[kr236rk]

Hi,

i have a veteran NV-M10 Panasonic vhs camcorder, which i just starting to get to grips with. There are no sepecifications for the lens, but it is about 40mm across, with a fixed 70mm hard plastic hood. there are no threads on the hood for fixing accessories.

is there an attachable filter i can use to convert this colour video camera into black & white, please - or something approximating this effect?

thanks,

ric

[MarkE19]

I don't think you will be able to put a filter onto a camcorder to remove colour. I would think the only way to do it is to copy to a computer and edit the footage and convert to B&W there.
Otherwise you could make/get a composite to S-Video lead and plug into an S-VHS VCR. This would then ignore the colour info* in the picture and give a B&W picture. If the cam has an S-Video output then you can go S-Video to composite into a standard VHS VCR and the same will apply.

* S-Video splits the picture into separate chrominance (colour) & luminance (B&W picture). If you wire an S-Video plug to a composite (RCA/phono) plug and only connect the luminance wire then the colour info will be lost to give the B&W picture.

Hope this helps,
Mark.

[kr236rk]

Originally Posted by MarkE19

... I would think the only way to do it is to copy to a computer and edit the footage and convert to B&W there...

* S-Video splits the picture into separate chrominance (colour) & luminance (B&W picture). If you wire an S-Video plug to a composite (RCA/phono) plug and only connect the luminance wire then the colour info will be lost to give the B&W picture.

Hope this helps,
Mark.

Thanks Mark - a software solution would be the easy answer, yes - but i'd much rather try it analogue-wise. can i hook up the S-Video/RCA arrangement you describe by maniplulating plugs, or would i have to snip'n'solder wires in order to achieve the b/w transmission, please?

great suggestion - great thinking!

[MarkE19]

Going the cable route to get a B&W picture will need to be a DIY job I would think as any RCA>S-Video lead would combine the 2 wires that carry the picture so you would get a colour picture - otherwise the cable they are selling would be of no use to 'most people'
You could use an S-Video lead and just 'break off' the chrominance pin in the S-Video plug and that would work, or get inside the plug and remove the wire to the pin instead.

and before you ask, the pinout for an S-Video plug can be found Here so at least you should be able to work out which pin to remove.

Mark.

[kr236rk]

Thaks Mark - will update!

[kr236rk]

Hi Mark -

you wrote:

You could use an S-Video lead and just 'break off' the chrominance pin in the S-Video plug and that would work, or get inside the plug and remove the wire to the pin instead.

would it be possible to perform the same operation on a scart - only my dvd player has an s-video plug? if i can customise a scart, i can record in vhs colour then re-record - vcr to vcr - importing only the b/w signal through a modified scart?

thanks,

[kr236rk]

ps. presumably this would do the same job, if i were to remove the chrominance pin?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...13398&doy=10m5

[MarkE19]

Yes, a scart can have the chrominance pin removed the same as in an S-Video plug to get a B&W picture - but this will only work if the scart device is able to send/receive an S-Video signal. No VHS VCR can, only S-VHS VCR's work with an S-Video signal. A VHS VCR only works with a composite video signal and therefore there is no way of removing the colour part of the signal as it is all on a single wire.
If the cam has an S-Video output then connecting this to a standard VHS VCR will only give a B&W picture via S-Video plus audio to Scart lead as the VCR will not even be looking at the chrominance pin on the scart.

Mark.

TDK do black & white VHS tapes. They cost about a third more than colour tapes and you should be able to get them in most electrical or camera shops.

[redsox_mark]

I'm not meaning to be rude, but is this a joke? Tapes which only record in Black and White?

Mark

[kr236rk]

Originally Posted by MarkE19

Yes, a scart can have the chrominance pin removed the same as in an S-Video plug to get a B&W picture - but this will only work if the scart device is able to send/receive an S-Video signal. No VHS VCR can, only S-VHS VCR's work with an S-Video signal. A VHS VCR only works with a composite video signal and therefore there is no way of removing the colour part of the signal as it is all on a single wire.
If the cam has an S-Video output then connecting this to a standard VHS VCR will only give a B&W picture via S-Video plus audio to Scart lead as the VCR will not even be looking at the chrominance pin on the scart.

hi Mark - i'm suddenly mega bewildered

i have a scart with RCA and s-video sockets. i bought an RCA/s-video converter, removed the chrominance pin, inserted it into the scart s-vid socket, and hooked up two vcr's with it - via an RCA cable - but when i played a tape from one vcr to the other, the screen remained blank.

i then removed the RCA cable from the s-video converter, and plugged it into the RCA socket in the scart - picture appeared! (in colour, of course)

the s-video connector appears not to function when the chrominance pin is removed?

please advise.

[kr236rk]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jones

TDK do black & white VHS tapes. They cost about a third more than colour tapes and you should be able to get them in most electrical or camera shops.

yep - googled for 'TDK b/w vhs tapes', came up with nothing - are these specialised tapes, used for technical stuff?

[kr236rk]

hi,

i just tried the adapter - minus chrominance pin - in my dvd player, which has an s-video output. i hooked it up to the screen via an RCA lead: nothing. when i unpluged the s-vid adapter and hooled the dvd to the screen RCA-to-RCA, i had a picture. the s-vid connection is not delivering to old or new devices?

it is a tv-out adaptor s-video to phono/rca 4-pin

[kr236rk]

Originally Posted by kr236rk

hi,

i just tried the adapter - minus chrominance pin - in my dvd player, which has an s-video output. i hooked it up to the screen via an RCA lead: nothing. when i unpluged the s-vid adapter and hooked the dvd to the screen RCA-to-RCA, i had a picture. the s-vid connection is not delivering to old or new devices?

it is a tv-out adaptor s-video to phono/rca 4-pin

a) customising s-video connections only seems to work on s-vhs equipment, ie. modern stuff, like the dvd player or s-vhs vcr's

b) the diagram i was working to (from a previous posting) is fine, except that the pins are in reverse sequence for a plug ...

c) which is the reason the customised s-video plug did not work in the dvd player

onwards

and thanks to all on this forum, who are offering help - i have learnt a lot in a relatively short while!

[kr236rk]

hi,

just captured from dvd via s-video (chroma pins removed) to PCI card (RCA socket) and got brilliant monochrome

since i tried this experiment previously, plugging the dvd into a pre- s-video 'tv' monitor, and was not able to get monochrome, i presume this black&white effect is only possible when both source and destination equipment are s-video capable???

many thanks to Mark for the customising s-video plug tip!

bests,

[MarkE19]

Well I'm pleased to see you got there in the end

Mark.

[kr236rk]

Originally Posted by MarkE19

Well I'm pleased to see you got there in the end

Mark.

lol - thanks Mark

but the fat lady ain't sung yet - still need to convert my colour into analogue b/w ...

will update