Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: HDMI to RCA converter recommendation

  1. #1
    Pac-Man (Level 10) treismac's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Savannah, GA
    Posts
    2,026
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    0
    Thanked in
    0 Posts

    Default HDMI to RCA converter recommendation

    I'm looking to cross the streams of time and space by hooking up my RetroN 77's HDMI output to the old faithful yellow, red, and white of CRTs, so does anyone recommend any HDMI to RCA converter(s) that you know to be lag-free and of generally good quality? Thanks!

  2. #2
    Pac-Man (Level 10)
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    2,919
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    107
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    105
    Thanked in
    101 Posts

    Default

    I wasn't aware of such a product existing. (digital to analog).

    I thought maybe the boxes that take Over the Air signal and convert it to analog might do that but I dont know if thered be an HDMI connector in there. and maybe someone can correct me but I dont believe there is a lag free option any time a signal is converted from digital to analog or vice versa

  3. #3
    Great Puma (Level 12) jb143's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    St. Louis
    Posts
    4,246
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    5
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    69
    Thanked in
    62 Posts

    Default

    I just bought one the other day actually, but I was looking for the cheapest one I could find to hook a Roku up to our downstairs TV so my kid could use. The funny thing was that Microcenter had 2 from 2 different companies that were EXACTLY 100% identical. One was $60 with the AV equipment and the other was $20 in the DIY section with the Raspberry Pi's.

    There were others that are probably more what you're looking for that were in the $80-$100 range, that had more options and whatnot, but the one I got works perfectly for what I'm using it for. The menus look a bit blurry, which I guess is to be expected, but the actual shows look great.
    "Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...

  4. #4
    GET READY Custom rank graphic
    TimTendo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    43
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    1
    Thanked in
    1 Post

    Default

    I would caution against buying the cheapest ones, actually. Namely from experience:

    Around two years ago when I moved in with my girlfriend, I purchased a 20 dollar one "OldSkool" branded HDMI-to-RCA converter and it was serviceable, albeit quite finicky. My main interest lied in using it with my computer to output media on our CRT to watch, you know, to be authentic I guess. It worked decently well in those two years... until recently. It started crapping out randomly and needing to be plugged in certain ways, fiddling with settings in Windows 10 yielded no direct results - this thing basically started to work "when it felt like it", which is never a good thing.

    Finally, it's just straight up stopped working altogether. Really disappointing, but to be expected. I feel like something like this shouldn't be too hard to get working, but I guess twenty dollars worth in two years isn't some waste of money either... I just kind of hoped it would last a fair bit longer. Trying to find a replacement unit hasn't been easy, there isn't a lot of demand for going this way, it's usually the other way (which I currently have no use for). I see a lot of similar looking products online and I don't really know if they're any good or if they're any different from the unit I already have, hardware-wise.

  5. #5
    GET READY Custom rank graphic
    TimTendo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    43
    Thanks Thanks Given 
    0
    Thanks Thanks Received 
    1
    Thanked in
    1 Post

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TimTendo View Post
    I would caution against buying the cheapest ones, actually. Namely from experience:

    Around two years ago when I moved in with my girlfriend, I purchased a 20 dollar one "OldSkool" branded HDMI-to-RCA converter and it was serviceable, albeit quite finicky. My main interest lied in using it with my computer to output media on our CRT to watch, you know, to be authentic I guess. It worked decently well in those two years... until recently. It started crapping out randomly and needing to be plugged in certain ways, fiddling with settings in Windows 10 yielded no direct results - this thing basically started to work "when it felt like it", which is never a good thing.

    Finally, it's just straight up stopped working altogether. Really disappointing, but to be expected. I feel like something like this shouldn't be too hard to get working, but I guess twenty dollars worth in two years isn't some waste of money either... I just kind of hoped it would last a fair bit longer. Trying to find a replacement unit hasn't been easy, there isn't a lot of demand for going this way, it's usually the other way (which I currently have no use for). I see a lot of similar looking products online and I don't really know if they're any good or if they're any different from the unit I already have, hardware-wise.
    UPDATE:

    On a whim, I caved and bought a device that I could tell was basically the exact same as my old one, just under a different branding. I finally fired it up to test it out and... nothing. It straight up isn't working. Dead on arrival, whatever you want to call it. I caution anyone who is in the market for something like this to not waste your time. The only reason I picked what was clearly the same thing again was because I thought maybe mine was misused or was a bad unit. Of course, statistically it's entirely possible this is merely a bad unit, but these things are really cheap. Glued together. Really really not worth the money. I would have bought something much more robust in the intervening years if this wasn't such a totally niche topic of interest that there isn't much discussion on what's good and what's crap - which makes the whole thing a game of chance involving money. Not a big fan of that.

    Luckily, I can at least return this particular unit.

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 14
    Last Post: 10-06-2014, 12:59 PM
  2. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-03-2008, 11:58 PM
  3. Problem: 2 HDMI Consoles, only one HDMI port
    By RadiantSvgun in forum Modern Gaming
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 04-01-2008, 01:28 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •