I'm struggling to copy my masterpieces on to video. I have connected the camera AV out to the TV and the camera S-video to the scart socket on the VCR.

The best I can get is black & white footage, with no sound.

Where am I going wrong?

Your camcorder doesn't support s-video thats why you're getting black and white.

You'll have to do some conversion to composite

Thanks - how would I go about that?

it all depends on budget

You could buy a cheap video processor that'll accept s-video and output composite.

you could go via a pc with an editing card.

you could have a telly that will accept s-video and allow a passthrough down to the vcr. Sounds strange but there are tellys that do it


I'm sure there are other routes

Can't you connect a cable from the AV out that plugs into a scart socket on the video and do it that way? I have managed to play footage from the camera on my TV this way, so I assume that recording it would be similar.

Use this cable to get from AV out to 3 phono plugs:
http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?KLD68

And then plug the three phono plugs into one of these adaptors which then plugs into a scart socket on TV/VCR:
http://www.keene.co.uk/cgi-bin/codesearch.pl?KA127R

I am sure you can get a cable that will go straight from AV out to scart, but I cannot find one at the moment.

If the video doesn't support s-video, plugging the cable into a scart will still put s-video down the s-video pins. The vcr wont see the chroma signal (as it isn't looking at the correct pin) and subsequently you get a black and white picture.


However as you have correctly pointed out, he could use a differenct cable from his camera that gives hime composite out - such as the one in the keene link.

I have this camera and IT DOES support svhs

its not the camera that is the issue - its the target VCR not seeing the chromas signal from the camera

Do you still have Panasonic NV-DS30 ?
Do you have RS232 cable for connecting camcorder to PC?
If yes, could you help me in some things?
I need to retrieve some codes from DS30 to compare with mine DS29.
I can send software for retrieving codes and cable shematic, if it interests you.

Thank you for answer.

Originally posted by berniemac
I'm struggling to copy my masterpieces on to video. I have connected the camera AV out to the TV and the camera S-video to the scart socket on the VCR.

The best I can get is black & white footage, with no sound.

Where am I going wrong?

So you've got 2 outputs from the cam at the same time? Why's that?
I always connect the the cam to the VCR then connect the Scart out to the TV. If your cam has a S-VHS socket, I don't see how it's not compatable with it! I always use the S-VHS connection, regardless of whether the original footage was shot in S-VHS/Hi8 or not. If your equipment is S-V compatable it'll output it OK anyway. Provided that is, you've got the correct outputs selected in the hardware menus!!
Q: Is your VCR S-VHS?