Coax to Hdmi

[sanman]

Hello all i cant find my answer anywhere... Is there a way to hook up my old console game systems to a new tv with only hdmi inputs. I have Colecovision,Atari 2600, and intellivision all with a coax adapter on the original cable. So i guess i need a convertor for coax to hdmi does anyone know where i can get one Thanks in advance........Sanman

[+stupus]

Sadly this is not as simple as buying an adapter.

You can't just adapt coax to HDMI.

You would need a converter box to change the signal to digital format.

And the box would need a scaler built in as well because those systems put out a low definition analog signal.

With how low the price of tvs is now you likely would spend less just buying another flat screen tv that still has a coax input incorporated on it......which is becoming less common.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Like Stupus stated above to do what you are wanting is possible, but the results aren't going to be very good and would take up additional space and cost.

 

The simplest solution is to use an old VCR that can de-modulate the signal and provide you with a composite ouput. From there, you can get a cheap composite to HDMI upscaler/converter unit. But keep in mind that most of those devices will stretch the picture unless your TV is able to compensate for this on its own. (Some can, many don't).

 

Also you will get some lag in the response of your actions when playing the games in this manner. But how much lag you get in response will depend on the TV processing the image and the converter.

 

This is why so many have started to get AV mods done to their older systems so that with at least a native composite output, you can then use something like the RetroTink2x to eventually get as lag free an image as possible to your TV.

 

You could still go with the VCR idea and combine that with a Retrotink2x to get the composite image from the VCR video out to the RetroTink2x and then have HDMI back to your TV. Just depends on your space for having everything setup and money to spend.

 

Here is one of the cheaper composite and s-video to HDMI adapters from Monoprice. I paid twice this for mine when I first got it back in like 2012, but this one is an open box one they have on the cheap. You still get lag in using this and it will still stretch the image our of proportion but it does work and work well. I was actually using one of these exact ones along with a large s-video and composite AV switcher for 6 years before I upgraded to more expensive solutions.

 

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33507

 

http://www.retrotink.com/

Edited December 6, 2018 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[+stupus]

And obviously you can use a broken vcr even as long as it powers on to use as a pass thru.

 

With how cheap tv's are though....a 32" can be like $90.....it might be good to get 1 with coax input while they are still available. They are phasing coax input out on new tv's. So getting one you could dedicate to your classic consoles while some are still available with coax and for cheap would be a good idea in my opinion if you have space. They don't really take up lots of room anyway and can even be kept behind things....like another tv lol

[+-^CrossBow^-]

And obviously you can use a broken vcr even as long as it powers on to use as a pass thru.

 

With how cheap tv's are though....a 32" can be like $90.....it might be good to get 1 with coax input while they are still available. They are phasing coax input out on new tv's. So getting one you could dedicate to your classic consoles while some are still available with coax and for cheap would be a good idea in my opinion if you have space. They don't really take up lots of room anyway and can even be kept behind things....like another tv lol

Oh I wasn't arguing this at all. In my case I wanted 1 TV for all systems in my game room mainly due to space or lack thereof. So it was cheaper and more practical at the time to have one of the cheap converters and AV mod my daily driver consoles that were RF only etc.

 

But we don't know the OPs space availability etc...so the more options the more to consider is all.

[Shawn]

I think there is such a device but even "cheap" ones start at around $100.

[sanman]

Thank you everyone i do have a vcr handy think I will try that route with a rca jack to HDMI scaler...? Thank you again Sanman...