Problems with old FOR.A FA-120AC TBC

[Tajnost23]

Dear Forum,

at the moment I'm trying to fix the problem with my FA-120AC units, so maybe you can help me here.
I've got dual FA-120AC setup (I've bought both units used in Japan ).


[Attachment 47539 - Click to enlarge]

The problem with them is that the picture on the output has no color and there is a stripe on the bottom of the screen, and the whole the signal looks "corrupted". Strange that both units show exactly the same problem. The problem is same with any composite video source (VHS, live camera, analog video synthesizer, video mixer etc... ). Then I turn off TBC power, the signal comes thru bypass circuit and looks fine on the output screen, so it's not a problem of cables or commutation, but something "inside" the TBC is not ok.

It looks like this on the preview screen:


[Attachment 47540 - Click to enlarge]

What do you think is the reason? They both are broken or maybe just have some old dead components? Is it because of 220V to 110V power converter? Because of bad grounding between mixer / tbc / vhs player / etc ? Any other reasons?

Would be amazing to make them work as they should, don't want to think that it is impossible. And something tells me that the solution should be simple. Thanks in advance for any help or feedback!

[Tajnost23]

Well, ok... The stripe and "glitchy" video problem is gone - had to force my video mixer to work in NTSC mode. But still, have B&W only picture on the output. Any ideas how to get colors backs?

[jagabo]

You're watching on a PAL TV/monitor? The devices are probably putting out pure NTSC signals with a 3.58 MHz chroma subcarrier. Your PAL TV's can play video with NTSC timing but require a 4.43 MHz chroma subcarrier (often called PAL60). So the TV can't see the color and only displays the luma.

[Tajnost23]

Yes, you are completely right! So, I figured out that all the units in the chain should be switched to NTSC mode. I successfully connected video mixer, 2 video processors, TCB's, 2 players, but I still have a camera which is PAL only, so the signal from it is still black and white...

Could you recommend any external PAL to NTSC converter? I guess there should be some solutions around.

[dellsam34]

Converting from standard to another worsen the picture, You will be better off with PAL/NTSC TBC or just without it, It's all about the quality of the playback VCR.