Where Angels fear to tread. CCTV cabling question

[Soapstop 0]

Ok. Noob here that is trying to make something (which appeared) quite simple into something much more complicated.

 

I have a small Radio Shack CCTV camera that feeds a little radio shack Observation monitor in my office. All I wanted to do was split that feed and run it to a computer monitor that we have stationed in the coffee room, to keep track of the comings and goings.

 

Anyhoo, the cabling between the camera and monitor looked like S-Video. I got an S-Video splitter to take the same feed and run it to the coffee room. I also got an S-video extension cable, and an S-Video to VGA out converter to display the picture on a monitor. However, when I take my cable that ran to the little monitor and attach the splitter and then attach a cable to run to my old monitor, I don't get a signal.

 

I've tested the continuity of the splitter and it's good. When I contacted the company that I bought my splitter from, they said that (likely) radio shack's wiring may be different, and that it might be very specific for the system. Silly me, thinking that it was just simple ol' s-video cable.

 

Anyway, does anybody out there know for sure? I can try to run a test cable from the camera to a monitor using a regular s-video to see, or I can try to convince my buddy (a repairman that knows his way around a little light electrical stuff) to try to decipher the wiring to make it work or, do I just start over? The Scotsman in me hates to do that, but sometimes it just has to be done.

 

Thanks in advance,

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[ssnapier 0]

Do you have the specs (or are they online perhaps?) for the camera or the monitor? I highly doubt they would go to the trouble of a custom cable for that, perhaps you need an active splitter that amplifies the signal??

[Soapstop 0]

Thanks for the reply . Am looking for the manual/specs as we speak, but it's so old, not sure if its still around. However, tried just a straight S-video cable out of the camera to the monitor and it didn't work either, so I am sure that the configuration is different. Which means (gak!) that even if I rewire it to work, I have to "unrewire" it before the signal enters my old monitor, as it's female jack also has the modified configuration....I think I may just go with another cam, cable and monitor seperately. The other way sounds like too much trouble for my puny little brain. Thanks again, ssnapier for responding.

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