RLS7201 wrote:
Another option is a Dish VIP211K receiver. Yes, it's old school but it has HDMI, RCA and coax outputs. It also has USB for an external hard drive. The coax output is SD. The other 2 are HD. It works for us.
It does run a little warm, so I have a small, quiet, low output USB fan sitting on top of it to move a little air.
Richard
The VIP211K while is still able to be used for DISH, it isn't all that good of an option and finding good working units now days might be a shot in the dark at best.
What you said about "the other 2" being HD, that is misleading.
HDMI is the ONLY FULL HD output.
The RCA outputs are "composite" ANALOG SD 480i NTSC (yellow jack)
The other is Analog COMPONENT video which uses three RCA video connections marked Y, Pg, Pr.. Component video output is LIMITED to a resolution of 720p "HD". While 720p is an slight improvement over the SD 480i outputs, it isn't as good of "HD" as the HDMI output which is 1080i or 1080p..
Both analog composite and analog component inputs on most newer TVs have been removed, TV manufacturers are no longer including any legacy analog inputs, only HDMI inputs. So the reality is, if you wanted to use the component (Y, Pg, Pr) output you would need convert that to HDMI anyways adding another conversion box to the setup.
Basically the setup would be component (Y, Pg, Pr) to HDMI converter, then HDMI to coax, then Coax to HDMI to the TV.. and you would be limited to 720p..
So what, you say..
Well you can get full HD (1080i and 1080p) to the back TV by using a HDMI SPLITTER in the signal chain.
Basically HDMI in to the splitter, one HDMI out goes to front TV, second HDMI out goes to HDMI to coax converter, then coax converter to HDMI to the TV.. And now you can have same video quality as the front TV.
Not to mention, component video is a real pain with a total of 5 wires with 5 connections on each side..
Better to learn to deal with the HDMI quirks now days rather than dig up tire old obsolete equipment and using obsolete analog video.
HDMI splitters work fine..
