Are Composite to HDMI converters all they are cracked up to be??

torrestorres

Hi Guys

Just wondering if anyone out there has experience in using a RCA(composite) to HDMI like the one in this link

do they display the picture in HD or is it just a gimick??

Thanks.

Sad Professor

A composite source can't output HD. The best a convertor can do is upscale it. And I'd be very sceptical about how well it would do this. Composite output looks like crap.

What are you looking to use this for?

mossym

if possible i'd use svideo to HDMI, it at least has separate sync and will give a better picture. However all this box is doing is likely taking 480i/576i from your source, and doing i/p on it as HDMI won't carry 480i/576i in many cases(it's not a requred standard)

professor, the upscaling bit would be the easy bit, the hard bit would be the i/p conversion which can be very messy

torrestorres

thanks guys for the replys.

At the moment i've a russound cav6.6 system that distributes all my source equipment to each room but my problem is the CAV6.6 only can distribute Composite RCA (Yellow,White,Red) what i wanted to do was at the put a RCA(Y,W,R) to Component/hdmi converter at the tv point in each location and hope that the converter would upscale it to at least 720p??

Something like this, but would it work going through an receiver(russound cav6.6)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Composite-RCA-S-Video-Component-RGB-Video-Converter-/230511659003?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ab90c7fb

mossym

you said you wanted to convert to hdmi, not upscale. the two are not the same

and i have to ask why you want to do this? the tv you connect it to, if it is a hd tv, will scale the incoming picture anyway,.and do a hell of a better job of it than a 40 euro box.

the tv will scale all inputs to it's native resolution, it has to. if anything you will make this much worse with a box like this, not better

torrestorres

Sorry this is my set up, its pretty confusing stuff,

All Source Equipment stored understairs (Sky HD, Freeview, PS3, Media Player, DVD)

all the source equipment is connected to my multiroom/multizone AV distributor(russound cav6.6) in RCA (the Russound cav6.6 only has RCA connections)

Coax (Yellow RCA) cables are run from the Russound cav to the Tv points in each room that connect into the tv. each source is then selected from a wall keypad in each room.

Now i wanted to put a rca to hdmi converter/upscaler at the tv point in each room and connect to the tv with component/hdmi cables.

mossym

understood. not really confusing, but a couple of points

1) i hope at least 1 room has hdmi connection from the sky hd box/ps3, or else you're not getting hd anywhere?
2) if you connect composite(yellow rca) input to your tv(or any hd tv), it will convert to digital, perfrom 2d comb/3d comb, upscale to the tvs native resolution, and do all of this a lot better than a 40 euro box. you will gain nothing by using the box, unless there is another reason you need to convert to hdmi, such as you have a tv with no composite input
3) it might make more sense if you explain why you want to do this. if it is simply upscaling, then no offense but i don't think you understand how tv's work, and it might be better you do a bit of research before you spend your cash. if it's not just upscaling, what is the reason?

if you really want hdmi everywhere,i'd be looking at canning the standard def system you have and running preoper distributed HD video around the house

torrestorres

mossym wrote: »

understood. not really confusing, but a couple of points

1) i hope at least 1 room has hdmi connection from the sky hd box/ps3, or else you're not getting hd anywhere?
2) if you connect composite(yellow rca) input to your tv(or any hd tv), it will convert to digital, perfrom 2d comb/3d comb, upscale to the tvs native resolution, and do all of this a lot better than a 40 euro box. you will gain nothing by using the box, unless there is another reason you need to convert to hdmi, such as you have a tv with no composite input
3) it might make more sense if you explain why you want to do this. if it is simply upscaling, then no offense but i don't think you understand how tv's work, and it might be better you do a bit of research before you spend your cash. if it's not just upscaling, what is the reason?

if you really want hdmi everywhere,i'd be looking at canning the standard def system you have and running preoper distributed HD video around the house

Sorry if i sounded a bit patronising mossy not intended, not everyone can get their heads around multiroom systems, took me long enough

Really its just for upscaling as you say, I've PS3 and SKY HD that i wanted to display in HD in each zone, but if the converters will not make a difference then no point really(i thought i might at least upscale to 720p), i may stick with the Standard Def and my wiring will not allow HD (not cat5e run to tv points , only coax) so upgrading to a hd matrix wouldn't suit either for me

mossym

torrestorres wrote: »

S

Really its just for upscaling as you say, I've PS3 and SKY HD that i wanted to display in HD in each zone, but if the converters will not make a difference then no point really(i thought i might at least upscale to 720p), (

they might upscale to 720p, but so will your tv(or 1080p, if it is a 1080p tv), and the tv will do a much better job of it. just to point out as well, that as you've only sent the sd picture over hte coax, you're not going to get hd anyway, only upscaled SD. you're not going to get HD with your system

my other question though, do you have every thv in your house connected by composite from this system? if so, you know that means you are not getting HD anywhere right?

torrestorres

mossym wrote: »

they might upscale to 720p, but so will your tv(or 1080p, if it is a 1080p tv), and the tv will do a much better job of it. just to point out as well, that as you've only sent the sd picture over hte coax, you're not going to get hd anyway, only upscaled SD. you're not going to get HD with your system

my other question though, do you have every thv in your house connected by composite from this system? if so, you know that means you are not getting HD anywhere right?

ok i think i kinda get you now, so the tv will upscale the SD picture anyway is what your saying, i thought the converter might have taken the SD signal and done some magic trick in the converter box to output a hdmi picture

Yeah true looks like i have only SD in all rooms unless i put a local skyHD box in the room and connect direct into tv.

mossym

torrestorres wrote: »

ok i think i kinda get you now, so the tv will upscale the SD picture anyway is what your saying, i thought the converter might have taken the SD signal and done some magic trick in the converter box to output a hdmi picture

exactly....
you can get boxes that will take the composite signal and do a better job of scaling than your tv, but they don't cost 40 euros. here is one for example
http://www.amazon.com/DVDO-EDGE-High-Definition-Video-Processor/dp/B001D4KWXM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307460807&sr=8-1

torrestorres wrote: »

Yeah true looks like i have only SD in all rooms unless i put a local skyHD box in the room and connect direct into tv.

or run a hdmi cable from your equipment point to your main tv

torrestorres

mossym wrote: »

exactly....
you can get boxes that will take the composite signal and do a better job of scaling than your tv, but they don't cost 40 euros. here is one for example
http://www.amazon.com/DVDO-EDGE-High-Definition-Video-Processor/dp/B001D4KWXM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307460807&sr=8-1


or run a hdmi cable from your equipment point to your main tv

Pricey piece of equipment that :eek:

i live in a 2 story so not an option running a hdmi cable from under the stair to the main tv point, the house would be like it was hit with a tornado