Picture is whitish and hard to see

[crazzywolfie]

Well I have been living with this issue for a while. Some games or systems seem better or worse than others dependong on the colors on screen. Stuff like the main screen on a wii is hard to see anything on because of how white everything is. Using the rca ports on all systems. I do got a rca switch. I was playing with hooking up a 2nd TV to the switch since there is 2 outputs and magically the colors on the main TV change to how they should look even with the 2nd TV off. If I unplug the rca cable the 2nd TV the picture goes whitish again. Hoping someone might have a suggestion that is a more permanent solution. Plugging the video cord into a vcr also works to do the same thing even tho it is not plugged in or even hooked up.
Thanks in advance
CW

[Greg2600]

Well I have been living with this issue for a while. Some games or systems seem better or worse than others dependong on the colors on screen. Stuff like the main screen on a wii is hard to see anything on because of how white everything is. Using the rca ports on all systems. I do got a rca switch. I was playing with hooking up a 2nd TV to the switch since there is 2 outputs and magically the colors on the main TV change to how they should look even with the 2nd TV off. If I unplug the rca cable the 2nd TV the picture goes whitish again. Hoping someone might have a suggestion that is a more permanent solution. Plugging the video cord into a vcr also works to do the same thing even tho it is not plugged in or even hooked up.
Thanks in advance
CW

Composite video is terrible, especially on an HDTV, if that is what you are using. There are some scalers that could clean that up for you, but honestly should get off those and to S-Video or Component/RGB or HDMI.

[crazzywolfie]

Composite video is terrible, especially on an HDTV, if that is what you are using. There are some scalers that could clean that up for you, but honestly should get off those and to S-Video or Component/RGB or HDMI.
well got too big of a collection to justify upgrading the systems to put out svideo or hdmi. i have seen what those mods cost and really can't justify the cost.

[Gameguy]

I'm a bit confused by this. What systems specifically are you having problems with? And what type of TV or TVs are they being hooked up to?

[crazzywolfie]

it is not 1 specific system i am having this issue with. i know it happens with ps2, n64, wii or seems like anything hooked up through the rca ports. it just seems more noticeable with certain games more than other depending on the colors displayed. stuff like whites or yellows are way liter to the point where it makes certain games hard to play or navigate. it is a lcd tv. it just seem strange that something as simple as plugging another tv into the same video feed would fix the issue.
10890
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[Greg2600]

it is not 1 specific system i am having this issue with. i know it happens with ps2, n64, wii or seems like anything hooked up through the rca ports. it just seems more noticeable with certain games more than other depending on the colors displayed. stuff like whites or yellows are way liter to the point where it makes certain games hard to play or navigate. it is a lcd tv. it just seem strange that something as simple as plugging another tv into the same video feed would fix the issue.
10892

Your 2nd TV is a CRT? Well that would be why, as that TV was designed to accept and properly display a composite signal. The LCD TV has to upscale that input, and some just do a poor job doing so, with too many artifacts. The one you have probably has a bad or nonexistent comb filter. Regardless, Composite video by definition is combining the luma and chroma on the same signal, and this is what causes your issues.

Again the only thing to fix it is to use a different TV, or get an upscaler. Could try a Retrotink Mini (https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/2x-mini) but they are not foolproof. The OSSC probably does a better job (https://videogameperfection.com/products/open-source-scan-converter/) but costs a bit more.
You ought to check into something like

[crazzywolfie]

it still doesn't make sense why the colors on the 1 tv start showing correct when i plug the cord into the video port on a tv or vcr. i can plug the cord into a vcr that is not even plugged in or hooked up and have the colors show correctly on the tv.

[Greg2600]

it still doesn't make sense why the colors on the 1 tv start showing correct when i plug the cord into the video port on a tv or vcr. i can plug the cord into a vcr that is not even plugged in or hooked up and have the colors show correctly on the tv.

There might be enough impedance from the RCA switch you're using that it's lowering the luma from the composite signal before it hits the 1st TV.

[crazzywolfie]

it is not the switch. if you plug the console into the same same port on the tv it does the same thing. i did try using the other rca port and the picture looks good and playable but when i plug in the cable to a 2nd tv or vcr it gets much darker. i guess at least the issue is the tv and not somewhere else. i have been considering replacing it with something bigger. been changing things around with the plan of getting a larger tv. just have to wait to come accross the right tv

[Gameguy]

It would be the TV, modern ones seem to not care about quality regarding older resolutions or obsolete signal types. I wouldn't know exactly why in technical terms the TV is having these issues, but running the signal through a second device seems to affect how it's being filtered.

If you want an HDTV that can display the old consoles correctly, you'll probably need to look for an older model rather than a newer one. Few people care about running those old connections now so manufacturers will cheap out with the circuitry in those areas. Lots of modern TVs don't even have built in TV tuners anymore, it's really disappointing how poor the current selection of modern TVs is.