Portable DVD Problem

[erebuss]

I have a Magnavox MPD845 Portable DVD player and I'm trying to hook it up to my tv. It uses one of the cords that has a 3.5mm jack going to the yellow/red/white composite connectors. I have audio on my tv but no video, I've tried hooking it into different inputs, but it still doesn't get video.

[IKnowNothing]

Normally (or at east in my experience) the leads are colour coded
Red/White are audio (left and Right)
Yellow is Video

Not that it's much help but my portable DVD came with a unit to convert the RCA to a standard SCART
Also don't forget to push the jack all the way home - my kids always seem to forget this and end up with audio and no video

[Krispy Kritter]

Assumming you are connecting it to the composite (yellow RCA) input of the TV, then you could have a bad cable, faulty player, or faulty input on the TV.

Try connecting it to another TV to veirfy the player and cable. Try connecting another device (VCR/DVD player) to the same composite input of the TV to verify the TV input.

Also note that you will need to select the appropriate input on the TV for playback.

[ebenton]

It could be either the DVD player, the cables or the yellow video connector on the TV. If the cables are not hard-wired to your DVD player, try different ones to eliminate the cables as the problem.

If swapping the cables works, then obviously it's the cables.

If swapping the cables doesn't help, try using another TV or try this:
If you have a VCR with a yellow composite video output connector, you could try connecting your VCR's yellow composite video output to the yellow input connector on the TV. Put in a tape and play it and see if the TV shows video. This will tell if the yellow input connector on the TV works. If you still can't see video, it's the TV's yellow input connector, or it might be that your VCR is old and doesn't work any more.

In other words, try substituting different parts of the problem (input device, cables, TV) to eliminate potential culprits.

[jman98]

IKnowNothing - Just FYI, SCART has never been used in the USA and most Yanks don't know what it is. Mentioning it to Americans (the original poster is American) can just cause unnecessary confusion because only the most experienced users will know what it is. I never heard of it in my life before a trip to eastern Europe in early 2004 where I saw it for the first time. RCA to SCART conversion is something the original poster is definitely not doing. You're still right about the cable maybe not being pushed in all the way as a possible problem though.

[wildfan2k]

Assuming the obvious:
Yellow --> Video In
Red --> Right Audio In
White --> Left Audio In

Things to check:
Is the cable pushed all the way in on the DVD player side?
Did it come with the DVD player? or is it a 3rd party cable with a housing that's too big to plug in all the way?
Is it an iPod video cable? (I believe the video and 1 of the audios are swapped on an iPod cable)
Are you using an extension cable? (Most extension cables would not have the 3rd wire for the video)
Is there a button or menu option to turn on video-out on the DVD Player?