Can I get my AppleTV to speak Thunderbolt?
December 21, 2014 11:25 AM Subscribe
Trying to connect an AppleTV to a thunderbolt (a1407) monitor from Apple. The monitor has not HDMI in. A quick look around online mostly reveals naysayers but I am hoping the mighty hive mind can do better.
Are there any convertor boxes or hacky ways of doing this? I accept that there may not be an easy plug and play cable but "can't do it" doesn't seem acceptable yet.
Are there any convertor boxes or hacky ways of doing this? I accept that there may not be an easy plug and play cable but "can't do it" doesn't seem acceptable yet.
A converter box might work, like an Intensity, which says it can convert HDMI input to Thunderbolt output.
The Thunderbolt-to-HDMI adapter wouldn't work, not only because the genders of the connections are wrong, but mainly because it converts from Thunderbolt input (what comes out of a MacBook Air or Pro, for example) to HDMI output, and you want the other direction: HDMI input to Thunderbolt output.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:10 PM on December 21, 2014
The Thunderbolt-to-HDMI adapter wouldn't work, not only because the genders of the connections are wrong, but mainly because it converts from Thunderbolt input (what comes out of a MacBook Air or Pro, for example) to HDMI output, and you want the other direction: HDMI input to Thunderbolt output.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:10 PM on December 21, 2014
I dont think that Intensity box will work. Theres nothing specifically stated in the technical specs that says it outputs 'thunderbolt'. yes theres a port, but there's only one port and they advertise the thunderbolt connector as one of the ways you can transfer uncompressed 1080p video from a source.
you shouldn't think of the video signal as just 'thunderbolt'. like that adapter mentioned above is really a mini-display port adapter that is compatible with a thunderbolt port. ideally you want a doohickey that can convert a hdmi signal to a mini displayport signal. that probably exists, but the apple thunderbolt monitor officially isn't compatible with computers that only have displayport.
people have gotten it to work but they had to resort to some crazy hackery. there is an ars technica article about it here.
posted by sammich at 1:57 PM on December 21, 2014
you shouldn't think of the video signal as just 'thunderbolt'. like that adapter mentioned above is really a mini-display port adapter that is compatible with a thunderbolt port. ideally you want a doohickey that can convert a hdmi signal to a mini displayport signal. that probably exists, but the apple thunderbolt monitor officially isn't compatible with computers that only have displayport.
people have gotten it to work but they had to resort to some crazy hackery. there is an ars technica article about it here.
posted by sammich at 1:57 PM on December 21, 2014
HDMI2DP Plus this displayport adapter should work in theory.
posted by O9scar at 2:43 PM on December 21, 2014
posted by O9scar at 2:43 PM on December 21, 2014
That ars technica article is about adding a 2nd mini displayport screen at the end of the chain, i.e. mac thunderbolt port -> thunderbolt monitor -> mini DP monitor. i.e. the thunderbolt OUT (passthrough) not the thunderbolt IN. It's not relevant to this problem.
Thunderbolt is a combination of displayport and pci express in one serial signal; though it uses the same socket as mini displayport, it's not electrically backwards compatible with VGA, DVI/HDMI or displayport - it's specifically designed for high bandwidth pci-e based data connections, with display port video as only one part. A simple cable certainly won't cut it; you'd need to modern equivalent of the VGA -> HDMI scan converters, with the active electronics to fake a thunderbolt output.
This particular monitor has no backwards compatible input options, either as separate sockets or multipurpose socket - it's literally thunderbolt in or nothing, it won't take plain mini displayport.
There's plenty of options for going the other way, i.e. thunderbolt in -> hdmi out with and without hdmi output support on the thunderbolt computer of course, but that's not what's needed.
The intensity box won't work; it's a capture/playthrough device, not a transcoder to thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is used for the data connection to the mac, and power, not video output to a display device - compare it to the USB 3 version, and both USB 3 and thunderbolt are under the 'computer interface' not the output section.
I've spent half an hour looking, and not found a single signal converter that does thunderbolt out. Which frankly makes sense, as this may well be the only thunderbolt display out there. It's just not intended as a general purpose display tech, that's what displayport or hdmi are for - and you'd expect a monitor to take alternative input types, which of course, this one doesn't.
While I can't rule out such a box existing, it's going to be damn rare and specialised, and I think you may need to bite the bullet and buy a mac mini with thunderbolt or the like to drive this thing. It's just not a general purpose monitor.
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:55 PM on December 21, 2014
Thunderbolt is a combination of displayport and pci express in one serial signal; though it uses the same socket as mini displayport, it's not electrically backwards compatible with VGA, DVI/HDMI or displayport - it's specifically designed for high bandwidth pci-e based data connections, with display port video as only one part. A simple cable certainly won't cut it; you'd need to modern equivalent of the VGA -> HDMI scan converters, with the active electronics to fake a thunderbolt output.
This particular monitor has no backwards compatible input options, either as separate sockets or multipurpose socket - it's literally thunderbolt in or nothing, it won't take plain mini displayport.
There's plenty of options for going the other way, i.e. thunderbolt in -> hdmi out with and without hdmi output support on the thunderbolt computer of course, but that's not what's needed.
The intensity box won't work; it's a capture/playthrough device, not a transcoder to thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is used for the data connection to the mac, and power, not video output to a display device - compare it to the USB 3 version, and both USB 3 and thunderbolt are under the 'computer interface' not the output section.
I've spent half an hour looking, and not found a single signal converter that does thunderbolt out. Which frankly makes sense, as this may well be the only thunderbolt display out there. It's just not intended as a general purpose display tech, that's what displayport or hdmi are for - and you'd expect a monitor to take alternative input types, which of course, this one doesn't.
While I can't rule out such a box existing, it's going to be damn rare and specialised, and I think you may need to bite the bullet and buy a mac mini with thunderbolt or the like to drive this thing. It's just not a general purpose monitor.
posted by ArkhanJG at 2:55 PM on December 21, 2014
Yeah, my suggestion is unlikely to work. I had a friend with an older non-thunderbolt MacBook attempt to hook it up to a Thunderbolt Display (via mini displayport). It didn't work.
posted by O9scar at 3:36 PM on December 21, 2014
posted by O9scar at 3:36 PM on December 21, 2014
Teranex
More Connections
When working in high end formats such as 4:4:4 and 3D, the Teranex 3D Processor includes dual SD/HD and 3 Gb/s SDI input and output for dual link 4:4:4 as well as single link 3 Gb/s SDI 4:4:4. The dual channels also allow true full resolution left and right eye 3D processing where both eyes are converted at the same time in perfect sync! When running true full resolution dual stream 3D, the HDMI connection and Thunderbolt capture and playback support dual stream 3D via the single cable.
Specifications
Computer Interface
Thunderbolt port for capture and playback of video and audio. USB 2.0 mini B port for software updates and configuration.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:21 PM on December 22, 2014
More Connections
When working in high end formats such as 4:4:4 and 3D, the Teranex 3D Processor includes dual SD/HD and 3 Gb/s SDI input and output for dual link 4:4:4 as well as single link 3 Gb/s SDI 4:4:4. The dual channels also allow true full resolution left and right eye 3D processing where both eyes are converted at the same time in perfect sync! When running true full resolution dual stream 3D, the HDMI connection and Thunderbolt capture and playback support dual stream 3D via the single cable.
Specifications
Computer Interface
Thunderbolt port for capture and playback of video and audio. USB 2.0 mini B port for software updates and configuration.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:21 PM on December 22, 2014
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:05 PM on December 21, 2014