Panasonic TH42PZ85B - green image via Scart???

[admin_exported]

Just got me a new Panasonic TH42PZ85B. Stonking picture to my untrained eyes, but for some strange reason my DVD player is outputting a green image. It's not just a bit green, but completely green with no other colours in the picture at all. You can still make out the image, as darks and lights show up.

It is just an old standard def cheapo DVD player with an RGB scart lead. I've tried both scart inputs on the telly with the same result. Strange thing is I never got this on my old Sony CRT telly and there is obviously nothing wrong with the telly itself because my Xbox works just fine on both the scart inputs. When I switch my DVD player's output to non-RGB composite output, picture comes out just fine. Hmmmm?

Any ideas?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Have you tried the same Scart lead on the other components outputting RGB. Sounds like it might be a Scart lead that's not fully wired - ie one not designed for RGB, so only the green component is being carried.

Try the player with a different lead, and try the lead with the other components. Also check that the TV input in question is set up to accept RGB - it's possible not all of the inputs on the TV are RGB-capable.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Andrew. Sadly I don't own any other RGB capable devices that would take a standard scart lead. But as I said before, the lead worked absolutely fine on my old CRT Sony. I'm pretty certain it's an RGB scart lead because when I ordered it (years ago) it was advertised as such. I'm also pretty certain it worked on my old telly's RGB input. When I set the DVD player to non-RGB output and tell the telly to expect non-RGB input, it works fine... but I would much prefer the better picture that RGB provides.

As for the new telly, it's set to take RGB scart inputs - it's taking one from my Xbox, which works fine.

It's a bit of a mystery. Could it be that there are different wirings for RGB scarts and my cable is not compatible with my telly?

 

[Andrew Everard]

pulck:
Could it be that there are different wirings for RGB scarts and my cable is not compatible with my telly?

Shouldn't be. Does the X-box work fine on the same input you're using for the player? And with the same cable? If so, it's a player set-up problem.

If the X-box works fine as you have it set-up now, but not if you stick to the same input and substitute the cable you now have between your player and the TV, then it's the cable.

But I suspect that even though the TV is set up to accept RGB via Scart, one of the inputs - the one to which your player is converted, may not be set to accept RGB. Each input can have it picture mode set up separately - see manual page 22. You could check that by unplugging your X-bax cable from its input, and trying it in the input to which you're currently connecting the player.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'm going to rather cheekily suggest that this is way too much bother for a picture that's not going to look great on a 42in Full HD flatscreen anyway.

I know none of us have money to chuck around, but for under £100 you could get a new DVD player with HDMI connection, plus a decent cable, and you'd have a) none of these issues and b) a much better movie-viewing experience...

 

[Anonymous]

You're right, of course, Clare, but in the meantime I'd quite like to be able to watch some DVDs with the best quality picture I can.

Andrew, the Xbox (which is outputting an RGB signal) works fine on both scart inputs - so they must be operating in RGB mode (indeed the telly even says 'RGB' when I switch AV inputs). Unfortunately the Xbox uses a proprietary cable, so I cannot try the suspect scart lead out on it.

There must be something up with the DVD player set-up or its scart lead. But I'll be damned if I can spot what the problem is because, as I said before, they worked just dandy with my old telly via its RGB input. Perhaps my DVD player or scart lead just died on me as I put the new telly in... but it seems a bit of a coincidence.