Filed under: Apple TV
Apple TV works with standard square TVs
Paul Kafasis, CEO of Rogue Amoeba, confirms what I suspected all along: Apple TV does work with regular old TVs that have component ins. This is despite Apple's warnings that one must have a widescreen HDTV in order to take advantage of the Apple TV. I assume Apple did this to avoid confusion, and to promote the best possible Apple TV experience, but this is good news to those of you who are interested in Apple TV but don't want to plunk down the money for a new high falutin TV.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ted said 9:14AM on 3-23-2007
Ok, so I am waiting for someone to cover this question for me...
Can this thing play to "multiple speakers" the same way my iTunes can?
Example: From iTunes I can play to my AirPort Express in my living room, the one in my basement and my G5's attached speakers all at the same time. Is there a setting in the ATV that will allow me to select a music track and stream/play to multiple locations in my house at once? This info would be helpful for those of us trying to decide between an ATV and a MacMini.
Reply
jasonfiske said 9:13AM on 3-23-2007
Yes, I can confirm this.
I have the AppleTV working on my Sony XBR CRT. This is a standard definition television with component inputs.
It works just fine. I have the Apple TV set up for 480i. All of the other resolution settings result in no picture.
The movies look good, the TV shows look good, the photo look like you might expect and of coarse having control of my iTunes without having to walk accross the house is a real treat.
Reply
Jimmy said 9:16AM on 3-23-2007
Quick fix: This is despite Apple's warnings that one much have a widescreen HDTV...
I think you mean "This is despite Apple's warnings that one MUST have a widescreen HDTV".
Cool :)
Reply
Scott McNulty said 9:20AM on 3-23-2007
Thanks, Jimmy, I fixed that. :)
Reply
jasonfiske said 9:24AM on 3-23-2007
Ted,
I don't think so, the AppleTV doesn't appear to show up as a remote speaker in iTunes.
iTunes views the AppleTV more like an iPod than an airport.
In fact, when you sync the AppleTV, iTunes will tell you, "iPod sync complete".
Reply
sam said 9:37AM on 3-23-2007
Can somebody please answer this.
does the apple tv work on a tv without component as many sdtv's in the uk dont have them. they only have scart. iv seen component to scart adapters but most of them only carry the video not the audio, im not botherd about the audio that can go to my amp but i want to make shore that the video will be ok.
Reply
Smivey said 10:07AM on 3-23-2007
While you can get Apple TV to work on a lower resolution TV, the resulting image is disappointing. The pictures look OK, but the text on the screen isn't as crisp and easy to read. I use my Apple TV at maximum resolution and it looks beautiful.
Apple TV also has a HDMI hookup. But I gather if you don't have a component hookup, you're not going to have an HDMI hookup either.
Reply
Dan in DC/VA said 10:09AM on 3-23-2007
Of course AppleTV works with any TV **with** component video inputs!! File this under "No-duh" please. Every DVD player on the planet supports standard def over component video, why wouldn't the AppleTV!?
C'mon guys. This is not helpful to people who don't understand what inputs they have on their old TV.
The percentage of standard def TV's with component video-in is very, very slim compared to the millions and millions of units that only have RCA-in, S-Video-in, RF Coax-in or (even worse) two-screw-antenna-in.
All of these are legacy inputs are completely incompatible with AppleTV.
However, **every** HDTV has component video-in or HDMI. Can you see why Apple is dumbing down this for situation for everybody?
And by the way, HDTV rocks! "[P]lunk[ing] down the money for a new high falutin TV" is like plunking down the money to move from black and white TV to color TV. It's also a lot like plunking down the money to **switch** from PC to a **Mac**!
Quality always matters and the Mac user crowd should be on the side of the improved user experience that HD offers.
Reply
sam said 10:10AM on 3-23-2007
nope just scart and the normall YRW compisite cables
Reply
MAB3 said 10:11AM on 3-23-2007
sam -
nope, it requires a component in. that was the first thing i checked yesterday when i pulled it out of the box. some devices i've seen can be configured in menus to use one of the component outs as a regular composite, but not this one. I'm sure somebody will sell an adaptor.
now, of course, if you can put up with seeing everything in black and white, whereupon you can use any one of the outputs on your composite input.
Reply
tundraboy said 10:44AM on 3-23-2007
Ted,
I think you can 'connect' up to five AppleTVs to iTunes. They'll come up as 5 separate devices on your iTunes device list. So yeah, I presume you can have up to 5 AppleTVs playing 5 different things at the same time. Helluva lot of synching thoough. Don't know if this answers your question.
Reply
morgan said 11:45AM on 3-23-2007
No one has a SQUARE TV. Sorry, even SD televison's screen is a rectangle. A rectangle with rounded corners.
Reply
Eli Hodapp said 11:14AM on 3-23-2007
There are people in this world still who don't have HDTV's?
Reply
Jason G. said 1:34PM on 3-23-2007
So I got my Apple TV yesterday too, and like some others who don't have an HDTV (sorry Eli), I too do not have the widescreen goodness yet.
Thankfully my suspicions were confirmed - my TV has component on the back, the Apple TV has component, that should work, right? Despite all the press and manuals, it does indeed work.
That being said, it's pretty clear it was not really designed for ideal experience on a standard def TV. Hard to read small text of course, and things just have a general "compressed" feel to them. For instance, the icons and words on the main menu are much closer left to right than you see on the demos, and pretty much like the Rogue article linked here.
One issue, and it's pretty serious: on my 30" flat-faced Daewoo CRT, the movies and music and podcasts play fine, but the TV is not scaling well. My TV episodes, converted by me AND those bought at the iTunes store, do not fill the entire screen left to right. It's like it's scaling based on the 480 vertical lines and not going the full width, which I believe is 852 pixels over compenent. So it makes sense that 640x480 videos would not go edge to edge, it's just unfortunate there's no "stretch" feature to scale it out.
Movies play fine edge to edge, probably because they are not 480 vertical lines. Also, confusingly, TV trailers play just fine.
So like I said, having a standard resolution CRT screen works, it's just not the ideal experience.
Reply
JeffDM said 3:34PM on 3-23-2007
"There are people in this world still who don't have HDTV's?"
Maybe you aren't paying attention, but the last time I've seen installed base data, only about 15% of households have an HDTV.
Reply
john said 11:52AM on 3-24-2007
I can definitely confirm that it works just fine on a standard definition TV. Syncing seems to make iTunes very unstable so I've been doing it slowly after melting down my router once.
and to #12: i probably would have a HDTV at this point but Steve keeps taking all my money.
Reply
Matt Henderson said 6:25AM on 3-28-2007
Hi, I live in Spain, have just received an Apple TV. I have a TV that's approximately four years old, and has two types of inputs: SCART and S-Video. There are three SCART inputs, and the TV manual indicates that the first port supports RGB. I purchased a Component Video to SCART adapter cable, and hooked everything up. Unfortunately, it didn't work. When selecting the input from the TV, I simply stared at a blue screen. :-( (According to the Apple TV manual, I also tried holding down + and Menu on the remote for six seconds, so that the Apple TV would cycle through its various resolutions. No go. :-(
Reply
Ian said 9:20PM on 3-29-2007
Here you go. Problem solved. We are going to have to wait one month though!
http://www.svideo.com/appletv2tv.html
Reply
mike said 4:05AM on 3-31-2007
Bloody hell - how difficult is this!! First you have to wait 3 months for it and then when you get it theyve updated the page and it says widescreen tv and not just tv....
After looking for a composite to scart which set me back 40 euros and days of looking (i am also in spain). The bloody thing can still not connect.
I can see it looking for different resolutions in the RGB mode of the tv.
However it will not find it.
ive got a 3 year old tv 29´with scart and rgb modes. does anyone know how to configure the ATV. alos tried in 16:9 and 4:3.
Why does apple always do this shit to us. Ive been loyal for years but really this makes me rethink big time!
Reply
suresh kumar said 6:03PM on 4-02-2007
same here, i have a 4-year old LG 32" widescreen CRT.
and i also bought a composite to scart cable. My TV has 2 scart input connectors.... but it doesn't work with my conversion cable.
now im screwed!
Reply