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Anonymous User
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Update has broken composite video

Title says it all the latest update which has removed the sideloading feature has also broken the composite video out feature. Well it works, but now the colours are flickering in and out making it unwatchable for anything. Not cool, not cool at all.

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Anonymous User
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Just dug out my older box to use on an old CRT tv.  When I used to use it it was only ever in black and white (I presume it wasn't in pal).  Just updated the box today (wont have been updated for about 6 months) and now its working in colour so all good!

 

The cable I am using was from an old nokia phone but works grand with the now tv box.

Anonymous User
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 I have the same experience as first post and I strongly believe there is an issue with the latest software update that is causing older TVs to display in Black and White having previously showed in perfect colour. I subscribe to Now TV for the benefit of my Dad who only has a Sony CRT TV that was working fine until the latest software update. His tablet is working fine and in full colour. 

 

I have ruled out everything and have carried out resets etc ( I used to manage IT at work ) and the two white boxes ( I purchased a second box to check it was not his orginal box ) are working perfectly on my Sony Bravia ( non Smart ) using both HDMI and AV cables in full colour. So the latest update is causing some older TVs to display in black and white or flickering colour. Not the AV connection on my Dad's TV either as camera and videos connected display in colour. I am using SKY supplied AV cables

 

I have raised with Now TV and very patiently await a response and a solution. 

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User wrote:

I have the same experience as first post and I strongly believe there is an issue with the latest software update that is causing older TVs to display in Black and White having previously showed in perfect colour.


Hi @Anonymous User,

 

If you read @Anonymous User's post, precisely the opposite occurred. The latest update has made it so the composite video signal is now PAL-I (ie: the colour system used for all analogue TV signals in the UK video since the mid 1960's).

 

If you're seeing black and white images I suggest you set your analogue TV's colour system to 'Auto'...

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for your suggestion. I will have to check my Dad's TV manual to see if this is possible and ask him to check what it is set to currently.  

Anonymous User
Not applicable

yeah my guess is it used to be NTSC and this old 14" crt I have in the spare room didn't support it.  I had to edit my pi config to pal to get that working but obviously the nowtv didn't have that option.  The update though either changed it from NTSC to PAL or simply added PAL support.  Either way its now colour.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi.

I like your dedication to logical flows mostly, OP.

However you missed out one possibility while you needled things down to that the composite out failure issue must be due to an update.

 

That is the possibility that the composite out simply goes bust.

 

It happened to my white box long ago, and over a year before this update you mention

 

I had it linked to an old SD digital TV which has no HDMI facility.

It worked well and I was pleased and then one day it packed up and I thought, that is likely what you get with a £15 video box, whether for selling Sky monthly packages or not!

(See end of comment, though, it may be more my own kind of doing.)

 

I am pretty sure that is the case, that the composite ports just packed it in.

 

Anyway it is highly, highly unlikely an update is going to disfigure the analogue out facility.

I'm not even sure that software update could have that ability - may need some physical interference.

I am guessing that the only way the analogue out could be disfigured is if the whole box is gone - so won't work or output HDMI, analogue or anything.

 

I have recently bought a black box for the main (HDMI) TV, far prefer the Ethernet connection via powerline socket cables to awful EMF everywhere Wifi with the white box.

 

For my old tv, since it seems possible to get either a USB to composite / scart converter or a HDMI to composite / scart converter, I think I am going to get another black box and try that for my old non HDMI TV.

 

Actually I'll just try with the black box I have already on the old TV, first.

The Wifi is a real problem.

 

When visiting my Mum's place in the middle of the country, which is without any home broadband, I've taken the white box and connected with mobile broadband - Alcatel Mifi device with cheap 6GB voucher - in order to get streaming Smart internet services through the white box.

 

So this means that the video signal is streamed everywhere in the area over mobile data, and then, in the home, I repeat the same amount of data streaming (from the Mifi device).

 

The Mifi device converts the mobile video data into a signal it sends on its own local Wifi network, so I have double the wireless data in the same room.

The first signal goes into the Mifi device and the device then repeats the full, same amount of data, sending it out via local Wifi.

 

It physically makes me sick.

I have started to wise up to Wifi and especially streaming video.

The odd website and text and photos on a tablet or phone aren't too bad, but long periods of streaming video are not on, whether repeated data or just the one wireless send.

 

For this reason, though I liked the white box on analogue composite output, and I would otherwise buy a new one a year for my old TV or even more regularly, if the composite ports kept failing - I just can't buy another Wifi only video device.

 

The black box with Ethernet is a bit of a lifesaver and I'll do what I can to get some kind of digital to analogue conversion working for my old TV.

 

From past experience, the converters which are powered work fine (USB or socket powered), while the unpowered converters may have issues.

It is annoying having another power source and more wires just for the converter cable itself though.

 

 

---

 

Out of interest, do you have any kind of ionizer machine going in the room which you had the white box in (air purifier, water fountain etc) or do you live by significant running water or the sea?

 

In the past these ionizer machines have screwed up numerous laptop power supplies I have used, sometimes calling for £100 repairs just to the power board.

 

As I still have an ionizer going in the room where I used the white box with composites, I wonder if this may be why my own composites out failed in the box.