tivo premier with non HDMI TV

[blossom2]

How do I connect a Premier to a Non-HDMI TV? or can I

[mchief]

If you TV has component inputs, you can use those.

[blossom2]

If you TV has component inputs, you can use those.

what are component inputs?

[ilh]

RGB, three RCA-style connectors: red/green/blue.

[matguy]

There's also standard Composite output.

Most TV's in the last 15+ years have at least Composite inputs. It'll be a round plug that should be Yellow in the center and should be labled Video on your TV (Labeled A/V on the Tivo.) You'll need to connect the Video and both Audio plugs, Yellow, Red, and White labeled AV and match the colors on your TV. Then you'll have to switch the input on your TV (might be a channel below 2, a button on your remote or front of TV, or in a menu somewhere.) If you hear a horrible screech come out of your right speaker on your TV, try the other red plug on the Tivo (you probably hit the red component plug instead of right audio since they're both red, or mixed then up completely.)

Component is a less comon on standard definition TV's.

You won't be able to use the Cable (F) connection that you may have used to connect a VCR in the past. RCA plugs are like the audio connectors on most home stereos (not headphone connectors.)

[matguy]

I'm sorry, I read non-HD TV. Use Component if you got 'em, if not then fall back to Composite, but you won't get HD out of it (at which point there's really no reason for a Premiere or other HD Tivo.)

[aaronwt]

I'm sorry, I read non-HD TV. Use Component if you got 'em, if not then fall back to Composite, but you won't get HD out of it (at which point there's really no reason for a Premiere or other HD Tivo.)


Sure there is. So you can watch the HD channels in Leterbox in SD. So you can see the entire picture and also still have the 5.1 audio. My brother still hasn't gone HD but has several HD DVRs from Comcast to watch the HD channels which are letterboxed on his SD sets. And listens to the 5.1DD from his receiver.

He is trying out my S3 TiVos right now so a couple of those might go to him after I get my Premieres

[gweempose]

Sure there is. So you can watch the HD channels in Leterbox in SD. So you can see the entire picture and also still have the 5.1 audio.Interesting. It's been so long since I watched an SD channel that I didn't even realize that HD material wasn't letterboxed. What do they do, zoom it and crop off the sides? What a horrible way to watch stuff!

[aaronwt]

Interesting. It's been so long since I watched an SD channel that I didn't even realize that HD material wasn't letterboxed. What do they do, zoom it and crop off the sides? What a horrible way to watch stuff!

No, my brother watches it letterboxed so you see the full image from the HD channel. The same way letterboxed videotapes looked, DVDs, and BDs do on the set.

Now my girlfriend on her SD set, zooms in so it crops the sides but fills the entire screen.

[matguy]

Sure there is. So you can watch the HD channels in Leterbox in SD. So you can see the entire picture and also still have the 5.1 audio. My brother still hasn't gone HD but has several HD DVRs from Comcast to watch the HD channels which are letterboxed on his SD sets. And listens to the 5.1DD from his receiver.

He is trying out my S3 TiVos right now so a couple of those might go to him after I get my Premieres

Sure, I can give you that, if your market has channels that you want to watch that broadcast only in HD or you really want 5.1 audio then an HD Tivo may make sense for you. Plus I didn't take the Cable Card factor in to the mix, which only the HD Tivos support (as far as I know.)

[gweempose]

Plus, I didn't take the Cable Card factor in to the mix, which only the HD Tivos support (as far as I know.)Exactly. There are still way more SD channels than HD. Obviously, you can use a Series 2 hooked up to a set top box, but a Series 3 or 4 with a cablecard is a better way to do it. You won't have to mess around with an IR blaster, you'll have more recording space, and the picture quality is superior since you won't have to re-encode everything before recording it.

[nycityuser]

I'm sorry, I read non-HD TV. Use Component if you got 'em, if not then fall back to Composite, but you won't get HD out of it (at which point there's really no reason for a Premiere or other HD Tivo.)
Nobody mentioned the reason I have two TIVO HDs to use with my SD televisions. That is, my cable company encodes every channel and so the only way to have a two-tuner TiVo is with an HD one.

I still have an S2 DT connected to a cable box as well but that was rendered a single-tuner device once my cable company started scrambling everything.

[Abner]

Anyone know of a good Component to S-Video adapter. I too am being forced to go with the HD due to Comcast dropping analog and my S2DTs won't work without the cable box and IR blaster. Most of the suff we record is from cable so the S2DT becomes almost like a single tuner.

If possible I would like to use S-Video instead of composite to connect to the Premiere. I know, I'm in the stone age. My receiver/monitor only supports S-Video as it's highest video mode, no HDMI or Component Video. I rather use S-Video instead of composite it possible.

[BlackBetty]

TiVo dropped the S-video connector on the Premiere's.

[matguy]

Anyone know of a good Component to S-Video adapter. I too am being forced to go with the HD due to Comcast dropping analog and my S2DTs won't work without the cable box and IR blaster. Most of the suff we record is from cable so the S2DT becomes almost like a single tuner.

If possible I would like to use S-Video instead of composite to connect to the Premiere. I know, I'm in the stone age. My receiver/monitor only supports S-Video as it's highest video mode, no HDMI or Component Video. I rather use S-Video instead of composite it possible.

You're going to end up re-matrixing it from Component to S. S is seperate luminance and chrominance where Component is luminance + sync, Lunimance - Blue, and Luminance - Red; so it's not a simple cable adapter. The "AppleTV Component Converter" seems to be a good search term to get what you want, looks like it's about $100 to $200 (interestingly it looks like it's cheaper to go from Component to HDMI, and even cheaper to VGA.)

[wbertram]

Anyone know of a good Component to S-Video adapter. I too am being forced to go with the HD due to Comcast dropping analog and my S2DTs won't work without the cable box and IR blaster. Most of the suff we record is from cable so the S2DT becomes almost like a single tuner.

If possible I would like to use S-Video instead of composite to connect to the Premiere. I know, I'm in the stone age. My receiver/monitor only supports S-Video as it's highest video mode, no HDMI or Component Video. I rather use S-Video instead of composite it possible.

The weakness of Composite is that the Color signals are multiplexed on the same wire as the Luminance signal, and this has already been done to the signal at the Composite output of the TIVO.

Whether you use an external de-multiplexer or the one built into the TV, the Composite signal still has to be de-multiplexed.

I suspect the built-in de-multiplexer in a good TV is as good as or better than any external unit you could buy.

The post previous to this suggests the use of a Component to S-video converter, and that should give good quality S-video. But the price is high!