In response to Micah in post 39, I think it’s unlikely that this will work. The important thing to be aware of is that the specification of the DVI interface allows it to carry either analogue or digital signals.

An HDMI to DVI converter will work for digital signals. A DVI to VGA converter will work for analogue signals. Such converters will not normally do a conversion for you though. You will also probably find that the connectors do not physically fit together in your example. There are three different types of DVI connector - analogue, digital and combined. They all look very similar but they are not identical. That is why you need to do some hacking with pliers in my method in post 29.

Hope this helps.

Dave

2) DVI to VGA
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Skusearch.hmx?scriteria=BA19763

3) VGA to S-Video
http://cgi.ebay.com/VGA-to-TV-S-Video-RCA-AV-OUT-Converter-Adapter-Cable_W0QQitemZ370061792138QQcmdZViewItem

Would you still have to follow post #29?

I have a Sony Trinitron Tv and the svideo adapter. The Appletv picture is perfect. I’ve been using it for month, with no problems.

Do you know if the Svideo.com Apple TV Converter fix this squeashing issue?

There are contradictory comments above on the converter and do not want to buy it if it won’t fix the issue.

Thanks

thanks dave.

I purchased the svideo converter and it works great. I see the appletv 2.0 menu.

appletv -> Svideo Converter -> old SD tv
http://www.svideo.com/appletv2tv.html

Many Philips/Magnavox brand recorders have it (and have for years), one example being the Philips DVDR77. It has the ability to take a component signal and convert it to S-Video or composite out. It also has settings for dealing with issues of converting a widescreen signal to standard (old) size. The AppleTV Converter people admit on their website that it will cause a ’squishing’ effect on the video.

A quick Google search will give you several other players that have this capability. So I have to take issue with comment #21 because it’s just wrong.

I recently bought a philips player used for $65 for this conversion ability. So not only was it cheaper than the above mentioned Apple TV converter but I also gain the ability to record stuff to DVD.

For this to work, am I going to have to set my Apple TV to 480i, thereby losing quality on my the HD connection in my home theater?

In other words, can an Apple TV output both an HDTV signal and a signal convertable to 480i at once?

1) Get Maplin part numbers N23CJ and L53BT

2) The two parts are initially slightly incompatible. Modify part L53BT by breaking off the long horizontal tab and the 4 small tabs around it (on the DVI side). This is obvious when you see it. Ensure that any bits left over are not touching each other and shorting out. I did this with a pair of long nosed pliers and a very thin screwdriver.

3) Connect these two together. You now have your dongle.

4) Connect Apple TV to your TV by connecting the green RCA socket on the apple to a composite TV connection on your TV (usually using a yellow RCA connector to a SCART). This will give a black & white picture

5) Go to the main menu screen in Apple TV. You may need to go through some network setup

6) Go to settings, tv resolution and make sure that 480i is selected

7) Move cursor over 480p but DON’T select it yet

On back of Apple TV, disconnect the yellow plug from the green socket

9) Put the dongle into the hmdi socket

6) Press play on the remote

10) When the led on the front of Apple TV turns orange, disconnect the dongle

11) Reconnect the yellow plug to the green socket

12) The screen may take a few seconds to come back but it should be in colour

13) If all OK, press Menu to take you back to the main menu

14) If it doesn’t work, repeat from (7), slightly varying the amount of time between the light turning amber and disconnecting the adaptor

I hope this helps someone. I spent ages and ages working this out and hope it helps someone.

If anyone does that successfully on more recent Apple TV firmware (I’m using 1.0) then please post on here. I do not dare to upgrade in case this hack stops working!

Dave

Oh, one thing… I had to reset the Apple TV (hold Menu + Minus buttons for 6 seconds) because it was set to a higher resolution when I was testing it on a friends HTDV. Make sure it’s set to 480i (60Hz for NTSC) or you’ll get a bunch of lines on your screen. After I did that, it worked great.

BTW - You can get a black and white picture from the Y (Green) plug. But, that’s no fun

This converter will probably come in handy for other things in the future too. It’s really well built thanks to the guys at svideo.com! Thanks guys!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/appletv-dont-get-ripped-off-buying-cables-246110.php

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Article/appleTV-2007-03-22-21-30.html

The Apple adapter you’re talking about does no conversion whatsoever. There are no electronics in it at all. The DVI port on the mini has some extra pins in it that carry a composite video signal. You’ll note that the adapter in question has an extra notch in it so that you can not connect it to a regular DVI connector. The adapter simply uses the correct pins and pushes the single from those pins out to the S-Video and composite connections on the other end.

If you have an SD TV with component cables, it is very likely (though not certain) that this will not work either. It would only work if the Apple TV will push out a 480i signal, which it likely will not (if it would, there would be an S-Video connection on there somewhere).

On the other hand, if the Apple TV is able to send a 480i or 480p feed, that’s a different story.