ATI Control panel PAL mode?

[tongue_of_colicab]

Hey,

Today I moved to my parents place for the summer and I just hooked up my htpc but i'm getting only black and white. I use a s-video to scart cable. If I use a different scart connection (tv only has 2 btw, my parents dont like buying stuff from the century hey are living in ) its OK but than the game consoles get bad IQ on the other connector. Anyway I had this problem before when I had my other htpc with a nvidia card and the problem could be fixed by putting the display into pal mode. But I can't find this on the CCC. Does anyone know where I can find this? I find the ''new'' CCC rather hard to navigate so I can't find any such option.

 

[Zaphod]

If it's good on one scart and b/w on the other, I'm willing to bet it's the TV. Loads of them had only composite hooked up on all but one of the connectors. On others, if it's not too old, you might be able to set the expected signal type through a menu. Look up the specs or check the manual.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

It doesnt have any menu's, its already pretty old I think. I know the issue is with the tv as I had the problem before but it can be worked around if you force it to display in pal mode.

 

[Zaphod]

If you already got color on the other connector, then pal/ntsc shouldn't be the issue this time. Or are you remembering forcing composite video rather than s-video?

Anyways, even without a menu, some TVs could still switch input mode. Often through dedicated AV1/AV2 buttons on the remote.

If the card is outputting s-video and the TV definitely only accepts composite, then you can work around this by modding a scart cable to join pin 15 and 20. For a less permanent (but easier) mod, join the holes for pins 3 and 4 in the s-video socket on the scart adapter with a thin piece of wire and secure it in place with the s-video cable coming from the card. Instant homegrown s-video to composite adapter.

Edit: As for the pal/ntsc switch, at least it's in the CCC help files. Open contents and look for "TV Formats" in the [strike]right[/strike] left hand pane.

 

[Davros]

may not be relevant since my last ati card was a 9800pro but with that card I had to change it to pal via a jumper on the card

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Not connected to a TV at the moment but this is probably the relevant part of the Help file...

Selecting TV Signal Formats Determined by TV Formats
1.Based on the navigation system contained in the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center window, do one of the following:
•Navigation menu—From the display palette on the Desktops & Displays page, click the desired TV, and then click Configure in the context menu that appears.
•Navigation tree—From the Graphics Settings tree, expand TV Properties.
2.Click Formats.
3.Click Select by signal format.
4.Select the desired TV format from the Signal format list.

Ignore Navigation tree, since the beloved tree no longer exists.

When on the Displays page, to get the configuration menu you have to right click on the bottom monitors not the monitors in the big window.

Regards,
SB

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Thanks though I figured it out by going to basic mode. Actually its really easy to find in basic mode but not in expert. It didn't work though. Only black and white. Maybe i'll try the cable mods later.

Thanks guys.

 

[Blazkowicz]

I bet one of the scarts does RGB and composite, while the other one does s-video and composite. typical stuff. you might be better off using composite, which I believe is done with plain wire blending of the Y and C signals (you're getting the Y one only, thus black and white fallback of the s-video signal)

pick up a 21" CRT VGA monitor from the trash and give a htpc to your parents .