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View Full Version : Classic consoles display in B&W on newer TV's?


Az
11-29-2014, 12:25 PM
I have a 2002 Mitsubishi rear-projection HDTV (50 inch I think) that I purchased new the year it was released. For some reason I noticed both my SNES and Genesis display in black and white through the composite inputs. The newer systems I tried (PS2, PS3, Xbox, 360, Wii) all work fine.

At first I thought this was just a one-hit problem affecting only this specific TV since I've never ran into that with any other set. Last week I purchased an adapter to convert either s-video or composite signal to VGA for use with a computer monitor. After I got it hooked up it seems the same problem with the same exact consoles when using this adapter. Anything from PS1 and newer displays fine but both the SNES and Genesis are in black and white.

Has anyone else ever ran into this issue? What is it about these particular consoles that cause this?
RP2A03
11-29-2014, 10:28 PM
Have you conclusively ruled out a problem with the consoles and the cables? Try connecting those consoles to an SDTV and using different cables. Also, I am assuming that you are not trying to mix NTSC and PAL.
8-Bit Archeology
12-02-2014, 01:26 AM
I have a PAL Trinitron that plays all NTSC in b&w. All consoles work fine on my LCD and NTSC trinitron.
theclaw
12-02-2014, 11:02 PM
Try out a SCART to VGA solution. If the console's defect is in fact simply its encoding lacks color, RGB doesn't use NTSC or PAL.
Az
12-03-2014, 01:05 PM
Have you conclusively ruled out a problem with the consoles and the cables? Try connecting those consoles to an SDTV and using different cables. Also, I am assuming that you are not trying to mix NTSC and PAL.

I've eliminated all variables with the cables and consoles, it's definitely an issue using specific consoles on this one TV and this VGA adapter. The consoles work fine on other TVs. It's not a NTSC/PAL issue since the consoles are NTSC and so is the TV.

I also noticed on the TV that a Neo Geo CD won't display properly through composite, the picture constantly rolls vertically.

A SCART to VGA connector might fix the issue but that's a bit more cash than I was wanting to invest.
RP2A03
12-03-2014, 08:34 PM
I've eliminated all variables with the cables and consoles, it's definitely an issue using specific consoles on this one TV and this VGA adapter. The consoles work fine on other TVs. It's not a NTSC/PAL issue since the consoles are NTSC and so is the TV.

I also noticed on the TV that a Neo Geo CD won't display properly through composite, the picture constantly rolls vertically.

A SCART to VGA connector might fix the issue but that's a bit more cash than I was wanting to invest.

Then I would conclude that your TV and VGA adapter cannot cope with the nonstandard signal output by older consoles.