Cheap HDMI to RF modulator (also composite mod)
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- *** There's an addendum video, where I address where I went wrong setting the resolution on my laptop: • Cheap HDMI Modulator -...
I look forward to finding out that I should have added a coupling capacitor to keep this from breaking things. Cheers!
0:00 Aspect ratio rant
5:40 Testing the converter
10:56 Composite output mod
20:54 Testing out the mod
23:35 Conclusion
25:39 Not a transmitter!
26:25 Pictures 
Наука
to get the hdmi 2 av to output 4:3 apart from setting resolution to 4:3 you also have to go into graphics card settings, Intel Command Center, Nvidia Panel or whatever AMD uses (not Windows resolution settings) and mess around with the aspect ratio settings since the problem is actually the graphics card sending letterboxed signal and the hdmi 2 av converter is just following the gpu's orders. That's how i got mine to work (i also used Custom Resolution Utility to set it to 768x576 since if you put 720x576 it will look stretched since HDMI works with square pixels. If you want to use NTSC, you should set it to 640x480)
Yeah, you're right on that. I noticed that windows is in fact still output 1920x1080 and just upscaling the desktop resolution. However, I don't have the Intel utilities installed. Good info for others trying this though!
For me, the whole goal with this is to be able to connect anything and properly show 4:3 content, and unfortunately most new streaming devices don't support 4:3 output anymore.
@@probnotstech yeah. I've been trying to connect my fire stick to a 4:3 tv for ages but ive never been able to do so without getting the picture stretched
It can be a chore to get windows to output the resolution you choose rather than scaling what you choose into a 1920x1080 output. We went as far as an edid replacer to remove those modes from the display resolution to get it working for conference rooms where the projector was still a 4:3 1024x768 one, as with windows 10 it started to be the norm to do this pillarboxing into a 1920x1080 output if it saw it as a supported mode. Expecting typical salespeople to even have access to the video settings on their laptop or knowing how to work them was not realistic.
I noticed that as well. Windows likes to outsmart you and automatically upscale whatever "unusually low" resolution you choose to some higher resolution (not necessarily the actual native resolution of your display!), and also automatically pillarbox 4:3 resolutions within a 16:9 output -- that's great if you're using a 16:9 display and don't want 4:3 content to be stretched out into "fathead mode", but not so great if you're trying to actually use a real 4:3 display! If you go into the advanced display adapter properties and choose "List all modes", that's where you can force it to actually output the real resolution and aspect ratio you choose.
I feel like this "feature" is a product of flat panel displays in general. If the monitor reports its native resolution to Windows as 1920x1080, then Windows will do the upscaling/downscaling in software vs the try to send the monitor something else. I could see that resulting in better scaling vs whatever the monitor could do, but it sure makes things messy for someone like me who still lives in Windows XP land mentally.
Thank you thank you thank you!
For years these HDMI to AV tutorials had been driving me insane for that very reason of wrong aspect ratio. Always screaming to myself "how do you not see this is wrong?!".
My solution for the past few years when using those converters was to plug in a chromecast with Google TV, run Kodi, use a bunch of streaming service Kodi addons from the legend Matt Huisman and have the playback settings zoomed/cropped to create "4:3" applied to all.
This changes everything.
You really got me back into tinkering with all this stuff with the in house cable tutorial (of which ive replicated). So thank you again mate.
Glad this helped. It's been driving me nuts too.
Another option: HDMI TO VGA and VGA TO VIDEO does stetch aspect ratios too. HDMI TO RF doesn’r have PAL-M for Brazil, PAL-Nc for Argentina. But VGA TO VIDEO have PAL-M, PAL-Nc/PAL-N, NTSC-J, NTSC, PAL.
I noticed the RF modulator isn't in a shielded metal box, unlike the ones in VCRs and vintage video game consoles and computers. That could explain its substandard image quality, and I doubt it would pass FCC certification.
The lack of a FCC Part 15 sticker would confirm that this! I may grab a radio and try it nearby - I bet it won't be happy.
Regarding the RF modulator, the output is surprisingly noise-free. My complaints are that it's just soft and weak looking.
Thank you for caring about aspect ratio when trying to do something about it. I can't believe how many people post 4:3 videos zoomed to 16:9. Can't fix that! Even professionals showing old clips in an otherwise 16:9 presentation tend to zoom them rather than letterbox them. A concern for the future is that many new TV shows are presented in ~2:1. Why? Does this mean that we are being pushed to an even wider TV aspect ratio standard? This has already been forced upon us on our phones. The wider our TVs become, the harder it will be to enjoy our older videos.
I just bought this HDMI to RF adapter, I removed the resistor and wow, it's a night and day difference! I'm in Europe and I bought this for an old 1980s RF only NTSC TV we brought from Canada. Wow, after removing the resistor the image is CRISP! Looks as good as composite video.
I’ve got mine coming in the mail. Haven’t considered modding it yet though, what does the resistor look like if I were to open it?
17:24 YES , it is being powered from the HDMI port, if you look for the pinout of an HDMI port you will see that pin 18 delivers +5 Volts. That means the laptop is delivering +5V to the converter.
The top chip by the hdmi is a hdmi to vga and the larger chip that does the menu, scaling etc is also used in many VGA to composite boxes with the same menus including the 1/4 screen thing for making a videowall from 4 TVs.
Ahh neat, that makes a lot of sense!
I play stuff from my MacBook Pro onto my crt with that cheap HDMI2AV adapter and then when I play videos I use VLC player and play around with the aspect ratios on the app until one looks good on the crt. Usually stretching old tv like 90’s Simpsons into 16:9 forces the footage into 4:3 onto my crt.
Thank you for this video, just done this and all working well!
Thanks for the information, Jerma!
In Europe, we use a HDMI to Scart scaler. It seems to work well, but only for movies.
I use a HDMI audio extractor before my "upscaler" to get the audio from the HDMI before the "upscaler" mangles it. It spits out proper stereo.
It's also a lot easier to set the proper 4:3 signal in Linux vs Windows, fwiw.
Press Windowskey + P then change it to "extend" then right click the desktop, go to display, then change the second "monitor" to a 4:3 aspect ratio like 1024x768 if it hasn't chosen one automatically.
(edit: I see you addressed this in your follow up video)
There must be someone still making CRTs in China, and if there isn't there should be! In the last half a decade I think I've seen one CRT TV for sale and that's it. It is a tragedy that there isn't at least one producer of proper CRT PC monitors anymore. Cool mod btw. Just lamenting I don't have any CRTs
It’s Mac Tonight! Come on baby make it Mac Tonight!
9:30 I have that knack too it's really interesting while editing video.
They might not have included the battery because you can't ship anything "lithium" which apparently includes watch batteries now.
I ordered digital calipers a few years ago and they came in a big giant box with a big giant lithium battery sticker on it for a 1 CR2032.
Apparently everybody's freaked out over lithium that if it's got the word lithium or battery they give you a hard time on shipping. I ordered a replacement laptop battery which was dead from a namebrand manufacture it shipped to the post office but I couldn't return it through the post office I had to return it through FedEx or UPS.
I have owned many of these, at least with a PAL signal, all you have to do is play with the display refresh rate in windows. It will say something like 60.xxxHz and there will be multiple options. One of them will make the device output 4:3. Since the PAL/NTSC is just a switch on the device, I don't see why this method wouldn't work. Quick thing to try and may work out
By far the best way is just use the cheap converters and use the “desktop resizing” feature of your GPU’s control panel. You can precisely compensate for aspect ratio and overscan. Then install a browser extension called Ultrawideo to crop any web content to 4:3. VLC supports it too. Problem solved. Once and for all.
Note: requires setting the display to “extend” not “duplicate”
Yeah, I did a little follow-up video showing my mistakes. Using "duplicate" was one of them lol
Need to get me one of those HDMI adapters so I can hook up a Roku to my old TV's with aspect ratio being correct.
ALSO HDMI TO VGA,and VGA TO VIDEO
most computers(GPU control panel) or game consoles let you adjust the overscan. anything up to about the PS3 era will support native 480p output over HDMI, although some newer consoles can still be tricked into putting out 480p.
also make sure to use the highest resolution possible at the correct aspect ratio, and use the scaling options built into windows instead to make text bigger, bin as many pixels as you can. this should reduce the amount of shimmering.
also check your GPU control panel to make sure your computer isn't adding black bars. many GPUs will add black bars themselves. they may also give you the option to pre-stretch it to 16x9 so it shows up as 4:3 properly when displayed
576p for Euro PS3
can you watch 16:9 content using this setup but stretch it wide enough using the remote so that it overscans to a 4:3 ratio? (clip the sides off the 16:9)
well if you have a 4:3 video in vlc you can stretch to 16:9 and put you resolution to 16:9 so the adapter will compres and cancel the vlc stretch
Both converters are probably being powered by HDMI. I have an HDMI switchbox that will run off of HDMI power without an AC adapter attached.
I actually prefer to have the PC output the 16:9 frame and crop in the scaler, as there are so many music videos that are already pillarboxed because the authors are still stuck in the legacy broadcast mindset where there are fixed resolutions to choose from to remain compatible with transports like DVB etc that cant handle arbitrary resolutions and frame rates. Putting those recent re-scaned videos out on 4:3 makes youtube correctly letterbox it making it a postage stamp sized file. Does mean that when an actual widescreen vid comes on, the sides are cropped tho.
Oh yes, I hate it when music videos are uploaded pillarboxed to youtube. Do you know of any any converter that would crop that like? This one was the closest I've been able to find (by adjusting the width manually).
@@probnotstech Basically did exactly what you're doing here except it was with a same menu'ed VGA to composite and svideo box that was fed from a displayport to VGA adapter off the PC doing the videos. It was for a display running stuff on a loop so we knew the content was not going to have stuff that mattered in the sides like modern stuff where they dont worry about the 4:3 zones. Was not able to get the width on 4:3 stuff to quite get past the edge of the tube but noone cared.
well maybe you can get those hdmi break conector that separates the video from the audio
07:31 Wait! This menu (except the second to last option) looks the same as my cheap VGA→composite converter! 😯 Interesting... 🤔
They probably used the same hardware, as @richms mentioned in another comment. Also the remote has a VGA/AV button that I noticed after filming this - that just turns the OSD on.
@@probnotstech Mine is controlled via buttons on the device itself. VGA input, VGA passtrough, composite out, S-video out, 5V power (USB cable).
VGA TO VIDEO has PAL-Nc, PAL-M, PAL and NTSC.
@@probnotstechalso use with HDM TO VGA
It's funny how the channel allocation of these work, it looks like they are using harmonics, so this is selectable between 61.25 MHz (NTSC CH 3 VHF) and 67.25 MHz (NTSC CH4 VHF) if you select 61.25, for PAL regions you'll receive the signal on 551,29 MHz (PAL CH 31 UHF) (61.25 x 9) if you select 67.25 you'll receive in on 470.75 MHz on CH 21 UHF, not quite there as CH 21 is 471.25, but I guess it's close enough.
The RF modulator is actually quite decent once you remove that resistor for proper 75 OHm termination, what were they thinking?
Cable TV 58 (428 MHz)
Also on Cable TV 65 and UHF 14 (USA)
Channel 21 UHF is Chinese PAL / Japanese NTSC UHF channel 13 and US NTSC UHF channel 14.
PAL CH 31 UHF is Chinese PAL UHF 23 and 2 MHz higher than US NTSC UHF 27 and Japan NTSC UHF 26.
once in a blue moon ytv's western feed will shift to 4:3 when playing old tv shows like older Sponge Bob. Infact last xmas before i lost my cable i taped Rudolf's xmas in july from 1980 on my cool 88' panasonic mini vhs vcr and the movie parts would have the signal shift to 4:3 and back to 16:9 for the commercials. More channels need to do that. I know its like amorphous wide screen so older tvs can display 16:9 content or what ever but that little thing made my point at the screen and make a soyjack face at my cat. lol
Mine had a 82 Ohm resistor instead of your 50, so a bit better but of course it's still best without it. Don't get the aspect ratio issue with the HDMI2AV, I can send it a 4/3 resolution over HDMI just like with the RF box and it comes out correct. Maybe some support that and others don't? Or it's just that you needed to exit full screen mode on your player and enter again, here it often messes up when I change display output setting while playing. Also with the RF box on my 35cm TV the RF comes out just as nice as composite, can't even see extra artifacts on a test pattern.
Yeah I did an addendum follow-up video to address my mistakes made changing the resolution properly in Windows
@@probnotstech Aw, thanks youtube for not suggesting it I guess... Yep Windows likes to do the "smaller image in bigger canvas" by default
HDMI TO VGA and VGA TO VIDEO adapters
HDMI2AV designed for Widescreen TVs. Also use HDMI2AV for RF TO HDMI for use with NTSC TVs. Convert PAL RF TO NTSC AV. But RF TO AV does’t have NTSC switch but Menu still PAL.
HDMI to RF modulator
uhf channel 27 please?
The issue is You get what you pay for. I use Startec HD 3.0 around $150.00 - $200.00
Do you have a Startech part number ID? Googling that only gives me USB 3.0 capture devices or HDMI output devices from them.
They do make an HDMI to AV converter (HD2VID2) but it appears to have the same issue (no external controls) that if I feed a 16:9 video signal from a streaming box that contains a 4:3 image pillarboxed within, this device offers no way to "crop" the sides when outputting to composite.
I have a Radio Shack Stereo RF Modulator Cat. No. 15-2525. I thought you might find that interesting
Is that the one that actually modulates MTS Stereo, that 12voltvids has?
@@probnotstech it does
Then you're right, I do find that interesting
What's the USB port for?
No idea. Plugged in a USB stick with media files and nothing happened
@@probnotstech exactly, so weird, I also confirmed that the HDMI chip ony outputs audio from the left channel, how weird. I can't find the datasheet on the chip to find out how to enable stereo audio, I'm pretty sure the chip should be capable of, otherwise it wouldn't make sense having two separate audio lines for the same channel
@@probnotstech I guess it's only used for firmware updates or something, if it has enough current it could also be used to power a chromecast so that's always nice
@@probnotstechalso used as 5V output for Google Chromecast.
Here we go, the elites. That's a 4 dollar transcoder. 😅
See, I’m the crazy nut who wants to downscale hdmi to RF from my pc, to an old 13” RF only tv sitting on my desk. And try to use it as a 2nd or 3rd monitor in my setup. Specifically for running retro games and other weird lofi shit through
Same here lol
RF ot HDMI diciembre 25 regalo 🎁 2024
I came up with my own aspect ratio control solution using an HDMI to ATSC modulator then tuning it's output on a Zenith DTV tuner that has a button on it's factory remote (also menu access) to choose between cropped (good for when I'm watching old 4x3), letterboxed (for when I'm watching 16x9 content and want to see the sides), and squeezed (cursed mode that I refuse to use). ruclips.net/video/hKjt3x4WtWU/видео.html It's expensive but there's not much that can do better in terms of quality and convenient flexibility in jumping between different aspect ratio sources.
I bought one of those HDMI to RF boxes a few years ago and never use it because it's RF output is so poor my 1946-1975 Vacuum tube/Hybrid TV sets will barely sync to it's output (with a wired connection) and color if it even works (yes I have NTSC correctly selected) is atrocious...I suspect mine may be a straight up lemon from the factory and have been actively warning people against it on the antique TV forums (where others have had mixed results with these). Your impedance match fix may help my unit and stealing it's composite output to feed a real RF modulator (Blonder Tongue AM60, BAVMz, AM40 listed in order of suitability for wireless transmission ) is probably the way to go on that HDMI to RF box.
I suspect the onboard RF in those HDMI to RF boxes is utter garbage for transmitting no matter what you do, but there are some possible workarounds. I've found some out of production RF amps that will take a weak signal like that and boost it enough to transmit (you can find interesting junk at hamfests sometimes)...I use said amps on a 1970's CH2 modulator to transmit (that modulator does something with the video that makes it look perfect on 60's roundy color TVs in a way even the Blonder Tongues cant do), and a low power UHF/VHF multi-standard agile modulator module I robbed out of a junk satellite box and built an Arduino i2c control protocol for.
How about HDMI TO QAM or DVB-C ??
@@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY DVB-C is a European standard, and I'm in the USA so I don't have and probably can't get anything that can tune it....If you do and those tuners have aspect ratio control settings then they'll probably work as good for you as ATSC does for me.
QAM might be workable for me (my ATSC modulator CAN output QAM if selected in the menu) but for the most part cable TV tuners here are only rented by cable providers (who infuriatingly encrypt their QAM and configure the boxes to only work with constant connection to their service and their blessing) or tuners built into modern flat panel TVs. I've heard of a couple of new ATSC tuners that can tune QAM, but why spend another $100 on a new tuner (which for all I know may lack aspect ratio control) when the used 15 year old Zenith DTV boxes I use (and already had several of) can be had for $2-5 a piece at second hand stores?