Do I need an HD TV in order to use Apple TV?

Welcome to the Apple Community.

Yes, you need a widescreen HD TV that will support 720p, HDMI and HDCP (virtually all modern TV's do).

No you don't. However, it isn't as easy to hook up to a old school tube style tv. You can go on Ebay or Amazon and order a HDMI to Composite/S-Video converter box. That is what I did for my main tv in my house.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047PDBP0/ref=oh_o06_s00_i00_details

The picture doesn't fit the screen quite right (the people look thinner than they really are) but it isn't too bad. Works well enough for my wife, daughter and I.

It is a quick/inexpensive solution to use the ATV2 on an old school tv. Atleast until you get around to buying a newer TV with HDMI built in.

Please don't post information without explaining all the drawbacks of the workarounds you suggest, there are no guarantees the Apple TV will function with a non standard set up, you need to make the poster aware of such things before suggesting they spend their money on something that isn't guaranteed to work..

There are hardware converters that will convert HDMI to various other types of output, however there are some issues with doing so that you should be aware of.

HDCP

HDCP compliant converters will not allow you to watch HDCP protected content such as that from the iTunes Store. Non compliant converters exist but we cannot discuss them under the Terms of Use for these communities.

Resolution and aspect ratio

I'm not aware of any converters that will scale the output from the Apple TV, any TV or projector which is used will need to be widescreen and support resolutions of 720p.

Did I not say that the picture is a bit squished but you can see the content just fine on the screen? Pretty sure I put that in my first post. Works just fine for my non-HDCP content which I have plenty of and my iTunes content that I purchase. As for suggestions, how else is someone supposed to find out information. Some of the products cost $40 or less. If they don't work with your setup then return it. I refuse to go and spend a few hundred dollars to buy a new 40" LCD TV to replace the old 36" tube type one that I have already. I already own two other LED LCD TVs. When I am ready to upgrade my 36", I will. Until then I would like to enjoy the content I have purchased on it.

As for talking about video converters, members can private message me and I will send you an email where we can discuss options that work. I am not say or endorsing anything illegal, just saying if you have a TV that you want to play content on that does not have HDMI there are options. The only thing I see is "Do not submit software or descriptions of processess that break or otherwise 'work around' digital rights management software or hardware. This includes converations about 'ripping' DVDs or working around FairPlay software used on the iTunes Store". In no way did I say anything about cracking HDCP or 'ripping' DVDs, etc...

BTW, even if my answer wasn't to your liking, yours was still techically wrong.

You might have said the picture was squashed which is fine, but you didn't tell them about all the other restrictions there are, or that there is no guarantee it will work. I don't see anything wrong with you discussing matters outside the specifications so long as you tell the whole story, you have to remember people may spend money on your say so. If the OP bought the Apple TV and found it won't work with their TV, Apple would have every right to refuse to refund them.

My answer wasn't technically wrong, you need additional equipment to make it work outside of its specifications, so technically it won't work with other TV's. Also I don't think I'd have taken to questioning your response as I did if it hadn't have been so confrontational in that it started out by saying 'No you don't'.

It you noticed my comment was replying to the thread starter, not to you. So my "No, you don't" comment wasn't even directed at you.

In addition, the added equipment is all provided in the device that you purchased (the one on amazon I pointed out). It is pretty plug and play. If they can figure out how to hook up an Apple TV 2 and get it on their network then they can figure this thing out. There is always the chance that something may not work with the equipment that someone else might have on hand. That is like saying don't recommend getting a receiver unit for multiple devices for your sound system because it might now work.

My original post was not meant to be confrontational, just informative that you do have the ability to put the ATV 2 on your old style tv. I am all for people not having to fork out hundreds of $s just to use a $99 device when they can use the stuff they have already. Obviously it wasn't originally meant for it so you might have to do some extra work, buy something to hook it up or do some extra research, but that is where this forum comes into play as part of the research. By telling them directly 'no' you are giving an absolute answer to something that isn't correct. I see your point of view though but I am sorry I cannot agree with it. I see it from the other side of the spectrum and that is that there are other ways to make it work. I was all about to buy a new TV when I figured it out. Now I get to extend the life of the one I have for a bit longer until I am financially able to purchase a new one. Just because something new comes out doesn't mean you have to throw out the old.

Sorry you took my first post in this thread as a personal insult and attack.

I wouldn't recommend you buy one at the moment anyway, Apple has a media event in a few days and you never know what might crop up in those.

Then again personally I might buy another one, but that's another story.

AC

Yeah I own 3 ATV2s at the moment. Depending on what the next version might have and it's abilities I might sell one of them off and by a new gen one. We will see soon. Otherwise, I love them. My wife is also an Apple convert.

3 Apple TV 2s

2 iPad 2s

2 iPhone 4s

2 iPhone 3Gs (used as ipod touches now for the most part for in the car or traveling with our 3 year old)

1 Apple Airport Extreme router

All I need now is a Mac of some form. Still running a Lenovo laptop as a media server for all the idevices in the house.

scottw03 wrote:

Yeah I own 3 ATV2s at the moment. Depending on what the next version might have and it's abilities I might sell one of them off and by a new gen one. We will see soon. Otherwise, I love them.

Well we might, we might not - that's the thing no one really knows what will be announced - there's an obvious candidate but even mentioning that is a rumour which would be against forum rules.

The AppleTV1 had I think a four year run - I have about 5 of those and 1 ATV2. One of the ATV1's has died.

When the ATV2 was announced I bought a new ATV1 (which is unboxed so I hope it wasn't a lemon!) as I still find some of its features quite handy when travelling.

I'm getting to enjoy the ATV2 more and more, especially with playback from the cloud and Netflix coming to UK (though content is poor currently).

If and when a new one is announced I might feel the need to get an ATV2 if teh ATV3 brought a raft of things I wasn't keen on 😝

AC

I didn't take your post as an insult or attack or anything like that, I'm just trying to avoid someone possibly going out and spending money on an Apple TV and a converter and finding they don't work, without knowing before they buy them that there is a chance they might not work and being able to make the decision of trying them or not themselves.

I was also trying to encourage you to provide details of the drawbacks and restrictions of such workarounds if you are going to post them. I don't think there is any problem in posting workarounds, indeed I do it myself when specifically asked if there is a way around the requirement for HDMI.

However over the years, I've seen many of these workarounds stop working as software gets updated and as such generally only go into workarounds when specifically asked.

I didn't intend to be aggressive, lord knows good help is always welcome around here.

I gotcha. Yeah, there is always the chance it might not work but sometimes you have to take chance. I just bought our first HDMI TV and bluray player last year. Then an Apple TV 2 last year in Jul I think. Then started researching more and more stuff to see what my options were. I was ****** at first that there was no easy way to hook up the ATV2 to the old TV I had but after thinking about it I figured there has to be some way to do so. Started looking at converters so I didn't have to watch it on the one LCD tv I have upstairs which isn't our primary TV in the house. So that made it inconvenient to watch. Then looked on the internet and started reading reviews of products. Saw the one I suggested with a bunch of good reviews and some specifically mentioned the ATV2 in them. Decided to take a chance on it. Figured it was $50 or less so if it didn't work and I couldn't return it I wouldn't be out much money. $50 is kind of my threshold for buying stuff and taking a possible loss.

I will be more than glad to detail how to do it since it wasn't too hard to setup. It is still something that should be researched before making a decision though. About the only noticable issue I have with it is like I said, the people are kind of smooshed on the screen (they appear thinner) but that is about it. It isn't enough for me to really care though. My daughter watches Dora and Diego on it mostly and those are in the old school format (nonwide screen) so it depends on the movie you are watching.

Well glad we came to an understanding. :-)

As for anyone else that reads this thread, please ask me any questions if you would like. I will try and put something more indepth about the converter later today explaining how it is hooked up.

I guess I could say things better too, I'm working on it. 😀

scottw03 wrote:

About the only noticable issue I have with it is like I said, the people are kind of smooshed on the screen (they appear thinner) but that is about it.

The connection is likely to be passive in that AppleTV won't know the signal is going to a non-widescreen set so for wide content it is squished in at both sides turning people taller. It would bug some people, not others I guess.

If your 4:3 Dora etc play fullscreen perhaps your TV has a picture setting to 'zoom to fill the screen', you may be able to adjust that to see wide content in the proper aspect ratio (with black bars above and below the picture but circular circles, wheels etc) - the aspect ratio and zoom settings may be on your remote.

AC

Nope it is too old. Doesn't have anything for kind of option. I will have to live with the smooshed look for the moment. When we move the 47" LED LCD Vizio upstairs will become the primary tv. Right now where the old tube one is, the 47" won't fit so I am stuck with it for the moment.