My TV will only allow me to play some DVDs

[Zaichik]

I'm having a spot of bother playing back DVDs on my television, which I hope someone out there will be able to help with. This is quite complicated, but please bear with me.

I have a Samsung 20" TV and video combi, which I bought in Moscow in 1996. It has tuners for PAL (although I can't get it to tune into TV broadcasts over here) and MESECAM. The video recorder will also play NTSC tapes. Basically, I use it for Russian videotapes and for my games consoles, which are connected via the one SCART socket at the back. My PS2 also doubles as my DVD player. Problem is, when it is connected to this TV, some DVDs will play OK, while with others the colour flickers (sometimes to black and white), or the picture appears too far down the screen, or breaks up entirely. With the problem discs, the TV reverts to a blue no signal screen whenever the picture goes black.

There does not seem to be much of a pattern to which discs I can play, and which I can't. For example, BBC DVDs all seem to play fine, as do the Lord of the Rings (Extended Version) and Spider Man, whereas the 1960s Dr Who movies, Star Wars Episode II, and anything produced by VCI display the problems described above. There are no problems with games on either the PS2 or Xbox.

I know that the problem lies with the TV, as there are no problems when the PS2 is connected to my other PAL TV. I could just move the PS2 back downstairs to the other TV, but would prefer to keep it in my "den" upstairs, so I would like to get to the bottom of this problem if possible.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem might be, and how I might get around it? Many thanks for your help.