Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Black and white DVD player

This is topic Black and white DVD player in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 01-10-2009, 01:59 PM:

I recently got a new old TV because my old old one (which was newer than my new old one) would stop working randomly (you could smack it, but that was only effective about half the time). Anyways, my point is, I go to plug my DVD player into my new old TV to watch a Futurama DVD, and it is in black and white. Now, I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be black and white, but I fell asleep and consequently didn't mess with it. Anyhow, I rent The Machinist and pop that in, and it is still black and white. This isn't black and white like if you turn the saturation all the way down on the TV, this has good contrast, black blacks and white whites. This is sort of impressive.

Anyhow, I try the RCA cables in all 3 of the TVs inputs, all the same, black and white. So, being sciencey, I bust out my N64 and accidentally play Goldeneye for 2 hours, but this is significant, because it is in color. Weird, that rules out the TV inputs, which means it is the DVD player, right? I don't know diddly about DVD players, but I didn't think this could happen. I'm going to keep this DVD player, because I think it is awesome, but I just thought that was wild.

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 01-10-2009, 02:28 PM:

Look up the player setup menu and check the "TV system" entry. If it says PAL or SECAM, change it to NTSC.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-10-2009, 03:25 PM:

Check your DVD player and make sure it is not set to Component output. Some players had the option to tun it on or off.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 01-10-2009, 05:23 PM:

quote: Christian Appelt
Look up the player setup menu and check the "TV system" entry. If it says PAL or SECAM, change it to NTSC.

Not likely. PAL or Secam trying to go into a standard NTSC tv won't produce a viewable image, sync signals are all wrong.

The dvd player is shot..at least on the composite vid out. I'm willing to bet one of those bangs on the old tv sent a voltage spike though that input.. I had a friend who fried his vcr in a similar (but more dramatic) fashion..lots of smoke and sparks. [Smile]

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 01-10-2009, 06:37 PM:

I'm guessing Darryl's right. What output/input were you using to connect this to your old TV?

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 01-10-2009, 08:34 PM:

How old is this "new old TV"? As part of the Macrovision anti copying crap, the DVD player screws with the color burst. The color burst (on the back porch of the horzontal sync) tells the TV that this signal is in color. It also syncs the color demod. If the TV is old enough, it may have trouble with what is being done to the color burst, and turn off the color demod system in the TV. Try playing your DVD player on another TV, or look at the output of the DVD player on a scope.

First, as said above, check that the player is in the correct mode.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 01-10-2009, 08:46 PM:

Mike, it was connected via RCA. I've never had one of them fancy TVs what uses HDMI or Component. Both of them are just plain Jane CRTs.

Bruce, I think the new TV is probably about 15 years old. I got it for free from a friend (that's the best price) so I don't know any specifics. I have the manual for it at home, so I'll check on that when I get home.

All in all, I'm not overly concerned. I have a DVD player hooked up in my family room too, and I almost certainly have at least one more working one somewhere around the house. Plus, I kind of liked The Machinist in black and white. I often lament that modern filmmakers are rarely willing to use black and white, even when it would be better suited to the subject matter.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 01-11-2009, 05:57 AM:

quote: Galen Murphy-Fahlgren
Mike, it was connected via RCA. I've never had one of them fancy TVs what uses HDMI or Component. Both of them are just plain Jane CRTs.

When you say 'RCA', are you feeding it with composite video? You say it's not component, so it sounds like this is probably the case, but RCA connectors could be carrying various signals.

Assuming that you are using a composite output then there has to be a NTSC encoder in the player to produce this. If the encoder is defective, then you won't get colour on a composite output.

Do you have an oscilloscope? Looking at the video signal on that would tell you what's actually coming out of the player. For example, if the burst was missing that would kill the colour.

Look through the menus on the player; has it been set to produce some other form of output, S-video, Component, RGB for example? On most players the composite output will carry a composite signal however the other outputs are configured, but I have seen some where when S-video output is selected the composite output only carries the Y component (basically a black and white signal). When you look at the black and white picture, does it look normal, or are there dots or patterning visible on the picture? Many DVD players, it seems to be particularly the cheaper ones, are capable of producing signals for use in various countries. If your player has got itself into a state where it is outputting the correct scan frequencies, but with the colour in PAL format at 4.43...MHz. rather then 3.38... MHz. then your television may lock up a stable picture but would not be able to display it in colour unless it could understand this neither one thing nor the other type signal. This sort of thing is quite common in Europe, where many older sets cannot handle NTSC, but will quite happily handle 525 lines with the colour in PAL format, so called 'PAL 60'. Has your player somehow been set to produce something like this.

[ 01-11-2009, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 01-11-2009, 11:30 AM:

Is it possible that you accidentally plugged it into the component output on the DVD player?

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 01-11-2009, 07:55 PM:

Nope, all the player settings are correct, the cables are hooked up right, I even tried a different set of cables. I'll check that player on another TV, but I found one of my other DVD players, so I'll just use that when I want that newfangled color.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 01-12-2009, 03:05 PM:

I had that problem with a faulty S-Video cable once, but never with RCA. In college, we had a TV that would overheat in the summer, and we'd lose the color first, and then focus.

The fix usually involved banging it on the side (first rule of troubleshooting, did you whack it?) and funneling the A/C into the vents of the TV.

Ah, college...

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 01-14-2009, 08:01 AM:

If you have the DVD player set to Component output, the regular and S-Video outputs go to black and white. There should be a setting in the player's Setup menu labeled "output" or something like that, and have the choice of "Component" or "S-Video/Video." If it's a newer player it'll also have the choice of progressive scan, which of course you want off if you're using an older TV.

It's fun to watch "Pleasantville" with a black & white signal.