Atlona AT-HD530 Down-Converter, for those who walked uphill to school, both ways

From the "three steps forward, two steps back" category comes Atlona's AT-HD530 Down-Converter. Send in a signal on one of those newfangled HDMI or DVI connections, and through the magic of fuzz-inducing signal-smashing you'll be able to grab output as either S-Video or composite. That's right, for just $299 you can kneecap your new gear and drag it back into the 80s. Obviously this is aimed at custom installers with clients demanding that their old and new gear play together, but with S-Video falling by the wayside on many new AVRs, it might gain a few more users. The custom installers get a pass, but for everyone else we'd suggest that your need for a AT-HD530 is a sign that it's time to upgrade.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 8th 2009 11:58PM]

I thought there were copy protection issues that did not allow this to occur? If not, why would a hi-end receiver (Denon AVR-5308 stuff) not at least do HDMI to Component down-conversion for people with older, but still good displays/projectors?

[kcmurphy88 Posted Aug 9th 2009 12:00AM]

Well, unlike those "upconverters" that actually add no additional resolution to the signal, this baby WILL result in measurable reduced resolution. So, laugh while you can, but this thing actually works!

Maybe TNT should buy some to get all their shows into distort-o-vision.

[kcmurphy88 Posted Aug 9th 2009 12:01AM]

All kidding aside, there is a need for these things in certain business settings, such as a seminar or conference, with multiple monitors showing the same information, not all of which are HD.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 9th 2009 12:39AM]

"I thought there were copy protection issues that did not allow this to occur? If not, why would a hi-end receiver (Denon AVR-5308 stuff) not at least do HDMI to Component down-conversion for people with older, but still good displays/projectors?"

The difference is that converting HDMI to component still puts out 1080 lines of resolution. The studios will not allow this which is why only a handful of (mostly modded) A/V components do this. The copy protection camp simply does not want a 1080P analog output or the ability to grab HD audio over an analog connection. The fact that Hollywood hasn't yet implemented use of the Image Constraint Token (especially post-format war) amazes me...

Downgrading an HDMI video signal to composite or even S-Video is a whole different story. You are losing massive amounts of resolution and, in the eyes of those who decide these things, that is acceptable.