HELP: DVD player issues

[johncomic]

Okay, so last night our DVD player suddenly starts displaying a big black square in the middle of the screen whenever it tries to play a DVD. It's only a cheapie but it should still actually function, right? We've only had it for a few weeks and it was fine up until now. (The previous one, a diferent model which lasted a couple years, gradually lost the ability to recognize when there was a disc in its tray, so we replaced it with this cheapie currently in question.)

Anyhoo, this mornin I took the DVD player back and managed to get it replaced with a brand new copy of the same model. Brought it home, hooked it up: right fresh outa the box, this one is displaying a big black square in the middle of the screen whenever it tries to play a DVD.

Bear in mind the following points:

- when I play an audio CD in this machine, the screen has a track listing and whatnot but there is no black square in the middle.

- when I go upstairs and hook the DVD up to Hunter's TV, it plays DVDs with no black square in the middle.

- our main downstairs TV displays cable, and VHS tapes in the VCR with no black square in the middle.

So it's not the DVD player, it's not the TV, it's just the combination of those two. It's just like boom, suddenly this TV decides it doesn't like DVD. Yesterday morning the old DVD player was fine, but last night it suddenly starts with the black square business, and its brand new replacement is doing the same thing, but just on this one TV.

Does anyone have any clue what the eff is going on here? And (ideally) how to fix it, please?

Comments

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

It probably is your TV. Well, it's your TV when it's got a video feed to display. And fortunately for you, there's a very easy fix:

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/31205

Happy birthday!

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

You nailed it -- thank you sir!

And thanx for your b-day wishes as well!

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

(Although how the closed-caption setting got changed on my TV between the morning and the evening, as I would think it woulda had to be, I have no idea...)

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

Also, needless to say, closed captioning is not supposed to obscure the whole screen with an empty black box. I can only guess there's some common glitch in the implementation that you can fix by turning off that feature (and then turning it back on if you want).

[jsmitty-o.livejournal.com]

I can't help with the video issues, but I *can* wish you a happy birthday!!!

(Also, I always forget that you know of Ned's Atomic Dustbin, too. Hee!)

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

Thanx, Jen! (And yeah, I love the Neds! I've even burnt my entire 5-hours-plus Ned's collection onto an mp3 disc so's I can play it at the office...)