Richard BF

The Apple TV will output NTSC 480p (480 progressive) and 480i (480 interlaced), and PAL 576p and 576i, as well as all the common widescreen formats. And if you’re just listening to music, you can run the component output from the Y (green) socket into a standard composite (yellow) video input, and get black and white without the requirement of a signal converter box.

When the Apple TV was announced, I went out looking for the specs on what it could output. While Apple was saying only widescreen TVs, this couldn’t be the truth of it, because it is impossible for a box which is outputting analogue video signals, to determine the destination resolution and aspect ratio. Even so, most of the tech “journalists” simply spouted the Apple line, instead of taking a look at what it could and couldn’t actually do. You don’t have to have a brain cell to become a tech journo, you just have to have all the latest gear so you don’t have to write for the people who haven’t.

Anyway, the question is, will the Apple TV work on a standard television set?

The answer is, yes it will, with some provisos.

Output video signal

Most older TVs will only have an S-Video or composite video input. S-Video uses a mini-DIN 4 pin connector, and carries luminance (brightness; greyscale; black and white signal) on one wire, and modulated chrominance (colour) on another. Composite video uses a single RCA connector to carry the entire video signal, and is usually colour coded with a yellow plug or socket.

The Apple TV outputs HDMI, which we can ignore because olders TVs won’t have it, and component video. Component video, carries YPbPr signals, by using three wire to carry the video signal. Typically, red and blue wires carry colour difference signals, and the green wire carries luma (brightness; greyscale; black and white).

If you connect the green luma component signal from the Apple TV, to the yellow composite signal on the old TV, you’ll get a usable black and white signal on the TV.

Resolution

The other issue with whether the Apple TV will work, is the resolution, and this one is easily fixed. When you turn on the Apple TV for the first time, it will give you a menu of resolutions/aspect ratios to choose from, including 480i, which is NTSC 480 lines interlaced, and 576i which is PAL 576 lines interlaced. There are also 480 and 576 progressive options, and most common resolutions above that.

Audio

Aside from the HDMI connector, which carries video and audio, audio out of the Apple TV is via standard left and right channel RCA connectors, in their common white (L) and red (R) plugs/sockets respectively.

Summary

Does the Apple TV work on old TVs?

Yes. If you have composite inputs (yellow video, white and red audio), you can run the Apple TV in black and white with full audio quality via the green video and white and red audio connectors.

If your TV has component video, so green, blue and red video connectors, then you’ll be able to do full colour and full quality audio, at your standard 480i and 4:3 ratio as selected in the Apple TV settings.