Are there are any workarounds for this? All other DVDs I've tried have worked fine. What happens is, the picture looks great, but then it drifts redish, then it drifts back to normal, then back to red....
Reddish or dark? Could this be Macrovision? Is your DVD player hooked up to the TV through a VCR? Is your TV really a TV/VCR combo?
If the answer to either of the last two questions is "Yes", Macrovision is probably the culprit.
Are you only watching porn DVD's on this player? Most porn DVD's don't have Macrovision. Try watching a mainstream DVD on this player, you will probably find the same problem.
Yes, it's hooked up to the tv via a vcr, since I don't have the kind of tv that you can hook a vcr to directly (via rca cables). I have tried several mainstream dvd's on this and they have played without the distortion.
As Flash wrote, you can get an RF Modulator. They are about $25 at Radio Shack. They convert the Composite Video and Audio signals (the yellow, red and blue jacks) to an RF signal (using the same kind of cable currently between your VCR & TV. However, you would probably also need to get an A/B switch to be able to switch between the VCR and DVD player.
To run both the DVD player and the VCR, From the cable hook-up/antenna feed, you can run your RF line through the VCR, then to the RF modulator, then into the television. That's the connection sequence that I used in those days. When the RF modulator gets a signal from the DVD Player hooked into it, it overrides the other feed. Or at least that model that I linked to at Radio Shack does as that is the model that I used.
Thanks Bill. I may use one of those things. I've been trying a hack to make the player free region, that some guy on the newsgroups swears should solve my problem, but have had no luck with that so far.
I should have mentioned this before, making you player region free won't necessarily allow you to watch DVD's from all regions. Other than in N. America & Japan (which uses NTSC), the rest of the world's broadcast system is PAL.
Unless your DVD player will convert PAL to NTSC or your TV is PAL capable (which, given the other issues with your TV, is extremely unlikely) you will just see a B&W rolling picture.
For more info, do a search on PAL or NTSC. Don't limit the search to Tech Talk. Most discussion of this topic took place in the main forum before Tech Talk was started.
As Bill says we should not discuss disabling macrovision here. Hypothetically speaking though, if we did, I would mention that having searched for hacks for your player I find no mention whatsoever of being able to disable macrovision. It also seems to be a rather temperamental hack anyway, with many users reporting no success in freeing up their player of the regional strictures.
Personally, I'd never buy a major brand dvd player purely on account that they seem to be the least versatile in terms of doing the things you really want to do and instead offer 1001 novelty controls instead.
One more thing. The easiest way to overcome the PAL-NTSC issues is probably to move to a country that uses PAL (NTSC-PAL is far easier and commonplace).
It's probably a little easier to buy a Sampo DVD player for <$100. .
They do PAL/NTSC conversion put of the box. The most difficult hacks for Region Code and the process that must not be named are achieved burning one line text files onto 2 CD's and inserting these CD's into the player. Some of their players can be modified via the remote.
Posted - May 31 2003 : 5:15PM
