I just purchased a brand new 3100 Bell ExpressVu receiver (Canadian dish), but I can only get black & white video. I have 2 other receivers in the house and I tried the others into the same TV, I get colour. However, if I hook the 3100 receiver to other TVs, it works fine.
The only thing is that the TV that gives black & white is a MULTI-SYSTEM TV. It accepts PAL, SCEAM, and NTSC.

But the thing that doesn't make sense is why the other receivers would work on the same TV. Any thoughts on this?

I have tried different cables so this can't be it. They are replacing the unit for me but it will be a week. I'm just hoping another unit will fix it. All the sat receivers are not the same models so I can't tell if the problem is specific to the unit or to the model.

Thanks


Simon Ngan

Are you connecting via S-Video? If so, try RCA. Since you said that you tried different cables, I wonder if the s-vid connector on the unit is flaky...

Jamie - your post triggered a memory from when I first installed my system. The S-Video cable that came with my unit was defective and I only got b&w. Fortunately there was a second S-Video cable in the separate installation kit, and that worked perfectly. Don't know if any of this applies in Simon's case though since he says the TV receives color when hooked to other receivers.

I got the 3100 replacement but I had the same problem. However, this time I knew I wasn't going to go anywhere so I decided to get the 4700 receiver from another room and swap it. I knew the 4700 worked on the same TV.

I did that and when I put the 3100 receiver to the other TV, the TV signal was jumping and the colour was kinda alternating between black and green. I wasn't getting the same thing on the other TV.

Oh well, I waited long enough for the software to be downloaded. At the end, everything was back to normal. Then I decided to swap the receivers again. 3100 back to the multi-system TV and I now get colour.

Now everybody is happy but not sure why it happened.

From what I remember from reading somewhere the past, some mis-matched cross-system combinations will produce a B&W picture. Since you mentioned a multi-platform TV is giving you this trouble, and to risk mentioning the obvious, check that the TV is set to the same platform as the tuner (NTSC?). I'm only guessing here, but maybe you're assuming that the TV automatically sets itself to the signal being fed to it, and it might have to be set manually. Just a guess.

Larry