S-Video input on Pioneer 530

Phantom Phixer

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I have recently received a Pioneer 530 from Lxdirect and am very impressed.
However I have a problem with the s-video connections.

I am trying to connect a freeview box to the L3 input. I have Sky+ connected to L1 Scart and want the freeview on a separate input. I get a monochrome picture with occasional snatches of colour, a bunch of flowers, a menu item, or such. The same happens with the front s-video input. If I unplug the s-video cable and select composite on the freeview box I get colour. The same cable connected to my TV's front S-video input is ok.

I am puzzled. Any ideas welcome.
 
Is your freeview box delivering s-video?
Which F'view box scart-out are you using?

1. Not many boxes deliver s-video from their VCR (recorder) out scart - I know of Pioneer, Philips (some) and Sony, but the Sony MUST be connected by scart to compatible SmartView recorder or it defaults to composite and you cannot change it.

The number of such recorders seems very restricted - not even all Sonys match their F'view box.

2. If you are using the F'view box TV-out and the box has an s-video option there you should be able to select that OK - including the Sony.

I assume you are using a scart to s-video/composite/audio cable set to connect the box to the front input.
 
As I stated, connecting the freeview box, Pioneer TF100GB, to my TV front s-video input gives a correct s-video display so box and cable are good. I am using the TV output.

Yes I am using a scart to s-video/composite/audio adapter. With the s-video lead connected, selecting composite on the freeview box give a monochrome picture as expected. Selecting s-video gives a monochrome picture but with patches of colour. If I select the setup menu on the freeview the selected item will be in colour and the rest of the menu monochrome.

There does not appear to be any way to specify on the 530 whether composite or s-video is used, it appears to sense the presence of an s-video connection. As stated the symptoms are the same on L2 and L3 inputs.
 
Phantom Phixer said:
As I stated, connecting the freeview box, Pioneer TF100GB, to my TV front s-video input gives a correct s-video display so box and cable are good. I am using the TV output.

Yes I am using a scart to s-video/composite/audio adapter. With the s-video lead connected, selecting composite on the freeview box give a monochrome picture as expected. Selecting s-video gives a monochrome picture but with patches of colour. If I select the setup menu on the freeview the selected item will be in colour and the rest of the menu monochrome.

There does not appear to be any way to specify on the 530 whether composite or s-video is used, it appears to sense the presence of an s-video connection. As stated the symptoms are the same on L2 and L3 inputs.

Try pressing the TV/DVD button on the remote (bottom right) and make sure the machine is set to DVD mode. For some reason, if it isn't, my 420 seems to operate in Composite video.

By the way, does the 530 G-link work OK with the Pioneer Freeview box?
 
Phantom Phixer said:
I get a monochrome picture with occasional snatches of colour, a bunch of flowers, a menu item, or such. The same happens with the front s-video input. If I unplug the s-video cable and select composite on the freeview box I get colour. The same cable connected to my TV's front S-video input is ok.

I am puzzled. Any ideas welcome.

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I am pretty sure its the S-Video out on the Pioneer TF100GB that is at fault here.

I have a TF100GB and when I plug it via S-Video into my Yamaha 1400 I get the same picture issues, colour bleeds everywhere, all blown out.

I called Pioneer last year and they said it was incompatibility between the S-Video chips and its not a fault with the Yamaha or the TF100GB but an incompatibilty, and that they even see it with their own AV AMPS!

This is kind of depressing as I was just thinking about a DVR-630H-S and was hoping that I could feed freeview through the DVDR to avoid this issue :(

You could always give Pioneer tech sup a call...

Paul.

PS According to the G-Link website (try google) the TF100GB is supported eddyad, Phantom Fixer have you tried this yet?
 
Yes, the TF100GB works fine with G-Link.

TallPaul, I have come to the conclusion that it must be a fault with the 530. From what you say, it is likely to be a design issue rather than a one off problem. It was very strange yesterday, I had QVC on while testing and the Introductory price notice was red, the guest presenters top was dark red and there were a few yellow flowers on the set. The rest of the picture was monochrome. I tried adjusting the colour saturation in the video setup. This had some small effect on the items in colour but did not affect the rest.

I have now gone back to my original comnnection setup :-

Freeview -> Sky+ -> 530 -> TV RGB input. All scart.

I had thought this would not do what I want but have now decided it will, and it gives me RGB throughout.
 
One further check just done:

I tried a Philips freeview box and got the same results. I also tried a Hi8 camcorder, without scart adaptor, and that worked ok.
 
Thanks guys for G-link info. I'd seen the Pioneer in the list on the G-link website, but I like to get verification from a 'real user'.

The s-video bit is depressing though. I was thinking of a 530 and a TF100GB then I'd move my 420 to another room. But I suppose the solution is to use the scart-through for RGB (as I have at present with a G-link unsupported Grundig Freeview box) and any G-link compatible STB. At least it means I can stop thinking about the s-video solution.

I wonder why manufacturers seem to have such problems with getting stuff right?
 
Just spotted this thread. I've just bought a Pioneer 530H myself, and am experiencing a similar problem. I want to plug both my video recorder and my Sky set top box into the Pioneer, but whatever I plug into either of the S-Video inputs gets a strong green/purple colour cast (or is monochrome if I press the TV/DVD button). I even get the same problem if I connect the S-video monitor output of my AV receiver to the S-video input on my Pioneer. All my other pieces of kit talk to each other fine via S-video, but not to the Pioneer. This is a real disappointment to me, as I'd hoped to avoid having to use a SCART switching box or keep swapping leads.
 
Just got off the phone to Pioneer support. They couldn't think of anything I haven't already tried, so suggested I return it.

Before I box it up, send it back to lxdirect, wait six months while they lose it, and then get a replacement that does exactly the same thing, can anyone else with a Pioneer DVR-530H try either of their S-video inputs and see if they can, well, see anything?
 
As I stated above, my camcorder works ok. I get a full colour picture, exactly as it should be. The problems are obviously dependant on input device. It would be interesting to get a list of what does and does not work. Does anyone have a 530 that works with all s-video devices?
 
Phantom Phixer said:
It would be interesting to get a list of what does and does not work. Does anyone have a 530 that works with all s-video devices?

I'll start you off.

Denon AVR-3803 AV Receiver - doesn't work (S-video-S-video lead)
Sony DVP-NS705V DVD player - doesn't work (S-video-S-video lead or SCART-S-video lead)
JVC HR-J755EK Video recorder - doesn't work (Scart - S-video lead)
Sony KV-28WS2U 28" TV - doesn't work (SCART-S-video lead)
PACE 250085 Sky digibox - doesn't work (SCART-S-video lead)
Ferguson FV-44L video recorder - doesn't work (SCART-S-video lead)
 
Came home today - no display on front panel. Switched on, all seemed normal except for front display. Attempted to play a recording on HDD and machine switched off totally, no pass-through, nothing. Now when plugged in I can hear the HDD spin up but nothing else.

Oh well, that didn't last long. Exactly a week.
 
Phantom Phixer said:
Oh well, that didn't last long. Exactly a week.

You've got me worried now. When I get home I'm going to dump all my recordings to DVD.
 
My Tosh 52" DLP RPTV behaves oddly with my now aging Pioneer 3100 DVD recorder. I always used to have it connected via direct S-Video cables, both in from my Sky+ box (necessary as this vintage of Pioneer doesn't have RGB in recording) and S-Vid out to my TV. All worked fine, though I had to manually switch screen formats, of course, as direct S-Vid doesn't carry any switching lines.

However, when I changed my TV from a Pioneer CRT RPTV to the new Tosh I decided to connect the 3100 by RGB scart. This is when the fun started. If I press play then up comes the picture and everything's fine. But if I just try to watch something off it's internal tuner, or see what's coming in over any of the AV inputs to the 3100, all I get it a blank screen. I can hear the sound, but no picture. Nothing appears until I press the menu button on the 3100. Then instantly I get the menu up in RGB glory, plus whatever's on in the background (the opening menu is an overlay with large parts of it transparent), even if the thing being fed to it is S-Video, so I know the machine is capable of transcoding directly from S-Vid to RGB, else I wouldn't be seeing it. But the moment I quit out of the menu the picture disappears again, leaving it dark.

The odd thing is that if I press record the picture does go to the disc, even though I can't see it directly on the screen at record time. If I stop the recording and press play, up it pops. It's a weird thing and obviously something curious. It's my belief that only the menu switches the RGB fast blanking pin on and so my Tosh then recognises it as being an RGB signal and shows it. When the menu goes, the pin goes low and the Tosh drops the line. Though the odd thing is, is that the Tosh normally reverts to a blue screen in the absence of a signal. But in this instance it remains black. So I think for some odd reason the Pioneer actually blanks output from the RGB scart entirely, unless play or menu is called for. So I'm not convinced it's the Tosh's fault here, more the Pioneer's.

There is some mention in the manual that having certain devices connected to AV2 can cause anomalies, but my problem persists whether there's something plugged into the unused AV2 scart or not, so I'm at a loss as to know what to try next. It's not a total loss to me as I can always watch Sky directly, or Freeview, or whatever, while the 3100 records. So I don't actually need to try to watch it through the 3100. But it's still niggling. I like things to work as they're supposed to. It kinda puts me off buying another Pioneer DVD recorder just in case they still suffer from this odd design 'feature'.

Regards

Mark
 
Heh heh heh, what a maroon!

Sigh. You know, I've read that soddin' manual from cover to cover at least twice and yet somehow I managed to always either ignore, or skip over, the TV/DVD button on the remote. Whoever already mentioned this is quite right. It was exactly my problem. For some reason mine was switched to 'TV' mode. This has the effect of shutting off the Pioneer's normal outputs, except apparently for the menu and DVD playback. It's supposed to show you directly what the TV's tuner is outputting. But as I always have my TV set to HDMI, and have no direct scart connection to the TV, its onboard tuner was never doing anything, hence the black screen. Switch the 3100 to 'DVD' mode and it starts to output its own tuner, or anything that's feeding in through any of the AV inputs.

I can't particularly see any benefit for this ability, other than to screw you up when it's switched the wrong way. Still, at least that puzzle's now solved and I can consider another Pioneer recorder if I want. Perhaps a new brain might be a better bet. :)

Regards

Mark
 
Yeah, it foxed me too until I saw it mentioned here. I was getting no RGB throughput to my TV and therefore a black screen. Pressing the TV/DVD button sorted it a treat.

I'm thinking of scratching off the "TV/DVD" label and renaming it "Voodoo" because I can't understand what it's actually for.
 
davidhh77 said:
Yeah, it foxed me too until I saw it mentioned here. I was getting no RGB throughput to my TV and therefore a black screen. Pressing the TV/DVD button sorted it a treat.

I'm thinking of scratching off the "TV/DVD" label and renaming it "Voodoo" because I can't understand what it's actually for.

I posted a couple of times about trying this. I found out about it when I suddenly lost RGB and automatic Aspect Ratio switching during power-on but not during stand-by using pass through, so I called Pioneer. The guy in tech support (very helpful) spent about 20 mins working through various things with me, dealing with the TV, my 420 and a Freeview box.
Then he suddenly said "Try pressing the TV/DVD button" - and hey presto - RGB returned.
He admitted he didn't know what the option was for, but he thought it was someting to do with the TV Direct Record facility (which I've never used).

Now from time to time the 420 switches to TV mode but I haven't yet discovered exactly what makes it happen. All I can think of is accidentally pressing the button, which is next to the '3' on the 420, when I'm putting in recording titles. The immediate symptoms are loss of A/R switching and a less sharp picture (switches to composite).

There should be somethin in the manual, but I can't think how it would be explained :(
 
It appears to switch the main RGB scart out socket into a two-way scart and starts to look for an output from the TV.


Edit: Nah, scrub that. What it does is look for input on the second scart and display that, whatever it is. Thinking about it, I guess it's for if you've got a Freeview box and want to view/record that instead of the recorder's own analogue tuner. Now I get where they're coming from I guess it's quite clever. But they sure don't explain it all that well in the manual.

Regards

Mark
 
Mark_a said:
It appears to switch the main RGB scart out socket into a two-way scart and starts to look for an output from the TV.

Edit: Nah, scrub that. What it does is look for input on the second scart and display that, whatever it is. Thinking about it, I guess it's for if you've got a Freeview box and want to view/record that instead of the recorder's own analogue tuner. Now I get where they're coming from I guess it's quite clever. But they sure don't explain it all that well in the manual.

Page 129 of the DVR-530H manual (2nd edition) -
Problem: No picture
Remedy: Try pressing the TV/DVD button. It might work. It might not. We don't really know what the button's for or why we put it on the remote but hey, it's worth a shot.

Mark, do I understand you correctly? Pressing the TV/DVD button effectively turns the output Scart into an input? Would I then be able to connect my Digibox into one Scart and my video into the other, and then output via S-video? Actually, it's all academic now because I've just bought a Scart switching box, but I'm just curious

David.
 
I wondered if it had something to do with TV Direct Record.
I suppose the idea of TV Direct Record is that, from standby, say if the phone goes, you just hit TV Dir Rec then you start to use chase play to pick up the TV prog.
But if you change the TV to the AV input scart to 'chase play' what is recording from the TV, then the TV must carry on sending its tuner output from that scart (to which the recorder is now sending the recording). My Sony TV can be configured to do this on its non-RGB scarts. So the recorder TV-out scart is also an input for composite from a TV but only when recorder's video-out is set to PAL (composite).
TV Dir Rec can't be used with RGB because it relies on the bidirectional propertyof scart cable with composite video which is incompatible with RGB (Oh, the joys of the scart design).

The 420 manual says that TV/DVD set to TV mode gets pic and sound from the TV, DVD mode you get it from the recorder's tuner or an external input.
I have tried pressing TV Dir Rec and the reult is a message "Opertion not available" or similar, but the machine did not switch to TV mode.

I suppose the mesage is, if you suspect the picture is 'not right' for any reason (dull, grainy, no aspect ratio switching, or just plain missing), press TV/DVD before trying anything else.
 
Actually, I'm still not entirely sure what it does. I've been experimenting and it's still... puzzling. It's meant to grab the TV's tuner and display that instead of its own tuner. But how it's meant to achieve that, and under what circumstances, is not entirely clear.

Probably just best to leave it in 'DVD' mode. At least then it behaves more or less how you'd expect it to.

Regards

Mark
 
Mark_a said:
Actually, I'm still not entirely sure what it does. I've been experimenting and it's still... puzzling. It's meant to grab the TV's tuner and display that instead of its own tuner. But how it's meant to achieve that, and under what circumstances, is not entirely clear.

Probably just best to leave it in 'DVD' mode. At least then it behaves more or less how you'd expect it to.

Regards

Mark
I think I covered this in my previous post. But in case I wasn't clear, the scart specification is bi-directional all the time for just composite signals. So if you are set to all-composite, the recorder can get what the TV is showing from the TVs tuner because the non-RGB scarts on the TV send the TV's tuner output as per spec (Sony TVs let you specify what you want to go out of its non-RGB scarts), so the recorder can receive it, and so record it. It's just an 'instant' way of recording what you are watching on the TV without setting the recorder to the appropriate channel and pressing Record. One button press on the remote turns on the recorder and starts it recording from the scart 2, providing it's not set to RGB. So when the phone or doorbell rings, hit TV Dir Rec and off it goes. If it's s-video the situation is more complex and I haven't bothered to sort it out.
 
Returning to the original subject of this thread ( anyone remember what it was? ) my 530 has now failed. I took it to a local Pioneer Service Centre and it it seems the HDD ( a Seagate - Yuk! ) has failed.

While there I mentioned my s-video trouble and the guy suggested an earthing problem. I have now looked inside my scart adaptor and the only earth connection is a single wire to the composite video socket. I can't remember whether I tested the s-video with the composite lead connected and obviously I cannot test it now.

LXDirect have arranged for my machine to be collected on Tuesday.
 

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