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Apple TV on 4:3 CRT with composite input WORKS!!!

T

takuzinis

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2009
3
0
After the Apple TV Software Update 2.3.1 I found weird but nice new future which will be the great news for old CRT square TV owners.
Now Apple allows you not only get color output via the composite video connector, but after that you can change the resolution to particular 853 480i – 60Hz which basically allows you normally (without being vertically stretched) watch everything on 10 years + old square TVs. Before it was possible after software hack but it is not supported on Take Two.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Get color output via the composite video connector (without it will be not possible to later activate 4:3 mode)
- take HDMI(male)-DVI(female) adapter and short circuit pins 16 and 14 with paperclip (don’t plug it in yet)
- Plug your composite-yellow in the green “slot” (this will give you an image, but BW)
- In the menu, go to Settings – Audio & Video – TV resolution
- now STAND on 480p and unplug the composite-yellow, plug an HDMI-DVI adapter
- press “ok” on the remote and wait 2 sec
- unplug the HDMI-DVI adapter and replug the composite-yellow, when the image comes back, it comes back full color. After that it’s possible you need to confirm the resolution, with just pressing OK!
See more at http://www.appletvhacks.net/2007/10/12/get-color-output-from-apple-tvs-composite-video-output/

2. Switch to 4:3 resolution
- press menu and “+” together for few seconds.
- choose 853×480i–60Hz
- confirm with OK

Enjoy the Apple TV on your 4:3 CRT

Please excuse if this is old news for you, I am not sure if this was found out previously.
 
I have a 4:3 tv that has component inputs, so I don't need the composite hack. However, the 4:3 setting is a very welcome addition if it actually works. I'm going to try it tonight. Right now I have v1.0 firmware installed so that I can get 4:3 mode using displayutil (or whatever - it's been a long time).
 
If I have component on my 4:3 tv, but I'm getting squish-o-vision, should I just try #2?
 
takuzinis said:
2. Switch to 4:3 resolution
- press menu and “+” together for few seconds.
- choose 853×480i–60Hz
- confirm with OK
Click to expand...

I don't get any 853x480i option. And since 480i looks horrible, I'd need a 853x480p option.

Also, 853x480 is a 1.62 aspect ratio and a 4:3 TV has a 1.33 aspect ratio. Am I missing something here?
 
Sky Blue said:
If I have component on my 4:3 tv, but I'm getting squish-o-vision, should I just try #2?
Click to expand...

853×480i–60Hz option is available only after successful Step 1. You should probably have a composite input as well.

Yvan256 said:
I don't get any 853x480i option. And since 480i looks horrible, I'd need a 853x480p option.

Also, 853x480 is a 1.62 aspect ratio and a 4:3 TV has a 1.33 aspect ratio. Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

Agree, but result you have is CORRECT aspect ratios on your 4:3 - fullscreen in case of 4:3 content and letterbox if the content is 16:9 or 2.35:1
 
takuzinis said:
Result you have is CORRECT aspect ratios on your 4:3 - fullscreen in case of 4:3 content and letterbox if the content is 16:9 or 2.35:1
Click to expand...

Out of luck, I don't have any HDMI-DVI adapter. :(

Anyway, if it's possible to do with all these tweaks, why won't Apple simply add a 4:3/16:9 setting to the :apple:TV? :confused:
 
Apple would sure sell a lot more Apple TVs for car audio use if they would fix this so you could play on regular monitors, IMHO. Apple dropped the ball big time on this one
 
And the saddest thing about this is that the iPod has had 4:3 support all along. So why can't :apple:TV have it too? I've thought long and hard about getting a WDTV or Popcorn Hour to replace my :apple:TV (which is currently running a hacked 1.0 to get 4:3 mode).
 
So what is the lowdown on 4:3? Is it only possible with the composite hack? Is there no way to get it while using component? I'd love to update my :apple:TV, but not if I lose 4:3 mode.
 
danny_w said:
So what is the lowdown on 4:3? Is it only possible with the composite hack? Is there no way to get it while using component? I'd love to update my :apple:TV, but not if I lose 4:3 mode.
Click to expand...

No, 4:3 works fine with component.
The only condition that i know of is that you have to have the correct firmware for it to work, the last firmware that works with 4:3 using displayutil that i know of and have working is 2.2.

the issue i have with it is, that i must SSH into the TV to enable diskutil, and have not been able to set it up correctly to auto enable itself upon TV crash (which seems to happen all too often on that particular box) or a reboot/power failure.

anyone have a working setup to auto enable displayutil upon restart?
 
rotarypower101 said:
it looks like it might now work under 2.3 (we were unsuccessful with 2.3 ) if you change the location of displayutil 1 subdirectory back, by x86osx acount, it may work under 2.3, and perhaps 2.3.1 as well.

http://forum.awkwardtv.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2238
Click to expand...
Could you be more specific? Nothing in that link refers to displayutil, and from my experience (and all of the info on the net) displayutil only works with 1.0 and 1.1 firmware and will not run in 2.x (crashes the box usually).
 
displayutil will most definitely work on firmware revision 2.0

i cant personally comment on whether or not the crashes come about from displayutil, but it seems to work great until the box crashes out. Which seem to be anywhere from 1 week to a month+. the way i deal with it is we have an applescript that was built, and i launch it using telekenisis from the iphone and watch for the “fat apple” splash screen upon reboot, then all is well again.

danny_w said:
Could you be more specific? Nothing in that link refers to displayutil, and from my experience (and all of the info on the net) displayutil only works with 1.0 and 1.1 firmware and will not run in 2.x (crashes the box usually).
Click to expand...


My mistake i had two threads open and was switching back and forth and mistook that last post as a post from the 4:3 thread. (was just doing some quick scanning around as i have not looked into it for quite some time) That and i was working on something else and talking to someone at the same time, and it was getting rather late, my apologies for the inaccurate post.


i wish they would just natively support/enable 4:3., i dont think it would be game changing for the TV, but it would open up a much larger market for the device. its not like they would have to add hardware....just enable 4:3 by default on the GPU.

i dont know how many people have seen our TVs, and asked if they should get one without a 16:9 TV, and having to hack the device to use it, my suggestion to them is probably not at this time.

even if there were a inexpensive component > composite converter box it would be nice.

has anyone found an inexpensive converter as of yet? the last i saw was ~$100
 
Gotrpms said:
I made a video tutorial on using this procedure to set up the Apple TV with a SD TV. Check it out http://www.thecheapgeek.org/2009/03/24/161/
Click to expand...
That's great, but doesn't the 2nd part require the 1st part in order to work? My TV already has component (not just composite) inputs, so I don't need the 1st part; I still need component output. It would be great if you could get the 2nd part (4:3 mode) by itself. I currently have v1.0 firmware loaded for just that purpose.
 
Based on what I have read, you are correct. But I will play around with the menu tonight and see if a proper 4:3 aspect ratio is available via component.
 
Gotrpms said:
Based on what I have read, you are correct. But I will play around with the menu tonight and see if a proper 4:3 aspect ratio is available via component.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I would appreciate that. I don't really want to go to the hassle of upgrading to try it out, and then have to downgrade and re-hack it to get back where I am today.
 
Strange behavior!!!

I'm sure that all this once worked on my apple tv but now after some unsuccessfully modding and a complete restore to my original version 1 after upgrading to 2.3.1 whenever i select 853 480i – 60Hz i got 1024 x 768i 60 hz...
and every time exit from xbmc all the resolution reset to 480i... should any wrong preference persist after a restore? Any ideas?



All the best to all and thanks a lot
 
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