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Good HDMI to composite adapter

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RadRacer203

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Just got a new old tv and I'm planning on using it with some HDMI stuff. I was just curious if anyone had any recommendations for a good converter. I want something better than the $10 chinese ones and I'd also like a remote to change settings easily
 
Well kind of all sorts of HDMI stuff. Mainly an Apple tv and Chromecast through a receiver, and the TV I have is a really high end 25" color NEC from 1985. Essentially I want a converter thatI'll be able to change the video settings on the fly to go between a 4:3 aspect ratio and widescreen
 
Well, what type of inputs are on the TV (composite, component, RF)? Is the TV 16:9 or 4:3? If there are composite inputs on the TV, they make pretty inexpensive HDMI to composite converters sold everywhere (there are also composite to hdmi converters and i'm not clear if those are separate devices or renamed devices so best get the one that specifically says HDMI to AV). The cheapest boxes are about $10. As for switching between 4:3 to 16:9, that is set on the devices themselves. If the tv is only 4:3, you'll just get the bars when 16:9 stuff plays. If the TV is 16:9, you'll get the other bars. In either case, the device transmitting the video usually sets the aspect ratio.

Side note, I know Adrian Black (on here and on youtube) set up a CRT that he plays old youtube videos on it, I'll send him this thread to comment on his setup.
 
ngtwolf said:
Well, what type of inputs are on the TV (composite, component, RF)? Is the TV 16:9 or 4:3? If there are composite inputs on the TV, they make pretty inexpensive HDMI to composite converters sold everywhere (there are also composite to hdmi converters and i'm not clear if those are separate devices or renamed devices so best get the one that specifically says HDMI to AV). The cheapest boxes are about $10. As for switching between 4:3 to 16:9, that is set on the devices themselves. If the tv is only 4:3, you'll just get the bars when 16:9 stuff plays. If the TV is 16:9, you'll get the other bars. In either case, the device transmitting the video usually sets the aspect ratio.

Side note, I know Adrian Black (on here and on youtube) set up a CRT that he plays old youtube videos on it, I'll send him this thread to comment on his setup.
Click to expand...

The tv just has composite inputs. My main issue is that when I'm watching something, for example Forbidden Planet or any similar old movie on Netflix, it's a 4:3 movie but is played in 16:9 in Netflix so it would be quite a bit smaller than it should be on the screen. I ran into this issue before with a similar setuo so I want to be able to manually adjust the size of the picture when something like that happens
 
I got one from China .... it looks like this. It works great but I did have to modify it. I know for sure the luminance output on S-Video was too dim. It had an inline resistor that was too high so I had to remove it and then add a lower value. I seem to recall adding a 75 ohm and removing something larger.

Also, I drilled a hole in the case and soldered on a button (the poads were there already) and that was the zoom/scaling button. Allows you to control the scaling from about 70% to 120% ... so you can adjust the overscan/underscan perfectly.

IMG_20191122_142645.jpgIMG_20191122_142648.jpgIMG_20191122_142652.jpg

I bought this a year or two ago, so no idea if these are even the same internally anymore.... but look on Amazon/Ebay/AliExpress and you'll likely find ones that look the same and hopefully have the same quality.

It works just great IMHO especially once I added the button...
 
misterblack said:
I got one from China .... it looks like this. It works great but I did have to modify it. I know for sure the luminance output on S-Video was too dim. It had an inline resistor that was too high so I had to remove it and then add a lower value. I seem to recall adding a 75 ohm and removing something larger.

Also, I drilled a hole in the case and soldered on a button (the poads were there already) and that was the zoom/scaling button. Allows you to control the scaling from about 70% to 120% ... so you can adjust the overscan/underscan perfectly.

View attachment 57442View attachment 57443View attachment 57444

I bought this a year or two ago, so no idea if these are even the same internally anymore.... but look on Amazon/Ebay/AliExpress and you'll likely find ones that look the same and hopefully have the same quality.

It works just great IMHO especially once I added the button...
Click to expand...

That seems like just what I would need, but I would prefer to have a remote to switch, since I have my entertainment center on one side of the room and my couch on the other. Not a huge issue but a little annoying when everything else has a remote
 
I've got one that looks... Exactly but not exactly, how do I properly describe this? It's probably a knockoff. But the one I have is pure trash. It seems intended to prove that composite video is useless. So I assume the gubbins are different. I probably bought it from Amazon last year.
 
This may be worth a try http://www.ezcap.tv/accessories/hdmi-to-av-composite-converter

It looks identical to a Chinese one that I have here which does not work (bought from Amazon, it never worked at all). But the one in the link might be the real deal (probably still made in China but not a fake). I found this whilst trying to research my USB capture device woes (apparently even though this one worked, it too is an Amazon Chinese fake).
 
I had the reverse of one of those white ones (av2hdmi)... it wasn't very good. But, I'd think that going from good hdmi to crappy composite on a blurry crt, the bar would be much lower and easier to meet, but i guess not? :)
 
RadRacer203 said:
Just got a new old tv and I'm planning on using it with some HDMI stuff. I was just curious if anyone had any recommendations for a good converter. I want something better than the $10 chinese ones and I'd also like a remote to change settings easily
Click to expand...

I suspect that whatever you do the picture will be poor. The resolution of modern TVs is so much higher than anything composite was designed to handle. If you can go to SVGA you stand a chance of getting a decent picture..

Dave
 
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