Looking for a decent HDMI to composite converter

[Brad251]

I want to get an HDMI to composite converter to watch videos on my composite only CRT. There are many out there an the reviews are mixed. Does anyone know of a good one?

[nmalinoski]

Any converter should work. Get whatever is cheapest on Amazon, and make sure it's converting in the correct direction. (Not composite to HDMI. Watch out for diagrams with red check marks and green Xs; I'm looking at you, Portta.)

If you were going from HDMI to RGB or YPbPr, where the resultant video quality might need to be good, then specific recommendations could be made; but, composite video is necessarily results in a severe degradation in image quality, so you're not going to really get a "good" signal; and, by the nature of the technology, your CRT would end up masking most or all of the encoding issues.

[orange808]

I want to get an HDMI to composite converter to watch videos on my composite only CRT. There are many out there an the reviews are mixed. Does anyone know of a good one?

I've never used a proper "all in one" machine that can do this properly with both 480i and 240p output options. (I think the Barco ImagePro and ImagePro II might do it?? ??? But, that's expensive.. and I haven't used one...)

If it is just 480i video, you want an "HDMI to VGA" converter and an Extron VSC 500 or VSC 700. If you're really picky, you probably want to find a way to delay the audio for about 16ms.

That's 480i only. Not 240p.

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If you want composite 240p output, I think you need one of the select few old Emotias that do 240p. They're expensive. They're also hard to find, often in need of maintenance, and they use odd power supplies.

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You could also try building a media PC, output 480i, and use an inexpensive "HDMI to component" converter for 480i movies, but you need a television that actually accepts component! Don't bother with any composite out "tv cards". They stink.

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The all in one Chinese "HDMI to composite" boxes on Amazon don't do a particularly good job.

[Brad251]

I appreciate the help, Orange, but I'm just looking for something cheap to watch 480i videos (mostly 80s/90s cartoons). I have been messing around with my PS3 and it can play .vob files off of an SD card or external hard drive and you can play most file formats through the PS3 Media server. The only thing is that I like loading DVD ISOs so that I can see the menus and PS3 only plays individual .vob files.

[orange808]

I appreciate the help, Orange but I'm just looking for something cheap to watch 480i videos (mostly 80s/90s cartoons). I have been messing around with my PS3 and it can play .vob files off of an SD card or external hard drive and you can play most file formats through the PS3 Media server. The only thing is that I like loading DVD ISOs so that I can see the menus and PS3 only plays individual .vob files.

Scan converters are almost completely useless at this point, so an Extron VSC unit can be had for very little.

HDMI to VGA adapters are also very cheap on Amazon.

That's the route you want to go, here.

I think a VSC 500 or 700 is worth about $30-35 usd (or less) total (shipping included). With some patience you can get one for that. Once again, scan converters are almost completely worthless to almost everyone at this point. There are more VSC units out there than demand. People can either sell them for what they're worth (almost nothing) or they can throw them in the dustbin.

Looks like you can get a good setup for about $45-50 usd (or less) with a little patience and using the best offer option on ebay.