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Old 07-03-2014, 05:27 PM   #1
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Touch Audio VD-400i

Does anyone else have this unit that Escape used for their DVD option?I have hardly used the DVD option on the unit and last time out during a big rain ,I decided to put in a DVD,but it only will play in Black and White.And no, it is not the TV as when I got home I checked that out and it is in full colour.Looking on other forums it sounds like most people think the Touch Audio VD_400i unit is pure crap and lots of problems.But can't find anyone else with the B&W issue.
What do others use and have any of you replaced that unit with something else and if so what?
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Old 07-03-2014, 05:57 PM   #2
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Might find the manual here; maybe it's a setup/configuration issue. It is a weird problem.

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Old 07-03-2014, 06:28 PM   #3
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What type of connection is used between the DVD player and the TV? If it is S-Video (an old standard, but still a possibility) the colour information is transmitted on separate wires from the black&white, so a bad connection of just one wire can kill the colour. Other analog connection types (such as "component") and digital connections (such as HDMI) would not lose all colour and keep a clear monochrome signal with a simple physical connection failure.


Update
I just looked at the manual, and although the back panel has two unlabeled connection points, the labeled connections include only component (CVBS) wiring... so it won't likely be the S-Video possibility that I mentioned. On the other hand, the posted manual is for a different model (VD 300 WR).
It's looking more like an internal failure or a setup problem.
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Old 07-03-2014, 06:38 PM   #4
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I have not seen this model, but black and white only picture when playing a dvd is usually the result of an rgb/composite video mismatch. In other words, your dvd player may only have a composite output while your tv may have red, green and blue inputs, sometimes called component inputs. If that is the case you can try the following:

make sure the composite out from the DVD is plugged into the green input on the TV. Then go to your TV menu, and somewhere you should find an option to switch the tv's video input from component video to composite video. That usually does the trick.
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Old 07-03-2014, 06:53 PM   #5
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I would check the manual which should have come with the trailer, or ask Lippert for a copy if one was not provided (or if it was lost).

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I have not seen this model, but black and white only picture when playing a dvd is usually the result of an rgb/composite video mismatch. In other words, your dvd player may only have a composite output while your tv may have red, green and blue inputs, sometimes called component inputs.
Sure, but the usual result of that should be a green-only image, right?
It would be good to see manual for the right model; the one for which Lippert posts a manual is the opposite of this situation: the DVD player has only component (or RGB) outputs - no composite. I found an eBay listing for this model which described the same outputs as the earlier model.

It is 2014... the most reasonable way to attach a DVD (or BlueRay) player to a TV is HDMI, not any of these old analog systems. Perhaps mobile equipment is still stuck in the 20th century?
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Old 07-03-2014, 07:09 PM   #6
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I would check the manual which should have come with the trailer, or ask Lippert for a copy if one was not provided (or if it was lost).


Sure, but the usual result of that should be a green-only image, right?
It would be good to see manual for the right model; the one for which Lippert posts a manual is the opposite of this situation: the DVD player has only component (or RGB) outputs - no composite. I found an eBay listing for this model which described the same outputs as the earlier model.

It is 2014... the most reasonable way to attach a DVD (or BlueRay) player to a TV is HDMI, not any of these old analog systems. Perhaps mobile equipment is still stuck in the 20th century?
Sure looks stuck in the analog age to me. No, placing it in the green input would not produce a green picture. Component input doesn't work that way. This is a way of getting around the 3 into 1 limitation. It does work in many cases. I've done it before. It may not apply here, depending on the inputs available on the DVD or TV.
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Old 07-03-2014, 07:34 PM   #7
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I'd just replace it with a new player - get Blu Ray capability and WiFi /Netfix, etc in a clean package for under $100. At least that's what my Sony cost.

Great to rent a DVD at a Redbox and drop if off at the next McDonalds down the road.......
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Old 07-03-2014, 08:13 PM   #8
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I'd just replace it with a new player - get Blu Ray capability and WiFi /Netfix, etc in a clean package for under $100. At least that's what my Sony cost.

Great to rent a DVD at a Redbox and drop if off at the next McDonalds down the road.......
Well, I'd replace it to. But to make it work as is....
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Old 07-03-2014, 09:20 PM   #9
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This is a way of getting around the 3 into 1 limitation. It does work in many cases. I've done it before.
I don't doubt that, but I've personally never seen a TV with component inputs that didn't also have a single-cable composite input... not that it likely matters in this case, since the player appears to have component (CVBS) output.
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Old 07-03-2014, 09:26 PM   #10
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I'd just replace it with a new player - get Blu Ray capability and WiFi /Netfix, etc in a clean package for under $100. At least that's what my Sony cost.
Is that a 12-volt DC mobile unit with radio tuner? It might be worth dealing with mounting and powering home-style equipment (that's what's in my motorhome), but mobile would be better.

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Great to rent a DVD at a Redbox and drop if off at the next McDonalds down the road.......
Yes, and even better in Blu-ray (high definition).
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Old 07-03-2014, 10:36 PM   #11
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No, placing it in the green input would not produce a green picture. Component input doesn't work that way.
You're right - the manual's labeling had me confused, and I had forgotten a couple of the acronyms.

CBVS - just composite video, on a single coax cable normally with a phono plug on the end, colour-coded yellow
RGB - Red-Green-Blue - the old three-connector standard, not the current "component" connection (if you plug in just the green input, you get a green image)
Component or YPbPr - three separate connectors; one input (Y) is the brightness, and the other two describe the colour, so if you put a single-wire composite signal into the Y input (and don't tell the TV that's what you're doing) you get a black&white image

The CVBS label above the middle connector of the three-connector output (in the previous version's manual), combined with "CVBS (3 Video output)" in the diagram legend, suggests that one jack can be used as either the Y of a YPbPr component output or a single-wire CVBS composite output. I thought the configuration fix was just talking about the display (TV) side, but maybe that's the problem... the DVD player may not be set for the right output. If the label means the connector above it is a single-connector composite output, then I would be checking that the cables are plugged into the right jacks.
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Old 07-03-2014, 11:03 PM   #12
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future shop sells up to 24 inch TV's that have incorporated a dvd player as part of the unit. around the 200 dollar mark. I bought one and it works fine.
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Old 07-04-2014, 04:14 PM   #13
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Finally got some time to fiddle with the TV again.Being retired I don't know how I ever had time to work a full time job.

I hooked the TV up again and this time there is colour,weird.

The TV on the video side has one yellow/ green connector,one blue connector and one red connector.The sound side there is one white connector and one red connector .

The touch audio unit only has three connectors ,one yellow,one red and one white.

I have always hooked it up ,plugging the touch audio's ,video yellow to the yellow /green connector on the TV.Then the red and whites to the sound corresponding red and whites on the TV.If you plug the yellow video into the blue or red one there is no picture at all,just black.

So not to much to error on there.Then the TV setting only has a source option,to choose for cable,DVD or USB,so not much to error there,I have the source set to DVD.

So I don't know what caused me to get black and white the last two times I hooked it up.But am happy it is back to colour ,just hope it stays colour.
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Old 07-04-2014, 04:53 PM   #14
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Finally got some time to fiddle with the TV again.Being retired I don't know how I ever had time to work a full time job.

I hooked the TV up again and this time there is colour,weird.

The TV on the video side has one yellow/ green connector,one blue connector and one red connector.The sound side there is one white connector and one red connector .

The touch audio unit only has three connectors ,one yellow,one red and one white.

I have always hooked it up ,plugging the touch audio's ,video yellow to the yellow /green connector on the TV.Then the red and whites to the sound corresponding red and whites on the TV.If you plug the yellow video into the blue or red one there is no picture at all,just black.

So not to much to error on there.Then the TV setting only has a source option,to choose for cable,DVD or USB,so not much to error there,I have the source set to DVD.

So I don't know what caused me to get black and white the last two times I hooked it up.But am happy it is back to colour ,just hope it stays colour.
Yep, composite yellow to component green usually does the trick. Maybe your previous connections were loose or something?
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Old 07-04-2014, 07:29 PM   #15
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The TV on the video side has one yellow/ green connector,one blue connector and one red connector.The sound side there is one white connector and one red connector .
That cable is set up to handle either component (green/blue/red connectors) or composite (yellow connector) video; the red and white handle the audio separately from the video in either case.

The dual yellow/green colouring suggests this dual-purpose use.

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The touch audio unit only has three connectors ,one yellow,one red and one white.
That cable is only good for composite video (and the usual separate audio). It seems strange that the VD-400i wouldn't use component connections, but if it only has one video connector then this is all the cable you need.

What looked strange to me is that you don't have the same cable at the TV and the DVD player: shouldn't they just be the two ends of the same set of cables? Now I realize that the TV cable you show is an extension of some sort. Can you plug directly into the TV, or is there only this cable to connect to?

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Originally Posted by woodie View Post
I have always hooked it up ,plugging the touch audio's ,video yellow to the yellow /green connector on the TV.Then the red and whites to the sound corresponding red and whites on the TV.If you plug the yellow video into the blue or red one there is no picture at all,just black.

So not to much to error on there.Then the TV setting only has a source option,to choose for cable,DVD or USB,so not much to error there,I have the source set to DVD.
Given the cables you show, that's your only choice. Video won't work plugged into the red or blue input for a couple of technical reasons which almost nobody will care about.

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So I don't know what caused me to get black and white the last two times I hooked it up.But am happy it is back to colour ,just hope it stays colour.
Given that you are using a composite connection, I don't see how anything in the cabling or the TV could cause monochrome... unless the TV tries to determine for itself whether it has a one-wire connection (composite) or a three-wire connection (component), and doesn't do that very well. I do wonder if the TV cable you show is built right into the TV, or plugged into jacks on the TV. If it is plugged in, connecting the red or blue wires to the TV could confuse it.

If the DVD player really doesn't have component outputs (not just that there's no cable for it), then I don't see any way for DVD settings to be a problem.

Intermittent problems are usually difficult to fix!
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Old 07-04-2014, 07:32 PM   #16
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That cable is set up to handle either component (green/blue/red connectors) or composite (yellow connector) video; the red and white handle the audio separately from the video in either case.

The dual yellow/green colouring suggests this dual-purpose use.


That cable is only good for composite video (and the usual separate audio). It seems strange that the VD-400i wouldn't use component connections, but if it only has one video connector then this is all the cable you need.

What looked strange to me is that you don't have the same cable at the TV and the DVD player: shouldn't they just be the two ends of the same set of cables? Now I realize that the TV cable you show is an extension of some sort. Can you plug directly into the TV, or is there only this cable to connect to?


Given the cables you show, that's your only choice. Video won't work plugged into the red or blue input for a couple of technical reasons which almost nobody will care about.


Given that you are using a composite connection, I don't see how anything in the cabling or the TV could cause monochrome... unless the TV tries to determine for itself whether it has a one-wire connection (composite) or a three-wire connection (component), and doesn't do that very well. I do wonder if the TV cable you show is built right into the TV, or plugged into jacks on the TV. If it is plugged in, connecting the red or blue wires to the TV could confuse it.

If the DVD player really doesn't have component outputs (not just that there's no cable for it), then I don't see any way for DVD settings to be a problem.

Intermittent problems are usually difficult to fix!
I think it's just a crappy unit....lol
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Old 07-04-2014, 08:07 PM   #17
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What looked strange to me is that you don't have the same cable at the TV and the DVD player: shouldn't they just be the two ends of the same set of cables? Now I realize that the TV cable you show is an extension of some sort. Can you plug directly into the TV, or is there only this cable to connect to?


Intermittent problems are usually difficult to fix!
The picture above that shows 5 connections is from the TV, that harness plugs into the back of the TV and that is how it came.I just unplugged it to get a picture of it.The other photo shows the connections that are on the wires that comes from the Touch audio unit which also came connected to that unit.For now it is working and like rbryan4 above suggested it might have just been a loose connection .
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