I don't know if this belongs in this thread or not but here it is.
I cobbled this little contraption together for under $75.00. I was looking for a way to broadcast old TV shows from YouTube to my vintage TV's. I have used Chromecast in my house to stream to my TV and love the way it works, so I started looking for ways to adapt it to my old sets. I came across the HDMI2AV on Ebay for about $25.00 shipping included. It decodes the HD signal from the Chromecast (That cost me $29.00 shipping included) and converts it to composit video and L R audio. From there th signal goes to the CH3/4 RF modulator (Also on ebay with free shipping) and is converted to a NTSC CH3 signal for the TV's. And WAMO you have all the old TV shows you could ever want on your vintage set. All controlled from either your smart phone or tablet.
The pictures tell the story. Please feel free to expand on this one.

Thank you for this!
The HDMI2TV answers my question
What will I do when my Samsung blu ray with analog out dies ?

I've found that windows XP/vista era towers with S-video output are fairly common and cheap used (and cheaper still garbage picked) and do a nice job playing web videos and downloaded files once one throws vista on and adjusts them correctly.

It's a great idea. I do this with the VGA out of my Home Theater PC. (VGA to composite). That PC has it's HDMI going to the "big Samsung" and runs XBMC, but I mirror the desktop to that VGA to composite...and it's one of the sources to the switcher before my HLLY transmitter. I can switch between a DTV converter (aerial), an ARCHOS 700 little media player that just plays old vintage stuff 24/7 randomly....and this PC running XBMC.

This same idea above would work with the HDMI out of a ROKU as well....or if you have one of the older ROKU with the RCA outs.....eliminate the HDMI converter altogether.

Using the HLLY transmitter (eBay)...I retain using the tuners on all the old sets. If they get channel 13, they get whatever the switcher is switched to. Nice side effect, can watch anything pretty much anywhere within like 200 feet around without cables run allover the place.

I cobbled this little contraption together for under $75.00.

OK, what would the benefit be of doing it this way have over cannibalizing an old VCR or such for a modulator, or even using a surplus agile modulator, which would seem to be less expensive and much less complicated.

Can someone explain this in analogue English?

I've seen Chromecast advertised, but the adverts never say what it does. As far as I know, no stores where I live carry them.

James.

It's a great idea. I do this with the VGA out of my Home Theater PC. (VGA to composite). That PC has it's HDMI going to the "big Samsung" and runs XBMC, but I mirror the desktop to that VGA to composite...and it's one of the sources to the switcher before my HLLY transmitter. I can switch between a DTV converter (aerial), an ARCHOS 700 little media player that just plays old vintage stuff 24/7 randomly....and this PC running XBMC.

This same idea above would work with the HDMI out of a ROKU as well....or if you have one of the older ROKU with the RCA outs.....eliminate the HDMI converter altogether.

Using the HLLY transmitter (eBay)...I retain using the tuners on all the old sets. If they get channel 13, they get whatever the switcher is switched to. Nice side effect, can watch anything pretty much anywhere within like 200 feet around without cables run allover the place.


How does the VGA to composite work for you? I would also very much like to run XBMC to my vintage sets for my movie library. I use a TiVo for off air, netflix, YouTube, etc but I have yet to find a great solution for my movie collection.

OK, what would the benefit be of doing it this way have over cannibalizing an old VCR or such for a modulator, or even using a surplus agile modulator, which would seem to be less expensive and much less complicated.

Can someone explain this in analogue English?

I've seen Chromecast advertised, but the adverts never say what it does. As far as I know, no stores where I live carry them.

James.

1. Brand new hardware doesn't have any analog output to hook up to your VCR, because apparently having an analog output makes copy protection difficult. I also think that we're at the point where the average consumer has HDMI, so support is dropped for "legacy" hardware.

2. An old VCR will work as a modulator, but it's bulky, and it is OLD... I spend enough time fixing the TV, and don't really want to have the top of it cluttered with a VCR and a bunch of ancient computer hardware. This system is elegant and can easily be concealed behind a console TV.

3. Effectively adding an HDMI input to a TV brings it into the 21st century, making any number of video sources a viable option.

1. Brand new hardware doesn't have any analog output to hook up to your VCR, because apparently having an analog output makes copy protection difficult. I also think that we're at the point where the average consumer has HDMI, so support is dropped for "legacy" hardware.

2. An old VCR will work as a modulator, but it's bulky, and it is OLD... I spend enough time fixing the TV, and don't really want to have the top of it cluttered with a VCR and a bunch of ancient computer hardware. This system is elegant and can easily be concealed behind a console TV.

3. Effectively adding an HDMI input to a TV brings it into the 21st century, making any number of video sources a viable option.

The modulators are all over the place. Thrift shops, garage sales, for a buck or two. Some even have S video in. :yes:

I just slap the good ol' RF Adapter onto my Playstation 3 and connect to the media server. No fuss with tapes or burning discs or funky video players. Just the mercy of sometimes poorly digitized videos.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/p5242750.jpg

OK, what would the benefit be of doing it this way have over cannibalizing an old VCR or such for a modulator, or even using a surplus agile modulator, which would seem to be less expensive and much less complicated.

Can someone explain this in analogue English?

I've seen Chromecast advertised, but the adverts never say what it does. As far as I know, no stores where I live carry them.

James.

It's carried at Best Buy or order it online from Google, Amazon, Walmart and others. https://www.google.com/chrome/devices/chromecast/buy.html#instore

It's nothing like a modulator - it's a streaming media player that supports YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, Hulu and more.

Now you do need to connect it to WiFi and control it with a tablet or smart phone which serves as your remote control.

At $35 though it's less expensive and a lot smaller than something like a smart bluray player or playstation.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/07/chromecast-1374691111.jpg

I just slap the good ol' RF Adapter onto my Playstation 3 and connect to the media server. No fuss with tapes or burning discs or funky video players. Just the mercy of sometimes poorly digitized videos.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/p5242750.jpg

That's an appropriate screenshot for today!

Today is the 45th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 (the lunar landing occurred on 7/20/69).