Why Does My Dreamcast Come Out In Black And White?

[Vamp]

I bought a Dreamcast plus 60 games and 4 controllers + Lightgun from a friend last year for around $35

:)

Now, I havn't played it in ages because it's in another room of my house, with a 80inch Flatron TV, but the graphics just don't look good on it, too blocky, plus my family is usually in there most of the time so I wouldn't get a chance to play.

I have a TV in my room, an oldish Phillips with only an RF port, I have a Toshiba VCR with RCA In, OUT and RF In and OUT... Now it's more convenient to play in my room because my Xbox and PS2 are there, the only problem is that the picture comes in Black And White when connected through my VCR RF, RCA or my TV'S RF... On that huge ass TV, it works fine through the RCA, I'm guessing because the TV is Multi-System and the Dreamcast is NTSc... Is there anything I can do to get this DC to work on my TV in color/

[tesco]

Is multisystem the same as pal? if it is, i think only thing you can do is some mod to the dreamcast to get it to be pal, hold on one sec ill google.

edit: found out what multisystem is. I see the problem is with your VCR then, am i correct? One thing you could try is an RF modulator. You plug the rca plugs into this, then a coaxial cable from it to the tv and set tv to channel 2 or 3 or 4, whatever it is designed for.

[Vamp]

Hmmm, thing is, I don't really feel like spending any extra cash, I'm saving up for a PS2 Chip + install for $65 (My friend just got back from bali with 251 PS2 GAMES! and I can't play any of them! But he got alot of Xbox games as well, and I have a chip ;) ) plus I'm saving cash for a Sony VX2100 DV-Cam... I can get it Color modded for like $20, but it's still a hassle...

Any other tips?

[MicroScreen2]

you got a scart lead? i play gamecube at 60hz on my tv with scart

[Storm]

is your dreamcast connected to your VCR???? cause i had the same thing with my SNES......... worked fine, but if i looped it through my VCR, the image would be black and white.......

[Vamp]

Tried through TV RF and VCR RCA

[harrycary]

rf=radio frequency)

a game console "broadcasts" via hard wire into your tv tuner(usually with an rf adapter). you tune your tv into whatever channel is required. your tuner probably isn't locking into that signal.

try changing the channel back and forth(i.e. 3>4>3), with your game on, to get your tuner to "lock" into that signal coming from your game console and/or rf adapter.

a very common symptom for vcrs connected the same way and is very different then the signals from your RCA jacks.

regards,

[Vamp]

Thought maybe some pics would help.

Method One:

I connect the RCA out of my Dreamcast to the Video-In/Audio-In of my VCR.
Picture 1 (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=8407986)

then I connect an RF cable from my VCR RF out to my TV's RF In(my TV doesn't have RCA ports)
Picture 2 (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=8407996)




I then goto my VCR Input Select and it comes out with this
Pic 3 (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=8408003)

I can also do this.

Connect DC to TV RF, the same thing happens but the picture is worse quality.

Or, Connect DC RF-Out to VCR RF-In, then connect VCR-RF out to TV RF in. Same thing happens. Is there anything I can do without having to go out and spend cash on RF modulators to get this working, or is it simply a case of an NTSC machine not being compatible with a PAL TV? The DC works fine on my LG flatron, but that's because it has RCA ports and is a multi-system TV.

[Vamp]

I can connect the DC to my PC via a TV Tuner, the color comes out fine, it looks good, but I cant get sound because the TV tuner Video In supports RCA, while the Audio In only supports standard jacks, and the DC Audio jack is RCA, so there's nothing I can do there either

[tesco]

If you want to use it on your computer, then use a Y-Adaptor (rca to 3.5mm adaptor):

http://www.turntablelab.com/replacementparts/pic-hosa/hosa-25-rca.jpg
You plug the rca, sound plugs into this adaptor, then the adaptor into your computer's soundcard's line in jack.

[Vamp]

Yay!!! i guess that's better than spending $20 on a RF modulator, and now I know what it's called :)


But it would still be nicer seeing DC next to his brother and sister Xbox and PS2 instead of a few feet away next to my monitor...

[tesco]

you could always move the xbox and ps2 over to the computer...it would look better (graphics) but might be smaller than your tv...

[Vamp]

Why would it look better? The DC actually looked a little fuzzy through the capture card... Would raising the resolution of the monitor increase the graphics as it would on a PC Game?

[tesco]

Originally posted by Vamp@9 July 2004 - 15:03
Why would it look better? The DC actually looked a little fuzzy through the capture card... Would raising the resolution of the monitor increase the graphics as it would on a PC Game?
NVM it won't look better through a capture card or tv tuner i was getting mixed up lol.

[Vamp]

:D

What were you thinking of... It looks decent though, fair enough. Better than Black And White

[tesco]

lol, was thinking of how DVD's (played in dvdrom drive) look way better on my computer screen than on my tv screen...lol, ya, so you see why i said nvm. have nothing to do with eachother lol.