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27" iMac Video Input With Xbox 360?

So, gianly, this scaler is probably not necessary, am I right?

So what I need is a HDMI to HDMI cable, a HDMI to DVI adaptor, the new Atlona AT-DP200, and a MDP to MDP cable? Four products. We're probably looking at $300 so around 180GBP?

I'm trying to imagine how tidy al this is going to look and my imagination isn't painting a very pretty picture.

Apple are right tossers for not including HDMI input.

Sacha
 
SachaS said:
So, gianly, this scaler is probably not necessary, am I right?
Click to expand...

Exactly.
And if it was needed, such scaler still doesn't exist. (because the current scaler isn't capable of upscaling to 2560x1440)

So what I need is a HDMI to HDMI cable, a HDMI to DVI adaptor, the new Atlona AT-DP200, and a MDP to MDP cable? Four products. We're probably looking at $300 so around 180GBP?
Click to expand...

Atlona AT-DP200 --> 150$ + shipping
HDMI-HDMI Male-Male cable --> 10$ + shipping
HDMI-DVI Female-Female adapter ---> 10$ + shipping
MDP-MDP Male-Male cable ---> 29$ + shipping on Apple Store

Apple are right tossers for not including HDMI input.
Click to expand...

I know...but it's a little more complicated than "adding a port"....this is a Display Port ONLY display (even for INTERNAL interfaces).....to make it capable of receiving hdmi/dvi video input, they should have add a lot of stuff and maybe the "both IN and OUT in single port"-trick wouldn't be possible....
 
I have to admit that the posts of gianly1985 does make sense at some level. I'm asking myself the same questions. There were rumors of videocamera's with miniDP ports to be announced that maybe can be connected to the iMac's.

I've ordered my iMac last week and I'm hoping it will be delivered next week. I'm in Holland and heard somewhere that The Netherlands won't recieve any iMac's this year... I hope not!! They want to sell a quad imac with 8GB right :p

If I have it i'll search further and I'm willing to test also some products if it can be delivered in Holland.

We'll see, and I'm hoping it will be possible to even show 1920x1080 with black borders because the diffrence isn't that shocking. 2560-1920 = a border of 320px on the left and right, and 1440-1080 = a border of 180px at the top and bottom. Works for me :p
 
gianly,

That isn't that expensive really. Would you recommend purchasing the Atlona? Or do you think the new one will be released soon? I don't want to buy this current one to find a new and improved adaptor is released a few weeks later.

Sacha
 
SachaS said:
gianly,

That isn't that expensive really. Would you recommend purchasing the Atlona? Or do you think the new one will be released soon? I don't want to buy this current one to find a new and improved adaptor is released a few weeks later.

Sacha
Click to expand...

I don't know...if you look at the answers from Atlona support, they say they're working on the new adapter which will come out in 2010....also, the famous Belkin adapter is "in the air".....if you're not in a rush, you could wait...

The problem is that this way nobody will ever tell us if it works :D
 
I'm eager for somebody tests atlona converter....it will be the key which will push me to buy new imac...

has somebody try it?? In my opinion, only converter, or converter+scaler, will work (I hope only converter), I don't see any trouble on it....I cant believe that there wasn't any test yet...
 
So I called and got an engineer in again.
This guy told me that yes it works, but without a scaler its going to be stretched and not look very good as there is nothing that can tell the display to put it in a 1080p window. He then said that with the scaler, which would cost a lot, that I wouldn't see much improvement in image quality for the price. Indeed that it would not look anywhere near the quality of just running the system into an HDMI capable device.

I then asked him my most important question. Will I have lag with what I see on screen and my button presses. He said that yes due to the processing there would likely be some affect on the time it takes to get to the monitor thus, what I am seeing on screen will be behind what is actually going on by some amount. The amount of which would depend on the quality of the scaler.

End of story for me. Not worth it at all. I rather spend the money on another 1080p monitor with HDMI input and run a duel monitor set up than have crappy image which is likely to also give me button lag or whatever you wanna call it.
 
Grawbad said:
So I called and got an engineer in again.
This guy told me that yes it works, but without a scaler its going to be stretched and not look very good as there is nothing that can tell the display to put it in a 1080p window.
Click to expand...

Listen, can't you just try this scenario yourself instead of guessing or asking the engineer and relying on ambiguos words like "not very good"?
Launch a 3D game in your iMac 27" and play it at 1920x1080 or 1280x720 (you can set this in the settings of the game).
Do you think the result is ACCEPTABLE? ---> buy the Atlona thing
Do you think the result is UNACCEPTABLE? ---> don't buy the Atlona thing

Me, I've never had problems playing games at NON-native resolutions....like most people owning a Mac, because you cannot keep up to date the GPU...so you are forced to play at non-native resolutions to get decent framerates...

So stop this scary talking about the "not very good" look of stretched games, a lot of people here have played stretched games for years and enjoyed it a lot...

I then asked him my most important question. Will I have lag with what I see on screen and my button presses. He said that yes due to the processing there would likely be some affect on the time it takes to get to the monitor
Click to expand...

According to Atlona, if you JUST use the AT-DP200 (which is what you should do with the iMac 27"), you won't see any lag:
How is our converter different from others:

AT-DP200 is HDCP Compliant, which means that you can play copy protected material though our converter
Apple 24" and Apple iMac 27" Compatible
Power Over USB, no external power supply needed
True pixel to pixel signal
Pro Mac Compatible, works with all pro applications such as Final Cut Pro
Our converter is only hardware based, therefore will never have any issues with new operating systems or if Apple updates the current operating system
The AT-DP200 was tested against every Apple DVI based computer by our engineers and Apple engineers
Our converter will not change any video settings or process video, therefore the quality will be identical to if the computer would be connected to the display without the converter
We don't change frame rate or refresh rate and we don`t scale video, therefore there would not be any delays or video artifacts
Our Converter was tested for over 6 month before it had been released, we created over 20 prototypes based on different chip-sets till we made it perfect
Click to expand...
 
So... still waiting to see some results with the new adapter in the apple store.
Anyone ordered it?

[EDITED]
BTW, this final result of this thread is pretty much what will determine if I get one or not :)
 
What I don't get is why the people of Atlona don't make a video with the diffrence shown in use of the adapters. With or without a scaler. Place it at YouTube and everybody can see if it is worth it or not. If they say that it will work, than they have tested it, so why not a movie of the test so we know for sure that it works with or without the scaler and what the diffrence is between the 2 setups.
 
orange.x said:
What I don't get is why the people of Atlona don't make a video with the diffrence shown in use of the adapters. With or without a scaler. Place it at YouTube and everybody can see if it is worth it or not. If they say that it will work, than they have tested it, so why not a movie of the test so we know for sure that it works with or without the scaler and what the diffrence is between the 2 setups.
Click to expand...
Why don't you send Atlona that request? Maybe they haven't thought of doing that.
 
It's pretty apparent from gainy's observations that the scaler isn't needed.

That disclaimer at the end of the Atlona page mentioning the need for the scaler is more than likely only for the 24 inch LCD which (as gainly described) is 16:10 rather than the iMac 27 inch's 16:9 (which is what the XBox display at).

Basically it should just work on the 27 inch without this scaler.

I'm considering buying the Atlona AT-DP200 product sometime after Christmas if nothing superior is released, or if I don't find a good priced monitor or high-definition TV.

It doesn't look very likely that anybody else is going to buy it.

Sacha
 
Grawbad said:
So I called and got an engineer in again.
This guy told me that yes it works, but without a scaler its going to be stretched and not look very good as there is nothing that can tell the display to put it in a 1080p window. He then said that with the scaler, which would cost a lot, that I wouldn't see much improvement in image quality for the price. Indeed that it would not look anywhere near the quality of just running the system into an HDMI capable device.

I then asked him my most important question. Will I have lag with what I see on screen and my button presses. He said that yes due to the processing there would likely be some affect on the time it takes to get to the monitor thus, what I am seeing on screen will be behind what is actually going on by some amount. The amount of which would depend on the quality of the scaler.

End of story for me. Not worth it at all. I rather spend the money on another 1080p monitor with HDMI input and run a duel monitor set up than have crappy image which is likely to also give me button lag or whatever you wanna call it.
Click to expand...

This engineer doesn't know what he's talking about. There's no reason why it would give you lag, and it won't look crappy either man. It won't look perfect but it definitely won't look crappy.

Like gainly said get a videogame (for example Dead Space), load up boot-camp, and change the display settings in game to the iMac's native resolution. Then try it out at 1080. Yes, it doesn't look AS GOOD as the highest resolution possible, but it still looks pretty good.

Like gainly said most PC gamers don't play videogames at the monitor's native resolution any way because the frame-rate would suffer unless a) you're playing an old game, or b) you have a really good PC.

Sacha
 
Believe me, ive though about the whole scaler/aspect ratio deal. Your logic is sound, and i would totally agree with you but it doesnt make sense that atlona would be working on an all in one unit just for this purpose... Also, the imac input is a funny thing... its not like most devices where you select the input, from what i read, the computer is still on and is what is controlling what the monitor displays. This could be why the scaler is needed. I really hope im wrong but until someone with an iMac tests this, we will never know.
 
Oh so what you guys are saying is you don't mind the less than perfect graphics.

Well I do. Not about to play it less than perfect. Especially when I can get a 1080p monitor for the same amount or even less than the price of buying the equipment needed to even test this. lol

It makes no sense. Sure there will be degradation, but why pay money to get degradation when the same money could be spent on the proper equipment.

Not to mention the fact that this would only be so I could have it hooked up where I am most frequently at. I think I rather walk upstairs to the 55 inch and play my consoles in perfect high definition thanks.
 
Grawbad said:
Oh so what you guys are saying is you don't mind the less than perfect graphics.

Well I do. Not about to play it less than perfect. Especially when I can get a 1080p monitor for the same amount or even less than the price of buying the equipment needed to even test this. lol

It makes no sense. Sure there will be degradation, but why pay money to get degradation when the same money could be spent on the proper equipment.

Not to mention the fact that this would only be so I could have it hooked up where I am most frequently at. I think I rather walk upstairs to the 55 inch and play my consoles in perfect high definition thanks.
Click to expand...
Exactly my thought all along. I just don't get it, and I guess I never will.
 
I'm sorry to be lazy here, but this is a HUGE thread to read through and I just see people going back and forth saying it works, it doesn't, try this and that..it needs a converter...it needs this..ahhh! lol (I gave up on the 6th page):p

I'm just curious to know has "anyone" tested this and figured out if it's just impossible to do or found a way to get it done?

If so, could you kindly just re-post or direct me to their post as I googled this and ran into this thread, but I haven't ran across a solution yet.

Thanks! :)
 
Grawbad said:
Oh so what you guys are saying is you don't mind the less than perfect graphics.

Well I do. Not about to play it less than perfect. Especially when I can get a 1080p monitor for the same amount or even less than the price of buying the equipment needed to even test this. lol

It makes no sense. Sure there will be degradation, but why pay money to get degradation when the same money could be spent on the proper equipment.

Not to mention the fact that this would only be so I could have it hooked up where I am most frequently at. I think I rather walk upstairs to the 55 inch and play my consoles in perfect high definition thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't understand you... I think you have this horrible misconception that what gets displayed will be less than 1080p. This, sir, is incorrect. You will indeed get 1080p - It will just be stretched a few pixels to span across the iMac's 2560 x 1440 display. I can almost bet money that you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference...

take your computer now (no matter what machine it is) and change the resolution to lower than what it's max native is... See how it stretches the smaller display to the full screen size? Also see how everything is just as crisp as it was before, just "bigger?" That is what's going to happen.

So.. this "degradation in quality" you keep preaching makes no sense at all. I believe you're under the impression it's going to be grainy or something (like if you zoom in on a photo in photoshop)... That is NOT the case. Now, if you were forced to play at anything LESS than 1080p, I would understand your concern... but again, this isn't going to be the case.
 
g3nius20 said:
I don't understand you... I think you have this horrible misconception that what gets displayed will be less than 1080p. This, sir, is incorrect. You will indeed get 1080p - It will just be stretched a few pixels to span across the iMac's 2560 x 1440 display. I can almost bet money that you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference...

take your computer now (no matter what machine it is) and change the resolution to lower than what it's max native is... See how it stretches the smaller display to the full screen size? Also see how everything is just as crisp as it was before, just "bigger?" That is what's going to happen.

So.. this "degradation in quality" you keep preaching makes no sense at all. I believe you're under the impression it's going to be grainy or something (like if you zoom in on a photo in photoshop)... That is NOT the case. Now, if you were forced to play at anything LESS than 1080p, I would understand your concern... but again, this isn't going to be the case.
Click to expand...

Well, if it's the "Photoshop" that CSI-like series are using I guess there woulnd't be any problem :) They can fix us op right away on the 2560x1440 with there awesome zooming skills :p

The most important factor for the stretching is that the aspect ratio of 2560x1440 vs 1920x1080 is exactly the same: 16:9. The diffrence in height and width is a factor 1,3333 ( 1920x1.3333=2560 ) So there probably won't be any bad scaling or stretching involved.

On my 1600x1200 Dell screen 1024x768 has the exact quality images as 1600x1200 but then larger offcourse (icons en toolbars etc).

I've emailed the guys of Atlona for a video or some photos of the complete setup connected... We'll see what comes from that.
 
This thread has been fascinating... so I just ordered the following from Future Shop in the UK:

1 x Atlona DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter (NEW) (AT-DP200) = £149.99
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Royal Mail Special Delivery (UK only) (Guaranteed Next Working Day): £5.99
Sub-total: £155.98
VAT @ 15.00%: £20.35
Total: £155.98

:)

I am about to order an adaptor to get HDMI to DVI.

The DP200 will arrive tomorrow I just need to find a HDMI - DVI cable or adaptor with Amazon Prime...

I will report back once I have it all :)
 
g3nius20 said:
I don't understand you... I think you have this horrible misconception that what gets displayed will be less than 1080p. This, sir, is incorrect. You will indeed get 1080p - It will just be stretched a few pixels to span across the iMac's 2560 x 1440 display. I can almost bet money that you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference...

take your computer now (no matter what machine it is) and change the resolution to lower than what it's max native is... See how it stretches the smaller display to the full screen size? Also see how everything is just as crisp as it was before, just "bigger?" That is what's going to happen.

So.. this "degradation in quality" you keep preaching makes no sense at all. I believe you're under the impression it's going to be grainy or something (like if you zoom in on a photo in photoshop)... That is NOT the case. Now, if you were forced to play at anything LESS than 1080p, I would understand your concern... but again, this isn't going to be the case.
Click to expand...

If I take any of my LCD monitors and run the resolution lower than the native, it's never as crisp as the native resolution. I just took my 20" HP monitor to 1280x1024 from its native of 1440x900 and things got blurry. What you're saying isn't making any sense.
 
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