Ati AIW X800 black and white picture
 

Hi people!

Marcelo here from Argentina.

I have been putting togheter a capture pc (Athlon X2 2Gb DDR2 with a fresh install of Windows XP) with an Ati AIW X800 card and MMC 9.14 (downloaded from this site, of course).
I have image, I can see the video from the Composite signal (with Ati MMC or VirtualDub); however the picture is in Black and White.

I am using PAL tapes on a Sony SLV-L56AR (6 head stereo VCR) wich I have for years.
Of course, I have tested the tapes and VCR on TV and theres no problem with the picture.

Further more, the Sony has a switch on the back for switching the colour encoding playback from PAL to NTSC 3.58. It's set to PAL, but I've try'd with the NTSC option and does nothing.
Also has another button on the front for changing the Color Mode (NTSC, PAL, AUTO). But it's not necessary since it detects wich format the tape uses.

Also I tested connecting a Samsung DVD Player (Samsung C550). Set Color space to NTSC of the capture card and the DVD player, still B&W. Set the both to PAL, same.
BTW I didn't play any dvds, just the config/setup menu of the DVD Player.

(In Argentina we used mostly PAL tapes, but DVD's where mostly NTSC).


Maybe I'm getting old or something ain't working properly...

Any thoughts of what may I'been doing wrong?


--- UPDATE ---


Set the DVD player to PAL-M, set the MMC to PAL-M, got image and color (lightly faded).
Switched to dvd player to NTSC, set the MMC to NTSC, got image and color but image is streched.
Switched to PAL-N (both DVD and MMC), picture is B&W.

Sounds like the ATI AIW is having problems with the PAL-N signal being output by the VCR (PAL-N is PAL with color subcarrier at 3.58Mhz vs. 4.43Mhz like the rest of the world). Your tapes are native PAL recordings (625/50i), the only difference is how the VCR outputs the color signal. I would have thought the ATI cards could do this without a problem.