BLACK AND WHITE DVD....

[admin_exported]

I have a 1989 Sony Trinitron TV and a Pioneer DVD player. My wife bought from the Royal Opera House a DVD of a ballet. Unfortunately the picture comes out in black and white. We have the same problem with another DVD bought from the ROH. Other DVDs come out in colour. I did think it was the TV and was about to treat myself to a new Panasonic LCD when I had Sky TV installed. The installer said the problem is the DVD player. So I went to John Lewis this evening all set to buy a new player. However the salesman said the problem is the cable - and sold me one rather than a new DVD player. I did get him to try the DVD in a TV and DVD set up on display and the colours came through. I have now swopped the cable (Sky box to DVD) but the picture is still in black and white......does anyone have any ideas? DVD Region code:0 worldwide, Picture format: 4:3 NTSC. Please help!!!!!

 

[Andrew Everard]

What's the DVD player? The black and white problem is the NTSC thing and the age of the TV, but you may find you can force the player to output PAL video from these NTSC discs - there may be something in the set-up menu that lets you choose the TV standard it outputs. The choice is usually PAL, NTSC or auto, and the chances are the default is auto, whereas you want to set it to PAL.

More modern TVs will handle NTSC and show it in colour, but I know that old Sonys, like most TVs of that vintage, will only give black and white from an NTSC signal.

And shame on the man at JL - the cable won't make any difference at all.

Anyway, let me know what the DVD player is and I'll do some more checking - if I let a classical music enthusiast suffer DVDs in black and white I'll never be able to show my face in the Gramophone office again!

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew - that is kind and I am grateful that you picked this up. The DVD is a Pioneer DVD380. I confess I was sceptical about the advice about the cable (not least becasue I am very vary about claims made about cables) but it was the cheapest option. My original plan was to change the TV (the Panasonic 32" 700 is stunning!) until the Sky man said it was the player! Anyway your thoughts gratefully appreciated.
Regards

 

[Andrew Everard]

Aha!

"Setting the TV system
The default setting of this player is AUTO, and
unless you notice that the picture is distorted
when playing some discs, you should leave it
set to AUTO.

If you experience picture distortion
with some discs, set the TV system to
match your country or region's system.

1 If the player is on, press STANDBY/
ON to switch it to standby.
2 Using the front panel controls, hold
down
>>I
then press
STANDBY/ON
to switch the TV system.
The TV system changes as follows:

AUTO >NTSC

NTSC>PAL

PAL>AUTO

Note
You have to switch the player into standby
(press STANDBY/ON) before each
change."

You need to do the procedure twice to get from Auto to PAL output, and this should solve the problem

So
with the player off, hold down the >>I button on the player, then
press Standby/On to turn it on. It's now in NTSC output.

Release
the >>I button, turn it off with the Standby/On button, hold down
>>I and press Standby/On again, and it'll now show PAL all the
time, and should convert the output from those ROH NTSC discs.

Hope all that helps

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew - Brilliant! I can now see Darcey Bussell if not in the flesh at least in colour.....
The trick was to print out the instructions so I could follow them to the letter!
My wife's comment: how much has that saved us....
Thanks again

 

[Andrew Everard]

my pleasure...