DVD's only play in black & white

[saguy]

I bought a couple of snowboarding DVD's for a mate and they are only playing in black & white on his Sony dvp-ns330 player. I tried it on his flatmates player and they played fine. I think his player is region 2 and according to the online retailer the DVD's are zone free. (It does not state on the packaging) I am clueless as to what the problem is - any idea?

 

[OneEyedStuart]

If the DVDs are NTSC then this could be the problem.

Having the DVD player connected into the TV via RGB/SCART usually corrects this.

KH

 

[stulou]

The only reason I can think of is that the discs are NTSC format, and your mate's tv can't accept the signal.

 

[loafer27]

i had a similar problem on my cousins toshiba dvd player which was region free but would play american region 1 dvds as black and white.
the solution was to alter the video output settings to rgb in the machines setup and then they played back in colour just fine .
hope this helps or at least gives u somewhere to start looking.

 

[saguy]

Thanks ......I will give RGB setup a go. I do not have much faith in it working as his TV is rather basic. I did not mention that it plays rental DVD's just fine.

 

[OneEyedStuart]

Rental DVDs will be PAL and therefore not a problem.

KH

 

[Tuddy]

Could it be that the player has been set-up for S-Video output and the TV's AV input hasn't been adjusted?

 

[Tuddy]

Thanks ......I will give RGB setup a go. I do not have much faith in it working as his TV is rather basic. I did not mention that it plays rental DVD's just fine.

Teach me to look before replying.

 

[Kalos Geros]

I must speak out on the problem of people NOT using SCART in its best format i.e. using RGB connection as it seems that no one in the manufacturer/seller chain gives a damn as to instruct them that they'd be getting the best picture from a DVD by using RGB (which also solves NTSC color coding "problem")...I can't think of a telly in the last 10 years that is not RGB/60Hz compatible so the uncompatibility issue cannot be an excuse)...

Just think of all those poor guys that don't come looking at sites like this and blissfully watch DVDs via composite (not much better than an RF feed) and are absolutely positive that owing a DVD player by itself gives them great picture quality...

It's like whan I asked a guy at at respectable AV shop whether he could check how the DVD player was connected to a certain set, he replied that it doesn't matter because it's DVD and always look great (by whose standards may I ask?) It's exactly like when I worked at my national TV broadcaster where "skilled and knowledgable" technicians were dubbing Digital Betacam tapes to Betacam SP tapes via...guess what...a composite BNC cable and claiming that it doesn't matter because the source deck is digital so quality will be kept...soon after I quit working for the broadcaster...

Sorry for the "hate" post, I really felt like it all of a sudden ...feeling relieved now!!!

Cheers