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A/V Breakout Cable

47K views 101 replies 41 participants last post by  OhFiddle 
#1 ·
Anyone know anything Amazon carries that will work in this area? I have one old TV with no HDMI that I want to hook to one of my new Tivo Minis. I had just bought a Roku HD2 and it had a cable that may work, but I would prefer one with component output.

I can't find any specs on this cable and the "quick start poster" for the Mini lacks a lot of details.
 
#54 ·
It seems like you are quite concerned with being right about this, rather than accepting different strokes for different folks.
I know I'm right about it.

I called tivo today after getting a mini two weeks ago. Said I wasn't told when ordering that I needed to buy another cable to do component. She immediately sent me the av cable for free! My bedroom tv has only one HDmi port, and I have a roku 3 on that for prime and hbo go
It's called an HDMI switch. They have ones that are auto-switching and don't require external power for 2-3 sources.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011001&p_id=8147&seq=1&format=2
 
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#59 ·
Note to Tivo: Would it REALLY have been so hard to have a dedicated stereo-audio output on the mini?!?!? And if you insist on using your own proprietary port, how about including the required dongle to use it?!?!?! :down:
No one cares, because everyone just uses HDMI.
 
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#65 ·
That's highly unusual. Most people are using all HDMI at this point.
I thought about replacing the kitchen TV with something more modern. It only has DVI and component inputs. I use the component input with a DVD player, and the DVI/analog audio input with a TiVo Mini. This same set used to have a TiVo/DVD combo Series 2 connected to it.

I'm sure there are lots of people who have connected a Mini to an older, less-used TV in their house. Many people I know have CRT sets with only composite inputs in a back room.

The fact is, I probably won't replace this little TV (it is a 17-inch) until it breaks down. I can't find a new one of this size with front-facing stereo speakers. The Mini fits in the space between the stand and the actual monitor, so it uses zero room.
 
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#66 ·
Well there's very, very few of you who aren't using HDMI, so it would be pretty stupid on TiVo's part to waste money on a cable that 99% of their customers aren't going to use anyway.
You are missing the point Bigg, if Tivo is going to provide a composite or component port with a non-standard proprietary port, they should provide the proprietary cable (or dongle) to actually USE the port. If they used standard ports it wouldn't be an issue.

What would it cost to mass-manufacture these dongles? I don't know, maybe 4 cents each? I don't think that's going bankrupt Tivo. ;)

And FYI, I am doing HDMI->out but you must have missed the part about the Tivo feeding into an HDMI distributor that services multiple devices that must keep the audio and video in synch, and that the home theater audio wants Dolby 5.1 from the Tivo, but at least one TV panel doesn't understand 5.1 and requires linear PCM (or analog stereo). So it's a little more complex than a simple living room Tivo driving one output device.....

PS: I bought the proprietary dongle on Amazon for $2.72 with free shipping, not the $20 that Tivo charges:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SO5LDQ

-MC
 
#72 ·
That's fine, but a tiny minority of people using ancient TVs aren't a good enough reason for TiVo to bundle cables in that 99% of the users have no want or need for.
I didn't say they should bundle them. Somebody else did.

I just don't think a couple 50 cent 3.5mm to RCA cables should cost $20. And why did they need to use a weird pin-out scheme? Just wire it like hundreds of existing cables. I have bags of iPod to video cords that use the same connectors, but TiVo chose a different pin-out.

They used to fill the TiVo box with all kinds of junk nobody wanted. Did anyone actually use those crappy AV cables that came with a Series 2? Or that push-on coax cable? I guess they got tired of wasting money on including cables.

I'd rather they included the proprietary cables (or dongles at least) and left out the HDMI. I buy HDMI cables in bulk for like $3 each. All three of my Mini-included HDMI cables are still wrapped up in the boxes.
 
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#76 ·
No. WRONG. This type is cable is not automatically interchangeable.

The ground connection could be on what would have been a signal connection. All three RCA jacks share a ground. If the ground is not on the same pin as the TiVo cable, then the cable will not work. You will get noise, distorted video, or nothing. There are lots of threads on here about it.

There is no standard for this type of connection.
That has been my point all along. This is a proprietary port, and Tivo should provide the dongle to actually USE it, or use industry standard RCA connections on the device. Same with the component port.

The argument that "nobody needs this" is irrelevant, if Tivo provides the port they should provide the means to use it. It just makes good sense, and if you don't want/need the dongles just throw them away. The reason Tivo loaded up the S2 boxes with every possible type of cable (and even RJ11 phone line splitters if I recall correctly) was to ensure that the customer could open the box and be up and running right away, without having to go out and find/buy a bunch of additional cables.

We wouldn't be having this discussion if the mini had a proprietary HDMI port that required a special dongle/cable to use. I'm sure EVERYBODY (even Bigg) would agree that Tivo needs to provide the interface to use the proprietary port on their device.

-MC
 
#90 · (Edited)
Hey all just registered to reply to this thread which helped me solve my buzzing issue trying to use a standard 3.5mm audio wire with a mini.

for the composite, I actually found an A/V breakout adapter in the closet. I believe it came with my Samsung TV (in the other room).

So just for others that will inevitably read this thread, before you run and buy a break out cable, maybe you have one! (Looks like this)

Anyway the way i use this mini, is A/V Breakout audio out to the LINE IN on my PC. Then use the HDMI out to my second LCD monitor which doubles as TV viewing while i'm gaming!

Anyway, thanks for the thread guys.
 
#6 ·
Do you know if that cable will work for the component output as well as the audio/composite outputs? Obviously the RCA connectors will be the wrong colors but will it function?
I wouldn't think so since yellow carries the picture and the other two carry the left and right audio, but I don't know how the Tivo component cable is wired.

========

I have the cable from a RokuHD2 that looks just like the one noted on Ebay. I can't get a good picture though. I have tried pressing the button on the bottom, but that just cycles through bad pictures. Any idea how I can get the A/V output to work on my older Emerson TV?
 
#8 ·
I just got that Western Digital cable from eBay and it works fine with the Mini.

Thanks!
Did you use it by itself? How did you get the video to come up? I can't get it to properly show the output with only an A/V cable.

If you are using 2 of them, what colors did you match the red, white and yellow of the second cable to? I am getting a somewhat poor quality red or blue background depending on how I plug them in.

EDIT: I am also getting a horrid buzz in the background using the AV cable. Does anyone know if anything can be done about that? Is buying a new HDTV my only option to use my Mini and replace my TivoHD?
 
#10 ·
I am also getting a horrid buzz in the background using the AV cable. Does anyone know if anything can be done about that? Is buying a new HDTV my only option to use my Mini and replace my TivoHD?
You are using the wrong type of cable. Each port has three outputs: one port has audioR, audioL, and composite video; the other has component video (red,green,blue). You are using a cable for a port with only two outputs and the video is mixing in with the audio. Probably best to use the breakout AV cable sold by Tivo.
 
#11 ·
You are using the wrong type of cable. Each port has three outputs: one port has audioR, audioL, and composite video; the other has component video (red,green,blue). You are using a cable for a port with only two outputs and the video is mixing in with the audio. Probably best to use the breakout AV cable sold by Tivo.
I don't want to spend another $30 with shipping for another cable, especially when I have several of them here. I am fairly certain that A/V cables are fairly consistent at that level, though I have yet to find a component cable like they have.

I found I had a few that were the same format as what they have that I have collected over the years, but they do all produce the buzz, so something is clearly off.

It does look like even a seemingly higher quality cable I had (I think it was Apple's) produces the buzz when only the A/V inputs on the TV are used. I get a picture kind of like the old cable boxes where you could tell you were just outside the range, but it would never sync in.
 
#12 ·
Most of these types of cables are designed for Apple products, which use a pin layout that is compatible with both A/V cables and standard audio cables. These have the ground in a different place then the TiVo cable. You're likely hearing the buzz because one of the two channels is touching the ground instead of the proper pin for the audio.

The one I linked to above is <$5 with free shipping and works fine.
 
#14 ·
I used my breakout cable from a Seagate FAT+
If I'm not mistaken Red=Video using Composite. Although I'm probably frying my cable/output port, I wouldn't recommend it long term. I'm not 100% sure on the order, and even less if you're running stereo audio (I think my kids will end up sending me to a nursing home for leaving their primary cartoon viewing to be done on an 80's Sony Trinitron).
 
#15 ·
Component cables are the same as composite cables, they're just colored different, so you're not frying anything. As for having the order right if you get a picture then you have them right. If you mix up any two cables on a component video cable it'll either not work at all or the color will be completely off.
 
#16 ·
I wish I had seen this thread a few weeks ago. I ordered two sets of cables from TiVo which was around $40 shipped.

I could have saved at least $25.
 
#17 ·
I wish I had seen this thread a few weeks ago. I ordered two sets of cables from TiVo which was around $40 shipped.

I could have saved at least $25.
But with TiVo your getting 4 cables 2 composite sets and two Component sets, with Amazon your only getting 2 composite sets of cables.
 
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