Customer Reviews

Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I originally made the mistake of assuming that an HD satellite box in Europe (Sweden) would on my Samsung 52" HD TV from the U.S. Wouldn't it be nice if HD was just HD? I guess the refresh rate is different or the base resolution of the HD box is 576 or something like that but ultimately they weren't able to talk to each other.

So I had one of these converters sent to me and it solved the problem. Installation involved nothing more than connecting HDMI cables to the input and output and plugging it in. Hi-def channels look great and Standard Def channels look as mediocre as they always have.

The unit includes a transformer for all power sources (110-240v, 50/60hz) plus 4 plug adapters for use in the U.S., U.K., the European mainland and one that I think is for China/Australia (with 2 angled, flat prongs). The unit is also pretty small at about 6"x4"x1".

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this little converter.

We live overseas and brought our US televisions with us. Of course PAL video doesn't display on our TV so we bought the Altona HDMI converter box. It's easy to hook up. We plugged our cable box to the Altona converter and out to our TV. The picture and sound doesn't lose any quality at all. You can also easily use it if you had a DVD player you bought overseas. Great product.

Finally, I'm able to use the TV I bought from US in India. I always knew about the PAL vs NTSC issue, but I thought this was a non-issue with HD programming(since the resolution was the same everywhere). Only after hooking up my Sun HD satellite box, i discovered that does not work either. Ordered this from Amazon and it works pretty well. HD channels look great, and SD quality is acceptable.

Bought a Sony 47''TV, taken to India and found that only the regular A/V output work well and not the HDMI. Even the regular a/v had a creepy display where 1/3 of the display is hidden. Bought this product and i'm a one happy HD viewer. You won't know the feeling unless you were stuck for few months with that creepy display, and an "Unsupported Signal" error for your HDMI input. Would highly recommend this product for those who buy TVs from U.S and take them to Europe/Asia. Oh, did I mention about the multi voltage power adapter that it comes with? Well done Atlona.

I had brought a TV from the US to India and was stumped when I realised that the cable set top boxes over here didn't do the PAL to NTSC conversion for analog signal and frequency conversion for signals over HDMI(50/60).

After some hunting around I zeroed in on this one. Lemme list out the the pluses and minuses that I found after using this for a few months:

Pros of this product:

1) Comes with a power adaptor for 110 as well as 230 V.
2) Easy to set up. Connect the cables and you are ready.
3) Slim non intrusive design. Good build.
4) Does the job well for HD content.

Cons:

1) SD content conversion needs a lot to be desires. Not sure why this is so though. Probably the losses in conversion are more visible in low res SD content.
2) Gets pretty hot.
3) One weird problem is that it keeps dropping sound intermittently. There is no problem in vdo. This is the most irritating thing in this box. Luckily I also have Home theater set up which gets audio directly from the cable box. So sound is not missed over there. But when I am playing the audio only through the TV....
4) Not sure about their warranty outside the States. With the audio problem coming in, I am a little concerned about the overall quality and how long it will last.

Over all its an OK product. I guess there are other products available for a cheaper price but not sure about their quality.

Purchased the convertor in attempt to take our family-loved US 60-inch plasma television (NTSC) to the UK (PAL) with us on our recent military move. We did not know what to expect in regards to its performance when we purchased it, but having hooked it up, it works amazingly. Simply plugged the HDMI cable from the Sky UK cable box into the convertor and then another HDMI from the convertor to the TV. It automatically configures for the best picture (in our case 1080p). TV picture is amazing. Convertor is small and make absolutely no hum or sound. I even tested the optical sound via an optical cord, and it works great for those who don't want the sound via the HDMI. Best little device ever in my opinion. In fact, many of our friends have purchased them since witnessing the performance in our living room. Perfect device for US military as it will convert between almost all worldwide TV frequencies.

I have a Panasonic HD Plasma TV (model no. TH-50PX75U) which we moved with us from the U.S. to Singapore. I had thought that since it had an HDMI connection that it would work with the local cable. We have a Starhub HD cable box and after several visits from Starhub it was determined that the issue was with the TV. So, I (and my father) began to research and both came to the conclusion that the Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter was the answer. I put in my order on Amazon and waited. Luckily in the meantime we had a second TV which was purchased new locally that the landlord had provided. Once the converter arrived, I plugged it in as described in the manual and nothing. So, I contacted Atlona customer service who had me switch HDMI cables, switch HDMI inputs, had me reset the converter and nothing worked. Finally they had me take the converter to the local TV we had been provided by the landlord. Once I did this I was able to see a picture through the converter and bring up the converter's menu. I went into the "OUTPUT" section of the menu and then selected "720p@60Hz" (which is the input my U.S. TV accepts) which set the converter to always convert to 720p@60Hz. This made it stop working on the Singapore TV, but when I re-connected it to the U.S. TV, it finally worked. So, in the end this solved our problem, but it wasn't as easy as just plugging it in. I am not sure what we would have done if we didn't have that second TV. I made a suggestion to Atlona to allow access to the menu even when a signal wasn't coming through, but they told me that wasn't possible. In the end, my U.S. TV is working in Singapore so I am happy.

Easy to install and works perfectly with NTSC TV bought in US and now using in India where PAL system is used

After relocating from the USA back to Germany, I took my Toshiba Regza LCD TV that could only handle NTSC frame rates with me. The TV has got HDMI and I wanted to connect a German standard Set top box (Telekom Media receiver 300)over HDMI with it.
Technicians from the Hotline ensured HDMI is a world wide standard, but it is in fact just a cable plug. the box could only handle PAL frame rates (50 Hz).

So I bought the Atlona instead of a new TV and I can say it does a very good job! HDMI (US) -> HDMI (Europe).
The HD signal must be converted somehow so I guess there is a small loss in HD quality but honestly I cannot see a difference.

Ever since I moved to Dubai (and its PAL TV system) I've been looking for a solution to use the 58" Panasonic plasma (NTSC) HDTV I bought in the US just before I was transferred. I stumbled across this Atlona product and was dubious that it could output the quality I expected (and was used to). But I shouldn't have doubted - it's excellent (and worth the expedited shipping charges from the US to Dubai)!! I now have local HD channels filling my 58" screen. The Atlona unit is connected between my (IPTV) cable box and my Onkyo receiver, which connects to the TV via HDMI also. And it worked flawlessly straight out of the box.
Don't forget to buy two HDMI cables as you'll need one into the Atlona box from the cable box and one out of it to your TV (or receiver). And don't pay the exorbitant prices at the retail stores for their "gold-plated" cables - check around online for cheaper cables (they won't compromise the quality - at least not in any way that I notice).
There is a "menu" feature on the Atlona that is a little clunky to use but, as you'll only need it infrequently, it is no big deal.
Now that I have the NTSC signal out of my cable box, my next task will be to run it through a TV Tuner on my Home Theater PC....another day's work