Back in December I got a new TV and home theater in a box setup that for the first time allows me to view DVDs in glorious composite video. I will have to say that I am impressed with the picture except for one thing. I sometimes get vertical bands of color (usually greens and blues) running through the picture. This seems to be dependant on the way the composite cables are hooked up to the DVD player; when I jiggle the cables the color bands sometimes disappear or change shape or number. I thought I had the problem solved, but I had to unhook my DVD player in order to get out a stuck disc and when I hooked it back up the bands are back, better than ever.
So what causes these cursed bands, and how can I fix them or avoid them? I paid waaay too much money for the stupid cables, and I want them to work properly, damnit!
Are you running the video through your VCR? If so, what you are seeing is caused by the Macrovision copy protection scheme used by some DVD manufacturers.
Is your DVD player progressive scan and the TV unable to process it? I hooked my new DVD player up to my almost-new TV through composite cables with the progressive scan turned on, and I got some strange split picture with lines similiar to what you describe. After turning that feature off, it worked just fine. Just a thought.
Are you sure you don’t mean componant cables? Composite is a singular cable (yellow conenctor) that provides the worst video signal. Next up is s-video, where the chroma (color) and luminous (light/dark) are on seperate lines, and then componant, where the luminous is on one cable, and two more cables for chroma (Y/Cb/Cr or Y/Pb/Pr.)
I suspect you mean componant, since you said cables and talk about the high quality issue. If there are bands of color, especially when you move/jiggle the cables, then I suspect either the connectors on either the TV or DVD player or bad, or you have bad cables.
When you got your sytem, did it come with componant cables, or did you get them yourself? Are you just using standard audio/video cables instead of ones rated for componant? If so, then the lack of proper impedance and shielding can cause signal loss.
Thank you, bouv. Of course, i do mean component, and I am a dumbass. I have emailed the mods to ask them to change the title of this thread. I apologize for being a dumbass.
The player did not come withcomponent cables, and I bought a set for like $40. The vertical lines are fairly broad (I’d say 1 inch wide) and fairly dim. They are not very noticable when the image is very light or dark, but when you’re watching something in black and white, as I often do, it’s a total bitch.