pal snes s-vhs

[wedley]

Hi, I have a switched pal snes which I'm trying to use with a S-VHS cable on a 20" sony HD TV. Problem is the image is black and white only.

Anyone know if I need to rewire the S-VHS cable for pal snes outpu?

Cheers,

Wedders.

[NeWmAn]

Check if your TV has an option to manually choose the color encoding (PAL/NTSC3.58/NTSC4.43).

[wedley]

Thanks for the reply. I've been through the TV options menu but the only colour options are for the normal contrast, brightness etc.

[NFG]

I'm pretty sure the PAL SNES, like the PAL GameCube and PAL N64, don't have S-video output.

I dunno where my PAL SNES is, or I'd check...

[NeWmAn]

I'm pretty sure the PAL SNES, like the PAL GameCube and PAL N64, don't have S-video output.

I've just checked: a PAL SNES has S-Video

[wedley]

I guess if it wasn't putting out an S-VHS signal I would be no picture at all. The fact that I get a black and white imge makes me think there's something different about the colour wiring for the PAL S-VHS signal. Anyone got any more ideas? Thanks for the help so far.

[NeWmAn]

By "switched pal snes" you mean that's working at 60Hz or something else?
Is your cable official,3rd party or self built?

[NFG]

I've just checked: a PAL SNES has S-Video

Damn Nintendo, making me look bad!

BTW, It's not S-VHS, that's a kind of video tape.  It's s-video.

[Link83]

Just guessing here, but is it possible there is someting wrong with the Chroma signal - thus giving a black and white image? (Luma only)
I would check the S-Video plug for bent pins. (there could also be a break in the cable somewhere, but that would be much harder to fix)

[wedley]

By "switched" I mean 50/60hz. The cable is new but not boxed so I guess it's a 3rd party job. No bent pins either.

I borrow my brothers US Snes and try that to see if it's any different.

[john]

I'm pretty sure the PAL SNES, like the PAL GameCube and PAL N64, don't have S-video output.

The PAL SNES and N64 both output s-video.  No idea about the gamecube/wii.

[albino_vulpix]

Do you get a B&W image in just s-video, or are other modes affected?
Do you lose colour in both 50 and 60Hz?

About the PAL Cube and Wii, no s-video on a PAL Cube, but a PAL Wii can be forced to output s-video depending on the software.

[wedley]

I'm currently using the yellow,white and red cable (called composite, Ithink) with no colour problems but the picture could be sharper. Using the S-Video cable in 50 or 60Hz results in a B&W image. I could get a scart cable but both of the inputs are already used for other devices, hences the reason I went for S-Video.

[NeWmAn]

On my TV the front panel has S-video and composite sockets, but both are called AV-3 input.
I have to manually configure the TV to choose which is active, if I select composite on the menu the S-video socket can still be used but I only get BW video.

Do you have another device (besides the SNES) that can be connected to your TV via S-video? Have you tried that?

[wedley]

Thanks for all the replies. It's sounds like my TV is the same, uses AV channel 4 for both composite and the S-Video, only there is no way of choosing which is active on my Sony . I have tried making sure there is nothing plugged into the composite at the same time as using the S-Video but this doesn't make any difference. Guess I'll have to get a Scart cable.

For reference the model is sony KDL 20S3000

Cheers,

Wedders.

[wedley]

Update: I borrowed my brothers US Snes at the weekend and works great with the s-video cable on my TV. Therefore there must be a difference between the s-video signal from the Pal snes.

[eek]

Most likely it is because your TV doesn't like the PAL-60Hz colour mode. There is a difference between PAL60 and NTSC too, so your TV may well support NTSC and not PAL60.

Back in the day when I used to use my 1084s monitor, it would happily display PAL60 signals, but not NTSC.