No colour on TV/DVDs in foreign countries?

dcGT

Hi All,
A friend of mine recently moved to Argentina. He just had his stuff shipped over (TV/DVD player etc. ) However, he has found that both appear in black & white. I remember hearing of a problem like this before and wanted to check it here. Is it something to with PAL/NTSC. Is there a way to fix this? (a converter of some sort)

Thanks,

DC.

leeroybrown

Ireland is PAL-I (the most common variant in Europe) where as Argentina are PAL-N. This is probably causing the problem. Black and White output seems to be the standard problem when PAL signal versions and equipment versions are mixed.

You can definitely get PAL-> NTSC and NTSC -> PAL convertors so it's probably possible to pick up one that can output to an alternative version of PAL.

robbie1876

It may be worth trying to run the DVD player to the TV with an s-video cable rather than via the scart. This has worked for me a few times in similar situations, but I can't guarantee it will work, nor do I know why it works! It's a bit cheaper than a converter box, so it's worth a try first.

ZENER

Can you clarify the problem here for me (bit thick loike!)

He has shipped his IRISH TV and HIS IRISH DVD Player to Argetina where the IRISH DVD player now gives a B/W picture on his IRISH TV SET ?!?!?!

Is he playing DVD's from that region on the player ?

Or am I missing something here ??

ZEN

Darren

I have some NTSC region 1 DVDs. I play them through a PS2. I have 2 TVs, one is a Sony Trinitron KV32** and one is a KV28WS2 (I think!). The DVDs play only in Black and white on the 32" and in full colour on the 28". This leads me to believe that the 28 can handle NTSC output but the 32 cannot. Maybe the problem is your TV.

ZENER

Can your PS2 be set to output PAL only ? This is one of those funny subjects that crops up regular as clock work here. Can the original poster tell us any more ??

ZEN

dcGT

Hi Lads,
Sorry if the original situation wasn't clear.....
OK here's the deal:

Hello there!

Here's what he told me:

"I shipped both my Irish TV and my Irish DVD player.

1) When I plug in the Irish TV with the cable here, and I do a Auto setting, it
finds all the channels from cable, but there is no sound and it's B/W

2) When I plug the Irish DVD player to an Argentinian TV, I get sound but B/W. The
DVD player is region 2, and the DVDs are region 2.

3) What I haven't tried, but I suppose it will work, is the DVD player to
the Irish TV, and using region 2 DVDs... which is a bit limited for me here..."

Seems to me that maybe it's a PAL/NTSC problem on the part of the Argentinian TV?
What do you think?

Thanks,

DC.

Darren

It seems to me that, that is exactly the problem.

ZENER

2) When I plug the Irish DVD player to an Argentinian TV, I get sound but B/W. The
DVD player is region 2, and the DVDs are region 2.

DVD Region should not matter if the player is so equipped - connect the DVD player via "RGB" to the Argentinian TV set - you should get a clear colour picture then.

1) When I plug in the Irish TV with the cable here, and I do a Auto setting, it
finds all the channels from cable, but there is no sound and it's B/W

The sound IF channel is in a different place to where the TV is expecting it. Does the Cable system come with a set top box ? Can he connect it to his TV via RGB SCART ?

ZEN

dcGT

Originally posted by ZENER
DVD Region should not matter if the player is so equipped - connect the DVD player via "RGB" to the Argentinian TV set - you should get a clear colour picture then.


The sound IF channel is in a different place to where the TV is expecting it. Does the Cable system come with a set top box ? Can he connect it to his TV via RGB SCART ?

ZEN

He doesn't have a SCART on the Argentinian TV :dunno:
Looks like he will just have to sort out a TV that does (or test on one). He's tried connecting the Irish DVD to the Argentinian TV via RCA leads. But that results in B/W (but with sound)
The reason he's not using the Irish TV is that it's only a small portable

Cheers for the help lads!

DC.

John R

Originally posted by dcGT
Hi Lads,
Sorry if the original situation wasn't clear.....
OK here's the deal:

Hello there!

Here's what he told me:

"I shipped both my Irish TV and my Irish DVD player.

1) When I plug in the Irish TV with the cable here, and I do a Auto setting, it
finds all the channels from cable, but there is no sound and it's B/W

2) When I plug the Irish DVD player to an Argentinian TV, I get sound but B/W. The
DVD player is region 2, and the DVDs are region 2.

3) What I haven't tried, but I suppose it will work, is the DVD player to
the Irish TV, and using region 2 DVDs... which is a bit limited for me here..."

Seems to me that maybe it's a PAL/NTSC problem on the part of the Argentinian TV?
What do you think?

Thanks,

DC.

It has nothing to do with NTSC, Argentina is a PAL country.

IF the DVD player can play region 1 (NTSC) discs and the Irish TV can display them then just use that. Argentina is DVD region 4 (Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America) which would be PAL format discs apart from the region codes these would be compatible with the Irish player.

For watching the local tv broadcasts on the Irish TV, unless as Zener said there is a cable box with a RGB scart output you are out of luck. Many TVs have PAL I/B/G switching for Europe but PAL N is unique to Argentina. A local region free dvd player will play all of your region 2 discs on the Argentinian tv.

Playing Region 1 discs will depend on the ability of the TV to switch to NTSC standards.

dcGT

That makes sense John R,
As said, he doesn't want to use the Irish TV, as it's only a portable.

Thanks for the help,

DC.