# My Blue Ray Player Has Suddenly Gone Color-Blind **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945 "2014-01-05T13:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/1 "2014-01-05T13:19:16Z")
We have a blue-ray player. Yay us, right? It is hooked up to our TV via HDMI cable and this set up has been stable for years. Just this week, it has suddenly wanted to show things only in black and white. WTF? As we have NOT changed the cable set up that was working for a couple years the usual pat answer of “you hooked it up incorrectly” would not be applicable. Any ideas what’s going on and/or how to fix it? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/2 "2014-01-05T13:53:02Z")
The first thing I would try is unhooking and reconnecting the HDMI cable at both ends. Try a different TV HDMI input if you have one. If that doesn’t help, if you have a second HDMI cable you can try, I would see if that cable works. Or connect a different device with the same cable. That could tell you if it’s the TV, the DVD or cable\*. A long shot maybe, but is there some TV or player setting that turns the color saturation up and down? Maybe some glitch set it to zero. It would have to be input-specific on the TV, or your regular TV would be black and white also. - Yeah, I’m not sure how an HDMI cable could drop just the color, since it’s digital, but I would try easy things anyway. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/3 "2014-01-05T14:04:29Z")
If you are watching the original Wizard Of Oz, give it a few more minutes. 😛 As it’s an older blue ray player, it might be time for a new one. Fortunately the prices have fallen for them. Also if you hook up a new player and have the same problem, you’ll know the issue is probably the TV. Another thought: are there other video outputs besides the HDMI? You could try to hook it up to the TV that way and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/4 "2014-01-05T20:09:15Z")
Getting a new one is a great notion but I really can’t afford it. I’ve got much higher priorities like getting the muffler on my car fixed and new tires for the pickup and paying the rent. Anyhow, it seems a particular “mode” got changed and that turned out to be the problem. Haven’t a clue how it got changed, probably hit the wrong button at some point. At least I didn’t get to the point of picking up the box, physically shaking it, and screaming “WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!” which isn’t particularly effective anyway. As it happens, it first acted up that we were aware of during the play of our copy of _The Day of the Doctor_ which also happens to start off in black and white. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/5 "2014-01-05T20:43:48Z")
1. Sell it as a “retro Blu-ray” to hipsters for $$$. 2. Buy a new one for \<$$$. Looks like it’s fixed, but **ZenBeam** ’s advice would be what I’d’ve tried first. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/6 "2014-01-05T21:29:42Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Getting a new one is a great notion but I really can’t afford it. I’ve got much higher priorities like getting the muffler on my car fixed and new tires for the pickup and paying the rent. > > Anyhow, it seems a particular “mode” got changed and that turned out to be the problem. Haven’t a clue how it got changed, probably hit the wrong button at some point. At least I didn’t get to the point of picking up the box, physically shaking it, and screaming “WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!” which isn’t particularly effective anyway. > > As it happens, it first acted up that we were aware of during the play of our copy of _The Day of the Doctor_ which also happens to start off in black and white. I was going to suggest giving it a whack on the side after removing the disc. The Day of the Doctor was very good as was The Time of the Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-blue-ray-player-has-suddenly-gone-color-blind/677945/7 "2014-01-05T21:42:52Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Anyhow, it seems a particular “mode” got changed and that turned out to be the problem. Seriously? Your Blu-ray player had a black & white only mode? I’ve never heard of that. But perhaps people want it for colorized movies.