Help please! Awful colour reproduction of video recordings on Philips LCD TV.

alunevans

Standard Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Points
37
I recently bought a Philips 37PF5521D/10 37-inch HD-ready LCD TV with integral analogue and digital tuners. The signal feeds from an aerial (for built-in tuners), plus an external Sky box, into a Panasonic video tape recorder and from there to the TV.

All 'live' transmissions, whether via the incorporated digital or analogue tuners, or from the Sky box, give excellent pictures, with natural colours, whether the video recorder is on or off. However, all video recordings give a truly awful picture, with bright orange skin tones and vivid reproduction of other colours. This means that I have to adjust the colour settings on the TV before and after watching every recording. I'n sure this cannot be just 'something to be lived with', but I'm at a loss to find a solution. Any suggestions, please?:lease:
 
alunevans said:
I recently bought a Philips 37PF5521D/10 37-inch HD-ready LCD TV with integral analogue and digital tuners. The signal feeds from an aerial (for built-in tuners), plus an external Sky box, into a Panasonic video tape recorder and from there to the TV.

Many years ago I first read Jerry Pournelle's advice about computers, which also applies to other consumer electronics. "When something goes wrong, first check the leads." I have found this good advice - so much so that when I've checked the leads and found nothing wrong, I suspect myself, and check them again. Only last weekend a case of "picture fine, sound absent" was solved by taking a second look at the SCART lead, which was slightly askew, when you looked at it from the right angle.

So the first thing to check is your leads. I'm not entirely sure, but you seem to have leads from the aerial socket (or lead) (from your roof?) to the TV so that you have the benefit of the two tuners in the TV. Then you have leads from the TV itself and from a Sky Box to a VHS recorder. Then there is another lead from the VHS recorder to the TV. Is this correct?

You also do not say whether all videos are affected, or only home recorded ones.

I do not know enough about the hardware - and I am completely ignorant of Sky - so that I cannot tell you what is wrong. But I can say that it sounds as if Pournelle's law is the place to start - with the leads.

Try detaching all the leads connecting the pieces of equipment to each other - even the aerial lead to the TV. Now with only the TV and the video "live" connect the video to the TV using a single SCART lead. Put in a good quality commercial video, which you know. Now try to play it on the TV, with just that one single SCART lead between the two and no aerial feed. If that gives you the same result, then try with another SCART lead instead - in case the problem is a bad lead. Make sure that the weight or stiffness of the SCART lead has not lead to it being dragged (even slightly) out from the connector.

If that still produces a bad picture, then see if you can borrow another video player from someone for a day or so, and see if that gives the same results.

If the picture is still wrong then disconnect the SCART lead and connect the TV back to the aerial (just the aerial) and make sure that you are getting a good PQ. If neither changing the SCART nor the video recorder helps, then you may be linking the two together incorrectly - try using a different SCART socket one machine, and then on the other.

If, OTOH, you manage to find a modus vivendi for these two bits of kit, then expand your range a little. See what happens when, as well as the SCART, you add the aerial feed to the TV. Just that one extra wire. See if your videos still play properly. If they do, add the aerial feed from the TV to the video. If THAT all works, then try adding in the Sky box.

You see the picture, I hope: start off with a very simple setup - in this case linking the TV to the video, since it seems to be the heart of your problem. When you know which additional lead causes the whole setup to fail, you've got a place to start putting it right. How you put it right will depend on what's wrong.

All this advice is given, as I say, from ignorance of your setup - it's general troubleshooting procedure. There may be others out there who are more experienced with your specific equipment, but if no one else steps forward try the above as a way of finding the problem for yourself.

db
 
Dear Deeplyblue
Thanks for taking the time (and having the patience!) to explain a possible diagnostic scheme for the problem I have. I'll certainly try this approach and hope it does the trick!
Alun
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom