HDMI to VGA

[Michael]

Hello all,

 

Do HDMI to VGA converters work well or best avoided? This is for an Apple TV v3, which is black in colour and supports up to 1080p resolution (according to the specs). There are no other outputs and the school do not have a HDMI projector.

 

Apple TV v1 was white in colour and supported HDMI and RCA out. Apple TV v2, black in colour supports HDMI 720p/1080i resolution only.

 

I have advised to replace the projector with a projector which includes HDMI input natively. The alternative is HDMI to VGA, but I can see two problems with this -

 

Surely converting the signal, the resolution would still be 1360 x 768, so the projector would have to support it?

And secondly, you'd then have to 'faff' with audio, as of course HDMI delivers video and audio.

 

What do you think?

[Davit2005]

There is an adapter out there, I bought one think it was called ATV Pro. Cost me about £50 and seemed to do the job ok. It is however powered off the HDMI output so works ok with Apple TV but hasn't worked that well with my AV Amp.

 

Said adapter has a 3.5 Stereo Audio output so suppose it would connect to your existing PC speakers.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Davit2005

[Michael]

Thanks for that! So when you convert the signal, what resolution comes out as with VGA?

[Brpilot99]

We are in the process of getting some of these and as I understand the tv box has hdmi for video and audio and optical out for audio. Ive looked for an optical to rca converter and they seem to go for around £15.00. Wether the box will output from the hdmi and optical at the same time is a question we are going to ask the apple rep who is coming this afternoon.

[Davit2005]

I had it working with a Projector, sorry didn't notice resolution but it seemed ok.

[Michael]

We are in the process of getting some of these and as I understand the tv box has hdmi for video and audio and optical out for audio. Ive looked for an optical to rca converter and they seem to go for around £15.00. Wether the box will output from the hdmi and optical at the same time is a question we are going to ask the apple rep who is coming this afternoon.

 

Thinking about my setup at home (LCD TV and TV box connected into an HDMI amplifer), it does output audio via optical and HDMI at the same time. You just put the sound on the LCD TV down to zero, so you only hear the sound outputted from the speakers connected to the amplifier only.

[iom100]

Hi,

 

Not as simple as you might think, as HDMI can carry a copy protected signal (HDCP). If you try and interfere with the signal path (by converting it to VGA) then it *might* stop working. The HDMI spec says it should, but some manufacturers realise that it's a bit silly so don't implement this.

 

At my place, we're using the Kanex ATV pro with the AppleTV v3 with some success. For some reason I can't fathom, everything works except full screen YouTube clips streamed from an iPad. The resolution is negotiated by the HDMI protocol depending on the endpoints.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ian M

[garethEds]

Hello all,

 

Do HDMI to VGA converters work well or best avoided? This is for an Apple TV v3, which is black in colour and supports up to 1080p resolution (according to the specs). There are no other outputs and the school do not have a HDMI projector.

 

Apple TV v1 was white in colour and supported HDMI and RCA out. Apple TV v2, black in colour supports HDMI 720p/1080i resolution only.

 

I have advised to replace the projector with a projector which includes HDMI input natively. The alternative is HDMI to VGA, but I can see two problems with this -

 

Surely converting the signal, the resolution would still be 1360 x 768, so the projector would have to support it?

And secondly, you'd then have to 'faff' with audio, as of course HDMI delivers video and audio.

 

What do you think?

 

+ 1 for the Kanex ATV Pro kit which we purchased from Millgate. It works out of the box.

 

Gareth

[mole]

25th May 2012, 08:42 AM

 

This 2 Port VGA + Audio Switch | Console & Video Switches | KVM | LINDY UK

with

This Kanex ATVPRO - AirPlay Mirroring for VGA Projector - In stock. ( ATVPRO )

 

we use for Apple TV and Laptop to vga projector

[Michael]

I finally got round to testing a Kanex ATV Pro with mixed results really. It connects OK to the projector and the menu screen appears full screen. As soon as you switch to AirPlay and mirror an iPad, it appears squashed in the middle. Apple TV also doesn't support proxy settings, so it's unable to register and constantly 'attempts' to set the date and time.

 

I think in future I would always recommend a native HDMI projector. As for the proxy issue, this is another example where a transparent proxy would be useful.

[Brpilot99]

That an interesting one ... I take it that the ATV needs to register itself? We are about to get 6 of these and are on the SWGFL ...

[Michael]

It doesn't need to, but it wants to if you know what I mean.

[Brpilot99]

Could you simply take them home plug them into your home router ... let them register and then take them back to school?

[plexer]

Could you simply take them home plug them into your home router ... let them register and then take them back to school?

 

Yes that would work but tbh why should you?

 

Ben

[Michael]

Exactly and once you start doing that it'll be never ending.

[Brpilot99]

Good point !! I'll give then to the ICT co-ordinator to take home ..........