Boxee Box and CRT television...

[ribrob]

Is there any way to connect the Boxee Box to a CRT television with SCART connections? I'm assuming that as HDMI is a digital signal, and is SCART an analogue one that there is no simple cable convertor. Is there a box which will handle the signal conversion?

[g33kt0th4d]

Is there any way to connect the Boxee Box to a CRT television with SCART connections? I'm assuming that as HDMI is a digital signal, and is SCART an analogue one that there is no simple cable convertor. Is there a box which will handle the signal conversion?

I did a google search on HDMI to SCART adaptor (http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=hdmi+to+scart+adaptor&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) and was not very impressive. For the cost of one of these adaptors you can either buy a cheap knockoff LCD widescreen (~17-19in.) or you could just save up for a full-sized new TV. My recommendation is the latter.

[g33kt0th4d]

I myself also ordered a HDMI to RCA adaptor for my 23" TV (Cost w/ shipping ~ $15) from Amazon. The video quality won't be as great, but as expected since its a '90s era color tube/crt television.

[ribrob]

I myself also ordered a HDMI to RCA adaptor for my 23" TV (Cost w/ shipping ~ $15) from Amazon. The video quality won't be as great, but as expected since its a '90s era color tube/crt television.

Didn't think of looking for HDMI to RCA, was too focussed on SCART.

I'll be interested to know if that works for you or not, the picture is still going to be HD, which i assume your television (like mine) will not be able to display. I think a down-sampler needs to be involved somewhere. Unless boxee can output at SD resolution that is?

Do you know.

Rob.

[baseisdead]

I was under the impression HDMI was encrypted, do these cables work without a converter?

[Prospero424]

HDMI itself is just an interface, so it's not encrypted by default. What you're probably talking about is HDCP, which is normally the content protection scheme used by BluRay players and the like for modern digital interfaces like HDMI.

As far as I'm aware, the Boxee Box doesn't currently use HDCP in any capacity. Perhaps it does with the Vudu service? I dunno.

[jtown]

HDMI itself is just an interface, so it's not encrypted by default. What you're probably talking about is HDCP, which is normally the content protection scheme used by BluRay players and the like for modern digital interfaces like HDMI.

As far as I'm aware, the Boxee Box doesn't currently use HDCP in any capacity. Perhaps it does with the Vudu service? I dunno.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it does. I can't hook up Boxee to the non-HDCP DVI port on my monitor but it works fine in the DVI port that supports HDCP. Same monitor. Tho it probably wouldn't be relevant in the case of an HDMI->Composite adapter since the purpose is to prevent high quality copies of protected material and they're not trying to protect against capturing composite SD signals. As long as the adapter has an accepted HDCP identifier there shouldn't be a problem.

BTW, the HDCP master key is out. I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen illicit devices that allow digital content capture yet. While Blu-Ray's been cracked for ages, there's still a market for capturing PPV and other premium content that's not available on BR.

[Prospero424]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it does. I can't hook up Boxee to the non-HDCP DVI port on my monitor but it works fine in the DVI port that supports HDCP. Same monitor. Tho it probably wouldn't be relevant in the case of an HDMI->Composite adapter since the purpose is to prevent high quality copies of protected material and they're not trying to protect against capturing composite SD signals. As long as the adapter has an accepted HDCP identifier there shouldn't be a problem.

Interesting. Can anyone else confirm that the Boxee Box needs an HDCP-capable interface just for basic operation? I mean, I would understand if it required HDCP for the transmission of protected content (which is why I mentioned Vudu), but it just giving you a blank screen without HDCP authentication makes me suspicious that something else might be going on.

Oh well, it's not really pertinent to this thread, but I'd be interested to hear from the Boxee team about how the Boxee Box handles HDCP.


BTW, the HDCP master key is out. I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen illicit devices that allow digital content capture yet. While Blu-Ray's been cracked for ages, there's still a market for capturing PPV and other premium content that's not available on BR.

Well, it's only been a couple of months. It takes time to get stuff to (black) market. Heh.