How do you personally consume digital media on an analog tv?
 

Since analog NTSC tv is basically over with - I've been looking for more and more solutions to keep my analog tv's happy with an analog signal. I'm looking for semi-long-term solutions - aka something that will keep me going for at least the next 60 years or so.

Let me know what your solutions are and what you like or dislike about them. I have described the things I have tried below.

I've considered a DTV converter box (Zenith DTT901) for live tv - which works ok - but I don't know how long the tuner or remote will last long term.

I've tried several vhs decks, Panasonic and JVC. They work ok - but I know the media or decks will die sooner or later.

I've tried dvd players and DVD recorders (dvd players with a hdd so they can record video from a digital or analog tv signal) which all output an analog composite signal. The DVD laser has a finite life - so that is a concern.

Now I've recently built a htpc specifically to interface with my crt tv's. It's convenient, can store my most often viewed shows, etc. It also has a hauppauge card so I can record and watch tv. And I have a hdmi to composite adapter which plugs in to my rf modulator which goes to the tv. This is my current setup. It allows me to play dvd and recorded media. I can transcode my purchased dvd's into an h264 mkv file, so it is definately convenient. Of course I have to change the drives out every so often to keep file corruption away.

I was wondering what everyone else is doing - and if they had any additional ideas or plans for long term viewing live tv and their favorite recorded tv shows via their crt / analog televisions. I know there are more atsc revisions on the books that sooner or later will probably be released. How do you plan to keep up with it all?

I can only speak to what I do now, which I cannot fathom will function 60 years from now.

I also have a PC that I use for my movie and TV show collection. I rip DVDs into MKV format and store them on external drives. My PC runs a PLEX server to categorize and serve my movie and tv show collection. For hookup to my analog TVs I use a Tivo mini. TiVo is absolutely the best thing you can hook up to a tv. It records live television, gives me access to all the online content I could ask for and is also my PLEX client which gives me access to my personal media library. I tell my clients that Tivo makes any TV a smart TV...even TVs that are 75 years old.

If you want one box that will last forever, you will have to have 2 and know how to fix them.

RF modulator wise I have one that I KNOW I can keep alive since it consists of 2 tubes (3 with my audio add on)....Hell that thing will survive an EMP (I'll have to swap some diodes for tubes) and I'll have nothing to send over it since all my video sources are SS.

Every SS device will need cap changes eventually...My Zenith DTV boxes, my Blonder tongue agile modulators, hell even my Dell media PC all have ALREADY had cap failures, and will have more.

My solution is to diversify. I've got close to a dozen VHS VCRs (most high-end S-VHS models), several betamax decks, U-matic, 8mm, CED, LD, DVD, DVD-R, DVR, PCs with S-video equipped video cards, DTV, Cable boxes, video game consoles....You name it! (I ought to get an HDMI-composite converter eventually though.) My main video source rack is BIGGER than my largest TV console, and I have a few mores worth waiting to sub while anything is waiting a turn on the service bench. I hold out the most hope for tape (strange as it sounds)...I've got RTR and wire audio recordings that still sound perfect 60-70 years after being recorded....With tape the key is finding an early player that is reliable, easy to service and performs well, learning to keep it going and having spares and parts decks on hand....Also you want a good tape library...You can only play one copy of the Wizard of OZ so many hundreds of times before it is unwatchable or you get so sick of watching it as to destroy it your self...I've got hundreds of tapes I've made off the air/cable and a modest collection of pre-recorded material that grows thanks to $0.49 tapes at the thrifts.

If you can find a device that has NO caps in it, relies on media that won't die or transmission formats that won't be obsolete more power to you. The best I can hope for is that in ~56-80 years from now when I draw my last breath that at least a few specimens will be there to provide signal to that Zenith CCII that still works like new, and still is better than anything they have made by then.

I personally use VHS (I have 3 working players, and one more waiting for repair), DVD (too many to count, includes PS2 and XBOX (2001 original) video game consoles, and Directv still provides RF modulators. You will need your own matching transformer if you have a 300ohm Inputs only...

I mainly use my CRT sets for video gaming, not tv viewing to prolong their life.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, Which HDMI to composite do you have? Does it or can it crop the picture.
Perry

I like the dvd/vhs combo players (I have 2 JVC, an RCA, and a Zenith, and one JVC VCR-only) and the Zenith/Insignia converter boxes (I have 4). I've heard good things about the Channel Master converters, but I've never tried one. I've tried the Radio Shack converters - they work just fine, but I prefer the metal cabinets the Zenith/Insignia ones come in to the plastic ones they use on the Radio Shack models.

In the room I keep most of my TV collection in, I use a B-T agile modulator wired in to most of the sets (Hard wiring them is the only way I can get a clear picture with no interference of any kind). In the basement, I also have one of those agile modulators, but I just wired it up to my main watcher down there (69 Zenith 22" metal cabinet B&W), and then transmit off of the built in antenna if I want to watch another set. In the living room, I just use this small ch 3/4 video modulator with a built-in 4-way switch on the input, going to my '68 Zenith 25" color console. I also have one spare B-T agile modulator.

It does concern me that the era of cheap plentiful DVD/VHS combo players at thrifts won't last forever. It's not like I repair them, just last week when I picked up those 2 JVC DVD/VHS, I tossed a Toshiba DVD/VHS and a GPX DVD-only that had been giving me trouble. Eventually, I like the idea of picking up a few nice early model VCRs that can be maintained, but for now the flow of cheap dvd/vhs players doesn't seem to be slowing down.

The only flat screen that works is my computer monitor All the TVs here are CRT sets.I watch DVD on them.I still looking for a digital SD/Flash card player to play 100s of movies and TV shows on my old sets.

It's a piece of junk and not worth a mention honestly. Disappointed with it. Video is jumpy, and no it does no cropping. It changed 1080p image into 480i. If I find anything worth buying, I'll let you know.

You can use a cheap dvd player with usb drive capability and use a flash drive. Works ok with 480 i/p videos. But it is limited in that it only supports max divx - no mkv, h264 or h265. I think there are some blu-ray players that do the same thing except add h264 support, etc.

What agile modulator model number do you use? I'm looking at them. It would be nice to add channels back to my television with a multi rf-modulator, etc. Having different channels for different inputs on one coax cable sounds nice and convenient.

That might actually be the way to go. Digital is great and convenient - but analog recordings probably would last longer, although with some degradation of picture over time. I've got a JVC S-vhs deck, and a few Panasonic decks.

That is awesome. Could you give me the make and model - or at least a picture of your tube based rf modulator? I'd love to take a look at that!

That is a good idea and I think I'm going to try that. My HDMI converter isn't working on the level I need it to - so this seems like a viable option.

I do like my vhs tapes. However for right now I think I'll try the Tivo mini and plex server idea, for the convenience. I also want to try the agile modulator option too. I love the idea of adding "channels" back to my tv from different external inputs (vhs, dvd, dtv converter, etc). I want to thank everyone who replied. It gave me some good ideas of things to try.

My tube modulator is shown here: http://videokarma.org/showthread.php...ighlight=build The sound mod does work, but it is finicky IIRC (been a while since I worked on it), some sets like it others don't...I can tune the mod so some sets that have sound alignment issues sound good again.

I favor 3 families of Blonder Tongue modulators. AM60-series (agile) AM40- series (agile), and BAVMz series (fixed channel, but available in most all channels). I use those with custom made tuned dipoles to wirelessly transmit. I use a method shango66 on youtube uses in a video (minus the fancy SWR meter). The BAVM and AM40 cover the property well, and the AM60 can cover the whole block. I have probably 50-100 TVs spread through the house such as in my bedroom, adjacent display room, basement, often in the garage, and sometimes elsewhere...So hard wiring all my sets/getting wired signal to them is not a very practical endeavor. If you go wireless make sure you know the carrier channel of every DTV station you can receive, and don't use those carriers so you don't interfere with anyone, and no one interferes with you.

Right now I have only one vintage TV working right (well, most of the time) and in use daily, and that's my '73 Flat-chassis Zenith. I feed it with a Panasonic DMR-E20 DVD recorder from 2002. The only problem I know of with that deck is the RF output doesn't work, kind of ironic considering the application, so I'm running it through a cheap modulator. Future plans include more installed vintage sets with multiple video sources, each attached to its own B-T modulator, i.e. my U-Matic once I fix it.