Amp for S-video? Picture from my PS2 is dark.

[Shimarisu]

I bought an Acer LCD monitor last month with Video and S-Video inputs, the logic behind this being that a 14 inch LCD TV cost the same as the 17 inch monitor. However I've got a problem, the picture is too dark in video or s-video from my PS2. I've turned the brightness, constrast up all the way, altered the saturation slightly and even had to turn up the blue on RGB (it resulting in a tad lighter picture). The problem appears to be the contrast, in dark areas I can't see where the hell I'm going. So games with nightime or dungeon areas are hard to play.
I don't know much about S-video but I do know something of making amps. Would there be a way of fixing this, and which pin(s) do I add the amp to if this is the case? Or should I just buy a VGA lead or something?

Both pieces of equipment are Japanese models if this helps any. I haven't tried other equipment, but I've seen my friend's LCD TV on his PS2 and it's nice and bright. I feel pretty let down.

[Aidan]

From what I remember about S-Video, it won't be as simple as putting an amp on the luminence line. One of the problems is that the line also carries the V sync and H sync pulses.

Your amplifier would need to strip out the pulses, push the luminence signal upwards, and then re-add the sync pulses. I beleive that the luminence signal also carries the black level, which is what the monitor should use to determine what level black is at.

[Shimarisu]

No idea how to do that, hmm, think I may be screwed. I didn't expect the picture to be that bad, and honestly the video input leaves a lot to be desired. My friend's composite in on his TV is as good quality as my s-video. As a monitor for the computer though, it's fine. I don't know why it can't work better in video mode, there's really now excuse - composite on the thing is blurrier than a cathode ray TV. There's nothing wrong with the screen either, it looks perfect on my PC. It looks... decent I guess in s-video. At least I can actually read the Japanese text in games with that lead.

Should I take it back and get a TV or spend more money on an RGB to VGA converter? Does anybody know if there are any decent schematics for such on the web?

Oh BTW, it is fine with 16 bit systems. Blurriness seems to be from bad brightness levels, and 16 bit graphics are never too dark, I can alter it perfectly. It's just the fricking PS2. Is there any way of getting into the PS2 itself and amplifying the  components at source before it is made into S-video?

[Shimarisu]

Here is the model, this page also details all the inputs on the back:

http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=5178561

[atom]

Also in there somewhere are some digital signals for closed captioning!

[Aidan]

Also in there somewhere are some digital signals for closed captioning!

They are typically in the vertical blank interval. This is basically a handful of lines that don't get shown, as the TV would be yanking it's electron beams back to the start of the screen again. This makes them ideal for transmitting data on, as they're wasted signal otherwise!

[Shimarisu]

Problem solved - bought a cheap upscan converter which converts component video, S-video or video to VGA. It's got its own brightness controls, so I was able to adjust the picture.  

[atom]

Also in there somewhere are some digital signals for closed captioning!

They are typically in the vertical blank interval. This is basically a handful of lines that don't get shown, as the TV would be yanking it's electron beams back to the start of the screen again. This makes them ideal for transmitting data on, as they're wasted signal otherwise!

Neat info, creative use of vblank too.