BeoVision 6-22 : A Second Life ?

[Mel Mackay]

I’m new ….. not very confident in AV matters …. and needing help.

I’m aiming to reuse my abandoned BeoVision 6-22 as a kitchen Freeview Play TV/Radio and wish to make this a pilot experience for my BV6-26 and BV10-32 in other rooms.  These others have HDMI IN pathways and will be easier to connect than the BV6-22 where I am struggling to choose the most appropriate way to connect.

Straight Freeview Play boxes (without recorders) are few and far between these days ….. but I like Manhattan T4 because it has a sister version with-recorder (T4-R) that will offer minimum complexity of operation with all boxes across the house having the same heritage.  I’m 81 and my wife is 77 and we struggle with modern operation where grandchildren seem to prosper.

The challenge is how to connect the Manhattan T4 to the BV6-22 …. and yet preserve its 720p HD resolution.  I have a strong desire to achieve the best possible video resolution that the BV6-22 is capable of providing (HD 720p) ….. rather than an easier or less costly settling for lower resolution (SD 480p or 240p).

 

Option 1 ( combined video and sound pathway)

Manhattan T4, HDMI out  >   Cable 1  >  Box A  >  Cable 2  >  AV SCART Socket in BV6-22 .

Cable 1 = HDMI/HDMI

Box A = HDMI IN / RBG + L/R OUT

Cable 2 =  RGB + L/R Sound / SCART

 

Option 2 ( separated pathways for video and sound)

Manhattan T4 HDMI out  >  Cable 3  >  DVI-D Socket in BV6-22 ) ( video only)

+

Manhattan T4 Optical S/PDIF out  >  Cable 4  >  Box B  >  Cable 5  >  L/R IN on BV6-22 (audio only)

Cable 3 = HDMI/DVI-D

Cable 4 = Optical/ Optical

Box B = Optical IN /  L/R áudio OUT

Cable 5 = Stereo Audio  / Stereo Audio

 

Option 2 seems the easier video route, but I can’t really believe offering the BV6-22 a signal that comes out of an 8 million pixel sender straight into a 1 million pixel receiver will end up without considerable chaos.

Any comments, advice and recommendations would be much appreciated.

[Guy]

Hi and welcome to Beoworld!

I don’t have experience of BV6-22 but have connected hdmi devices to both BV6-26 and BV6-23 in the past, making use of the DVI-D input.

Have a read of my experiences of various hdmi audio extractors here:  https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/hdmi-connection-for-beovision-7-mk1/#post-33294

I have had most success with this device:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-HDMI2HDMI-Converter-Extractor-Splitter-White/dp/B079251VBJ

… and then an hdmi to dvi lead to connect to the TV’s DVI socket, plus a 3.5mm plug to 2 x phono lead to connect to the Beovision’s PC audio input sockets.

EDIT:  You then select the DVI/PC input by pressing PC on the Beo4 (you may need to add this to the LIST function).  If you have a Beolink 1000 remote then select PC by pressing SHIFT then STORE.

 

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 4 days ago by Guy.

[Mel Mackay]

Thank you , Guy.

It is amazingly comforting when you think you might have caused a guffaw by an outlandishly stupid idea …. and you discover someone else has executed it successfully, in principle at least.   So my focus will be on using the DVI connection …… but with misgivings about my ability to do whatever is necessary with the Beo4 to magic up “PC”.

I am still amazed that straight input from a device like your Apple TV, where the granularity at 1080p is higher than the capability of the TV, can be tolerated.  ….. as will occur in your BV6-23 case and my BV6-22, both being 720p.   I think your article put this down to manual selection of a setting in your Apple TV ( 720p @50Hz) …… and I have no idea if the Manhattan T4 offers such adjustment.  I’ll ask them what settings are available, if any.

As for stripping the audio out of the HDMI signal you had to perform, Manhattan has obviated this from being needed in my project as it has been done within the T4 by offering the optical S/PDIF audio out ….. and it’s just a matter of converting this to L/R audio ( there are converters out there to perform this conversion, from CYP for example).

In another thread you talked about a much more worrying aspect of HDMI signals – HDPC –  that is designed to prevent HDMI video signal transmission if the both the transmitter and receiver are not HDCP capable ….. which will surely be the case for something as old as my BV6-22.   Is this feature of the modern world not likely to be the job-stopper of all job-stoppers?

[Guy]

Mel Mackay wrote:

my ability to do whatever is necessary with the Beo4 to magic up “PC”.

You need to add the PC command to the LIST function, which should be possible in all but the oldest Beo4 remotes.

To do so, on the Beo4:

– Press Power (red dot) and LIST together, the display should read ADD?

– Press GO.

– Press LIST until the display shows PC, then press GO.

– PC should then be included under LIST.  Select using LIST button (press until PC shows) and then press GO

Mel Mackay wrote:

I think your article put this down to manual selection of a setting in your Apple TV ( 720p @50Hz) …… and I have no idea if the Manhattan T4 offers such adjustment.

I have never been 100% sure how the resolution matching works!  Perhaps there is some sort of handshake between TV and device, even over DVI.  I have always been happy to experiment, especially given the relatively low cost of the hdmi extractors.  It hasn’t always been necessary to ask the Apple TV to cycle through the output resolutions, so maybe this has happened automatically in some instances.

Mel Mackay wrote:

In another thread you talked about a much more worrying aspect of HDMI signals – HDPC –  that is designed to prevent HDMI video signal transmission if the both the transmitter and receiver are not HDCP capable ….. which will surely be the case for something as old as my BV6-22.   Is this feature of the modern world not likely to be the job-stopper of all job-stoppers?

Again there has been much trial and error in the ‘stripping out’ of the HDCP.  I think that the hdmi audio extractor to which I linked may well strip out HDCP – the seller doesn’t advertise this fact but HDCP stripping seems to be an unexpected bonus of some of the cheaper hdmi interfaces – some people have even had the same outcome when using an hdmi splitter, for example.

Good luck – happy to help where I can as your project develops!

[Author]

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