Kramer VP 728 Problems

[BPoese]

I have a one year old Kramer VP 728 switcher. It was bought a year ago and we are just now setting it up. The problem is that I am getting only a black and white picture. My setup is this: From the DVD player, component out to the Switcher. VGA out of the Switcher to the projector. The menu from the Switcher is in color but the picture from the DVD player is in blackand white.

I have gone from the DVD player out with the single video out to a converter to a VGA output to the projector and that gives me a color picture. Which makes me think that the VGA input to the projector is ok.

I have also played a DVD on a laptop going to the projector with VGA and I get a color picture then too. Again confirming that the VGA input to the projector is ok.

Just that whenever I go through the switcher I get a black and white picture.

Any suggestions??
Thanks
Bruce

[zactommo]

Black and white on component is a sign that your switcher is only seeing luma signal (Y), and the Chroma signals (Pb Pr) are either not making it to the switcher, or they are being ignored, or misinterpreted.

Things to check: Output settings of DVD player, and input setting of switcher. Both need to be set to YPbPr component (as opposed to RBG or YCbCr) Check upscaling settings of switcher and DVD. Is the dvd player upscaling to HD component, is the switcher expecting HD component? Thats not what you want. And the obvious. Check your Pb & Pr cables. That they function, and that they're the correct way round.

[BPoese]

I did a little more digging last night and what I thought was the "Component" input to the switcher says in it's literature that it is a "Universal Y/CS,Pb/C,Pr (composite, s-Video and component) input". What does that mean to me and is that what is messing me up?

Thanks,
Bruce

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by BPoese

I did a little more digging last night and what I thought was the "Component" input to the switcher says in it's literature that it is a "Universal Y/CS,Pb/C,Pr (composite, s-Video and component) input". What does that mean to me and is that what is messing me up?

It means that the same input can be used for composite video (CS), S-Video (Y and C) or component video (Y, Pb and Pr) input signals.

According to the VP-728 manual, for each of the Universal inputs you have to select which of those three formats is to be used. The default is composite video, which would explain the black and white picture since it is getting only the luminance part of the signal. In the Input menu of the VP-728 you apparently need to set the Input Source Type for the DVD input to "Component".

[BPoese]

Thanks for the info! For some reason along the way, the user manual has been misplaced. I'll try doing that this evening and see what happens. Thanks again!
Bruce

[Brad Weber]

You can download the manual as a .pdf here, http://www.kramer-us.com/products/model.asp?pid=1161#t.