Many who bring home and connect a new DVD player or HDTV box get frustrated when they find that the image is often red or blue in color. While fiddling with the TV controls makes sense in these situations, this is rarely the problem with these types of devices.

DVD players and HDTV boxes often connect to a TV using a component video connection. This type of connection uses three cables to connect the video from the device to the display (labled as Y, Cr/Pr, and Cb/Pb). Component offers significant advantages in image quality over the standard composite (yellow) and S-video connections by transmitting each component of the image over a separate cable.

When the image is slanted either red or blue, it usually means that either the Cr/Pr or Cb/Pb cables isn't connected. If the image is red, the Cb/Pb

cable loose or not connected. If blue, it's the other one. If the image is just black and white, then both of them are not connected. The image shown above was taken from a DVD image with the Cb/Pb component cable disconnected.

If you've verified the conenction is tight, then the problem might be with the cable itself, so try a replacement cable to verify. If the problem still occurs, it could be a problem with the output on the device, or the input on the display. That's harder to figure out, and would need to be repaired by a service center.

Another common mistake is that the Cr/Pr and Cb/Pb cables are reversed, which can also make the image look really strange. In this case, make sure each cable is going to the right place.

With a little sluething, this is a problem that's usually fixable by the user, just take it one step at a time.