour is.

 

LOL yeah!

Pulled out a composite with audio to scart cable and used the Mac s-video to composite adapter so it uses all available pins... Guess what? Full coloUr! Whoohoo.

Thanks guys!

 

Glad I could help. Yeah I had to shoot using a black and white monitor all day the time my cable went out.