edumacator

DTVuser2009

Heads are dirty. i had an Emerson VCR that did that for some reason because of dirty video heads. it's clear as a bell but everything looks like Mister Ed from the color. odd but typical VCR woes.

Jay

Found something here too: TV/VCR/Stereo Troubleshooting: VCR Recording in Black and White, dirt accumulation, vcr repairs

The article suggests adjusting the tracking control (if available to you).

edumacator

I wasn't really clear in my original message. In Canada, only two stations have gone digital so far (both are from the USA). I have an analog pass through box which allows me to watch both digital and non digital stations perfectly. I can record and playback with absolutely no problem from all of the non digital channels (the playback appears in colour with no distortion). Only when I record the two digital channels do they playback in black and white. I do not think it is a problem with the VCR heads, otherwise all playbacks would be distorted, wouldn't they? I have checked out much information about the wiring of my setup and have redone it. The store where I bought the box from is at a loss (the boxes are very hard to find here since we do not convert until 2011) about what the solution may be. Any more suggestions?!

1inxs

Try changing the modulator 3/4 switch on the converter box. If its on 3 switch to 4 or vise versa.

DTVuser2009

could be the VCR doesn't agree with the digital signal for some reason. i don't see how that could be seeing as it converts it down to regular standard def TV like you get in analog but i would stand on the VCR head issue. tracking control would cause white noise in the form of lines that won't go away. most newer VCRs have 'auto tracking' which does away with the control entirely.

if it's a 4-head VCR most likely it needs cleaning. even with fine recording with analog something's amiss with the digital channels. if it's recording/playing in color in the analog channels and only b&w on the digital ones, how do the digital ones look from the TV? are they in b&w too? that means the problem is not with the VCR. when some channels have first gone digital things like no color, bad sound, no sound, or wrong language sound can happen till it gets fine tuned later on.

1inxs

The reason it's getting analog signal with out problem is because it's passed straight through, therefore bypassing the output modulator. The digital signal has to be converted and then sent through the modulator. Change the modulator output (3/4 switch) on the back of the converter box to match the VCR. It should be that simple. A misaligned head would give you distortion and sound loss not color loss.

edumacator

Thank you to all of you for the excellent suggestions. I rewired my set-up last night and retried taping a digital station again (which I see in colour when I view it on the TV) but it continued to play back in black and white (the picture is perfect, no distortion - just no colour). I have the VCR set to channel 3 and the digital box set to channel 3 since this is the channel that has no incoming reception (channel 4 does). I will try the suggestion to switch them over to channel 4. Up here in Canada the switch-over is pretty much a non-event (even though most of us live along the US border!) so no one really understands how to fix the problems that are cropping up. I'm going back to the guy who sold me the box to have him give it a try - I'll let you know what the solution is, should we find one! Thanks again to DTVuser2009, Jay, and 1inxs for taking the time. I think this is all a plot by the cable companies to drive us insane/subsribe to their services!

staticMHZ

Disconnect everything and try again.

+ YouTube Video

If it still doesn't work, then there is something wrong with your VCR because it works great on mine. I have a spare tv with an artec t3ap and I use it to record movies on THIS.

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