1068 vid output lost color

[pt911]

Hi all, I recently got my first set of Rotel gear (1068/1095) and love it, except for one issue I'm hoping someone can help with. I have my Dtv Sat box connected to the 1068 via s-vid, then run component from the Rotel to an older Mitsubish 55in rear projection. At first, everything was fine, but after about an hour of viewing, the picture went all black & white, with little bits of color appearing sporadically. If I connect direct to the tv it's fine, but passing through the 1068 it loses color. No amount of waiting or switching back and forth between outputs on the rotel seem to correct it. I've tried various inputs (v1, v2, et) and it's all the same. If I play a DVD, which also passes through the 1068 and goes to the TV via the same component cables, it's fine, so it seems to be a sat problem only. Any ideas? Thanks in advance...

[Kevin P]

When you lose color on a S-video connection, this usually points to a bad cable. S-video carries luminance on one wire and color (chroma) on the other wire, and if the chroma wire breaks or has a bad connection, you'll get a B&W image.

Try another S-video cable and see if that helps.

[Andrew Pratt]

S-video cables are famous for loosing color if they aren't securely connected to the receiver/TV. I find that with the heavy s-video cables I use they often tend to droop and I'll loose the color if I'm moving stuff around the back of the Rotel.

[pt911]

Thanks Andrew, I actually ran accross another post of yours suggesting this and so I replaced the cable with another I had and same result unfortunately.

[Kevin D]

Kind of dealt with the same issue Friday. Brand new 1068, running component for most things. I have a CD management system hooked up composite. Early Friday, it upconverts to component fine. Later that day it's black and white. Composite straight through the 1068 was fine, just the component conversion was messed up. The composite passing through looked tons better than the upconvert so I didn't worry too much about it.

Come back today and the customer told me they lost power for about 5 minutes over the weekend. In the process of finishing the job I notice the the component conversion is now back in color and worked fine all day.

So... try pulling power for a little bit and see if that helps.

Kevin D.

[pt911]

Powering down does seem to cure it, but it will appear again after an hour or so of viewing. I haven't tried to see if it is limited to component out, but I'm guessing it is. Vid switching is not that big of a deal for me so I'm not too concerned, but if it is a board or something that needs replacing, I'd like to do it just to get it done.

[pt911]

Still having the same problem....it happens every day now. Picture is fine after being off (standby) all night, but after about 30 mins to an hour of viewing it goes b&w. Nothing seems to revert it back to color other than being turned off for an extended period of time. Problem is I think the upconvert looks alot better than direct to the TV so now it's driving me crazy..

[Andrew Pratt]

Problem is I think the upconvert looks alot better than direct to the TV so now it's driving me crazy..

That's not possible as the upconversion is just a format change if anything its degrading the image. Still its obviously a problem and needs to get looked at.

[pt911]

Just an update here, I've tried a new s-vid cable to no avail, and also tried passing composite through the 1068, same problem...pic goes to black & white after a few minutes. I took the composite and s-vid and tried them both from the Tivo direct to the tv and pic looks fine...back to the Rotel and black & white. So, the problem seems isolated to the 1068. The strange thing is, I have another Direct tv box (just got recently) passing through the rotel and that has been perfect all along (although it is connected via component), and my dvd player is fine, so I'm not convinced it's the Rotel, and maybe a problem with the Tivo. I emailed Rotel and they suggested a weak signal coming out of the tivo. Do you think a signal amplifier might help? I also tried several diff vid inputs on the Rotel and the problem is the same. Thanks..

[Andrew Pratt]

While that could be the issue you'd think we'd hear about it a lot more often which leads me to think its likely the 1068.

[shadlock]

I have had a very similiar problem losing color running component through the 1068 with a Toshiba DVD player. Running direct to the projector works fine. What resolves the issue is to either turn the dvd player off and on, or to replug just the red component cable on the back of the 1068 (Seems that reds are the most prominent colors lost). This will last for a limited amount of time, and then the picture loses color again. We have not had any problems with the cable box or a sony dvd recorder. I have tried switching component inputs with the sony, but can never get it to fail with the sony.

[pt911]

Well, I just swapped out the tivo for another box and ran for 24+ hours straight with no color loss at all (same cables, same inputs), so I guess it is the Tivo after all. Very strange, but I'm releived it's not the 1068. Thanks for all the comments...