Raspberry PI2 , videocomposite only NTSC despite sdtv_mode=2

[cybernoid]

I've a Raspberry Pi2 model B (revision 1.1) with NOOBS 1.40 (I've installed Raspbian).
There is no way to show video output in PAL mode.
I'm using a cable such as showed on http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/0 ... ideo-jack/
cable is good.
I've modified config.txt by commenting the line "hdmi_force_hotplug=1" and de-commentig the line "sdtv_mode=2" but video ouput is NTSC.

[mahjongg]

NOOBS itself ignores the video settings in config.txt, only the installed OS will obey it.
To switch to PAL, press 2 immediately after NOOBS has booted, you are then presented an option to make that choice permanent (by changing an entry in config.txt), and NOOBS will also remember the choice if you return to NOOBS by holding shift during a reboot,

[cybernoid]

I've installed Raspbian from Noobs.
Raspberry now boots with raspbian...

[cybernoid]

Any suggestions?

[DougieLawson]

Any suggestions?

Ditch NOOBS and go with plain Raspbian.

[mahjongg]

What makes you claim it stays NTSC? how do you know?

It works for millions of others, so why not for you?

I concur with dougie, although not with his "scrap NOOBS", it just seems that disliking NOOBS is his hobby these days, but yes, if the image isn't doing what it should, start from scratch! Because in this case it can only be software.

[DougieLawson]

NOOBS is a pain because it's not obvious where the /boot/config.txt parms are being read from. Use the recovery system config editor if you insist on using NOOBS.

Start with an empty config, one of my RPis runs perfectly with just

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gpu_mem=128

coded. Add nothing for hdmi, nothing for sdtv, nothing for framebuffer (stick a # in front of all of those parameters so they become comments).

Boot it and look at what the GPU decides to use with a tvservice -s command. Work from there. If you can use it headless with SSH that's all the better.

If the screen doesn't work, if nothing is displayed, start simple. Try

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hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=1

or

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hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=1

as VGA should run on any display. It helps to know whether your display is CEA (group1) or DMT (group2).

Change one parameter at a time, reboot and see what happens. That makes it easier to commit to a change that works or know what to reverse if it doesn't work.

If you switch to plain Raspbian, it will run

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sdtv_mode=0

Which is NTSC 4:3 720x480 @ 60Hz if there is no HDMI display connected when the system is booted.

[cybernoid]

I say that signal is NTSC because I see all de-focused and B/W, on a new LCD TV and on an old CRT monitor.

I've erased the card, deleted all partitions, formatted and then installed raspbian wheezy from IMG file as by tutorial. I've configured it, then modified the config.txt. Rebooting with videocomposite attached.... same result: very crappy image, de-focused, black and white.
Image attached.

My raspberry is faulty?

[DougieLawson]

How are you wiring it?
Have you got the GND and signal in your AV cable reversed?

[xoopha]

De-focused (noisy?) black and white image sounds like a bad cable. That's what it showed me when I used a wrong TRRS cable.

[cybernoid]

I'm using a TRRS cable such as showed in the above mentioned link.
Is from a camcorder, so I must use the red rca instead of the Yellow one. I've checked connections using a tester and are ok...

[xoopha]

Could we see a screen photo? Your cable being from a camcorder doesn't mean it has to obligatorily have ground on the second ring.

[mahjongg]

no matter, but if it looks anything like this: viewtopic.php?p=653422#p653422 it still a case of reverted ground and video.

Its almost impossible that the output video isn't PAL when configured as such, as its directly generated by the GPU, using the exact same (very simple) hardware as when generating NTSC.