It seems that S-video connectors break a lot internally.

It's a very poor design, the least reliable of all connectors used for video.

Tried it on two diffrent VHS machines and the cables are brand new - the camera is nott too old either and nvere used this connection before - guess I'll try with another camera and see. Also tried with non-copywrited tapes.

//Garo

I am trying to copy from a VHS tape to my DV cam - got it all figured out with audio and all but it's all coming out in black and white!

Where did SVHS get mentioned as part of the recipe? But I guess the Black 'n White thing was the hint - yeah?

Ok .. . I'll go with the mind reading here, BUT am I being totally dense here?

1/ - SVHS Tape > SVHS machine > SVHS Cabling > DV . .. OK!

2/ - VHS Tape > VHS Machine > SVHS Cabling > DV . . Not good.

Why the issue? Surely using SVHS cabling is making BnW? Hey, put me right on this and I'll fill in some more shortcomings in my KB . . .

Anyway do you get BW NOT using SVHS cabling?

Apologies for naive observation here .. .

Grazie

That was actually a good observation. I go out of my way to use an S-VHS recorder to transfer my reg VHS tapes for the (maybe) better transfer of video via S-Video cable. I've done it for so long, I didn't think about the normal RCA cables being most peoples regular way of transfering. I have had S-Vid cables that just needed to be "wiggled" slightly and the color popped back in. If it's not the cable and the tapes don't have macrovison encoded, then I don't know. If the camera transfers colors video signals from the camera recorded tape, you'd expect it to transfer color VHS signals too. If it transfers camera tapes in color but not a video connection, I suppose it could be a bad S-Video jack, on the pass-thru cam or the S-VHS deck, if that's what you're using. If using only a single RCA jack for video, then I don't have a clue.
Yes, Grazie, I've seen S-VHS cables, where the cable is fine, but the jacks on the input/output device are not tight and only a black and white signal goes through, but wiggling or adjusting fixes it.
3/- VHS Tape > SVHS machine> SVHS Cabling> DV...should be a hair better than your number 2. Because of the color / B&W separation. Maybe negligible though.

Most likely problem, the color burst is the wrong frequency, they could be PAL or some odd ball variant of same or they could be plain worn out.
Assuming everything is NTSC, there's at least two different color burst frequencies used on NTSC.
All of those are pretty long shots though.
Try feeding a different source of video into the camera and see what happens, there's just too many possibilities to make a good guess, try to narrow it down.
Bob.

Strnge this is I got a signal from the the TV right into the camera and it was B/W too!

go friggen figure ....

We're trying to help, but for some reason you won't tell us exactly how your making the transfer. Are you using S-Video cable or RCA cable to transfer the video portion from the playback unit to the Pass-through camcorder? What brand VHS or SVHS deck are you using to play back VHS tapes? What is the model of the Camcorder you're using to utilize the "Pass-through" feature? Do you get color from tapes recorded on the camera? Does the camera itself pass a color signal, LIVE, to the PC?
Is it possible that a 1394 cable can short out and only pass B&W? I've never heard of that, but maybe somebody else knows.
To be ridiculous, make sure your camera is not set to "Sepia" or "B&W" in the camera menu. (under "P Effect" on a Sony) Make sure your "Nightshot" is off. The only trouble with this is, with a Sony, you need to have the camcorder in VCR mode to use the Pass-through, so I don't know that the sepia or B&W setting applies. Never hurts to check though.