Panasonic WJ-MX12, no color : HDMI -> analog convertor box problems

Hi, I’m Emile from France. I have a problem with my WJ-MX12.
My 2 inputs are black and white when I connect from my computer. My video comes out of my computer in hmdi, then I go through an HDMI → RCA box.
However, when I connect mini-DV cameras directly to the machine, my images are in color, regardless of the input.
The images coming from my computer must, I think, have a video signal problem; bit rate problem?

all my setup is PAL, my hdmi->rca box is powered.
I went through an analog monitor before entering the machine. The monitor displays color.

The WJ-MX12 is very temperamental hahahah
I’m also trying to find out if the images from my computer and cameras have the same output signal rate.

any solutions please ?

very friendly,
Emile

…bonjour Emile…

…do you have access to another conversion-box from HDMI->CVBS so you can eliminate the conversion as the culprit?..

…and/or can you send somehow the out of your camera via the HDMI->CVBS-box and thereby check that it is not this converter causing the problem?..

…also: which converter is it exactly?…

Thanks for your response fairplay

I don’t have another conversion-box, but I’m pretty sure this box isn’t the problem, because I tried my conversion on a screen, a TV and a analog monitor : color !

on my mini-dv cameras, impossible to try your idea.
I’ve tried connecting my BMPCC4K camera to the converter box, and I also get black and white.
I have the impression that signals from a digital machine are misinterpreted by the wj mx12.

my actual converter :
https://www.amazon.fr/QGECEN-HDMI-Adapter-Converter-Cable/dp/B09JVHHXMV/ref=asc_df_B09JVHHXMV/?tag=googshopfr-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=603027267001&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11572100152995490204&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9055329&hvtargid=pla-1607122430768&psc=1&mcid=2539e08c6c3d3a68bb05409e658df185

it’s really cheap, but it works.

…if i remember correctly - i have only the mx-10 and the mx-30 - the mx-12 does support S-Video in…

…perhaps you could try and invest in another cheap converter that outputs S-Video? - for my stream yesterday i used four of these converters which seem to work fine (but they are significantly cheaper on amazon.de ):

https://www.amazon.fr/convertisseur-S-Vidéo-Adaptateur-Composite-Convertisseur/dp/B09KXM7P7N/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3DGTA0B13SZCN&keywords=hdmi+s-video&qid=1704845309&s=electronics&sprefix=hdmi+s-%2Celectronics%2C82&sr=1-5

yes, one of my mini-dv cameras is connected to S-video and displays colour.
This converter looks pretty good. Thanks for the deal, I’ll try it out as soon as I get the chance.

It’s strange this black and white problem, RCA and S-video are only composite signals after all…

its 100 percent the convertor box. the cheapo convertors do a crap job on color encoding. TVs are cool with sloppy encoded analog video signals, mixers are not. its probably worth it to just

  1. invest in an expensive and high quality hdmi->analog
  2. invest in a usb loaded media player (any of the raspberry pi thingies, micca, brightsign)
  3. hook your computer up to another monitor and point an analog camera at that screen.

we should retitle this post “HDMI → analog convertor box into mixer no color” or something like that, b/c i know this topic has come up before and would make it easier for folks to search!

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Thank you for your reply, thank you for these solutions!
Would you have a good converter box to recommend to me? I don’t know much about raspberry and other…

…i do not know if it is a ‚good converter‘, but i bought a batch of

Atlona AT-HD530

for this purpose which i found every now and then on eBay for reasonable prices…

…a good - but expensive - choice is the Blackmagic-Converter boxes; going this route might require to use one box to convert to SDI and then another to go from SDI to the format you require…

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…ooops - i just checked eBay: the prices there seem ridiculous to me - the most expensive ones i bought were 140 USD (plus customs into europe)…

…for 400 USD (that is the price asked for the Atlona ones i found there at the moment) i‘d either go the Blackmagic-route or look for GEFEN, TV-One (have some of both, they are good) or Extron devices (have some), unfortunately some capacitors (and other pieces) in their PSU blow up easily (probably due to age) in my experience…

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look up some extron/matrox rackmount downscaler stuffs with DVI-D inputs and use a passive HDMI-DVI adapter.

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thank you !!! I checked the Atlona box and difficult for me to find this box with correct price, but I’ll search deeper !!
thanks for all your recommandations FairPlay.

I also find this, I don’t know if it’s good but the price is correct:
https://www.reichelt.com/fr/fr/convertisseur-port-hdmi-port-rca-1080p-st-hd2vid2-p276844.html?r=1

(I put the link just in case)

Ok thanks Andrei !

…ref. the Startech-box:

i do not have a Startech-video-product myself but generally they are regarded being of good quality; also Reichelt usually does carry reliable and well-working equipment, so i guess this box might be a good one…

…as i have been looking for a HDMI-to-Component-video-solution yesterday myself i found reasonable offers* from AJA and Blackmagicdesign also…

…with those you will have to convert from HDMI to SDI with one box, and then use another box to go from SDI to Composite (or in my scenario Component)…

*on ebay as well as on german Kleinanzeigen.de

and you could also check Netherlands