Problem Mac mini G4 with Panasonic 52" Plasma using s-video (composite)

Question

I am upgrading my mac mini but until then I'd like to watch some movies on my new Panasonic 50" Plasma (TH50PZ80U). The first I connected them together using a DVI-to S-Video adapter it worked but with low resolution (can't remember). The resolution was fine for movies but not reading. When I tried to increase the resolution the screen became all grey and black (like when there's no the TV channel in the old days). I tried all of the following but nothing has worked:
1) Played with the mouse for an hour to try to change the resolution but kept starting new programs instead
2) Connected to my apple display cinema, change resolution to the minimum, and then reconnected it and nothing
3) Asked a friend to bring his laptop to do screen sharing but my OS 10.4.11 doesn't support this functionality
4) Tried starting in safe mode and it won't start in safe mode. It gets stock on the gray apple screen at launch
5) Tried getting an HDMI cable but this mac mini is not strong enough for the plasma screen. It kept going black after a few minutes
6) Tried using keyword shortcuts with SwitchResX but I couldn't seem to find the right sequence.
Remember that I tried to the above blind since the screen was all blurry.
Can someone help. Thanks

Answer 1

+I tried with an HDMI cble, through a DVI adapter, but it seems that my 1st generation mac mini is not powerful enough for that. It comes out at first but as soon as I start any application, it looses signal+
I'll ask again; what happens if you try starting in Safe mode connected by HDMI? I understand that with a normal start and running 1080p, the mini is not necessarily stable. But if you start safe, or start normally, and quickly change the resolution to something lower than 1080p, the mini should be "powerful enough" to run the Panasonic at 720p for example. That should not present a problem.
If you really just want to get back to using the S-Video interface at 640 x 480, you should be able to throw out the display preference files to get back to a clean start. That usually works. Try the following; in /Library/Preferences find the file com.apple.windowserver.plist and throw it in the trash or drag it to the desktop. Find also in /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/ByHost the file com.apple.windowserver.xxxxxxxx.plist where xxxxxxx is a string of letters and numbers and yourusername is the name on the main user account and throw that in the trash, too (or drag it to the Desktop). Then restart and see if function returns to S-Video when connected to the Panasonic.