The AppleTV SCART mess, part 2. Working converter?

Question

Wonder why the thread went locked?
Anyways..The SCART mess is IMHO boiled down to:
Sabaoth (starter) wrote:
There's something I can't really understand about this big problem with AppleTV and SCART connections in Europe->I don't know why customers without high definition TVs have to mess around buying expensive YPbPr to RGB transcoders.
Ljungbergarn (me) tought ATV had RGB out (wrong, and I am far frpm not alone here in EU) The "RGB" out is NOT RGB, it is (?) YPbPr (also called "Y/Pb/Pr", "YPrPb", "PrPbY", "B-Y R-Y Y" and "PbPrY") and since I am not a rocket-scientest
(as many others who bought ATV) I can not get ATV to work with my European fat TV.
Ian Parkinsson wrote:Apple do NOT state anywhere that the output is RGB, they clearly state 'Component Video'.<->
Correct. but again..I only looked at the connections looked like RGB.
My mistake, not knowing all these weird connectionsnames and that Apple did not take notice of EU tv´s are working.
MADIMAGE wrote (and put the finger right on the spot)
The question is, why is not AppleTV offering a RGB
output mode? This conversion could be easily done
at the driver level in the embedded OS X AppleTV
ships. All TVs with standard SCART connections
could display AppleTV video signals, without
requiring expensive convertors with external power
supplies; not to mention all the confusion concerning
standard definition TV support. Many users are
spending hours and hours reading forums and product
hints to find a solution.
In my opinion, adding RGB support from inside AppleTV
is just a matter of doing some easy math with the
signal before sending it to the output. It makes no
sense to disregard this solution, considering that
AppleTV is being shipped in Europe, where RGB is the
video standard - or at least it has been for a long
time <->
RC-R wrote:The "problem" is that Apple TV is not designed for standard TV's.
<->
How true...
AppleTVfan wrote:In Europe these kinds of TVs have been sold with SCART and composite or s-video inputs, but never with component inputs.<->
True again. So Apple did make a mess as Sabaoth said not thinking how TV´s are made in EU. (thanks Apple!! Grrr)
Now when we know that ATV demands a modern "US" tv is the question for us who has A: a European TV or B: a TV without HDMI or Composite.
THE HAMA Video converter did not work:
http://www.hama.de/portal/articleId113956/action*2563/searchMode*1/bySearchvideo+converter
It converts:
- YUV (Cinch in) in RGB + Sync (Scart out)
- YUV (Cinch in) in RGBHV (5 x Cinch out)
- YUV (Cinch in) in RGBHV (15-pol. HDD)
- RGB (Scart in) in RGBHV (5 x Cinch out)
- RGB (Scart in) in RGBHV (15-pol. HDD)
None if this worked! (of cource)
here is the the answer from HAMA:
Dear Mr. Ljungberg,
thank you very much for your e-mail.
The Component-input (YUV) of the Video Converter 2-3 is able to handle interlaced signals up to 576i and progressive signal up to
576p. These signals are converted to Scart-RGB an are availabel on the Scart RGB-out of the converter. So because you want to make a
connection to a TV-set with Scart-RGB input you have to take attention to the supported signals of a Scart-RGB input of any TV set.
The TV set will only accept interlaced signals up to 576i. If you setup your Apple TV to any progressive signal or to any interlaced
signal higher than 576 i you will see corrupted picture or no picture on the TV screen.
To make shure that your TV set is able to display the signal without any problem, you will have to setup your Apple TV to 576i
output, all other setups are wrong and will cause corrupted picture.
After you have connected the Apple TV and switsch it on the first time, the setup will start automatically, this setup also includes
the setup of the picture format. It is alos possible to start this setup manually at any time. To do this, press and hold down the
"Menu"-key and the "+"-key togetehr for about 6 seconds. Apple TV will now start to switch slowly between the different picture
resolutions. As soon as it it setup to a resolution that is supported from yout TV set, you will se the Apple Logo clearly on the TV
screen, click the "OK"-key at this moment, to stop the searching procedure. To exit this menu, press and hold down the "Menu"-key
until the Apple TV mainmenu is shown.
For some TV sets there may be need to setup the Scartinput manually to RGB-mode, please refer to the TV manual. TV sets with more
than one Scartinput usually will have only one Scartinput that is able to handle an RGB-signal. Please refer to the manual or the
menu of the TV set for this.
Cables with poor shielding quality may cause interferences and so the picturre quality will not be very good. We recommend to use
cables with seperately shieldes wires ony, please do not use cables with only one common shield for all wires together.
With good quality cables and the Video Converter 2-3 you can reach a cable length of up to 30 meters with perfect picture quality.
Since the Apple TV is available, many customers are using our Video Converter. Until today only a couple of problems appeared. In
any case the problem was solved by seting up the correct picture format 576i on Apple TV and using high quality cables.
Best regards
Hama GmbH & Co KG
Karl Schabert
Customer support
Adolf-Thomas-Straße 10
D-86653 Monheim
Germany.<-> end from HAMA
Buying a ATV is asking for headache (IMHO)
NOW IS THE QUESTION; WHAT CONVERTER WILL WORK?
Old G5 Duo 2.0   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   2GB Ram

Answer 1

Ola,
If it is any consolation to you, many people all over the world are confused by the many different video standards & connection methods used for different video formats. SCART was one of several attempts at an "everything" connector to simplify things for consumers, but since it was developed almost 30 years ago, long before digital TV, HDTV, & electronic content protection became a reality, it is inadequate for today's needs.
The same is true for older TV's, & this is not limited to one part of the world but is -- or soon will be -- the case pretty much everywhere. This is not the fault of Apple or any other equipment maker. If you are looking for something to blame for this, blame the march of technology, which both demands & makes possible more efficient & flexible use of the ever more crowded TV channel spectrum available around the world.
Put simply, all major, technologically advanced countries are switching to digital TV. Because its benefits cannot be fully realized while analog broadcasts continue, all these countries either have or are contemplating turning off analog broadcast TV transmissions after some transition period. For example, in the US all analog TV broadcasts will be turned off by Feb. 17, 2009. (For other countries, see the Wikipedia's Analogue switch-off entry.)
What this amounts to is the first worldwide effort to move from a number of incompatible TV standards, each based on regional electrical standards over half a century old, to a single set of flexible standards suitable for everyone, whether they want HDTV, SDTV, or a mix of both. This should be a good thing in the long run, but for now it means a huge amount of TV equipment is about to be rendered obsolete.
Moreover, most consumers (regardless of where they live) can no longer assume new & old gadgets will work together without converters that will themselves eventually become obsolete.
With this in mind, it makes sense to decide if a converter or a replacement TV is the better value.