Need help with 950 video setup

Hello All,

Just moved and now have the ultimate Man cave but having a hard time setting up my 950 video wise. Audio is fine but video is no go. Here is my system:
Outlaw Audio 950 pre / pro
Samsung Direct Tv box
Mac mini Computer with add on blu-ray drive
Adcom 2535 rear and center channel amplifier
Adcom 555 II front channel amplifier
Boston Acoustics 670 front speakers
Boston Acoustics D50 rear speakers
Polk Audio CS250-S center channel
Infinity 12" powered Subwoofer
Monster Cable speaker and interconnects
Direct TV is hooked up to video one with HDMI to component video cable source is video one audio is coaxial digital cable.
mac mini is hooken up with dvi to component video cable. Source is DVD and audio is analog until my digital cable arrives.
Video out is component video out to RGB in on BENQ DLP projector

When system was powered up, projector searched for input and mac mini displayed for 5 seconds and then projector when into search mode and no longer could find a signal. Audio for both inputs worked fine.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If I hook the Direct TV box directly into the projector, picture is perfect.

Thanks for your help.

John Appleby

Direct TV is hooked up to video one with HDMI to component video cable source is video one audio is coaxial digital cable.
mac mini is hooken up with dvi to component video cable. Source is DVD and audio is analog until my digital cable arrives.
Video out is component video out to RGB in on BENQ DLP projector


Please clarify the above because it is hard to decipher what is connected where and to what. In general, HDMI and the handshake is tricky. The other issue may be length of the HDMI cable. Also it seems the mini-Mac is not outputting a signal after being sensed by the PJ. Since the DTV box works woth the PJ I would strongly suspect the mini-Mac.

Hook up is as follows:
Direct TV Satallite Box connected to 950 component Video 1 input with HDMI To Component Video cable. Audio is Coaxial to digital input 1
Mac Mini connected to 950 component DVD input with DVI to Component video cable. Audio is analog until optical cable comes in mail
Output from 950 is component Video output to RGB input on Benq projector.
HDMI cable is 3 feet long
DVI cable is 3 feet long
Projector cable is 25 feet long.
IF Direct TV Box is connected directly to the 25' cable , picture is perfect
Audio works on all components, only video is the issue. Is there setup involved on the front panel of the 950 for video output?

Can you connect the Mac Mini directly to the BenQ PJ? I suspect the problem is the HDMI video signal is not getting to the PJ because of the DRM restrictions of HDMI. Did this setup work before you moved?

The HDMI cable is connected to the Direct tv box. If I hook up the Direct TV box with component video to a component video input, it works, with the HDMI to component Video cable, it does not. I have not tried to hook up the Mac Mini with a DVI to RGB Adaptor and then RGB directly into the projector. My feeling is it will. Are these other inputs "Digital" where as Component Video and RGB are "Analog and wont communicate?

The video output through HDMI is digital and probably does not translate into the component jacks too well. Does your PJ have an HDMI input you can use? If not then RGB is your only choice.

DVI has RGB pins resevered in the connector so in theory you're adapter cable can just break out the analog and display it.

HMDI does not have any analog output pins so you need some sort of D/A converter and encoder to change the digital back to analog for display.

I'd probably just stick with the component (RGB) connections all the way through the chain for the Direct TV. Taking HDMI 3 ft then converting to analog probably isn't going to give you any performance advantage unless the analog circuitry in you Direct box really sucks. Wire up the component cables to the 950 and let it do the switching. This will tell you if you have a problem with the 950 since the Direct box to projector interface works stand alone.

The problem with the Mac Mini might be resolution related. Does the BenQ support resolutions of 1080p? If it only handles 720p or 1080i and you're giving it 1080p it won't lock on. You didn't say what model you have but I know BenQ makes some lower res models.

Hope this helps.

Others have touched on this, but what device are you using to convert HDMI to component? This is not a basic conversion. DVI cables can include both digital and analog connectors, but they are separate paths - digital video and analog video paths contained within a single cable, but without any "mixing" between the two. The DVI to RGB adapter may work if the video output of the Mac Mini includes both analog and digital signals from the DVI connector. HDMI is purely digital, with some significant copy protection limits. Component video is purely analog.