This is a lame rant, and a problem that can probably easily be fixed once I try a new TV, but the gist of it is I bought an xbox today (not cheap) and the game I have been dying to play, and the fucking thing does not work. At least, the old Philips TV monitor I am using doesn’t seem to be able to recognise or tune in to any signal from the xbox, either via scart or the video/audio in sockets at the front.
Anyway it is fucking miserable when you have been looking forward to something for weeks, and you have been ill and tired, so you buy it early as a get well soon gift for yourself, and it doesn’t fucking work.
So I am miserable, and fucked off, and still ill and tired. And I am sure Bill Gates is laughing somewhere in a solid crystal bathtub as he rolls around in liquid gold melted from the money I just paid.
Hmm, that’s not much fun. I don’t know if it’s your TV though, unless this is an X-box specific problem. I hooked up a PS2 to my ancient TV and it worked fine. (Keep in mind this is a TV that was the ‘old TV’ when I was a little kid and I just got my brand new Atari 2600.)
I am not sure. The xbox troubleshooting chapter just says “select the correct video input for your TV” - but there’s no button on the TV to do that. I have tried Channel 0, I have tried tuning it, I can’t seem to find anything on the monitor that does AV, but I had a video player/DVD combo linked up to it previously, and that worked, it played DVDs and VCDs. Unfortunately I’ve now given that to a friend, as I was getting the xbox, so I can’t try patching it through the VCR or anything.
Thank god for my powerbook, and the fact that I still haven’t finished Baldur’s Gate 2, or I would be really, really really pissed off with nothing to do tonight.
BG2 rocks!! That aside, maybe X-box is just configured for the new digital T.V. that cable companys are going to force us to buy in the next few years.
No TV remote. Is very old TV, borrowed off friend, I don’t know if it ever had a remote, but it sadly doesn’t now.
Same friend is going to lend me his mega big, newer TV in a couple of days. (He lives in a furnished apartment where a big TV is supplied). So if it doesn’t work with a new, mega big TV, I will know it is the Xbox’s fault.
Well, I think that’s the issue, if the TV is that old, it may not have a tv/video button on the remote. Hell, it may not have a remote. I know for my PS2 that’s the button I hit to receive the PS2 signal, but I’m not sure offhand what I’d have to do with a TV that doesn’t have that option. Back when I was using an older game system (e.g. the SNES) it was just a matter of tuning the TV to the right channel (typically channel 2 or 3), but I don’t know how relevant that is to a newer system.
I have a coax input TV w/ no RCA adaptors. So I pug the video from my PS2 into my VCR, witch that to input 1 and then connect the left and right audio channelsto my stereo.
Silly question, what exactly is the Xbox plugged into? It sounds like your TV is too old to have RCA jacks…If you’re plugging it into an RF converter to go into a coax jack (or, if it’s really old, the VHF antenae screws), there’s likely to be a switch on it that you have to flip to get the XBox signal, and then tune your TV to a specific channel (3 or 4 are usually used).
I’m assuming these inputs on the front are the standard yellow/red/white kind, not composite red/green/blue…is there a “Menu” button on the TV? If so, there may be an option in a menu somewhere to change it from TV to VIDEO. If the TV has the ports, it has some way to switch to them.
One more option: get or borrow a cheap universal remote with a TV/VIDEO button. Set the remote up for your TV, and hit the button. Might set you back $5.
I have an older TV, that you need the remote to switch to video. You would think they would put that functionality on the damn set, but it would probably cost those cheap bastards an extra nickel to do so. I second Max, go buy a cheap remote.
Games, actually. But Bill was expecting to lose cash on the sale of the consoles themselves… it looks like that’s how things are gonna be for the future of the console industry. Which is a bit of a shame: It ensures that only megacorps can make a console. I wonder when Disney or General Motors are gonna make one?
Sadly I can’t run the Xbox through the VCR, because I already gave it away. It was a useless thing that I won (actually worth a lot of money) - a DVD/VDC/VCR combo, brand new. But the VCR was NTSC - it’s PAL here - and the DVD and VCD player kept skipping and freezing discs, on films that my laptop didn’t. So I was happy to get rid of it.
The TV has a scart socket on the back which exactly fits the scart that came with the Xbox.
On the front, it has an audio input, a video input (that fit the Xbox ones, though it has two audio ones) and a headphone one. No colours.
My friend reckons the TV is about 12 years old. I think World and others may be right about needing a remote. I am not sure though that it ever ever had one. Eg there is no little infra-red looking panel thing on the front, nothing to suggest it would even respond to a remote if pointed at.
It must be said it’s actually a very good TV, it’s was (originally) designed to be a multi-use monitor, ie for use in broadcast/professional use, from what I understand. However as my friend is happy to lend me his huge mega TV, currently in storage, I will keep my fingers crossed and see if that works.
Here is a cheap solution to your problem, go buy yourself an universal remote, find one with a tv/video button on it, it shouldn’t cost more then ten dollars, even if you only use it for a week until you get your new TV. Then you can always return it after, or if it doesn’t solve your problem. Best Buy has a 30 day guarantee on all sales. Something you can try.
