Using a media device through High Life Entertainment's RCA connection

Here is your cut-out-and-keep step by step photographic guide to using your portable media device with New First High Life Entertainment, using the RCA (or Composite) connection. Note HDMI cables do not work with BA's systems. If this is unintelligible already, you may want to jump to the next thread!

In other words, this allows you to watch, on the big New First AVOD screen, programmes such as videos, games and DVDs which lurk on your MP3 player, games console, phone, camera or DVD player. Thales' upgraded AVOD in CW and WT+ can also take the RCA feed, albeit on a smaller screen than First. WT get a video connector. Please see sammyh25's posting below (number 13) for details of RCA availability.

You can also use the USB socket to display pictures from your camera / laptop / phone etc - which has a different set-up process.

Now I've long wanted to try this out, but you need to bring with you quite a lot of items, and up until now the planets never quite lined up for me, for one reason or another. However today we were allocated 777-200 G-VIIA, my AVOD was fully working in NF, and just for once I had all the right equipment with me. G-VIIA is an interesting 'plane, because though it is a 200 series, it has the 300ER range interior fitted.

These instructions are specifically for Android devices - they all more or less work the same way, and other platforms work in a similar manner.

Equipment list
So you need the following availabe in the cabin:
- A suitable media player with RCA output. In my case it's a Cowon D3 Media Player running Android Gingerbread 2.3.3. Other platforms, including from the Apple stable, are known to work.
- Video / DVD / Games playback software on the player which can be redirected to RCA.
- A 3 or 4 pin RCA cable (see photo below)
- Media to watch. In my case it's some music videos, but it could be a DVD or a game. High Life Entertainment isn't bothered about formats, it just needs to be playable on your device.
- Optionally: a power supply for the media player (particularly if you are going to spend a long time watching something, though your device will save energy if the video display switches off in favour of the AVOD screen). Luckily the New First power system takes UK 3 pin, US 2 and 3 pin and European 2 pin and some 3 pin plugs directly.
- Probably: headphones. On 747-400 and standard 777-200 the sound is not re-routed via the BA system, so you need to get the sound from your device. Even if the BA system does pick up the sound, be aware of the risk of sodcasting - see below.
- Plus a suitable BA airplane with updated and working AVOD, ideally New First.

So here's the first photo, showing my Android Cowon D3 device and RCA Composite cable. Note that my cable has 4 pins but only 3 are needed. You need red, white and yellow, the orange pin is not required and is left unplugged. My Shure earphone is on the left, the RCA lead is in the middle.


Setting up the cables
In most New First (747-400 and 777-200) the RCA cable socket is obvious - it's right under the screen. On the 777-300 it's hidden away by the magazines to the side of the seat, just fore of the lamp and aft of the table. You may need to move the magazines to see this.




Plug the RCA cable into your device, then into the High Life sockets, from left it goes red, white, yellow. Leave orange unplugged if you have that.


Setting up your Android device
This section is Android platform specific, but other devices work in a similar way.

1) Start playing the media on your device, in this case Dry the River's video for their song "New Ceremony".


2) Press the middle Menu button (the one with 2 overlaying windows symbol) and then Settings (bottom right).


3) Drop down to View Settings and switch the AV OUT setting to Composite (not HDMI) and the Composite setting to NTSC. It also works with PAL, but you get a smaller screen display.


4) Press the big Back button (with the return arrow on it), if necessary restart play back so you are back to step 1. Press the middle Menu button again, as in Step 2, but this time press AV OUT (top right). Your device screen may well go blank.


Setting up High Life Entertainment system
5) Press the Home button either to the side of the screen or on the remote.
6) Use the touch screen or remote to move to My Devices


7) Then select RCA


8) You then get this screen, press the yellow start button (or the tick in the middle of the remote dial).


9) The screen goes blank for a second or two and then bingo! Dry the River appears on the big screen.




Don't forget to remove and re-pack your cables before leaving the 'plane!

Sound comments
On 747-400 and 777-200 the sound does not route through the BA High Life Entertainment system, so you have to listen on your device. On 777-300 the sound is available through the BA supplied headphones once plugged in, or you can use your own headphones - the lower / bigger pin socket. However if you do that, make sure you are not inadvertently sodcasting (playing back noise from the device's external speaker(s)) by dint of removing your headphones from your device. Also there is a small sound quality reduction and a slight background hum from the BA sound system, which I suspect many people would not notice. See also Sammyh25's posting below regarding sound.

For reference - the BA card text (bit more concise than this thread!).