Using the HDMI port on my rMBP to drive VGA equipment

[Manuel1975]

Hi Guys,

 

I want to use the hdmi port on my retina macbook pro to drive video projectors over a vga connection.

 

What adapter should I use?

 

Ive bought a Standard belkin hdmi to vga adapter from the apple site and it does not work. Screen starts flickering like crazy and computer start switching between dedicated and integrated gpu. Ive contacted Belkin support about that problem and om not asking for support on this...

 

BUT..

 

I am wondering if one of you guys have managed to get this working already and if so which adapter you a re using?

 

Hope you can Help. Thanks!

 

Manuel

[Richard Simpson]

Hi Guys,

 

I want to use the hdmi port on my retina macbook pro to drive video projectors over a vga connection.

 

What adapter should I use?

 

Ive bought a Standard belkin hdmi to vga adapter from the apple site and it does not work. Screen starts flickering like crazy and computer start switching between dedicated and integrated gpu. Ive contacted Belkin support about that problem and om not asking for support on this...

 

BUT..

 

I am wondering if one of you guys have managed to get this working already and if so which adapter you a re using?

 

Hope you can Help. Thanks!

 

Manuel

 

 

Displayport to VGA is the normal way to go

[Manuel1975]

With only two thunderbolt ports available and no utp port (!) having the option to use the hdmi port to send video to a projector is sometimes extremely practical.

[Richard Simpson]

With only two thunderbolt ports available and no utp port (!) having the option to use the hdmi port to send video to a projector is sometimes extremely practical.

 

In that case use the thunderbolt mini display port to VGA http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB572Z/B/mini-displayport-to-vga-adapter?fnode=51

 

The HDMI port is usually a bit flakey in practice

[Manuel1975]

Hi Richard,

 

Im using the thunderbolt to vga adapter very regularly and although I might have put the initial question in a very simple format I'm very experienced in video technology. Thank you for you input but the question im asking in this thread is:

 

"Using the HDMI port on my rMBP to drive VGA equipment'.

 

let's stick to that please?

 

Your saying that the HDMi port behaves a little flakey. Could you elaborate on that?

[Richard Simpson]

Hi Richard,

 

Im using the thunderbolt to vga adapter very regularly and although I might have put the initial question in a very simple format I'm very experienced in video technology. Thank you for you input but the question im asking in this thread is:

 

"Using the HDMI port on my rMBP to drive VGA equipment'.

 

let's stick to that please?

 

Your saying that the HDMi port behaves a little flakey. Could you elaborate on that?

 

All I can say is that on several different Macs using Apples HDMI to DVI adapter we found that the slightest touch on the connector at the Mac would disrupt the signal. We went back to Displayport as it was too easy to touch the HDMI plug whilst operating. I hope this helps.

 

Regards Richard

[TonyMitchell]

Other than on a couple of rack mounted DVD players, we try to avoid HDMI in a professional environment, for several reasons - the comparatively flimsy connector, limitations over cable length and potential blank screens c/o HDCP issues.

[Manuel1975]

Some more background:

 

In my regular setup I use the thunderbolt to network adapter and (sometimes) I use my Blackmagic Ultrastudio Express to capture sdi or HDMI. In this scenario all my thunderbolt ports are used and I would like to use the hdmi port to send video to the projector and since most projectors installations are VGA I need a HDMI to VGA adapter which works.

 

Has anybody found a reliable HDMI to VGA converter?

[TonyMitchell]

Has anybody found a reliable HDMI to VGA converter?

 

Any decent Presentation Switcher will do what you want. We use Kramer VP728 & 729.

If your budget doesn't stretch to a Switcher, a Kramer VP-422 is what you're looking for...

http://www.kramerelectronics.co.uk/products/model.asp?pid=1710#1

[Manuel1975]

Any decent Presentation Switcher will do what you want. We use Kramer VP728 & 729.

If your budget doesn't stretch to a Switcher, a Kramer VP-422 is what you're looking for...

http://www.kramerelectronics.co.uk/products/model.asp?pid=1710#1

 

Thanks Tony!

 

A tad bit expensive, about 5 x the adapter I had in mind, and according to a friend of mine it does not handle HDCP wel. Do you know more about that?

 

It seems that If one of the components in the chains does not support HDCP apple kills the image feed. I think this might be the case with the HDMI to VGA adapter I bought to begin with. BTW: I've been on the phone with apple NL and they are picking the adapter up and refunding me. Killer service.

 

One other person recommended this little bugger:

 

http://www.hdfury.eu/en/home/1-hdfury-2.html

 

As I understand:

It strips the HDCP from the signal and makes shure that your video signal will work with all components. To be honest I don't mind HDCP but if it makes hdmi unreliable this might be a solution...

 

Does anybody have some experiences with the HD fury products?

[LxAV]

Hi guys,

 

On using a scaler like the Kramer VP-728/729, these should be HDCP compliant so should work, but quite pricey.

I have worked a lot with a Kramer VP-725N that is NOT HDCP compliant, lots and lots of problems especially with Mac's..

 

Mac's have a lot of issues with HDCP, it seems they insist all devices connected to be HDCP compliant regardless of the end device.

On top of this most Mac's (not all it seems, adding to the confusion) are very strickt about EDID communication. Not all VGA devices will work if the EDID isn't up to apple's expectations and VGA cables that don't have pin 4&9 (I believe) connected will give problems as well.

 

I think this is what's causing your problems with your Belkin HDMI-VGA adapter, it might output VGA perfectly but doesn't feed the EDID info from your display properly to your Mac's videocard, resulting in your video card refusing to initialize it's output.

 

I've tested a similar adapter by StarTech today and it didn't work on a brand new 2014 MacBookPro 15" Retina GeForce 750, neither in OSX or Win7 (bootcamp).

The same adapter worked flawless on a pc laptop.

http://sgcdn.startech.com/005329/media/products/gallery_large/HD2VGAE2.main.jpg

 

After this I grabbed a Dr. HDMI made by the folks over at HDfury.com and connected it to the DVI port of a display of which I knew could handle up to 1080p resolutions (and a seperate mini usb power adapter), stored that display's EDID in the Dr.HDMI on position 8. Connected the Dr. HDMI to the mac, connected the StarTech HDMI to VGA adapter via VGA to the display and voila! VGA output from the HDMI port of a MacBook Pro Retina 15" GeForce 750. I just sent you a picture of the setup.

http://www.hdfury.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/DRHDMI-1.jpg

 

I totally advice to use an EDID Reminder like the Dr. HDMI. Not only to get VGA out of your MacBook's HDMI output but also since you will be working in different venues everyday, not knowing if the venue's in-house VGA cable actually has pins4&9 for EDID communication connected OR if the in-house projector transmits an EDID signal your MacBook will acknowledge. Use a display of which you know it supports everything you need once to record it's EDID and your set for every situation.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Alex Boonstra

[AHYoung]

To actually undertand why its a problem, you need to understand what its there for - HDCP is there to stop anyone making a direct copy of and encrypted source and effectively the source talks to the various devices connected and if they are a non hdcp device it simply turns off. Switchers , scalers Matrix Das etc can all pass the information back down the line and as long as the only sink or final device is complient, its all fine. However there is no such thing as a hdcp complient analoque monitor and so you cant get vga from a hdcp protected system. plug a vga monitor into a protected system and it wont work as its an unknown device and as far as the Hollywood film cos who foisted this upon us are concerned if they don't know what it is turn it off it could be a recorder.

 

so in essence its simply impossible to get a hdcp enabled hdmi output to display on a hdmi - vga adaptor. If you turn the hdcp on your mac off it should work fine, but macs have a tedious habit of enabeling hdcp when you least expect it and therefor no display. The normal work around is to turn the hdcp off on a scaler or similar and that way it stops the mac from enableing it. - you wont be able to play protected content, but why would you want to, and it wont suddenly stop working.

 

The hd fury edid minder wont help you with hdcp, it can be usefull if you need to force a resolution, but you can always just go into display properties and uncheck "best for display" to select directly...

 

Nb if you want to be correct, on a vga connector the monitor information is carried over pins 11, 12 and 15. not 4 and 9...

 

 

 

[Nick Mawer]

PM me if you want a copy of the White Paper that Kramer has published explaining how to work with the peculiar - (almost unique) way that Apple have implemented HDCP in their products.

As AHYoung says above - it won't solve the fundamental issue of HDCP, that you can not legally strip it and output analogue, but you can stop Apple devices from outputting in HDCP mode when it is not strictly necessary.