Ive bought a WDTV LIVE for a friend because i have one already (connected via HDMI).
He has an older TV without HDMI. Shouldnt be a problem, i thought.
After 4 hours of testing now i can say composite doesnt work.
We switched everything, cable, wdtv, tv.
We cant get a picture over composite.
We checked on 6 TV (2 at his home, 3 at mine, 1 at another friend), 2 different WDTV Live (both latest firmware) and 2 different cable (mini to composite / mini to component that come with wdtv live).
Screen just stays black. So i think i can say there is definitivly an problem with GERMAN TVs.
HDMI works perfectly on all 4 TVs that support HDMI. Trying to switch to Composite over the menu ends in autoswitching back to HDMI no matter if i say: Yes or No on the “change resolution” question.
You are sure that you are using the composite lead that came with the WDTV?
You are plugging in into the correct A/V socket on the WDTV.
You are connecting the yellow plug on the WD supplied composite lead to the video input of your TV’s.
You are switching the TV to the correct video input.
With the unit on try holding down the side paperclip button for over 10 seconds and then releasing. This should changed the system output from NTSC to PAL or vice versa.
Try also pressing the side paperclip button for a seconds with unit on, this should reset the WDTV and it will reboot.
I cannot see that it has anything against German TV’s. The video input is not anything special.
I have two TVs, one a new digital Sony Bravia with HDMI, the other an old Sony Triniton Wega (flat screen but still CRT) circa 2001 that only has Component and Composite.
I can’t get either the Composite or Component to work on the Wega… the picture is all distorted. Component shows me reg, green and blue snow; Composite shows a jumpy black and white picture where I can still see the WDTV menu, but the screen is jumping up and down. The Bravia seems to always switch back to HDMI if I try to manually change the settings.
I saw an older post in the forum that said older CRTs only support “interlaced SD signals, and the minimum resolution supported by the WDTV on the component/HDMI outputs is progressive (480p)”. I have no idea what the specs are for my 2001 Wega, but I’m guessing it’s a bit too old.
if COMPOSITE is giving you a jumping picture, it sounds like your Live is set to PAL instead of NTSC. This can also affect COMPONENT, since NTSC uses 480 and PAL uses 576 lines.
While the unit is ON, Put a paperclip in the RESET hole and press it for MORE THAN 10 seconds. That will toggle between NTSC and PAL.
I have two TVs, one a new digital Sony Bravia with HDMI, the other an old Sony Triniton Wega (flat screen but still CRT) circa 2001 that only has Component and Composite.
I can confirm for you that Sony Wega in Canada does work with WDTV, that’s what/where I’m running.
I’m using the composite input, set to NTSC, latest firmware (updated via network to avoid the dreaded looping) and it works fine. Component input doesn’t work due to the lack of 480i, which would be really nice to have. (WD where are you?)
The distorted picture definately implies wrong freq. Forget the component input, it does not work unless you have one of the higher-end Wega which did support non-interlaced video. I would stick to the composite input, at least to get the thing working.
