# This was a color TV a minute ago...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 17, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130 "2003-03-17T22:59:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130/1 "2003-03-17T22:59:56Z")

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I was watching “This is Spinal Tap” on DVD, and everything was fine, and then my television was black and white. At first, I thought it was part of the documentary style of the movie, then I wondered if the filmmakers had run low on money and shot the last half on black and white, and then I realized that the problem was mine.

I tried rebooting the television, a sure sign that I’ve been spending too much time on the computer.

Any advice on making my color come back? This is outside my usual areas of expertise.

It isn’t really broken, is it?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130/2 "2003-03-17T23:05:03Z")

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Sounds like you need to head over to Circuit City and buy a new color cartridge for the TV. 😃

If “rebooting” the TV and trying different channels / video inputs doesn’t help, the set needs help. Sadly, it’s often cheaper now to just replace a TV.

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130/3 "2003-03-18T02:01:58Z")

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Is everything black and white, or just the DVD player? Does your DVD player have an NTSC/PAL setting? A PAL picture shows up stretched and B&W on an NTSC TV.

If regular channels and video tapes are black and white too, you could try adjusting the color settings on your TV: “color” controls the intensity of the color (0 = black and white), “tint” controls the hue (green vs. purple).

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**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130/4 "2003-03-18T02:02:28Z")

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If this only happens on your DVD, check the video connection between the DVD and the TV. Maybe it’s loose.

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**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-was-a-color-tv-a-minute-ago/162130/5 "2003-03-18T11:05:20Z")

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Nope, it’s the TV, too. I tried messing with the color and tint bars with no effect.