[PS2] Games playing in black + white?

[MetalGearAl]

Ok, aaaaages ago I posted on here (but I can't seem to find it) when I rented out ICO to play on my flatemates PS2 but it would only play in black + white. We tried it on two televisions, and other games seem to work fine.

Well last night I got my PS2, plugged it in, only to find out that Devil May Cry 3 was playing in black + white, on both my televisions. I haven't tried it on my monitor yet, but it's not great with playing composite. I haven't got an RGB or S-Video cable yet.

The actually PS2 start up animation is in it's normal bluey colour, and when the game language screen comes up asking you two choose between 50/60hz, this is in colour too. No mater what option I choose though, from this point it's all monochrome.

My gamecube and all it's games play fine - Would this be down to particular games displaying differently? Progressive scan? Both my TVs are fairly oldish.

Edit: I'm using bog-standard video + L/R audio composite into a scart block btw.

[anephric]

That's perverse. I know (at least, iirc) if you select the 60hz option in PS2 games you get pure NTSC output rather than PAL60, so that would account for a B&W piccie, if your tv wasn't up to it. 50hz should be fine, though.

Check the video setup options on your PS2 and make sure y,Cb,Cr/RGB isn't set.

[MetalGearAl]

It certainly is, it's why I couldn't play Ico before, but all other games were working (until now).

Will check the setup though, cheers. Oddly enough I can't find much information about this on the net.

[anephric]

If all else fails, shell out for an RGB scart, dooder. Make sure it's truly RGB and not some GAME hachet job (assuming your tv has RGB-in).

[MetalGearAl]

Well I'm doing that anyhoo, I just want to do this in the mean time! The TV does RGB, I have one for my GC.

How does S-Video compare to RGB? At the moment it's a choice between

a) Lounge, ~28" TV (not WS), RGB, 2.0 stereo
b) Bedroom, 20.1" monitor (not WS), S-Video (or VGA monitor box), 5.1 DD.

Plus the PSTwo would look pretty sexy on my desk next to all the other black peripherals sitting on it.

Edit: Are Joytech reliable enough? As this has both the S-Video and RGB cables in, plus 5.1 optical. Sounds like everything I need - link (http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/joytech-digital-av-cable-ps2-playstation2.html?id=GSL7DfC5)

Compatible with Playstation2, PS2, PSTwo and Playstation Two
Just to be extra sure :D

[Liggur]

One one of my TV's that has multiple SCART sockets, one of them displays the PS2 in B&W, but plug into the other socket, and its all full colour. One of the sockets.

Could be that the socket you are using isnt fully wired.

[MetalGearAl]

They both only have on socket, all other things on them (including DC + Gamecube) play fine.

[anephric]

Any Scart socket will do composite (although I suppose the Scart block could be buggering things up).

I've got an old JoyTech RGB lead from many moons ago (cost a fiver iirc) and it does RGB fine - S-Video's okay (much better than composite - you won't get anything like the colour bleed) but it's a poor cousin to RGB.

[MetalGearAl]

Would it be worth investing in some kind of VGA solution?

[MetalGearAl]

Just bought God of War, that plays in colour!

But DMC3 and Ico (when I had it) don't.

[Liggur]

Just bought God of War, that plays in colour!

But DMC3 and Ico (when I had it) don't.

They wernt Special "Sin City" Editions were they? ;)

[MetalGearAl]

No, they're all shop bought, legal and UK PAL releases.

[sparkyrob]

Hey, did you ever resolve this? Mine's the same - got a PS2 that can play PAL games fine, but it goes black and white with NTSC games. Looking around help forums it seems that my TV is a little old.

However, someone did mention this cable should work:

Joytech cable (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://playcom.at/thedvdforums?DURL=http://play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title&r=PS2&title=115606)

Does anyone else use a similar cable? It's only 7 quid, but if it's not likely to sort out my non-NTSC compatible TV, then there's no point buying it :)

[MetalGearAl]

I bought a RGB cable and it sorted it out.

[sparkyrob]

Great, I'll order one today. Thanks for the reply! :thumbs: