PAL NTSC Switching of Component Output

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PAL NTSC Switching of Component Output

Hi,
I just purchased a ATV in the US an brought it back to Europe where I am hocking it up to an older TV using the component otput. The cabeling is correct and I am not using a composite entry nore cable.
The problem however is that the picture only apears in Black and White. I assume this is because the ATV is set to NTSC on its component output. Does anyone know how to switch the component output to PAL 50HZ ?

Regards

PC, Windows XP

Posted on Apr 12, 2008 4:46 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 12, 2008 4:59 PM in response to Tarquina

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums.

Firstly you can change video modes from settings/video/TV resolution.

However I'm not sure that this is the cause of a black and white picture. (Please post back if it is) You might want to check your cables are seated correctly or that they are not faulty, try swapping them over (red for green etc) if you don't have another set to try.

EDIT

I just noticed you mentioned you were using composite. Composite and component are not the same, composite will give you a black and white picture if the green connector is connected to the yellow socket.

FURTHER EDIT

Yes I read it right the first time you are not using composite, forget my ramblings.

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

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Answer 2

Tarquina Author

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Apr 12, 2008 5:59 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Hi Winston, THX for the hint but no luck. Discovered the following. Only Green on Green gives a B/W picture. Red and Blue do not seem to carry signal. If I plug the Red or Blue in any of the ports the picture remains black. Also if I try the green in the Red or Blue port the picture remains black. Only Green to Green gives me a picture at all but B/W.
By the way I get the same behaviour if I enter the TV directly via a scart adaptor (which is for RGB)and if I enter my Homenetertainement Amlifier which has dedicated RGB Video Input on Cinch.
I dont think it is the cabeling

Regards

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Answer 3

Apr 12, 2008 6:30 PM in response to Tarquina

Your symptoms are consistent with plugging into an RGB connector (as you have pointed out).

I'm a little confused though as to exactly what you tried. What I meant when I said swap the cables over was to use (for example) the green cable in place of the blue, ie plug it into the blue connectors at both ends rather than just one.

On a component system the green is used for brightness (luma), the blue for the difference between luma and blue and red the difference between luma and red. On an RGB system the three connectors are used for each colour and the signal to each is a similar signal to the luma in component. This explains why an RGB system understands the signal over the green cable and not the others and results in a green picture.

If you plug the green cable into the red connector on an RGB system (keeping it plugged into the green at the other end) what you might get is a red picture, but this isn't certain since on a 3 connection RGB system (there are 4 and 5 connection systems) the green cable also carries the sync signal and you might get a rolling red picture or no picture at all.

With this in mind you should be able to detrmine if you have A) RGB connectors on your TV or B) damaged red and blue cables or C) a defective tv.

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

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Answer 4

Tarquina Author

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Apr 20, 2008 1:11 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Dear Winston,
Sorry that it took me a while to come back. I did some further investigations. The cable changing did not help all connections where healthy and produced the same result. So the wire I am using is fine. The reason for the green connection to produce a picture and red and blue not is that the RGB Signal transmit’s the Synchronization information on the green channel. That is why the others remain without a picture when the green connection does not exist. In other words it is the color information that does not come across correctly. Now the main difference between the NTSC and PAL format is the way colors are treated. I am convinced that this is where the problem lies as my Apple TV is surely set to transmit NTSC and not PAL. In one of your earlier messages you said that there is a way of changing over to PAL. Could you please be so kind as to explain to me how to do this ?

Kind Regards

Dominik

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