How to connect Apple TV to an older TV?

HDMI is the only supported method, there will be no guarantee with converters. Even if it did work you would have issues with resolution, and be unable to view protected content (ie iTunes, Netflix). Functionality could as cease at any time. It would be best to purchase a newer TV

You Will Need To Buy a HDMI To Video With L+R Audio Conveter 🙂

No, see above

This can be done - I've just connected an Apple TV 3 to my 12-year-old Samsung with good results and some limitations.

What you're showing in your picture is composite video with left & right audio. You can get HDMI to composite converters; assuming a decent converter, you'll get a picture and sound. But - with reduced quality - composite is the lowest quality of video connection available (becquse it squeezes the video into one of the 3 connectors)

Have a look at your TV's manual and see whether there are any other types of connector, possibly at the back (many TVs have loads of odd conenctions round the back).

Possible options are :

SCART (more common on European devices,so maybe not on yours)

DVI (not very common, but my old TV has DVI, so yours might)

Component video (splits the video into three channels, so you end up with 5 connections - 3 for video and 2 for audio)

If your TV isn't HD, the picture won't be perfect. If your TV *is* HD, then there should be an HDMI connector - Panasonics often have them at the back.

Hope that helps

most services rely on hdcp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection

which mean media protected by that would refuse to play on older tv's which does not support it which no analog input does

While it may be possible on a non-HDMI display, it is a slim chance and there will be no guarantee even when using the same converter. As stated, protected content would be blocked (if using DVI one would need to check on HDCP compliance as some do support). Again, functionality could cease anytime and it will be hard to troubleshoot when on an unsupported setup.

vazandrew wrote:

While it may be possible on a non-HDMI display, it is a slim chance and there will be no guarantee even when using the same converter. As stated, protected content would be blocked (if using DVI one would need to check on HDCP compliance as some do support). Again, functionality could cease anytime and it will be hard to troubleshoot when on an unsupported setup.

Those are fair points, and a lot depends on where you are. I'm in the UK and things are no doubt different here from the USA or other parts of the world.

Having said that, it's up to the OP to decide whether there's merit with experimenting with a low-cost (possibly as low as $10 for DVI) option before replacing what seems to be a perfectly functional TV at a much greater cost.

Location would be irrelevant as far as connection is concerned, HDMI is the only supported method regardless and HDCP would be required for any protected content (the services available would be based location). There isn't going to be any guarantee and even if 2 users use the same converter that doesn't mean it will work for both. Even then, since it is not a supported setup issues will come up and functionality could go at any point.

Yes, it would be up to the OP but to say that it will work is not entirely true and I don't recommend it based on the eventual aggravation that will occur.