Doing some updates to a job coming up. the house has a 4x4 Component video matrix. there is a TV in the Kitchen, one in the Family Room, one in the Master Bedroom, and one outside in the Pergola.

We did a Theater in this home years ago, but they used someone else about 3 years ago to do the video matrix and distro. Friend of a friend thing. it worked "fine" but after several attempts and loads of patience, they called us, told us what happened and want to know what its going to take to fix.

all pretty straight forward.
heres where it starts to get weird.
And I will preference this by saying the work I saw was pretty good. Wiring was neat. Components were good quality. Even installed a K-Scape server and a couple clients.

the Aton 4x4 Component matrix has Cat5 outputs... but only 3 were in use. .... after a few questions, we find out that the Master bedroom and Pergola both share the same output.Whatever is displayed in one area is also in the other.

There is no split in the rack at all. Just a cat 5 running out of the Aton HDR44 up into the ceiling.

Now it gets a little more strange.

the Bedroom TV. a Samsung put in at the same time as the component matrix has only a HDMI cable going into it.

the TV was up onthe wall above a dresser and I could not see very well, but I did see this HDMI cable go int the wall. (No boxes for upconversion at the TV)

But wait theres more...

we go out to the Pergola. Its a Sharp TV. No outdoor enclosure. there's a roof over it at least.. but its totally exposed to the elements otherwise.

This Sharp plasma has only one wire going to it as well.

composite.

yes. Composite.

o.O


it started its life as the cable TV coax feed. As it turns out, no other wires were run out to the pergola, so the coax got turned into a composite cable. Running new wires out there unfortunately is never going to happen either. so we are either going to have to do a HDMI over a single Coax or a Peerless HD Flow.

Anyway, what Im stuck on is figuring out how a Cat5 Component Video output Magically turns into a HDMI and a Composite video output.

I assume there is some sort of box at play here, but the homeowners have no idea where it might be and I dont even know what I'm looking for.

Does anyone know a box that was available in mid 2011 that could take a component in and then output HDMI AND Composite?

I think All relative info is here, but let me know if ya need anything else.

I just did a search for "component to hdmi" and came up with quite a few devices. Same with "component to composite". So maybe two devices were used?

KOT

thats certainly a possibility. but that would require a third box to split the component video as well.. Unless they just Y split the video o.O

Just seems odd to me that that hodge podge would get put in... and its bugs me more that I cant find it.....

Reminds me of an RTI system that a member here asked for help with. I uploaded all the devices in three rooms and the system just made zero sense... and could not have worked. Finally in one room it occurred to me to follow a wire and I found an RP6 (if I remember that model number correctly). Once uploaded, the entire system made sense.

You've got to trace what wires you can. "can't find it" can mean a lot of things, from "I'm too old for this shit" to "I've been through the entire attic and have followed that cable around under the eaves...[this just goes on and on until the thing is found]"

I believe DVDO Edge Green would perform that duty...

Check cabinets, attic, basement, look on top of things. Maybe even take a hammer in case it got buried in the wall like a splitter! That's one thing my heart heart goes out to cable installers for, where you commonly can't find both ends of a wire.

BTW you're a great sport about this whole thing. I'd feel the same especially if they did a good job. Keep looking there's a scaler there somewhere, you'll find it.

Obviously Aton's Cat5 has another component that converts signal to HDMI for the bedroom TV.
Find that and see how the signal goes from component to HDMI. More than likely that device also has composite out, or at least 2-way splitter of sorts.

Everything about that post brought a smile to my face. It's getting to the point where nothing surprises me anymore.

Yes, there has to be something somewhere along they way that is converting those signals. The whole key to the system is finding out where/what that is. I'd be curious to know where you found it too...assuming you eventually do.

The title of this thread made me search for a short gif showing Kerry Washington in full Scandal mode yelling at her staff " WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Alas, I can't find such a thing. All I can do is tell you about it.

The unit you are looking for, is going to need power.
Start by looking at all the electrical outlets between where the main equipment is and the TVs. See if you can find a cord plugged in (or wallwart) and a wire that disappears into the wall or ceiling. The direction of that wire will at least let you know if you should be looking in the attic or under the house and the general area.
Don't forget to check the top shelf in any closets along the way, where personal clutter maybe hiding wires going in & out.

All else fails, someone might need to search every inch of the crawl space or attic to find. Might find a junction box that someone hardwired the electrical for the little black box and scotch locks on everything lol

I got excited after looking that up, but then noticed there is no Composite output. The DVDO AIR option would of been pretty slick since we have no HDMI going out to the pergola. Could of used that...

I'm sure I'll find it eventually. Just need some time.

People,
it's NEVER "could of."
it's always "could have."

It's a variation of "I have done that."
It's not a variation of "I of done that."
Unless, perhaps, you are actually Popeye.


Yes, it sounds like could of.  It also sounds like could iv or could uv, but it's not them, neither, nohow.  Never.

can you flip a breaker and use a toner?

has anyone ever been appreciative of someone being grammar police on the internet? Give it a rest dude.

Couldn't of said it better my self... lol

KOT