Dr. Bott vs Kanex XD vs AV360

[Josh Kahane]

Hi

I am looking to get one of the adaptors listed in the title to hook up my PS3 to my iMac. What do you recommend and why?

Are there certain things which stand out from one over another?

At the end of the day, do they all accomplish the same job with similar quality?

In the UK I seem to be having trouble locating somewhere to purchase any one of these. The Dr. Bott is the only one currently I seem to easily be able to buy:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H0570B/A?mco=MTcxODkxOTc

Hope you can help, thanks.

 

[Danando1993]

Im in exactly the same situation as you are and have been leaning towards the AV360 but i am still struggling to find the right adapter.

 

[Josh Kahane]

In the end I bought a Kanex XD from Cancom UKs website. Next day delivery ordered before 4pm, got it and have to say its great.

 

[dh2005]

I've been thinking about doing this.

Is your iMac at 21.5- or a 27-inch model? Are the jaggies on the 720p image a problem? I'd probably be sitting at a distance of three or four feet from my 27" iMac.

 

[Josh Kahane]

I have the 27" model. It will NOT work on the 21.5" model as it doesn't accept video-in.

I sit about 2 foot away roughly and Im used to it completely now after a couple of hours use.

You definitely notice the pixelated edges but you forget them not after long.

 

[edtate]

I have the 27" model. It will NOT work on the 21.5" model as it doesn't accept video-in.

I sit about 2 foot away roughly and Im used to it completely now after a couple of hours use.

You definitely notice the pixelated edges but you forget them not after long.

Agreed. I have a 27" imac connected to a ps3 but I use the atlona hd-620 adapter instead, which upscales the inputted signal to the imac's natural 2560x1440 resolution.

720p does indeed look jaggy, but the greater the distance you are from the screen, the less you will notice it, and as Josh said, after a while it really becomes a non-issue.

For those looking at more expensive solutions like hd620 like i bought, keep in mind that the majority of games (ps3 owner so speaking specifically of the ps3) released only support 720p as the highest resolution (although more games in the future will definitely support 1080p), so it may be more cost effective to buy a cheaper adapter.

In the context of this thread, all three are pretty much equal, outputting the same resolution of 720p. My advice is to just go with the cheapest option; they all do the exact same thing so you wouldn't want to pay more for a product that is no different than a cheaper option.

 

[dh2005]

Thanks for the detailed advice. Appreciate it.

Hmmm... 1440p upscaling, eh? How does that look?


I've had a 32" LCD TV for three or four years, and it's starting to die. I could, yes, replace it with another TV, but I'm coming towards the end of med school and living in cramped hospital accommodation. I can't really afford the money or the space - and my iMac has AppleCare until October 2013 so, if the display flakes, I can get it fixed for free.

Also, how convenient are these things to use? And how do they even work? Does the iMac itself needs to be on, or does the screen run independently?

Thanks in advance.

 

[edtate]

Thanks for the detailed advice. Appreciate it.

Hmmm... 1440p upscaling, eh? How does that look?


I've had a 32" LCD TV for three or four years, and it's starting to die. I could, yes, replace it with another TV, but I'm coming towards the end of med school and living in cramped hospital accommodation. I can't really afford the money or the space - and my iMac has AppleCare until October 2013 so, if the display flakes, I can get it fixed for free.

Also, how convenient are these things to use? And how do they even work? Does the iMac itself needs to be on, or does the screen run independently?

Thanks in advance.

Works just like a laptop monitor; after all, an imac is pretty much a noticeably bigger, more powerful, more expensive laptop hehe . Whenever you have another input device connected, you'll press *command + f2* to switch between it and osx itself (only works on the mac side, boot camp is a no go).

As my experience is limited to just the Atlona Hd620, I can't really compare it to "lesser" adapters as all I'm used to is my 720p and 1080p material being automatically upscaled to 2560x1440; 1080p material looks great while 720p looks pretty iffy at closer distances.

 

[dh2005]

By "iffy", do you mean, "meh... s'alright", or do you mean, "it's *****, mate"?

Here are my plans. I have an Xbox 360 and a Popcorn Hour A-210 media streamer, both with HDMI connections. The 360 will be outputting 720p/1080p, and the A-210 will be outputting everything from 480p (upscaled internally to 1080p), through to native 1080p.

Any thoughts on how this might work out?


Thanks again. This is invaluable advice.