Lightning to HDMI adapter > HDMI-to-RCA converter > ATI60... squished image

[Darryl In Canada]

I am trying to output video from an iPhone to a video capture card. To accomplish this I bought:

• Lightning to HDMI adapter
• HDMI to RCA/S-Video converter

I am able to capture the iPhone screen (and videos) on the capture card in VirtualDub (720x480, NTSC), however image is squished, that is, things look more narrow (and skinny) than they should. This is the workflow: iPhone > Lightning to HDMI adapter > HDMI cable out > HDMI-to-RCA device > RCA cable out > ATI600.


I did these tests to try to isolate which hardware is causing the problem.

1. iPhone > Lightning to HDMI adapter > HDMI cable out to > LCD TV. The resulting image is perfect. So, the Lightning to HDMI adapter seems to be working as expected.

2. DVD player > HDMI cable out > HDMI-to-RCA device > RCA out > ATI600. The result is good. The video from the DVD appears properly. No one is squshed.

It appears, then, that both of these devices works well on their own. But when used together, I get a bad result.


P.S. I have also tried adding a VCR to the mix and recording to a VHS tape, and then outputing to the capture card. But it doesn't overcome the final squished output.

[Alwyn]

What frame size are you outputting from the iphone? 4:3 or 16:9? I suspect that that would have a bearing on the HDMI-RCA device. Even a 16:9 DVD, I understand, has a frame size of 720x480 or 720x576, so that may invalidate test No 2 if you're outputting 16:9 from the iphone.

Out of interest, what's the purpose of this process?

[Darryl In Canada]

The Lighting-to-HDMI device displays whatever is displayed on the iPhone. On my iPhone 14, the ratio is 1170 x 2532, which is 21:9. My brain hurts when thinking about the ratios. But I'll try... if the iPhone is displaying 21:9, which is wider than 16:9, then the only way for the HDMI-to-RCA converter to deal with this input is to squish the image, which is then passed along to the capture card, and that's why I see it squished? Is that correct?

I'm trying to find a fast workflow to send modern iPhone videos to a VCR and then to a capture card (with or without recording to a tape/playing back the tape as an extra step). Someone would like to VHS-ify their footage in a realistic way that is better than the various modern filters. I would prefer not convert to MPEG2 and make a DVD-Video, and then play that DVD-Video to a VHS tape. I thought the iPhone method would be faster and avoid the effect of the MPEG2 compression on the video.

[Alwyn]

Interesting workflow.

I tried a 16:9 DVD in DVD Player>HDMI Out>HDMI2AV converter>Composite Out>GV-USB2 digitiser with AmarecTV and it came out as expected, a correct 16:9 video a 4:3 frame with black bars top and bottom. I also tried it via a VHC tape and got the same.

My converter is this one:

[Attachment 85366 - Click to enlarge]

I don't know where your flow is failing.