Sony Bravia LCD TV S-Video colour balance problem

5 June 2007

Hello O Sages of electronics

I live in Saudi Arabia and have a Humax IRCI-5400Z satellite decoder which has been connected to a Sony CRT television using the TV SCART output to the S Video input of the TV using an IXOS SCART to S-Video cable. I then upgraded my TV to the latest Sony Bravia LCD model

52X200A. However the pictures are now virtually black and white with red, green and blue patches of colour in some areas.

Sony technical here have connected other new Bravia LCD TVs to the cable/Humax, still getting the same colour problem. The new TV composite and component video inputs, as well as the normal TV aerial input are all OK (colours display correctly). All picture menu settings on the new TV have been adjusted to no effect, the Humax menu settings have all been adjusted, also to no effect. Is there a known problem with the Humax not being able to display colours correctly on the Sony Bravia LCD TV range? Sony here have not experienced this problem before as SCART/S-Video is generally not used outside Europe. I have emailed Sony technical who have not bothered to respond.

I can see no way to adjust S-Video settings on the Humax other than just selecting S-Video in AV Settings. Below are technical details that may assist diagnosis:

Humax IRCI 5400Z info on label :

IRCI-5400Z/ME 913051-11101

11 T050725 00258 Made in Korea

STB Status:

H/W version OAK I & II 2.1 S/W version HIC 1.05.00+ Device Driver version HIC 1.05.00+ S/W last update 4 MAR 2002 Loader version H2.19 System ID 0016.0601 CI slot 1 CI module is not installed CI slot 2 CI module is not installed

The satellite being used is HOTBIRD

AV Tuning:

AV user set 1 AV default settings Channel 38 PAL standard PAL G Offset 0 NTSC mode Auto

AV Output Setting:

Video output S-Video Audio output stereo Dolby Digital On Screen mode Auto Display format Full R/Y Gain % -17 (greyed out - not selectable) G/U Gain % -35 (greyed out - not selectable) B/V Gain % -35 (greyed out - not selectable)

The IXOS SCART to S-Video + 2 audio cable is wired as follows:

S video end SCART end

Shell not connected

1 17 3 19 2 15 4 13

audio R, L shell 4 audio R 1 audio L 3

The cable is 2 metres long and works on all Sony CRT TVs S-Video inputs in their showroom, showing the correct colours. Ixos assure me the connections in the cable are correct. I have emailed Humax but my experience before with them does not lead me to believe they will assist. I know the obvious advice is 'go get your money back' but in Saudi sellers would rather dismember themselves rather than offer a refund and guarantees of whatever length on paper tend to expire as you reach the showroom door after paying.

I am trying to borrow another type of satellite decoder with SCART output to narrow the field of possibilities but they are not easy to find here and even more difficult to borrow.

I am familiar with electronics and AV terminology and would be very grateful for any advice you may have.

Thankyou,

Steve Cooke

Reply to
Steve
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Steve:

Been there (al Khobar (Al Bustan) 2.5 years), done that. Where are you?

My experience along the lines you are suggesting is that you are likely feeding the wrong signal to the TV. Unless it is a multi-system set (NTSC, NTSC2, PAL, PAL2, SECAM) the Hotbird down load might not be compatible with the front-end on the set. So, either you change the output to the set, or you go to the *auto-search* setting on the set itself such that it finds the correct system to match the input. We brought our Sony "smart-set" WEGA back with us and it has been quite an interesting transition seeing it with only NTSC (Never The Same Color) only signals as compared to PAL rF signal or direct signal from our DVD player (which we also brought back).

But it can be solved unless the set does not have a smart front-end. Further to this, some Sony models have inputs that are not identical... example, the dedicated DVD input on the Sony does not like our US obtained Chinese Philips DVD player, whereas that player is fine when connected to the AUX 1 position. And it yet works fine with our Saudi-obtained Panasonic DVD player. And channel numbers in the US do not register with the channel numbers on the Sony. Sometimes auto-search put the TV broadcast and/or cable channel as many as 5 numbers different than the US channel.

Hope this helps.

Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA

Reply to
pfjw

It might help if you viewed a colour test pattern and told us what each colour a) should be and b) shows up as.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

21 June 2007

Sorry for the very late reply...the unexpected result, when viewing a Hotbird satellite channel test card (Channel 2, 'TEST' from 'CYFRA+') is that the colour bars show perfectly using composite video ('chart' bars are white, yellow, light blue, green, pink, red, dark blue, black) and also perfectly using the SCART to S Video cable with AV output set to S Video. However on normal pictures the S Video result is basically a black and white picture with only orange (solarised on some flesh areas) and yellow present, but the channel graphics and text display bright blue, yellow and green even though the picture is virtually black and white.

Reply to
Steve

21 June 07

Hi Peter

Thanx for the advice and sorry for the delayed response. I've been in Dhahran for 16 years now, obviously a total basket case. I work for BAE Systems and started off living in the infamous Al Gosaibi compound, moving to Golden belt for a while and then Riyadh A compound, a mirror of the original Riyadh B compound that used to be near Al Bustan. BAE also used to rent the Al Hada compound opposite Al Bustan, it was much loved by it's bachelor residents which is presumable why BAE built a new bachelor complex at Aziziyah directly under the airbase flightpath and about as far away from shops and amenities as it's possible to get and then forced the bachelors out of Al Hada to move there... still, the 'Sid' is still relatively cheap!

Concerning the TV, it is auto multisystem with the smart front end. Retuning the TV and selecting another Channel number for the satbox output didn't help. Other S video devices (using S Video to S Video cable) work fine in the Bravia's S video input socket and the sat box's composite video out also works fine. A different SCART to S Video cable didn't help, still giving me the 'B/W' picture. See below for my answer to another suggestion of checking a 'test card' screen. I have not located another similar satbox to try. It's quite frustrating, I'll probably find the satbox's S video chrominance signal is 1 nanovolt too small for the Bravias or something like that...

Reply to
Steve

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