Black and white picture on a Panasonic S53 dvd player with Divx video

[gyzer]

I just got a Panasonic S53 dvd player and I've been trying to get some video files to play on it properly.

The problems that I'm having are that when I play the movie file, it plays, sound is ok, but the picture is black and white and there is this large blocky distorted scan line that moves up and down the screen.

I have tried multiple formats and the ones that play all have that same problem. I am using DVD+R media.

Formats that I've been using:

Divix
Mpeg4
Mpeg1
Mpeg2
wmv
Xvid

I've also been using Any Video Converter software to convert them and also AVS Video Converter.

Any ideas on what my problem is and how to fix or overcome it would be greatly appreciated.

[hech54]

Put a DVD in there that you bought at a store near you and see if it plays in color.

[gyzer]

Yes it does. I actually put in a DVD that was authored by someone and it worked just fine.

[hech54]

Then what are the sources of these "files" you are attempting to play in the player?

[gyzer]

They are avi's. They have a DivX water mark, but one of the programs I used to convert them said they were Xvid. I've read that Xvid is one of the formats that work in my dvd player.

[guns1inger]

g-spot the files that have problems and compare to files that work. Look for differences.

Black and white can often come from PAL playback on NTSC equipment

[gyzer]

That makes alot of sense seeing as what I'm trying to watch originated on the BBC. How would I convert them over to NTSC?

[jman98]

That makes alot of sense seeing as what I'm trying to watch originated on the BBC. How would I convert them over to NTSC?

You may not need to convert. Check the setup menu on your DVD player and if it has an option for video output, set it to NTSC. This will force it to send all video output as NTSC to your TV and should fix your problem. If your DVD player doesn't have this option, then you'll have to convert. Check the guides.

[gyzer]

So this can still be an issue with the sorces of these videos being in DivX format, but were originally made from PAL format?

[hech54]

So this can still be an issue with the sorces of these videos being in DivX format, but were originally made from PAL format?

Yes....the source of the videos that are playing in B&W were PAL format...that is the problem.

[gyzer]

I followed one of the guides on this site and that fixed the problem.

Thanks everyone for their help