Pioneer DV600 owners - urgent help required (RGB colour shift?!)

Zero1_ · 07-03-2008, 7:20 PM

Hey guys. Sorry about the urgent thread, I usually leave things to run its course, but I need help ASAP.

To cut a long story short, some months ago I bought a Pioneer DV600. Everything seemed fine except that when I used RGB scart, as crisp as the image was, the colours were all shifted left in the players setup menus as well as disc playback. To me this didn't make sense seeing as it was RGB because it looked like the chroma was out of alignment with the luma, but that's a problem I'd have said would be more up S-videos street. (If the pins were dodgy with RGB scart, you'd simply lose a colour, not have the colours shift away from the brightness because RGB doesn't work that way)

This colour shift only happens with RGB scart. It's fine with S-video, non-RGB scart and bog standard composite. I tested this on two other TVs with the exact same problem (3 CRT TVs in all). I had followed the manual too, and switched the player to NTSC and then PAL, with the same problem.

I returned it, thinking it was faulty. I was told it wasn't and was hit with a handling charge. They commented that my TV is probably incompatible, but I'm pretty sure it is. If it was incompatible, then surely the player should have worked when I set it to PAL on RGB scart and not on NTSC. I had the exact same problem with both TV systems.

I have my Xbox360 running 576/60 on RGB scart, my Wii at 480/60 on RGB scart and I had an old Sony multiregion DVD player that also worked fine on RGB scart. I also have a KiSS 1600 DVD/media player currently running in NTSC on RGB scart at 480/60, so I don't think this TV is incompatible otherwise I'd have seen the same effects from my other hardware.

I decided to forget it. Well until a few days ago that is, when I decided I'd give it another shot. Unfortunately I'm in the exact same position again, with the exact same problems.

My question is this. Can fellow DV600 owners try their units via RGB scart (on a CRT TV if possible) and report back if they get the same effect? Also please state if it is multiregion, or factory spec. I'm beginning to wonder if the firmware update/region hack is the wrong version/model or has somehow screwed up the RGB output.

If anyone can think of a fix, I'd appreciate it, however I'm convinced it's a problem with the player, unless some of you can tell me otherwise.

I was really looking forward to using this unit, but it looks like it isn't going to happen. I'd also greatly appreciate some suggestions for equivalent DVD players just in case there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Many thanks.

IAN P · 07-03-2008, 7:32 PM

What tv are you using?

Zero1_ · 07-03-2008, 7:35 PM

That would help

It's a Panasonic TK28 DK1

IAN P · 07-03-2008, 7:41 PM

Well mate,it works on mine,1997 bought Phillips 32 inch widescreen crt.strange sort of problem youve got,can you not try another unit.where did you get it from?are the shop being helpful?

Zero1_ · 07-03-2008, 7:45 PM

I bought them both online, from different retailers. The first (who shall remain nameless) were useless. The second, I've not got back to yet as it's not been long since I got home and tried it out. The other TVs I've tried are recent, but aren't big name brands.

IAN P · 07-03-2008, 7:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zero1_

I bought them both online, from different retailers. The first (who shall remain nameless) were useless. The second, I've not got back to yet as it's not been long since I got home and tried it out. The other TVs I've tried are recent, but aren't big name brands.

Ok,not big name brands,that could be the answer,sorry mate thats the only thing i can think of.

Zero1_ · 07-03-2008, 8:16 PM

Yep, but it still doesn't explain why the colours are shifted even in PAL mode. Or why the colours are shifted in NTSC or PAL on my Panasonic. It's strange.

Zero1_ · 08-03-2008, 9:21 PM

Apologies for the double post, but this is an update, as well as a bit of a bump for any more assistance.

Well today I had the chance to try my DV-600 on another TV, this time a JVC AV28T5SK which was bought just a week ago (the actual model is very recent too I gather. Exactly the same results as my Panasonic TX28 DK1 (I envied the JVC's flat screen, but I don't think the total package was up to the quality of the Panasonic, nor the general image quality or adjustment/zoom options).

Well anyway, that's 4 PAL TVs which as far as I can tell, are all perfectly NTSC compatible. Having said that, NTSC compatability, in as much as colour standards shouldn't matter for RGB, as long as it can display 480/60 right? I know for a fact my Panasonic can do 576/60, so it's well within spec.

The problem totally threw me at first, and it got to the point where I was doubting myself. Had the colours been fine in PAL and not in NTSC (which you can select upon power up), I'd have accepted it as a NTSC compatability issue on my side, however when a PAL DVD player, set to PAL, playing a PAL disc on a PAL TV has these issues... Well that pretty much speaks for itself.

I couldn't offer up a decent theory, and it has been bugging the hell out of me, but I think I've got it now.

I'm speculating that the two players I've tried were made region free via a firmware update. I gather there is hacked firmware somewhere on the net. As I was navigating the options in the player, I came across "Parental controls (us)". So I now wonder if it was flashed with a hacked US firmware, and perhaps there are some slight differences in the electronics between the two, and this is what is causing the broken RGB output.

That seems to me, the most logical explanation. I am quite tempted to return this as faulty (which it is as far as I can see, considering it doesn't even play it's original region discs in something like RGB quality), get a new, region locked and untampered unit and see if that works how I expect. If it does, I think I'll try making it multiregion via the remote code (never tried it so some info/help would be appreciated) as this has the least chance of causing problems since it only removes a region check, rather than updating a complete firmware.

The downside though, is even if the region locked player is fine to start with, if I make it multiregion and the problem crops up again, then I am pretty much stuck with a unit that is of almost no use to me (as I have an old Sony multiregion I can fall back on and still get RGB scart).

Any comments/suggestions?

Cheers.

IAN P · 08-03-2008, 9:34 PM

Daft question mate,whats the quality of the scart lead like,make,price,etc.

Zero1_ · 09-03-2008, 7:42 AM

Unfortunately, I don't have what I consider to be very good quality scarts around. They are mostly things that came supplied with my Sony DVD player and the like.

But seeing the angle at which you are coming from, I plugged the Pioneer into the TV using the same scart lead the multiregion Sony was using, and got the same problem despite the Sony working perfectly, so I think this outrules poor scart quality.

Good thinking though, and you reminded me that I need to buy some decent scart cables. It wasn't so long ago I went and bought a bunch of digital coax, optical and speaker cable. If I remember, at the time I felt as though I missed something. Cheers.