[mightyblues78]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for any help you can offer in response to my total noob question!

I have today received my ATV1200 (well, it's a Sumvision Cyclone X2, but it's just repackaged hardware), so this evening, I've happily pugged everything in and powered it up ready to enter the world of Android for the first time (I know, latecomer to the party as always!) and to get XBMC on my main TV in living room rather than having to carry the Mac through each time I want to watch something from the armchair.

The problem I have is I don't have an HD TV and bought the Cyclone/ATV1200 specifically as it had composite outputs (obviously, I'll upgrade eventually, but while there's nothing wrong with my old Panny, I'm loathe to get shot of it) Anyway, having plugged everything in and connected through the composite out, I have absolutely no picture on the screen, I've tried all 3 TV inputs and reset the unit a few times but still no image and no signs of life other than the lights on the front of the box.

Are these boxes automatically set to HDMI output out of the box? If so, is there any way I can change the output remotely (either through connecting a keyboard and inputting a series of keypresses or something like that)? Alternatively, does it sound to you guys like I just have a dud?

Like I said, noob question; but without any kind of display, I can't even get into settings and start messing about!

Any advice (other than "buy a HDTV") will be greeted with my eternal gratitude.

Thanks,
MB78.

[hansfree]

Hi Mightyblues,

A very late reply, but I have just bought a second-hand ATV1200 and ran into the very same problem you have, or had.

In case you see this, could you tell me if in the meantime you have found some shortcut to start the thing up in A/V i.s.o. HDMI?

Thanks!

[mightyblues78]

Hi Hansfree,

Unfortunately I never managed to figure out how to start the unit such that it displays via the composite output straight away. In the end, I bought one of the little HDMI/AV converter boxes that cost about £3 on a well known online auction site which did the trick perfectly. In fact, I never even bothered to change the resolution after getting it fired up, just kept it with the converter inline. You can even use the USB slot on the ATV1200 to power the converter which is useful

Anyway, sorry I can't be of more use, I hope that the above tip maybe helps!

Cheers,
MB78.

[sonofdibnah]

Have a look here but you will need to have something that will take HDMI to make the change.

http://www.mygica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=29

[justin@mygica]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for any help you can offer in response to my total noob question!

I have today received my ATV1200 (well, it's a Sumvision Cyclone X2, but it's just repackaged hardware), so this evening, I've happily pugged everything in and powered it up ready to enter the world of Android for the first time (I know, latecomer to the party as always!) and to get XBMC on my main TV in living room rather than having to carry the Mac through each time I want to watch something from the armchair.

The problem I have is I don't have an HD TV and bought the Cyclone/ATV1200 specifically as it had composite outputs (obviously, I'll upgrade eventually, but while there's nothing wrong with my old Panny, I'm loathe to get shot of it) Anyway, having plugged everything in and connected through the composite out, I have absolutely no picture on the screen, I've tried all 3 TV inputs and reset the unit a few times but still no image and no signs of life other than the lights on the front of the box.

Are these boxes automatically set to HDMI output out of the box? If so, is there any way I can change the output remotely (either through connecting a keyboard and inputting a series of keypresses or something like that)? Alternatively, does it sound to you guys like I just have a dud?

Like I said, noob question; but without any kind of display, I can't even get into settings and start messing about!

Any advice (other than "buy a HDTV") will be greeted with my eternal gratitude.

Thanks,
MB78.

Hi

Your ATV 1200 is the same unit as the Mygica ATV1200

If its on Android 4.1, then it is set to output to 720P out of the box, and therefore can only be seen using HDMI.

If you want to use the RCA (Composite Outputs) you will have to hook up the box to a TV or Monitor with HDMi, and change a setting, which is the "Output Mode" and change the resolution to 480i.

However if you upgrade your unit to Android 4.2.2, it has Auto Resolution detection, and will detect your Composite output right away.

[hansfree]

Hi to all,

Thank you for all suggestions and the link, and in the meantime I also got a reply from the Geniatech support desk, confirming that there is no workaround and that you really need an hdmi-monitor to be able to switch the video output settings.

Good to know that those cheap hdmi-to-av converters do work, I may follow your example MB!

But I will first try to find a willing victim with an hdmi-input TV

Also good to know that the newer Android has auto-resolution detection, thanks!

Remarkable, that in order to avoid having to use hdmi, you first need to have hdmi. A pity this quite essential fact is not mentioned in the ATV1200 manual...but okay now it's a bit late for that.

[mightyblues78]

Good luck Hansfree!

Just a couple of words of warning:

1. The composite output, from my box at least, isn't the greatest and you may find some quite fuzzy textures on your screen, particularly the XBMC home screen (although obviously you may get better mileage from different themes), hence why I ended up sticking with the converter.

2. I originally did what you are planning to do ('borrowed' a portable HDTV at work to fire up the unit and then change the display settings so I could use it at home), however, while trying to improve the picture quality through the composite output later that evening, I accidentally switch to HD output again and that was that, it DOESN'T auto-revert to the previous settings if you don't accept them, so I was stuck with a blank screen again!

Anyway, best of luck!!

Cheers,
MB78.

---

Hi

Your ATV 1200 is the same unit as the Mygica ATV1200

If its on Android 4.1, then it is set to output to 720P out of the box, and therefore can only be seen using HDMI.

If you want to use the RCA (Composite Outputs) you will have to hook up the box to a TV or Monitor with HDMi, and change a setting, which is the "Output Mode" and change the resolution to 480i.

However if you upgrade your unit to Android 4.2.2, it has Auto Resolution detection, and will detect your Composite output right away.

Thanks for the info, Justin. I'm coping fine with the HDMI converter for the time being, but this is useful to know!

Cheers,
MB78

[hansfree]

Thank you very much MB67 for the warnings, oh it would really make me furious ending up with a blank screen and having to start all over again!

As concerns the picture quality, do you really think a hdmi2av converter is better? I'm surprised. I would hope that some display setting of the ATV1200, I think 576i for 50 Hz PAL, would give a picture as good as you may expect from CVBS (which is not very good, I know). I saw directions that one should choose 480i, but I don't know if that was for 60 Hz NTSC or 50 Hz PAL, on a widescreen CVBS TV.

Anyway, it seems I have to lower my expectations and prepare for some more annoyances. I am starting to wonder why I had to choose the ATV1200 out of more options.

(Hi to Justin, I hadn't noticed yet you're from MyGica )

---

Excuse me, it was MB78 of course, not MB67

[hansfree]

MB78, may I ask which hdmi to av converter you have bought? I have searched and searched but there are just too many to make a choice.

And just to be sure, could you confirm that yours is a converter with cvbs output?

I have also done my best to find any hdmi to scart-rgb converter instead, as this would offer much better picture quality, but could only find one designated Shinybow SB-2830, that seems not available in the market anymore. So I guess I am stuck with cvbs.

Thanks, Hansfree.

[hansfree]

Maybe interesting for other prospective or beginning users to know: in the meantime I have been able to use a tv with hdmi-input to switch over my ATV1200 to CVBS. And the results do not disappoint me.

I'm not really sure, but when altering the settings I had the impression that in the resolution setting I could only choose 576i, not 480i (for 625-line PAL, 50Hz).

There is also a separate setting to switch over to CVBS/YUV, but it was already set automatically after having switched over to the 576i resolution as above, at least I didn't alter it consciously myself.

I didn't have much time to play with the box since then, but after setting the font to 'huge' (which is not literally huge), the picture is quite acceptable on my 26 inch tv. I thought to notice a little regular jitter hick-up, but not all of the time and not very serious.

In parallel, I've also ordered a hdmi to av adapter from China, so I hope to be able to compare the quality in a few weeks from now.

BTW I'm using a Mele F10 remote control with my ATV1200, and it worked flawlessly right away, flymouse and keyboard on the back.

[hansfree]

I seem to go solo now, but I still want to add a last comment, for anyone looking for a good way to use the MyGica ATV1200 with a TV-set having a SCART-connection instead of HDMI-input. As I pointed out earlier, the built-in ATV1200 CVBS-solution works, but if your tv supports SCART-RGB, like mine does (on only one of the three SCART-connections), you can improve your picture quality a lot. The ATV1200 however does not supply RGB (YUV is not RGB!). And HDMI to RGB converters, or alternatively YUV to RGB converters, are hard to find or expensive. Maybe my tweaked solution can be interesting for you, as it did not cost much and delivered the best quality an analog TV can provide.

What I did is using two converters in cascade. I bought a HDMI to VGA converter and prepared a home-made VGA to SCART-RGB converter myself, according to the simple schematic I found here: http://www.geocities.ws/podernixie/htpc/cables-en.html. Luckily I did not need the 12V line in the schematic, I only needed the 5V line, which I took from one of the USB-connections of the ATV1200. The stereo audio is plugged into the white and red RCA audio connections of the ATV1200.

A few remarks: first of all, for a synchronized picture on your analog TV you need to setup the ATV1200 to 576i (Europe). And this has to be done while having the HDMI-cable inserted, otherwise the ATV1200 will automatically switch to CVBS. But in order to be able to see what you are doing, you have to connect a VGA-computer monitor first, using only the HDMI to VGA converter. It will show you a good picture in the default 720p mode. If you then change to 1080p, you will see a prompt 'Do you want to keep this setting?'. You can confirm by using your remote control to go one step to the left and then press OK. If you want to change to 576i you will have no picture, as your computer monitor is incompatible with interlaced ('i') signals. So then you have to input the same sequence (left, OK) with your remote, without seeing anything. If this goes well, then your screen does not revert and remains black and your ATV1200 is switched to 576i, output via HDMI. Time to hook up the second converter (VGA to SCART-RGB) now and connect to your TV-set.

Second remark: don't make the mistake to switch over to 720i or 1080i (confirming with left, OK) as neither your VGA monitor, nor your TV-set will be able to deal with this format. I guess your only escape would then be ... the HDMI-input TV-set you wanted to avoid.

Third: do not upgrade the ATV1200 to Android 4.2.2 with automatic resolution detection, as suggested in this thread, because you will then no longer have a display setting available, and your ATV1200 cannot detect that it needs to output a 576i HDMI-signal in this case, it will stick to 720p by default. I tried that, but found that I had to downgrade back to 4.1.2.

Fourth: I did not expect to have an audio signal on the red and white RCA jacks of the ATV1200 in this non-CVBS configuration, but there it was.

Fifth: when everything worked as intended, I noticed in the ATV 1200 display settings that the output mode was set to YUV, while I don't use the YUV-connections (the red-green-blue RCA ones) at all. Apparently this does not matter and you get your 576i-signal via HDMI anyway.

Well, hopefully this is of help to anyone. Of course I cannot guarantee anything to work, and you run the same risk of bricking your ATV1200 as I did, but I got it up and running. And it was well worth the trouble.

P.S. I still have no working HDMI to CVBS converter as I ordered in China, and referred to in a previous message. I received one that never worked and am still awaiting a second one. But I don't need it anymore as you will understand...