# HDVI to F-plug conversion



## ship (Mar 19, 2014)

For years I had Comcast.... (borg) and basically wired up my entire house for the F-Plug and or RCA jack analog system in a pre-HD TV system they provided. Always wondered why my parents had better cable boxes and a more advanced system than I had, just found out that I wasn’t paying more money for such a thing. Still though my system well off some F-Plug switchers, boosters and VCR’s in two DVR boxes controlling speakers and like five TV’s. I sub-divided various rooms or speakers for analog and all worked really cool. HD able TV’s worked just fine off the old system as with other stuff... lots of stuff and switchable between cable boxes for the remote Garage location I most watch in.
Recently found out that because I didn’t "Bundle" my internet basic channels with internet, I was paying like $80.00 per month extra for like seven or eight years in doing so. Sorry, I didn’t know I could as it wasn’t offered when I added internet to my account many years ago. My Wife (a few years after I bought the house and Comcast) is now our finances manager and amongst other reasons she quit the Comcast and we installed "Dish" Network and a separate but linked "Frontier" company for phone and internet on a two year contract.
Dish we found out don’t give the "extra HD TV" stations locally that Comcast at least gave many of - not cool in I mostly watch the local stations. Only after I installed a 50 Mile HD antenna and added a booster to it given like 60 or more miles from Chicago did I find extra stations Comcast didn’t even provide. Don’t get all the local stations with the antenna, but get most that I was really watching. Also on Dish I lost most of the basic cable stations channels I was watching in making it almost useless for me as a network of channels. You don’t have DIY or Military History Channel or most History type channels in a basic package?
I can work around and already have the back and forth F-Plug type wiring established in the house given an analog (apparently F-plug is analog) to wire up everything as long as my "best you could buy" in like 1998 continues working as the hub for my system. Worked fine as a system, only problem is the Dish Network system powers up stuff by way of HDMI type plugs.... Best Buy sold me another antenna adaptor than on return told me there was no such thing as a HDMI to F-Plug converter. Really???
All I need to do is to convert the HDMI plug to a F-Plug and if necessary with an antenna adaptor in theory I could adapt if such a concept of antenna adaptor would work but than again might not sense channels. Or better yet is there a such thing as a HDMI to analog adaptor that does the analog adaption? If not, why not? And or why not in especially Dish guys saying it cannot be done so you basically are screwed for the network you established. Gee thanks.
Really want back the washroom TV, this much less want to just switch between antenna and satellite in making this system work how it did in the past especially for my workshop.


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## museav (Mar 19, 2014)

An 'F' connector is used with coax cable that has a single center conductor with a coaxial shield. The 'F' connector and coax cable are simply a connector and cable and they can conceivably work with either analog or digital signals. However, a typical consumer HDMI cable consists of four shielded, twisted pairs (for the TMDS data and clock) along with 7 other conductors. So you can see why no simple adapter would work - one conductor and one shield versus four shielded, twisted pairs and 7 other conductors.

Converting a digital HDMI signal to analog gets into potential digital content protection issues and thus legal converters would typically be limited to providing lower resolution 480i SD outputs and/or rejecting encrypted content. There are devices like the HD Fury devices that convert HDMI to HD resolution analog VGA or component video but they get around the legal issues by saying they are intended to convert analog inputs on video displays into HDMI inputs, thus they are converting the input and not providing a high res analog output, thus they are illegal to use to convert the HDMI signal to HD resolution analog for any other purpose. And VGA or component video requires at least three to five coax cables while you have just one. And that's just the video, we haven't even touched on the audio or Ethernet aspect of HDMI.

One option I can think of that might work would be something like a ZVpro810 (ZvPro 820 & ZvPro 810 | ZeeVee.com) or a ZVpro610 (ZvPro 620 & ZvPro 610 | ZeeVee.com) with an appropriate HD Fury device on the component input located at your source with the ZeeVee box's output connected to your coax system. If you have more than one source or 'channel' that you want available then the ZeeVeepro620/820 are two channel devices.
You would then also need ATSC HD tuners, either standalone or integrated in the devices, at each destination. The ZVpro810/820 is essentially a HDMI to RF (which is where the 'F' connectors is used) converter but it is limited to unencrypted content, any AACS/HDXP encrypted content will not be converted.


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## ship (Mar 19, 2014)

Sounds like I wait two years to get back to the Borg or another supplier. In the mean time I'll work on patching the HD antenna into the rest of the main TV's in the house which will at least let me get the missing local stations. Right now the antenna is in the 1st floor garage attic and I get 37 channels (half of them useful), this summer I'll probably move it into the second floor attic and see what I get than pipe it into the other sources. Won't be able to watch cable as it were in my work shop but at least I can get the news in the washroom while getting ready for work in the morning.

On the same front, I'll also be working on my Brother In' Law's HD antenna system. Luckily he is allot closer to the city than I am but he currently has his antennas on windows pointed away from the city. Given the in the attic system worked for me, think we will try it with him and point it to the signal. Question on this though... he has multiple mediium to lower grade antennas about the house, would bundling them in an array in the attic than combining them into one help reception? Or would it be better to just use the best one he has and or buy a good grade antenna?


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## Bubby4j (Mar 20, 2014)

One thing you can do, if you're not already, is on some Dish receivers you can connect the antenna to the receiver. You can then watch antenna on your Dish receiver and even record to it.


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