[SOLVED]TV-Out Cable...Help (I'm Playing Pandora TV Now!!)


Kumaki

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Lizard Lick, North Carolina
Ok...I had someone nicely build me a TV Cable...I'm sure the cable works right, he says he tested it before he sent it and I believe him. I'm sure the problem is that the cable is fine, and I'm just stupid.

But I can't make the darn thing work!

I enabled TV out on Pandy...set for Main Layer, NTSC (I'm in the United states, so NTSC is right) and set for "composite" I then wrote the TV-Out settings, thus making them active.

I plugged the red plug into Audio IN on the TV - and the hole it went into was also lined with red.

I plugged the white plug into Audio IN on the TV - and the hole it went into was also lined with white.

I plugged the yellow plug into Video IN and the hole was lined with yellow.

Note I also tried this earlier using the black plug for S. Video...and had set the options of the Pandy for S Video

I plugged the other end of the plug into the EXT on the back of my Pandy. I know I plugged it into the right place there, too, because it fit like a gun in a holster.

Nothing. Just freaking snow on the TV....as if it doesn't even know something is plugged in.

The TV is question is an old piece of shit, an RCA Model # F27678VC - it's an old big box piece of shit, not a nice sleek flat screen. We're gonna GET one of those when we move to North Carolina.

Now, the TV I got upstairs...that piece of shit won't even turn on...hasn't been used in like eight years. And the plug up there is good, other things run with that plug, so the problem there is the TV itself.

But the downstairs TV...the RCA piece of shit...that one DOES work. But it won't put my Pandy on the TV!

Help, anyone?
 
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I don't know how to tell? Is there a switch on the back of the TV or something?

I got into a couple menus and didn't know WTF I was looking at....I'm a serious idiot when it comes to programming just about anything, anymore. I'm stuck back in the eighties in more ways than one.
 
Usually you need to select it like a channel.  (normally called something like AV1 or AV2) 

Some TVs have an AV button, which if it exists will probably be on the remote.  (if its on the TV or there is no remote it's usually on the front, sometimes behind a door)

EDIT: The button you need might also be labelled as input or source.

- Neelix
 
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I don't know how to tell? Is there a switch on the back of the TV or something?


I got into a couple menus and didn't know WTF I was looking at....I'm a serious idiot when it comes to programming just about anything, anymore. I'm stuck back in the eighties in more ways than one.
Usually there's a button to get to AV input on the tv remote. It's usually labeled something like AV or Input, or Game.

Alternatively, try turning the tv to channel 3.
 
Oh dear....   I just tried to google that model number.  I was was hoping for a manual...  the only result was this thread! :lol:

- Neelix
 
If you google rca tv manuals, you get a main screen you can type in the model number and get a manual. But the bitch doesn't help me, I dunno what I am looking for.

The hunk of crap TV is tuned to Channel 3. But I don't know what ELSE to do.
 
Do you have a direct link for the manual? I've not been able to find it.  If the closest match was anything to go by though there should be at least one VCR button on the remote. I'd try those.

- Neelix

Edit:  Actually,  a decent photo of the remote and one of the back of the TV where the connectors are might be just as good.  (with the TV-Out cable disconnected)
 
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http://download.rca.com/FilesForRCAcom/Manuals/1515198a.pdf

That is a link to the manual. But it hardly says anything about hooking up any components.

The maker of the cable - who I am in private communication with - has suggested trying to run it thru the VCR...which maybe I could do. I just need to make sure the VCR works...then run the Pandy thru that, maybe.
 
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That manual is one of the most useless publications I've ever had the displeasure to read...  From what I read though,  it sounds like channels 00 and 04 are also likely candidates, so I'd try each of those with the pandora connected.

I agree that if the VCR works it may be the best option if you can't find the right channel on the TV.

- Neelix
 
Kumaki, may I ask if you are using the original remote that came with that TV, or just a universal remote?

...Patnik.
 
id find a 13 year old boy to help in person...
I was considering whether or not to suggest something like that... :)

- Neelix

EDIT:  Further reading of that manual suggests that both composite and svideo input are displayed through channel 00 and the TV assumes only one of them will be supplying input at a time, so I'd try channel 00 first, and make sure you haven't hooked up both video input connectors.
 
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Many RCA TVs I've own in the past, you could get to the AV channel by typing channel 00 on the remote.
 
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Happy 777th post, Kumaki!

On-topic, I'd say finding a nerdy teenager was probably a good solution to the problem :)
 
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Son of a bitch!!

That worked!! Channel 00...who'da thunk? I NEVER woulda figured that one out.

I'm playing Pandora TV now!!

Have to switch from Main Layer to HW Scaler when trying to play FBA, PANMAME, GnGeo and the like...Main Layer for everything else.

Weirdly enough, MAME4ALLBETA...does not work in Main Layer...and won't boot at all if the setting for the TV-Out is HW Scaler...it won't bring up the MAME menu.

But MAME EX works in Main Layer.

I'm using Composite, by the way, now, the yellow plug.

S. Video did not work out at all. I suspect the jack on the TV is bad, it is an old old TV.

Yeah, I changed the TV-Out Settings to S. Video when I tried that. No dice.

But most stuff works on the TV, now...I was playing Pac-Man on PanMAME just a bit ago.
 
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Excellent!   I'm glad you were able to get it going.  This whole thing does make me glad I've never had to use an american TV though. ;)

- Neelix
 
Cool glad it worked. A nerdy 13 year old wouldn't been alive long enough to know the tricks to those old TVs.
 
S. Video did not work out at all. I suspect the jack on the TV is bad, it is an old old TV.
S-Video is a separate input selection to composite on a TV, so you'll need to select it specifically on the TV to see if the Pandora's S-Video output is working -

Looking at page 9 of the manual pdf, it says the 'input' button beside the 0 key is for A/V input selection, so that each time you press it it cycles through the available inputs - it even says that it goes from '00' (composite, which you've got by manually choosing 00) then to S-Video on 2nd press, and back to regular RF input on 3rd press.

If it's slightly more sophisticated, when you press it once it might display a choice of inputs onscreen and you can use the arrow keys to select the one you want, but 'input' is definitely the button you're looking for there!

The TV is question is an old piece of shit, an RCA Model # F27678VC - it's an old big box piece of shit, not a nice sleek flat screen. We're gonna GET one of those when we move to North Carolina.
Don't dump the old CRT TV just yet - Flat screen TVs don't handle old analog signals (S-Video, Composite) very well. Some don't even have those inputs any more. You'll probably be quite surprised how much better the Pandora's TV out looks on your old box compared to a modern Flat panel set, especially for replicating the classic vibrant raster-line and shadowmask look of the 8 and 16bit era.
 
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