Just got an XBox 360, won't display correctly with component HD, will with HDMI?

[prp2]

I'm really confused as to what's going on. Today I just picked up an XBox 360 (the newer "Go Pro" bundle which is supposed to have the newest motherboards and 65nm chips to run cooler). My TV is a less than year old Westinghouse LTV-32w6.

When I hooked it up using the included Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable per the instructions, I immediately noticed something amiss. The display was terribly washed out, to the point where I could hardly see anything, and the only visible color was pink. Thinking it may have been the component connections I plugged into, I tried the second available ports, with the same result. However, when I unplugged the component cable and tried the HDMI one that I normally use for my DVD player, that displayed and worked just fine.

Did I get a bunk cable or something? I was able to access my calibration menus and such from my TV remote, that part showed up fine (the direct TV menu access), but anything being put out by the XBox was unusable.

Anyone have any ideas? I could take some pictures if that might help.

Edit -- Oh and I just realized, this should probably go in Video Game Talk. Sorry.

[McHawkson]

There's display setting in Xbox menu. Maybe if you make some change and it should work??

[prp2]

Originally Posted by McHawkson

There's display setting in Xbox menu. Maybe if you make some change and it should work??

I tried that, too. I was able to squint and strain my way into the proper menus, switched the setting from its default of 480p to 1080i and set the reference colors to expanded, but there was no change really. Kind of makes me think something was broken out of the box, but I don't really want to return it unless I absolutely have to.

[McHawkson]

Then I guess there's something wrong with either AV cable or your 360 video port.

[prp2]

Alright so I took some pictures with my BlackBerry...any ideas?

Here's the 360 running on HDMI...



And here it is running on the included component HD...

[fumanstan]

How about trying the Composite connection to see if that works too? That might help to see if the AV port or the cable is working properly. You had the HD switch on the AV cable enabled, right?

[prp2]

Originally Posted by fumanstan

How about trying the Composite connection to see if that works too? That might help to see if the AV port or the cable is working properly. You had the HD switch on the AV cable enabled, right?

Hmm, interesting. I tried that (thanks!) and it did work properly, albeit in non-widescreen 480i which is to be expected.

So, since that's the case, it would seem the XBox's video card outputs are fine, but perhaps both of my TV's component inputs are bad? That pretty well sucks. Now I'll need to get a second HDMI cable and switching box to be able to use the XBox and my DVD player on the same inputs.

[WMAangel]

Originally Posted by prp2

Hmm, interesting. I tried that (thanks!) and it did work properly, albeit in non-widescreen 480i which is to be expected.

So, since that's the case, it would seem the XBox's video card outputs are fine, but perhaps both of my TV's component inputs are bad? That pretty well sucks. Now I'll need to get a second HDMI cable and switching box to be able to use the XBox and my DVD player on the same inputs.

Have you tried hooking your DVD player (or anything else) up to the component inputs, today or in the past?

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by WMAangel

Have you tried hooking your DVD player (or anything else) up to the component inputs, today or in the past?

Also, see if there's another TV you can try, like a neighbor or friend that you can test your XBox on too.

[brianluvdvd]

My sister's 360 was doing the exact same thing except it was making everything green instead of pink.

The solution: she rechecked her component connections and had made a mistake on the red connection (she either had put it in the wrong input or had missed it completely...don't know which as I was coaching her on the phone). She redid the connections and surprise...it worked perfectly.

[Jeremy517]

If your cables are all plugged into the right colors, then you probably got a bad cable. I got a bad cable on my first 360. The component cables don't seem to have particularly solid construction. Thankfully I'm using HDMI now.

[Ocelot]

ah, perfect chance to ask a question...

sorry, while i don't have the answer to your question prp2 (other than bad component connectors), i do have a question for you...

when you connect your X360 via HDMI, what's the resolution? Is it higher than 720p? thanks...

[KirstenS]

It's probably your tv. I've had that same problem with component input with progressive scan dvd players as well. When trying the player on a different tv, it always works fine. It could be the cable as well, so try on another tv first.

[Michael Corvin]

Are you sure you have the component cable set to HD? I think default out of the box setting is SD. There is a little switch on the connector that plugs into the back of the 360 on the component cable.

What you are getting isn't a typical result of that problem, but I didn't see it mentioned and may be at least worth checking.

[Mikael79]

Are you sure that you don't have the blue and green cables transposed by accident?

[prp2]

Originally Posted by Ocelot

ah, perfect chance to ask a question...

sorry, while i don't have the answer to your question prp2 (other than bad component connectors), i do have a question for you...

when you connect your X360 via HDMI, what's the resolution? Is it higher than 720p? thanks...

I'm pretty sure it defaulted to 720p, but I adjusted it to 1080i in the setup menu (which is the highest my TV will support).

[prp2]

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin

Are you sure you have the component cable set to HD? I think default out of the box setting is SD. There is a little switch on the connector that plugs into the back of the 360 on the component cable.

What you are getting isn't a typical result of that problem, but I didn't see it mentioned and may be at least worth checking.

Yup, that was the first thing I checked, too. It's not such a huge deal I guess, being that HDMI works fine I just have to switch it back and forth from my DVD player. Just was a bit disconcerting to have it display all crazily the first time I attempted to hook it up.

[prp2]

Originally Posted by Mikael79

Are you sure that you don't have the blue and green cables transposed by accident?

I am, though I guess it's not out of the question that they could be mis-labeled on my TV. I'm going to try playing around with them.

[Michael Corvin]

Originally Posted by prp2

I am, though I guess it's not out of the question that they could be mis-labeled on my TV. I'm going to try playing around with them.

Yep. That's worth a shot. The cables could be wrong also.

[Draven]

That definitely looks like "wrong color in wrong port", so I'd do a lot of process of elimination tests.

[Ocelot]

Originally Posted by prp2

I'm pretty sure it defaulted to 720p, but I adjusted it to 1080i in the setup menu (which is the highest my TV will support).

thanks... it seems that if you connect directly to the TV, 1080's are there via HDMI. However, connecting through receivers is another matter and that's the source of my problem.