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27" iMac Video Input With Xbox 360?

Looks like this will work in the future though - obviously new for all these companies, and they are already working on it. This is great news! I still think I'll get a little gaming PC and have it in the corner, and use the imac as a screen for that.

Let's hope I can sell my unibody 17 :D
 
Hi everyone - just a quick update.

I have been emailed by a Manager at Atlona who have now offered to send me a new unit once they have a working Firmware (and then I will return my faulty unit afterwards to save time for me). I dont have a ETA for this but fingers crossed it wont take too long. If it does I will try to get a refund from the UK shop.

I am still really pissed off about it all, but the Atlona customer service seems to be on the right track.

I suggested they update the website to make it clear you don't need a Scaler when using with a iMac 27" - lets see what happens
 
RealEvil said:
Hi everyone - just a quick update.

I have been emailed by a Manager at Atlona who have now offered to send me a new unit once they have a working Firmware (and then I will return my faulty unit afterwards to save time for me). I dont have a ETA for this but fingers crossed it wont take too long. If it does I will try to get a refund from the UK shop.

I am still really pissed off about it all, but the Atlona customer service seems to be on the right track.

I suggested they update the website to make it clear you don't need a Scaler when using with a iMac 27" - lets see what happens
Click to expand...
If I where you I would inform the UK shop about this whole case and see what they have to say about the refund. Because they will have to take back more Atlona's when their firmware needs to be upgraded. If the shop is just a little consumer minded I don't think all this would be a problem. Keep us informed :)
 
Wow - I just wanted to tell you all about the amazing customer service I have had from FutureShop.co.uk . They are sending me a replacement with free delivery to arrive tomorrow for me to try. If its not OK they will give me a refund OR the Gefen adaptor on Monday which available:
http://www.futureshop.co.uk/gefen-dvi-to-minidisplayport-converter-p-2988.html

The really helpful guy named Adam at FutureShop was even routing through boxes of the DP200 to find me one from a different batch. Amazing customer service.

They are contacting the boss of Atlona to ask about the issue (I forwarded them the emails I have had with Atlona) but they assure me that they have not had anyone else complain so perhaps I was really unlucky. The Atlona emails I have suggest some are OK and some are not.

More news tomorrow... :)
 
RealEvil said:
Wow - I just wanted to tell you all about the amazing customer service I have had from FutureShop.co.uk . They are sending me a replacement with free delivery to arrive tomorrow for me to try. If its not OK they will give me a refund OR the Gefen adaptor on Monday which available:
http://www.futureshop.co.uk/gefen-dvi-to-minidisplayport-converter-p-2988.html

The really helpful guy named Adam at FutureShop was even routing through boxes of the DP200 to find me one from a different batch. Amazing customer service.

They are contacting the boss of Atlona to ask about the issue (I forwarded them the emails I have had with Atlona) but they assure me that they have not had anyone else complain so perhaps I was really unlucky. The Atlona emails I have suggest some are OK and some are not.

More news tomorrow... :)
Click to expand...

Indeed WOW. big ups to a company that has customer service at such high levels. It's difficult to find those companies all over the world. I guess that we're all looking forward to your findings.

Did the guy from FutureShop meant that the Geffen adapter also should work with the whole 'xbox360 > iMac 27"' problem? So we have already 2 choices of adapters that could work?
 
To be honest, Adam from FutureShop knew the Gefen adaptor existed and that it was very similar to the Atlona but he did not know specifics beyond that. I have emailed Gefen to ask if they can process 1920*1080 rather than just the 1920*1200 their website refers to (though they do have 1080p logos everywhere). Hopefully they will reply.
 
I emailed Gefen Tech support and after a few back and forth emails he wrote this:

Like I said before, the iMAC only accepts a dual link resolution 2560x1440 and seems like it can do single link resolution at 1280x720. It will only accept these resolutions. You cannot do 1920x1080 to a iMac because it does not have a built in scaler. This is the downfall of having Apple Cinema Displays.

I dont think this is true but is it suspicious that 1280*720 is 2560/2 * 1440/2?
 
That's weird RealEvil, seeing as you can manually change the resolution of the iMac to 1920x1080...
 
SachaS said:
That's weird RealEvil, seeing as you can manually change the resolution of the iMac to 1920x1080...
Click to expand...

Plus the fact that both adapters could easily process 1920x1200... Why would 1920x1080 be a problem and 1920x1200 NOT. That SOOO doesn't make any sense!

And the guy I mailed with said that the Atlona could do a 1920x1080 resolution.
 
RealEvil said:
The Atlona emails I have suggest some are OK and some are not.
Click to expand...

That's really, really strange isn't it? I mean it's not like an Xbox with dodgy soldering on some consoles (which one can understand), they're saying some of the DP-200s don't display any higher than 720p! How could that happen?

Maybe they're saying that so as to stop you from telling the Trading Standards Agency (or whatever it's called in the States) that they falsely advertised the product?
 
RealEvil said:
The Atlona emails I have suggest some are OK and some are not.
Click to expand...

this makes no sense to me... if atlona said its a firmware update that needs to go out to get 1080 working, then how are SOME working and SOME not?

My assumption is, only SOME people have complained since not everyone is using them for the same purpose. If you never needed to use 1080, then you would never suspect something was wrong with your dp200, but that doesnt mean its working correctly. :confused:
 
Hi,

The 2nd unit is the same as the first - everything the same, same resolutions, same flaky CMD-F2 switching, all of it. They do have similar serial numbers so its probably not that much of a surprise. :-(

auavf8.jpg


I got an update from Atlona - they are working hard on the firmware fix. So now I need to send one of these back to FutureShop OR just get a refund. Tricky... :-(
 
RealEvil said:
Hi,

The 2nd unit is the same as the first - everything the same, same resolutions, same flaky CMD-F2 switching, all of it. They do have similar serial numbers so its probably not that much of a surprise. :-(

I got an update from Atlona - they are working hard on the firmware fix. So now I need to send one of these back to FutureShop OR just get a refund. Tricky... :-(
Click to expand...

Is there a possibiliy to try the Gefen adapter as well? Atlona said that all the adapters should be returned right? So I guess I would go for a refund and maybe try the Gefen adapter. And if that also doesn't work you can order the new Atlona adapter when the firmware is updated right?
 
Why not exchange the recent purchase from Futureshop for the Geffen (I thought the sales guy said this was an option) and then do the swap with Atlona when they send you a new firmware (assume you still have a refund option somehow). If not I suppose return both and rebuy a Atlona when the new firmware comes out.

Again, you tried 1280*720? The Atlona support made it sound like that is a function of the Mac. I think this would make sense if it has something to do with the DP in and not necessarily the video card of the Mac itself.

Also on MW2 looking better than AC2, I thought I read they had scaled the game down to 600p instead of 720p. I believe that would be why.
 
I am not sure how suitable the Gefen adaptor is. Here are excerpts from a email conversation I have had with one of their Support Engineers:

(I have excluded the first email I sent which was just me asking if the product works at 1080p). Gefen's reponses are BOLD. Mine are in ITALICS (UPDATE - fixed bold/italics)


Thank you for contacting Gefen Technical Support.

This setup will not work because this converter only handles single link resolution so it can do 1920x1080 but these iMACs only accept one resolution which is dual link at 2560x1440.

Hello,

Thanks for the answer.

I actually have a Atlona DP200 at the moment which I can connect to the iMac at a variety of resolutions - even 640*480 or 1280*720 so I know the iMac 27" does accept lots of input resolutions.

You can see all this on a thread I post to (as RealEvil) a MBP 13" MDP -> DVI -> DP200 -> iMac 27"

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8937543/

The Atlona DP200 I have is a little faulty and is limited to 1280*720 max (I am awaiting a firmware fix), but at least this demonstrates that the iMac accepts a variety of resolutions.


Your computers video card is most likely doing the scaling. There is no built in scalers in any Apple Cinema Displays. If you have a windows PC and outputting 1920x1200, it will not work because windows do not scale. It will work for mac computers because they do scale.


So currently I can get 1280*720 from either a MBP or a XBOX 360 (either the 720P HDMI setting or 1280*720 via the Display Discovery option) with the DP200 on my iMac. It should support 1920*1080 but my unit does not, which is why I am returning it (they have offered a firmware update but I have to send it to the US for that.. I live in the UK).

Will your device allow my XBOX 360 to display at 1920*1080 on my iMac 27"? I assume it must be similar to the Atlona product?

Like I said before, the iMAC only accepts a dual link resolution 2560x1440 and seems like it can do single link resolution at 1280x720. It will only accept these resolutions. You cannot do 1920x1080 to a iMac because it does not have a built in scaler. This is the downfall of having Apple Cinema Displays.

So either this Gefen guy really knows his stuff and we are all screwed or he is an idiot. I know the iMac is capable of 640*480, 800*600 and 1280*720 so I dont think he is correct.
 
Superman07 said:
Why not exchange the recent purchase from Futureshop for the Geffen (I thought the sales guy said this was an option) and then do the swap with Atlona when they send you a new firmware (assume you still have a refund option somehow). If not I suppose return both and rebuy a Atlona when the new firmware comes out.
Click to expand...

I only 'own' 1. FutureShop kindly sent me a second one to try - I now need to send it back. I dont want to spend another £140 on the Gefen adaptor, but I dont want to return the DP200 I own until I know more about the firmware update.

:-(
 
RealEvil said:
So either this Gefen guy really knows his stuff and we are all screwed or he is an idiot. I know the iMac is capable of 640*480, 800*600 and 1280*720 so I dont think he is correct.
Click to expand...
At this point I don't think that you can assume that the iMac accepts all of these resolutions. It could be the Atlona which is doing the conversion and always outputting a 1280*720 (or possibly but not likely 2560*1440) signal to the iMac.
 
The iMac renders the resolutions differently - i.e. everything is huge at 640*480 and smaller ay 1280*720 so the DP200 is passing different resolutions to the iMac.
 
RealEvil: You're bold and italic things need to swap in your last post :) Italic = you, bold = them.

What I get from my mailtraffic with an Atlona employee is that the Atlona itself doesn't scale.

Quote from email:
The way, our converter works is it takes EDID (Digital Data File) from the display (iMac 27) and passes it over to the computer (Mac or PC). After computer has received the information it will know what is the native resolution of the display and will let you select it in your computer resolutions settings. The converter is able to pass any resolution up to 1920x1200 which does include 1920x1080 and 1280x1024
Click to expand...
So when you're connected with the MBP, it only shows the max resolution of 1280x720. That is very strange because the output of a single link DVI signal ( which is single link if you use the mDP > DVI converter ) is capable of 1920x1200 ( WUXGA wikipedia ) and also 1920x1080. The iMac is capable of both these resolutions so it is VERY weird that those options don't appear when you're connection with your MBP right?

The DVI-in of the Atlona is also single link DVI I suppose, because the max output now is 1920x1200. If they're claiming that a firmware fix could add the 2560x1440 resolution the DVI-in now has to be dual link.

Something is just wrong with the Atlona, that's the way I see it. I would say, just send the 2nd Atlona you got from FutureShop back to them. Keep the Atlona and fix a refund possibility with FutureShop if the whole thing with the firmware doesn't work out, and than just wait for Atlona to send a unit with the new firmware for you to test it out. And I really don't see why you should sent your Atlona to the US if it has a USB connector. But then offcourse they don't want to give you their firmwareupgrade utility or something... too bad :)
 
orange.x said:
The DVI-in of the Atlona is also single link DVI I suppose, because the max output now is 1920x1200. If they're claiming that a firmware fix could add the 2560x1440 resolution the DVI-in now has to be dual link.
Click to expand...

I don't think Atlona claimed that this fabled firmware update will add 2560x1440, just 1920x1200 and 1920x1080.

To be honest I will be surprised if we ever see this firmware update. They will probably just send you one of the new ones when it gets released, free of extra charge if you send your (supposedly faulty) one in.

RealEvil, 720p... what's your verdict? Good enough or not?
 
You cannot do 1920x1080 to a iMac because it does not have a built in scaler. This is the downfall of having Apple Cinema Displays.
Click to expand...

At the first sentence he was referring to the iMac not having a scaler, and on the other its Cinema display, makes no sense, or poor writing.

He did mention that the graphics card is responsible for scaling, now if an iMac is an all in one PC, wouldn't be technically having a built in scaler?

Oh anyway, would it be possible to use target display mode on Windows 7, and maybe fiddle with the resolutions there. There's an excellent program that fiddles with the resolution under windows called powerstrip.

Maybe you should give this a try, it might work :)
 
SachaS said:
I don't think Atlona claimed that this fabled firmware update will add 2560x1440, just 1920x1200 and 1920x1080.

To be honest I will be surprised if we ever see this firmware update. They will probably just send you one of the new ones when it gets released, free of extra charge if you send your (supposedly faulty) one in.

RealEvil, 720p... what's your verdict? Good enough or not?
Click to expand...

To be honest... it might be if you sit far enough back. I just dont think its very practical for most people to site over 2 metres away from their screen in a office or bedroom. Maybe I am too involved now, but I am not willing to settle for 720p and will get a refund if there is not a firmware fix. I paid £150 for adaptor and about £40 for all the other cables and adaptors, so for £190 ($350 approx.) I am NOT satisfied.
 
bajee said:
At the first sentence he was referring to the iMac not having a scaler, and on the other its Cinema display, makes no sense, or poor writing.

He did mention that the graphics card is responsible for scaling, now if an iMac is an all in one PC, wouldn't be technically having a built in scaler?

Oh anyway, would it be possible to use target display mode on Windows 7, and maybe fiddle with the resolutions there. There's an excellent program that fiddles with the resolution under windows called powerstrip.

Maybe you should give this a try, it might work :)
Click to expand...

I would love to try it but I am not going to spend £140 to do so. Anyone else fancy trying it?
 
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