Mac Mini + PC Workstation + Plasma TV

In my living room, I have a 1.83GHz Intel Mac Mini hooked up to my plasma TV and I'm using it as a media server. I use an Apple wireless keyboard and a wireless Mighty Mouse to control the Mini.
In a room across my house (everything is networked with wi-fi) I have a quad core PC Workstation with 8GB of RAM and a 1GB video card running Windows XP. I use the PC to work in Autodesk 3ds max, which is a Windows-only application.
I'd like a to have some sexy way to work on my PC workstation from my couch. I'd like to somehow access it through the Mini so I can do my 3ds max work on my plasma TV.
I considered using Synergy (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) but that is only a keyboard and mouse sharing solution. I also want to share the display (my plasma TV). Also, I don't want to physically move the PC into the living room if I can avoid it. I considered physically hooking both machines up to the TV using DVI>HDMI and just between switching TV inputs depending on what computer I want to use, but I don't like that...it's too limiting. Maybe I want to listen to iTunes on the Mini while I'm working on the PC.
So now I'm thinking that Remote Desktop or VNC might be the best way to go. Something that is absolutely critical is that I make HEAVY use keyboard shortcuts in 3ds max on my Windows XP machine. So I'm concerned that no matter what solution I end up using, I may have problems using the Apple wireless keyboard and wireless mighty mouse to do professional, hot key-intensive work in the Windows XP environment.
Given the situation, what would you recommend?

I'd like a to have some sexy way to work on my PC workstation from my couch. I'd like to somehow access it through the Mini so I can do my 3ds max work on my plasma TV.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/remote-desktop/default.mspx

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Mac mini mid 2011 toslink audio

i bought a cambridge audio stereo amplifier ... plus a dac (beresforn bushmaster) .... i got my mac mini wired hdmi to my plasma ... no problem with that, sound and vision to the tv ... got that
now i wanted to use the toslink mini output to my new dac and the dac connected to my stereo amplifier ... it doesnt work ... and i cant get it right
i put the cable toslink mini sided into my mac mini ... it does apear a red beam ... the cable works, i tried it with other hardware ... i conect the other side to the dac ... nothing ... but the dac works fine ... the toslink conection from my tv works fine ... i get no audio from the mac mini through toslink output
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please i need to know how to make this work ...thx

Is it possible that the cable is not plugged in completely?
I know on my desktop setup, when I plug in my powered
speakers it feels like it engaged, when in fact it needs to
be pushed in further.
The reason I bring this up is that anything plugged into
the line out port overrides all other audio interfaces regardless
of what they are. It is the way this port works on Minis as
well as iMacs. It follows the old headphone port paradigm.

Mac Mini - Paslam = horisontal lines

Hello all!
I am trying to connect my Mac Mini to a plasma (Panasonic TH-37PV45EH) via VGA. Everything is looking good until I log in. Then the screen turns into horisontal lines. Please, if anyone have a solution to this, please advise me.
Best regards

The Mac is switching to an unsupported resolution when logged in. Try starting in Safe mode and see if the problem goes away.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/21245.html

Want to run a Mac Mini into a 50" Samsung Plasma screen TV...will it work?

The TV is a Samsung PN50B850 Plasma screen with a VGA input: http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-pn50b850/4505-6482_7-33490381.htm l
Hee are the tech specs: http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-pn50b850/4507-6482_7-334903 81.html?tag=mncol;psum
From what I can tell it should just plug right into the VGA input on the TV...but my question is am I going to have any issues with resolution or anything like that?
Also, from the pictures it looks like the DVI to VGA adapter that apple offers is only like 3 inches long? Do they make them longer than this? I had planned on mounting the TV on the wall above my fireplace on an arm that tilts and swings out about 2-3 ft and just sitting the Mac Mini on the mantle...anyways I didn't want to go away on vacation, have my mom come over, adjust the TV, and send my Mac Mini to its untimely death:(

mapexvenus
Could you please tell me the exact settings you have on your TV and your mac.
Under what menu are you selecting PC DVI?
What resolution and other settings do you have your mac set to?
Currently I have mine setup like so:
Mac Mini with mini dvi to dvi adaptor then a cable dvd to hdmi.
I then have that hdmi plug into port 2 of my tv that says (HDMI/DVI on it.
On the mac I have resolution set to 1920 x 1080 and i have overscan ticked.
The picture is OK but up close i would not say it is perfectly crisp (especially text) but from a about 6 feet away it seems fine.
Is the text on your screen pin sharp?
Thanks in advance

Mac Mini worked at first with Haier 42" plasma - now won't. Please Help!

I'd be interested in any resolution here. Here's my story:
I have a Mac Mini model MA723LL/A and a Haier P42LV6-T1 42" HDTV plasma with VGA and HDMI inputs. I first attempted to hook the Mac to the plasma TV using the DVI->VGA adapter that came with the Mac. I got no image at all on the TV, and the TV claimed 'No Signal'.
Then I used a DVI->HDMI adapter, and hooked the Mac to the TV thru the HDMI port. I got a picture and was happy. I setup iTunes, got the wireless working, surfed the web a bit and all was OK except the resolution seemed wonky. So I opened the Mac's settings panel to adjust the resolution, and as soon as I opened the settings panel, the screen went blank, with the TV claiming 'No Signal'. I shut off the Mac and rebooted, and from that point forward, what happens is this:
press On Button->
Apple Boot Screen->
MacOS 10 loading->
desktop For About 1 millisecond->
screen goes blank with TV claiming 'No Signal'
I hooked the Mac to my Dell 20" LCD monitor thru the monitor's DVI input and got a great picture. I tested all the resolution settings, and everything was fine. I have tested the Mac on the TV with all available resolution settings and it's always the same story (see above for sequence)
I'm kinda at the end of my rope. The Mac seems to be changing something on its video output at the end of its bootup, but I have no clue what. Has anyone seen anything like this? Any advice at all?

Try what Apple recommends and see if that helps:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301345

Problem Mac mini G4 with Panasonic 52" Plasma using s-video (composite)

I am upgrading my mac mini but until then I'd like to watch some movies on my new Panasonic 50" Plasma (TH50PZ80U). The first I connected them together using a DVI-to S-Video adapter it worked but with low resolution (can't remember). The resolution was fine for movies but not reading. When I tried to increase the resolution the screen became all grey and black (like when there's no the TV channel in the old days). I tried all of the following but nothing has worked:
1) Played with the mouse for an hour to try to change the resolution but kept starting new programs instead
2) Connected to my apple display cinema, change resolution to the minimum, and then reconnected it and nothing
3) Asked a friend to bring his laptop to do screen sharing but my OS 10.4.11 doesn't support this functionality
4) Tried starting in safe mode and it won't start in safe mode. It gets stock on the gray apple screen at launch
5) Tried getting an HDMI cable but this mac mini is not strong enough for the plasma screen. It kept going black after a few minutes
6) Tried using keyword shortcuts with SwitchResX but I couldn't seem to find the right sequence.
Remember that I tried to the above blind since the screen was all blurry.
Can someone help. Thanks

+I tried with an HDMI cble, through a DVI adapter, but it seems that my 1st generation mac mini is not powerful enough for that. It comes out at first but as soon as I start any application, it looses signal+
I'll ask again; what happens if you try starting in Safe mode connected by HDMI? I understand that with a normal start and running 1080p, the mini is not necessarily stable. But if you start safe, or start normally, and quickly change the resolution to something lower than 1080p, the mini should be "powerful enough" to run the Panasonic at 720p for example. That should not present a problem.
If you really just want to get back to using the S-Video interface at 640 x 480, you should be able to throw out the display preference files to get back to a clean start. That usually works. Try the following; in /Library/Preferences find the file com.apple.windowserver.plist and throw it in the trash or drag it to the desktop. Find also in /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/ByHost the file com.apple.windowserver.xxxxxxxx.plist where xxxxxxx is a string of letters and numbers and yourusername is the name on the main user account and throw that in the trash, too (or drag it to the Desktop). Then restart and see if function returns to S-Video when connected to the Panasonic.

Panasonic 50" Plasma TH-50PH9UK - can mac mini display be set to 1366X768

My mac mini is connected to a Panasonic high definition plasma display (TH-50PH9UK) using a DVI to VGA adapter and a VGA connector. The native resolution for the display is 1366 X 768 but this is not an option under the display settings in system preferences? How can I match the native resolution?

No guarantees, but try this (the following precedure must be performed with the Panasonic attached to the mini):
Download and install SwitchRes X Control Panel (note: not the full version called Universal Installer). Open SRX and with the "Resolutions" icon highlighted in the main window, click on the "Custom" button on the button bar. Click on the "+" in the lower left corner of the window to add a new resolution. A second window will open filled out with timing values of the current timing in use. Make sure the "Use simplified settings:" check box does not have a check mark in it. Fill in the boxes with the following data:
Pixel clock: 86.18
Horizontal Active: 1366
Horizontal Front porch: 40
Horizontal Sync width: 96
Horizontal Back porch: 280
Vertical Active: 768
Vertical Front porch: 3
Vertical Sync width: 14
Vertical Back Porch: 21
Put check marks in "Positive sync." for both Horizontal and Vertical sync.
You should observe that the Horizontal Scan rate is around 48.36 kHz and the Vertical Scan rate should be around 60 Hz. Click on the OK button and and then the Apply button. Quit SRX and follow the directions for saving and restarting.
When the mini is restarted, open Displays preferences and the newly created timing should now show up. Select it and hopefully you will get a native resolution output. Good luck.

Mac mini and plasma

Hi
I just purchased a plasma tv and was wondering about getting a mac mini to connect to the display to surf/play downloads.
However the mac mini would be hidden in a cupboard. Is there an RF keyboard/mouse available?
Thanks
[email protected]

Aside from Apple's own Bluetooth keyboard and mouse which will work fine through a cupboard door, almost any cordless keyboards and mice that work off a USB 'dongle' will work perfectly well too - even models such as the Logitech S510 (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2162,CONTENTID=107 10) which are specified for Windows rather than Mac use. Some special function keys on such keyboards often don't work on Macs, but the keyboard and F keys, and the mice, mouse buttons and scroll wheels do.

Mac Mini and Samsung 42" Plasmas

I'll be purchasing a Samsung HP-T4234 plasma soon and have noticed it will handle a PC signal of 1024x768. I realize it's not a very sharp resolution, but will it fill the entire widescreen? IT won't need to be stretched, will it? I'm not too sure of these types of things, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I am using the Samsung 204B, not sure if this is similar. I have an XP Pro machine (older) and my Mac Mini (current version) on a DVI KVM switch. I noticed if you loose the connection to the Windows PC I have to restart the computer to get the display back.
My video for the Mini would drop out every so often. I had to download SwitchResX and set up a custom setting of 1600x1200 with a 135MHz pixel clock for the monitor to work well with the Mini.

Plasma with mac mini?

I just bought a Panasonic TH-42PX75U plasma, and i was thinking in buying the mac mini and connect it to the plasma. I´d read many reviews about problems using plasma TV as PC monitor. I don´t know how much of it is true. Any advice? Thanks in advance

Hopefully, someone with that exact model TV will respond. Otherwise you are right to be cautious. Depending on what it is you want to do with the mini while connected to the plasma, the types of issues you possibly face are:
- Anamorphic screen; many plasmas have non-square pixels which can result in a distortion that may not be correctable when hooked up to a computer.
- Overscan; a lot of TVs force an overscan condition. This means critical parts of the OS X desktop will be out of view, like the menu bar, which will appear to be off the top of the screen as if under the TV's bezel.
- Non-native resolution; modern computer monitors work best when there is a one-to-one relationship between pixels in the graphic card's memory and pixels on the screen. Anything other than this condition is accomplished using "scaling" to fit the memory map to the screen. This never looks as good as one-to-one mapping, also called running at "native resolution." Computer monitors are designed to run native. TVs rarely are, especially plasma TVs.
- Black screen/no video; this is a worst case. You get nothing. Total incompatibility. This usually doesn't happen but the alternatives (see all of the above) might make you wish it did.
Ideally, if you have other computers at your disposal today, try making a connection to your new TV. If you have success using other computers and are happy with the result, then chances are the mini will work just as well. If you are not happy when making a computer connection to your TV, don't expect the mini to be any better.

Mac Mini to plasma

Hello All, seriously considering purchasing a Mac mini, but wondered if others could answer a few questions:
1. What is the display like going from the mini to a plasma for movies, etc
2. Can you stream iTunes from other computers on the network.
3. For movie watching, is the Apple Tv far superior to the mini.
Thanks in advance all,
Pete

You don't need to be a dummy to be stumped by this issue. The best and the brightest have been affected as well. Though you are a Mac noob, hopefully you have some computer smarts. If so, I think the best thing for you to do is get/borrow a second computer and establish a VNC connection between the mini (as the VNC server) and the other computer (as the VNC client). In this way you will be able to see the screen on the second computer that your plasma won't show you. You'll be able to tell a lot from this, like if the plasma is being sensed by the mini, what resolution is being sent to the plasma and you'll even be able to switch resolutions within Display Prefernces on the mini from the other computer. Hopefully, you will find a resolution that lights up the plasma and away you go.

Mac mini with a Panasonic 42" plasma screen

I am new to macs to bear with me.
I am trying to connect a mac-mini to a Panasonic 42" plasma screen (TH-42PX20)
According to the Panasonic manual the max resolution is 1024x768 with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The plasma screen connects to the mac with a D-Sub 15P connector (standard PC)
I select 1024x768 screen resolution and the image seems clear but there are things off the screen (top menu, bottom dash board). Is there a way to change the ascpect ratio? I tried the detect monitors option but that caused the screen to "white out" and never return with an image.
thanks,
wazzu62

There is are a couple of programs available to solve your problem. One is "switchhresx". You can download it from "Versiontracker.com". There are lots of posts in this forum regarding its use and setup. Just do a search on "switchresx" and take your pick.

Top spec mac Mini as a workstation?

Hi,
My studio needs to replace two old G5's and i would like to know how a couple of maxed out mac Minis would perform. I'm thinking of these owing to the massive price of two Mac Pros and also because we already have monitors. The spec i am thinking of is 2.66ghz, 500gb and 8gb ram. We can't have iMacs as due to already having screens and our designers don't like the glossy screens. Also what would we need to run two monitors of each Mac mini? We would be using Photoshop, AVA (like Photoshop), printing large images to 24" printers, occasional illustrator work and general Office 2008 work.
Question is i can buy one Mac Pro now and wait till, next year for the second but this would leave our studio a quarter Power PC and three quarters intel. All our other Macs are intel with the exception of the two G5's.
What is my best option and will the Minis be up to the task?

I think you would be more than happy with the minis. I really do.
I have been using a C2D 2.4 ghz macbook pro I bought in late 2007. It replaced my 2.66 Mac Pro back at the time. I run the full Creative Suite CS4 on this. There has really never been a moment that I wished it had more power.
I recently bought a new mini, put 4 gigs of ram in it and have been using it as a music workstation. Same 2.4 processor, but some slightly newer bits inside (but actually, a slower 5400 drive than my macbook pro). It feels very fast.
Now, 2 weeks ago I bought a dual 2.3ghz G5 tower from a local source. Got a deal. I bought it to use for my music workstation, and was going to move the new mini somewhere else.
However, as powerful as a dual G5 was, when I opened the same Logic Audio songs on the Mini and G5, the mini used WAY less cpu meters than the G5. It wasn't even close. It really blew me away. The C2D 2.4ghz may not be the current state of the art, but seriously, with 8 gigs of ram and a proper 7200 RPM internal drive, it will run circles around the G5.
For $1K (700 for mini, $120 for 8 gigs ram at OWC, and if your brave, $100 for a 7200 internal) you will have a very capable machine for what you do.
If you can buy a few years with them, then sell them you'll be ahead of the game. The resell on mini's is extremely high, even older G4 minis get a few hundred bucks.
So, I'm with you 100%. I would love another MacPro. But after ram, tax, etc, $3K for a low end one new is crazy. Refurbs are great, but they aren't that much cheaper.
Grab two mini's, load them up, and run.
Oh, I'm totally with you on the iMacs. Perfect compromise on cost/performance, but no way am I going back to a glossy screen like that. Just not going to happen.

Using 1.920 x 1.080 pixel panasonic plasma screen with Mac Mini Intel

Do you know if i can connect a mac mini
with a belkin "dvi to hdmi" cable
to a panasonic plasma screen with a 1.920 x 1.080 resolution (screen 42 inches)?
I thought the screen was too big, but some friend told me that the resolution i supported by the mac mini.
thanks.

Yes, specs-wise the TV is able to be driven by the Mac mini both via DVI and VGA.

Best Resolution Mac Mini - Plasma Hookup?

Hi there.
I have a 42" LG 42PX3DCV Plasma Television, which is ED, rather than HD. Right now, when I hook a computer up to it, I use my Macbook Pro, a DVI->HDMI cable, and a MiniToslink->Toslink cable.
It looks great!
I now have a Mac Mini Core Duo as a permanent addition to the Plasma, and I'm wondering if I should instead hook it up via the RGB 15-Pin option that is located on the back of the Plasma.
Will this give the same results as the DVI-HDMI?
Thanks!

While I would suspect the HDMI to work better the only way you're going to know is to try it.

Mac Mini + PC Workstation + Plasma TV

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