Bought a CRT with S-Video, but the S-Video is in black and white?

Bought a CRT with S-Video, but the S-Video is in black and white.

TRIED MULTIPLE BRAND NEW S-VIDEO CABLES THAT ALL SHOW COLOR ON OTHER TV'S WITH S-VIDEO. IT IS NOT THE S-VIDEO CABLES.

I messed with all of the settings. There is just no chroma signal being picked up by the TV.

Tried multiple devices, DVD players, consoles, etc. No color on S-Video.

Highly pissed. This was not cheap and when I tested it at the shop I accidentally tested it with the Composite plugged in, so I was only seeing composite. I didn't find out that I hadn't see the S-Video till I got home.

LET ME CLARIFY: THE OWNER OF THE STORE WOULD NOT LET ME CHANGE THE SETTINGS TO SELECT S-VIDEO AS HE SAID HE DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO LET ME "MESS WITH A TV". HE SAID HE KNEW HOW THE TV WORKED WOULD DO IT HIMSELF. HE ACTUALLY SELECTED AV1 (COMPOSITE) AND TOLD ME IT WAS ON S-VIDEO (I DID NOT KNOW THIS UNTIL LATER). He probably didn't deliberately deceive me, but simply didn't know what the hell he was doing.

So, when I saw a picture it was ACTUALLY THE COMPOSITE SHOWING A PICTURE AND NOT THE S-VIDEO. So, when I say I "accidentally tested composite" what I mean is that I thought it was S-VIDEO because the store owner SAID HE HAD SELECTED S-VIDEO. HE MAY NOT HAVE DONE THIS DELIBERATELY, BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED. MY MISTAKE OR "ACCIDENT" WAS BELIEVING THE STORE OWNER WHEN HE SAID IT WAS ON THE "S-VIDEO" SETTING WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY ON COMPOSITE.

Any ideas?

I'm no expert but you might check your S-Video cable. It might be faulty or incompatible. I can't remember the details but a long time ago, we had a similar problem plugging in a laptop to a television set; the picture was only in black & white. We finally got a different S-Video cable and it solved our problem.

Yea, check the cable. You make no mention about trying another cable. I have had a few S-Video cables go bad.

If it's not that, sounds like something internal, but surely it can be returned if bought from a shop?

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Originally Posted by evildragon

Yea, check the cable. You make no mention about trying another cable. I have had a few S-Video cables go bad.

If it's not that, sounds like something internal, but surely it can be returned if bought from a shop?

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Tried with multiple brand new S-Video cables. These cables also work find with other TV's that have S-Video and show color on those.

I just read a few reviews about this guy's shop and he apparently gets TVs out of people's garbage and refurbishes them and sells them.

Dude, take it back. I bet he never tested the S-Video.

Ask him how many pins S-Video has. ;)

I've seen S-Video jacks go bad on TVs before, they do break eventually. Try moving around the S-video plug in the TV's jack and see if you get chroma to come up.

What brand is the TV? Please don't say KLH (Or Toshiba). A lot of them had faulty S-Video circuitry that went bad.

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Originally Posted by evildragon

What brand is the TV? Please don't say KLH (Or Toshiba). A lot of them had faulty S-Video circuitry that went bad.

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Samsung.

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Originally Posted by evildragon

Dude, take it back. I bet he never tested the S-Video.

Ask him how many pins S-Video has. ;)

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I'm bringing a witness with me.

Some issues:
He said it was 22 inch on the phone (I live an hour away, in a different city), but I get there and it is a 20 inch.
He would not let me test the S-video in the store, only the composite (which I don't need). --->Let me clarify. He said it was on the S-Video setting when it was on the Composite setting. This made me think the composite signal was S-Video and that the S-Video was working.
When I called about the TV set I explained I would be coming from a good distance away and would need to test it, yet when I arrived he rushed me out the door stating that he had too many appointments. He barely even let me connect the TV to a console to test it at all and almost didn't let me do that.

I think he might be trying to rip me off.

Well wait a second, you said in the original post, you said you accidentally tested composite video and not S-Video, but now you're saying you were forced not to test S-Video?

Dude, which is it?

My red lights are flashing right now.

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Originally Posted by evildragon

My red lights are flashing right now.

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Look, believe what you want.

For other people that are reading this, however, what happened is that the owner said he had changed the settings to S-Video so that I could test my console with S-Video. However, he had actually (not known to me) changed the settings to composite. As I had both composite and S-Video hooked up, this made me think that the S-Video was working. He may not have done this deliberately, but he did tell me that he had S-Video selected and he did not. When I got home the settings were exactly as the owner had left them and it was on a composite channel NOT S-VIDEO. This means I had NEVER seen S-video tested in the store. Also the owner did not let me adjust the settings myself as he stated he didn't have enough time to let me play around with a TV.

When I say I "accidentally" tested the wrong output, this was me attempting to paraphrase what happened in as few words as possible and not assign blame to anyone.

So "which is it" in this case is a logical fallacy. It presupposes that there are only two possibilities.

Either I "accidentally" tested the wrong output...

..or the owner "forced" me to test the wrong one...

What happened, again, is that the owner told me that he had changed the settings to S-Video (deliberately or not) when they were actually showing composite. As I took what the owner was saying at face value (and he would not let me adjust the settings myself), my real mistake was trusting the owner selling me the TV. Again, he may not have done this deliberately, but he did tell me something that was not accurate.

Dude, red flags everywhere.

You should have turned it down. But your story has a few holes in it though that have me confused. Why didn't you say this originally, for example? It's very important.

Right from the start, he did do this on purpose to you.

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Originally Posted by evildragon

Why didn't you say this originally, for example? It's very important.

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I paraphrased to save time.

I also didn't mention how many tiles were on his floor or how what prescription his eye glasses are. Nor did I mention that he has a dog named "Whiskey". That doesn't mean I'm lying to you. There are no "holes in my story".

I simply tried to relate the story in as few words as possible and then move on to the things I had tried with the television.

I also didn't realize what was going on until I looked back at the owner's behavior. It was only suspicious in hindsight (after the fact). It happened really fast.

In other words, I thought it was my own mistake, until I looked back and realized that I didn't really have control over what was going on with the television in the store. I had to argue with the guy just to plug the console into the television. When there was no picture I tried to go into the menu and he knocked my hand away and pulled out a universal remote and changed it to AV1 (which it turns out, is composite). However, he said he had it on S-Video. So, I believe at the time it was S-Video and paid and left.

You need to go to him, and tell him this: "I feel you have pursueded me into purchasing a TV that was not properly tested. When I wanted to test S-Video, you kept pushing me that you didn't have enough time, and forced me to only test composite video. It was then, because of my time constraints, I felt pressured into buying the TV, in which I did, but didn't realize until I brought the TV home, that I saw why you kept pushing me to not test S-Video. The input for S-Video has a chroma problem and can't show color under any circumstance, and is without a doubt faulty. It is because of this, I feel this I feel the sale was forced upon me, and was sold a TV that was not working, when you knew exactly what problems it had. Please take the TV back and refund my moneu, other prove to me S-Video is functional."

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but that is what I would do.

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Originally Posted by evildragon

You need to go to him, and tell him this: "I feel you have pursueded me into purchasing a TV that was not properly tested. When I wanted to test S-Video, you kept pushing me that you didn't have enough time, and forced me to only test composite video. It was then, because of my time constraints, I felt pressured into buying the TV, in which I did, but didn't realize until I brought the TV home, that I saw why you kept pushing me to not test S-Video. The input for S-Video has a chroma problem and can't show color under any circumstance, and is without a doubt faulty. It is because of this, I feel this I feel the sale was forced upon me, and was sold a TV that was not working, when you knew exactly what problems it had. Please take the TV back and refund my moneu, other prove to me S-Video is functional."

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but that is what I would do.

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Sounds good. I'm bringing a witness also.

I've had problems with TV repair shops like this before.

A lot of these guys are dumpster divers.

Yes, and a lot of them are not worth it these days. That's not to say there isn't TV repair shops that are good, but they are rare now.

See basically, you're pushing him to PROVE the TV is working to you.

Just be ready though, he may try the "you broke it" crap.

My crt was having this sort of issue for a while the s-video jack on the back of the tv had a weak solder joint on the chroma line. I actually took my tv apart and soldered in a header connector for s-video but I don't recommend trying this since working inside a tv can be really dangerous. Don't forget to hot glue your new connector wires onto the pcb once they're soldered so they don't ever break off like your s-video jack most likely did. TV repair shops are hard to find, I practically am a repair shop but even for a guy like me I didn't attempt this fix until I had a huge amount of experience under my belt, you can seriously hurt yourself messing around on the inside of a crt (or any moniter probably), there's a lot of stored electricity in these things.

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Originally Posted by Guntz

I've seen S-Video jacks go bad on TVs before, they do break eventually. Try moving around the S-video plug in the TV's jack and see if you get chroma to come up.

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That's exactly what happened to me, I just eventually got tired of wiggling my jack in circles all day (that sounds sexual..).

The closest I've had to this particular issue is with playing Region 1 DVD's via S-Video from a very early Philips DVD player on an older Sony CRT.

The NTSC signal was not being converted to PAL by the DVD player, and the TV itself did not support the NTSC signal, so the video was showing as black and white instead of color.

You guys aren't going to believe this. The owner of the TV repair shop called me this afternoon and told me to bring the TV in for a refund. I shower, shave, get a bit to eat, and arrive at his shop at around 2:00 to 2:30. Remember, I live in a different city and am having to travel by highway to get to this guy.

When I arrive, the TV repair shop is closed and locked. I talk to the barber shop next door and they told me he actually left early today (meaning, probably very soon after I talked to him). They told me he would probably answer if I called him. I called. No answer. I get a friend to call. No answer.

Having already wasted two days playing games with this jerk I just left the TV at his shop covered in a tarp. If he wants to refund me he will, if not, well, whatever. I'm not spending any more gas money on this little project. So, I went to a few thrift stores and found a larger CRT, with S-Video, for $10. Turns out CRTs with S-video are not as rare as I thought. Unlike the TV that the repairman sold me, this one from the Goodwill is not something that came out of a dumpster.

I should have learned my lesson a few years ago when I tried to get a flat screen CRT from a different TV repairman.

I'd say fuck with this guy and harass him over the phone

I'd save up toward a CRT with component. It's the next step above. Closest thing to RGB on mainstream sets.

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Originally Posted by lumclaw

I'd save up toward a CRT with component. It's the next step above. Closest thing to RGB on mainstream sets.

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I have two huge crts. One with component + s-video and one with just s-video, the s-video only one has a better looking picture over s-video than component on the other one.

Yeah, thrift stores are your friend when it comes to CRTs. I have one near me that is really good about pricing them as well, my current one cost me like $14 and has component/svid/composite and is a nice Samsung. I scope them out regularly for upgrade to my current one because they're always around like $10.

Why spend money on a regular CRT at all? I'm always seeing pretty decent sets on the craigslist free section - depends where you live though I suppose.

Well, the guy did NOT refund me for the TV set even though he now has it back at his store. I also looked at the credit card statement and he charged me for a "TV REPAIR SERVICE" and not a television set. He was trying to be slick by attempting to charge me for an intangible service and not an item, but he actually screwed himself because it is clearly not what I paid him for and that alone is enough to reverse the charge.

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Originally Posted by Qjimbo

Why spend money on a regular CRT at all? I'm always seeing pretty decent sets on the craigslist free section - depends where you live though I suppose.

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Older video game consoles look MUCH better on CRT televisions than on LCDs. This is fairly common knowledge. I already have a very nice 32 inch Magnavox LCD that even nicely up-scales DVD video.

...or are you asking me why I don't look for free CRT's through Craigslist? I did look on Craigslist, but the advertisements I found there would involve me driving at least 50 miles out of my way. The gas money would be more than the cost of a CRT at a local thrift store.

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Originally Posted by Qjimbo

Why spend money on a regular CRT at all? I'm always seeing pretty decent sets on the craigslist free section - depends where you live though I suppose.

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It probably depends on the area but people near me still want cash for their sets, even though I know a lot of them are worthless. The thrift is a good filter for me because every set is tested and cleaned in advance to being put out, plus there's a warranty unlike what CL offers. I'll happily pay the $10 for that; it's like the cost of a sandwich or something.

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Originally Posted by Majestic_Lizard

Older video game consoles look MUCH better on CRT televisions than on LCDs. This is fairly common knowledge. I already have a very nice 32 inch Magnavox LCD that even nicely up-scales DVD video.

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Oh I totally agree, LCDs look terrible for low-resolution stuff, particularly over composite. I did just mean why pay because it seemed like you just wanted a regular TV and many people just give them away these days, but clearly it's not like that everywhere.

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Originally Posted by xelement5x

The thrift is a good filter for me because every set is tested and cleaned in advance to being put out, plus there's a warranty unlike what CL offers. I'll happily pay the $10 for that; it's like the cost of a sandwich or something.

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True - if pay you might get assurance that it's been tested, but it depends where from as this topic goes to show.

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Originally Posted by Drakon

My crt was having this sort of issue for a while the s-video jack on the back of the tv had a weak solder joint on the chroma line. I actually took my tv apart and soldered in a header connector for s-video but I don't recommend trying this since working inside a tv can be really dangerous. Don't forget to hot glue your new connector wires onto the pcb once they're soldered so they don't ever break off like your s-video jack most likely did. TV repair shops are hard to find, I practically am a repair shop but even for a guy like me I didn't attempt this fix until I had a huge amount of experience under my belt, you can seriously hurt yourself messing around on the inside of a crt (or any moniter probably), there's a lot of stored electricity in these things.

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That's what I was thinking. If there's intermittent color when wiggling the connector in the s-video port on the TV, then it's definitely an issue with the solder joints/wires on the connector inside the TV itself. Pretty easy to fix if you're comfortable doing minor work inside a CRT set . . . but that's really something that should have been done during "refurbishing" . . .

How much did you spend on this thing? If it was cheap, and if the picture quality is otherwise good (composite and the current luma signal through S-video), I'd personally consider just keeping it and doing the work myself.

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

That's what I was thinking. If there's intermittent color when wiggling the connector in the s-video port on the TV, then it's definitely an issue with the solder joints/wires on the connector inside the TV itself. Pretty easy to fix if you're comfortable doing minor work inside a CRT set . . . but that's really something that should have been done during "refurbishing" . . .

How much did you spend on this thing? If it was cheap, and if the picture quality is otherwise good (composite and the current luma signal through S-video), I'd personally consider just keeping it and doing the work myself.

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Huh? I already fixed my tv.

It was not cheap. It was $70. There was no intermittent color with jiggling. The chroma was not working at all. I did not want to take the CRT apart as I wanted a refund. For the price I paid it should have worked perfectly. My credit card company is still trying to get the money back. However, now I have to write a letter and include a receipt because he is lying to the credit card company saying that I didn't buy the TV from him and that I already owned it and paid him to fix it for me.

BTW: I have repaired CRT monitors and TVs before. I think he probably got that TV out of someone's trash. That being said, I do not like to work on CRTs. They are nasty inside and dangerous to work on.

I then bought a larger CRT with S-Video at the goodwill.

For $10.00.

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Originally Posted by Majestic_Lizard

It was not cheap. It was $70. There was no intermittent color with jiggling. The chroma was not working at all. I did not want to take the CRT apart as I wanted a refund. For the price I paid it should have worked perfectly. My credit card company is still trying to get the money back. However, now I have to write a letter and include a receipt because he is lying to the credit card company saying that I didn't buy the TV from him and that I already owned it and paid him to fix it for me.

BTW: I have repaired CRT monitors and TVs before. I think he probably got that TV out of someone's trash. That being said, I do not like to work on CRTs. They are nasty inside and dangerous to work on.

I then bought a larger CRT with S-Video at the goodwill.

For $10.00.

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If the chroma trace is completely broken no amount of jiggling will get it working. I've repaired plenty of things where a trace had completely broken apart and I needed to repair the entire trace. This's why I like using hot glue for stuff that gets wiggled a lot, to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

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Originally Posted by Drakon

If the chroma trace is completely broken no amount of jiggling will get it working. I've repaired plenty of things where a trace had completely broken apart and I needed to repair the entire trace. This's why I like using hot glue for stuff that gets wiggled a lot, to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

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The guy said it had a 30 day warranty, so I didn't want to waste time messing with it. Had I known he was not going to honor the warranty I would have attempted to repair it (not that I would have been able to).

if he has a dog named whiskey, he should probably be fixing safer things than tvs..... :)

Just for the record for anyone out there that can work on electronics I have found
That samsung CRT tvs that are non hd can be easily rgb hacked
It was even made to have a scart connection on board so easy to
Buy a female scart connector and put it on board so they are in goodwills and craiglist
If anyone wants a cheap rgb solution.

Cathoderaytubes : do the samsung tvs require any other missing parts besides the scart socket?

I have a 27" Samsung SDTV. Tell me more.

Wouldn't you have to hack the firmware or something to make its buttons select the input?

Actually, there is no firmware issues with SDTV CRT based sets, You will have to find a pin called "FB" stands for Fast Blanking feeding it 5v from the game console will enable rgb, you will probably have to add resistors on the rgb lines that are misssing, If you can find the service manual to your samsung set it will show the needed resistor values, I will try to put together somekind of guide here when I have some free time, It doesnt take much to do on these, course I have hacked quite a few brands of SDTV CRT sets to have rgb using the gamesx db9 connector for my interface as they are easy and cheap to find. most sony sets can be done too but are harder than the Samsungs and require a bit more work as well as service manual.

[edit] And With the samsungs there are places on the board that have the missing resistors that usually make the connection from the main "Jungle IC" to the scart connection, And if your looking at the back of your samsung set it should have a block that has roughly 3 sets of rca composite and L R stereo connectors this is usually where the scart would be soldiered and these would have to be desolderd. When you take apart the set the board will show pins that are silk screen labeled R G B. I will have to make a little guide to help you guys out.

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Originally Posted by CathodeRayTubes

Just for the record for anyone out there that can work on electronics I have found
That samsung CRT tvs that are non hd can be easily rgb hacked
It was even made to have a scart connection on board so easy to
Buy a female scart connector and put it on board so they are in goodwills and craiglist
If anyone wants a cheap rgb solution.

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That is very intersting, have you documented this in a thread somewhere? Thats just the kind of thing i would do in my potential future project list.

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Originally Posted by MaxWar

That is very intersting, have you documented this in a thread somewhere? Thats just the kind of thing i would do in my potential future project list.

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I have not writtin a thread yet, but once I write my guide hopefully it will become sticky for everyone interested, Most CRT SDTVs can be hacked in some way, but the samsung is by far the easiest. and older sets, especially from the 80s and back, my have a live chassis would require a isolation transformer but not with the newer sets and not with these later model samsungs.