MacMini HDTV through DVI

Hey guys,
I just bought my first mac to hook up to my HDTV... and the only resolution I can get is 680 by 400 or so. It looks terrible.
I have the MacMini hooked up to the HDTV through DVI direct... no adapters or anything. The TV is an RCA... I cannot for the life to me get the resolution set to anything that looks good. If I try 1920 by 1080 It makes me want to have a migraine and I cannot see the whole desktop.
Does anyone have any advice on what to do to fix this? I need to get it fixed ASAP or I will have to return it and I really don't want to Any help would be greatly appreciated! You can IM me on aim at dargonestielves or email me at [email protected] or simply reply to this! Please help!
Josh

This is the TV: got it on black friday for $474 lol.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4872141
Its model is RCA R52WH74...
I also tried a program called SwitchResX... but it made it anytime I have the DVI cable hooked up to the TV I get nothing but a garbled mess. I dunno how to fix that I did uninstall it though.
Thanks,
Josh

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Spanning to HDTV through DVI to HDMI -

I posted it in the PowerBook G4 15" topic, but I think this would be more relevant to my machine...
My roommate has the 15" macbook pro that goes up to the same resolution as my 17" powerbook (1440 x 990)
How come the macbook pro is able to get 1080p on my Sony 40" Bravia (DVI to HDMI) and my powerbook, same resolution is getting a horrific 1080i result through the same digital cable? The only difference is that he has 256mb ram, as opposed to 128mb on mine. But as far as I know, my PB can span into the 30" Apple Display... so -
Why is it not showing 1080p with my PB?
Thank you...

It's the resolution of the screen that matters. The macbook can run any size screen at 1080P as I have tested it on my dads new sony panel that is native 1080p. Screen size in inches does not matter man. 720P is 720P no matter if it's 20" or 106" in my case. I run my macbook to my sanyo 720p projector just fine with the dvi connecter. Since your tv is hdmi you will need a dvi to hdmi adapter also so you can plug it in. It will look amazing! if you need a program to set display resolutions and tweak it I would recommend SwitchResX

Mac mini will not recognize my hdtv through hdmi to hdmi

I just bought the new mac mini, got home super excited, hooked it up to my hdtv through hdmi to hdmi and nada.
I have a Vizio, 42-inch, 50/60 hz, Plasma TV. It was made in 2006 so there is no DVI port, it only has an RGB port other than the 2 HDMI ports.
I have tried both HDMI ports.
I tried turning everything off, unplugging everything waiting 10 seconds, reconnecting everything and turning the mac mini on first, then the tv AND vice versa.
Nothing.
My HDMI cable was kind of old so I went out and bought a new one from Belkin.
Nothing.
It does look like the TV is recognizing the device because it does not say "No signal", so it seems that the mac mini itself is not recognizing it.
I just bought this thing, it has not even been setup yet!
And I do not have another moniter here to hook it up to.
I tried calling Apple Care, but I called at 7:30 waited for 30 minutes for someone to tell me they were transferring me to tech support, then the phone rang for 10 minutes. I hung up and called back and they said the office was closed!
I am a die hard mac user, but I am at my wit's end here.
I guess my next step is to take it to the genius bar?
But I wanted to see if anyone out there has any suggestions/ideas?
(I know there are other discussions out there about this, but nothing I found actually helped my situation.
Thanks everyone.

I just got my mac mini as well and I'm having the same problem with my HDTV. Unfortunately I am not at home so I do not have the tv model on hand but it is a Panasonic from 05/06. I am trying to connect from the HDMI on the mini to the HDMI port on the tv and when it boots up the grey start upscreen shows up on the tv and loads for alittle bit than everything goes black. Any ideas?

USB Dock 3.0 Audio through DVI-HDMI cable?

Hey there!
I currently own the yoga 2 pro and I am looking for a suitable dock. One thing that prevented me from ordering the usb 3.0 dock was that I am not sure whether with a DVI to HDMI cable I am able to get audio from my laptop to a TV.
For better understanding: Laptop -> USB 3.0 -> USB 3.0 Dock -> DVI -> HDMI -> TV
I asked my local retailer and they said it isn't possible but I am not sure whether they tested my method. They said I'll be needing a seperate audio jack cable -.- ugly... with my old 460 GTX I was able to transmit sound with the same DVI/HDMI cable
Can anyone who owns the USB 3.0 dock confirm that audio through DVI-HDMI cable to a TV is working / not working?
Any help is appreciated!
Greetings

DVI won't carry audio on the ThinkPad USB 3.0 dock.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

I am really frustrated - is it possible to view a DVD that is playing on my iMAC, on my HDTV through Apple TV??

I have been trying to figure out how to view a DVD movie that is playing on my iMAC, onto my HDTV through Apple TV... I am not getting the "conventional" Apple TV icon on my IMac Screen. I have the AirplayIt app ... Can anyone assist?

Firstly, not all Macs will do AirPlay mirroring.
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Duplicate iPad screen on HDTV through air play

How do I duplicate iPad screen on HDTV through air play?

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23" Apple Cinema Displays gos black when routed through DVI extenders boxes

I have an ATI radeon 9650 with two DVI ports. My new set up requires my Mac to be further than the dvi connector's present lenght to my 2 HD cinema displays. I purchased 2 DVI extender boxes. Once connected the Utilities does not show the displays as Cinema HD Displays. And worse yet they both go black and the power light blinks. When I hook up the 23" directly through DVI to the G5 both displays come on. However the one connected through the extender box still shows the wrong display profile.
I have check and re-checked the cables, extender boxes, my graphic card and all seems to test out properly. I know this because I have another G5 with same specks that I have tested these hardwares on. Finally I thought it was my Bootup drive so I did a full erase and clean reinstall. the monitors worked fine for 10 minutes and then when I clicked on Displays in system pref window they both went black again. I can only conclude that the DVI extender box is somehow changing the signature of the HD Displays and the the system freaks out!
THE MODEL OF THE DVI extenders are DAS 101,and 101R
www.cooldrives.com/cadvexcat5dv.html ;
I am at my wits end. I need to get to work before I loose all my clients. PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!
PS total lenght of CAT5 DVI extenders from Mac to Display 15ft max

Naelm G, I just read your first post a little more carefully. Is it true you are only trying to place the Cinema displays 15 feet away from the Mac? That's not very far. If you don't care about also extending the Firewire and USB, then you might be able to get away with a simple 10 foot DVI extension cable like this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?cid=102&cp_id=10209&cs_id=1020903&pid=2406&seq=1&format=2
The combinded length of the Cinema's built-in cable plus the 10 foot extension cable will be more than 15 feet. This would be the cheapest way to go by far.
Or if you want to extend the Firewire and USB along with the the video, then Gefen makes an extender that will do that:
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/cables/applecombocable.jsp

Mac Mini behaves poorly through DVI at 1920x1080 on HDTV displays

I recently purchased a Samsung LN-S4695D - a 46" LCD TV capable of 1080p with HDMI and VGA inputs. I've had been using my 23" Cinema Display + a Mac Mini G4 + Rotel Amp as the centerpieces of my Home Theater, and decided to change out the display to accommodate a gaming system and perhaps some other digital or component inputs (and, of course, nab a larger viewing surface). It seems like a fairly standard use of the Mini, but unfortunately many of us are running into disappointing results using our Minis as connected to an HDTV display. I'm writing here to see if we can clear up the issue with the mini and to attempt to identify reasonable workarounds or solutions until Apple gets the Mini right for HD home theater.
The current problem with the Mini and the Samsung TV/Display is that when the Mini is connected via DVI-HDMI (with a Monster 400 2m cable) to the display and asked to run at 1920x1080 (60hz NTSC) it does a reasonable job until it is required to refresh a lot of pixels (scrolling through album art in iTunes, playing DVD or other video, etc.). At that point, the screen fills with bands of static, and (if the rate of change is sustained) eventually looses the signal all together. With heavy scrolling operations, the signal returns as soon as scrolling stops, but with full-screen video it usually stays out until the mac resets its video resolution. Another article shows examples of this "DVI static" here:
http://www.freewebs.com/themagius/minidvipics.htm
So it is clear that the Mini and HDTVs don't play well at 1080 resolutions, as many of you have attested to. The samsung seems to do a better job than most with the Mini in that it it actually renders the 1080 as well as other resolutions, but flakes out on fast updates. While some other resolutions are also problematic, it is important to note that 1280x720 runs flawlessly on the Samsung, and is currently how I have mine set up (VGA input was too disappointing compared to DVI, though it scanned great and fit the image w/o over/underscanning.). Also, my Powerbook G4 1.25ghz (older than the mini) powers the Samsung perfectly at 1920x1080 as a secondary display, running DVD video or anything else that I throw at it, which leads me to believe that the mini is the problem. Here is another story very similar to mine that reports almost the same results with a Sharp LCD panel:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5940932
So I've three sets of questions for Apple and the rest of you on this forum:
1) Why does the Mac Mini underpeform with the LCD display? The Powerbook works great, and the mini works great with my Cinema display (also 1920x1080) - where is the disconnect between the Mini and the Samsung? I understand very little about the actual details of DVI signals being carried across the wire, and don't understand what would cause the Powerbook to succeed, but the Mini to falter.
2) Assuming the Mini video hardware is at fault, has Apple improved this with the new Core 2 Duo line? Has anyone had success where previous Minis or other Apple hardware failed at 1080? If not, is there any announced intention to make the hardware that is positioned as being most ideal for the living room (ie, Mac Mini) actually DVI/HDMI-compatible with the finest HD living room devices?
3) An unfortunate sideffect of the DVI connection to the TV is that it requires the image from the Apple device to be oversanned (about a menu-bar's worth of pixels disappear on each edge) or underscanned (2" of black space around the image). Is there a common industry standard to correct this? Who is managing the overscan - the TV or the Mini? Also, can any utility, such as ScreenResX correct this until Apple manages to build in correction options into the OS for their living-room devices?
Thanks for all the help! Hopefully we can outline clear answers here in this thread for everyone else having similar problems.
Mac Mini G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Samsung LN-S4695D, Monster 400 DVI-HDMI 2m cable

David,
Great post. There's a lot to digest here. Let's get started!
The first question relating to noise, or static, over a TMDS (DVI) connection has to do with with the interoperability of various TMDS transmitters and receivers and how they are implemented. At this point in the market place there are thousands of combinations of transmitter/reciever pairings and obviously some are working better than others.
If you were to observe a TMDS signal with a scope there is something called the "eye" which is framed by the swing voltage and the bit time. When the eye collapses and is encroached upon, digital noise is the result. The noise margin is degraded by higher bit rates. That is why the mini and your TV are working at 720p but failing at 1080p...because the dot clock is that much higher for 1080p. The solution for cases such as this is to build a custom 1920x1080 timing that has reduced blanking, which allows for the lowering of the dot clock. Generally you can lower the dot clock sufficiently to get the noise to stop. LCD displays are relatively immune to reductions in blanking time so you can squeeze a lot out of a timing that was designed more with a CRT in mind.
To answer your second question, you can't fairly say the problem is with the mini. When you consider TMDS compatibility between two devices you have to take a whole system view. This includes not only the transmitter (mini) but the transmission line (PCB traces from the TMDS transmitter inside the mini to the mini's DVI connector -> the cable -> PCB traces from the DVI connector on the TV to the TMDS receiver in the TV), and the receiver. All three have to work together to make things come out right. You could probably just as easily find a display that works well with the mini that doesn't work with your PowerBook. It can be really had to pin the blame down to one device except in the most obvious cases where a certain device seems to be incompatible with just about everything. But I don't think the mini can be labeled that way. Compatibility is definitely an issue the industry still struggles with, especially at the higher clock rates approaching the 165MHz TMDS speed limit.
As for question 3, overscan is being forced by the TV, not by the mini. And, no, utilities like SwitchRes X and DisplayConfigX cannot be counted on to reliably deal with this except in the case of pure analog displays with magnetic deflection systems (e.g. old TVs and monitors). Once you have a digital processor involved and a matrix addressed display, tweaks to porch timings and blanking and such do not have predictable results. It seems to work in some cases but it is basically voodoo when it does. Purely luck.
If you want, I can help you to build a reduced blanking, 1080p timing that will most likely eliminate the DVI static. But you'll still be stuck with overscan. I should point out that a lot of manufacturers are starting to "get it" with respect to the public's desire to attach computers to their hi-def LCD televisions. I see a real shift in 2006 models. I believe the current crop of FHD (Full HD; native 1080) LCDs from the three "S" companies (Samsung, Sharp and Sony) all can display 1080p bit-for-bit now, meaning no overscan. So at least that is changing for the better. Write back if you want help with the timing.
Cheers. And thanks for starting this great thread.

Possible to use the MBP display for use with XBOX 360 through DVI port?

Hi everyone, I know that the topic sounds ludicrous to probably a lot of you. After all, how dare a Mac user use a Microsoft machine right ;)? Well, truth be told, I like the 360 and that's the only MS product I prefer to use.
Anyway, I'm going to be picking up my own 360 within the next few days and am currently deciding whether to also buy a new HDTV with the purchase or if I can wait. I'm going to be buying a new TV eventually but I was hoping to put off the purchase for a while since I remembered that the 360 can hook up to monitors through VGA. So what I want to know is whether the DVI port on my MBP is output only or will it accept input signals? Also, if it is possible to hook up my 360 through the DVI port, is there an easy way to attach the DVI-VGA adapter to the 360 seeing? By this I mean, the adapter is only about three inches or so and it would be pretty difficult to attach both machines to each other, so I was wondering if there might be a female-female VGA adapter bridge or some easy method of doing this.
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Outsider,
Check out this link and enjoy the 360 on your MBP!
http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/288
Here is another one!
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Sound through DVI-D to HDMI

I recently acquired a refurbished Pavilion P7-1010 running Windows 7. It has no HDMI output, but it does have a DVI-D output. I would like to hear sound through my HDTV's built-in speakers (I do not have an external sound system or speakers). I tried using a DVI-D-to-HDMI cable, and get a picture, but no sound. Is it possible to send the sound out through the DVI-D port?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
Unfortunately DVI-D port(s) only carries video signals NOT audio signals therefore you can not hear sound. You need something like this
http://www.nextag.com/Dvi-To-Hdmi-Audio-856668380/prices-html?nxtg=641e0a28050d-4D022CB91198D256
or like this:
http://www.nextag.com/Gefen-EXT-DVIAUD-2-507185456/prices-html?nxtg=641e0a28050d-4D022CB91198D256
There are many more around too.
Regards,
BH
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No video output from MacBook Air micro DVI to Polaroid HDTV via DVI to HDMI

Grrr! What's going on? The Apple online store finally sent me a micro DVI to DVI adapter and a DVI to HDMI adapter cable as well as headphone output to RCA adapter cables (for separate audio, since DVI will not transmit audio) and I hooked it up and - NOTHING! When I initialize the appropriate input setting on the Polaroid 27"HDTV the MacBook Air seems to get some sort of query signal as its screen flickers for a moment and turns to a grey screen for a couple seconds but then, that's it! Nothing! The Polaroid's screensaver remains and no signal, audio or video, is transmitted. Now, the micro DVI to DVI adapter is Apple proprietary so I don't think it is a DRM related issue where the chip might block the video signal coming out of the MacBook Air. The longer, DVI to HDMI adapter cable is by Belkin. Am I overlooking something? Could the new 27" Polaroid HDTV not be compatible with DRM protocol? I don't think so since all digital TVs equipped with an HDMI input are supposed to have DRM compatibility built in. What gives?

Well, BSteely, where to begin? After my extensive discussions with more than one support engineer at Apple in Toronto as well as in Austin an interesting picture is emerging. Seems that I'd omitted a few things: First, I was not trying to display HD content but rather standard definition content. Second, I made the mistake hoping for an elegant and easy solution in hookup via HDMI (new flatscreens don't even have a DVI port anymore) - bad mistake! As one of the technicians put it, HDMI is an "unsettled" platform when it comes to HDCP, currently in version 1.4 , meaning, I should have tried VGA instead, a "settled" platform after all. Now, whether this will work remains to be seen because I don't have a micro DVI to VGA adapter yet but suffice to say that in essence I've been getting the message from Apple that, yes, the MacBook Air will - in the near future - support HDCP, but for now it does not contain the necessary software simply because HDMI is in its forth incarnation; plus, as they put it, Apple can't be responsible for testing compatibility with every single HD television set on the market - while it is true that there are thousands in existence, at the same time there are only four versions of HDMI with different HDCP specs! So, while I may be partially answering my own query here, it seems that Apple at this point is not particularly eager to make this software available because they rather would like to sell their new displays with the micro DVI ports instead of us endusers being able to hook the computer video signal up to just ANY monitor or TV. In the end, it is my hope that they will reconsider and not forget who their customers are, maybe after the Christmas season....

External monitor loses signal to macbook pro through DVI cable and Mini DisplayPort Adapter

Hello,
So I had my external monitor connected to my MBP with a DVI cable and a Mini DisplayPort Adapter, for a while already. But sometimes, the monitor would lose signal from the laptop and gives me a white noise screen. Now, the monitor can't receive signal at all, even after I got a new Mini Displayport Adapter. When the monitor and the MBP is connected by the cable and the adapter, the monitor would say "no signal" and the MBP screen would flicker (I think it's trying to connect to the monitor, but can't). The new Mini Display Port Adapter also makes the screen flicker, so I'm not sure if it's the problem is at the adapter or the DVI cable. I'm pretty sure it's not the monitor.
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I have had the same problem. By following your suggestions I got to arrangements. I could not send them off to the side. When I hit the mirro disply key everyting worked. I got it solved by clicking in arrangements and setting displays to mirror display.
I am still have a problem of no sound coming through my tv.
Rolland

Second monitor nor being detected through dvi-d port

Hi I have a Hp s5610y slimline. Windows 7 64 bit . It is a newer system with 3 ghz ram and over 600 g.b ram so I know it is not a performance issue, (system handling the duty) I am trying to hook up dual monitors, the product specs page on H.P states that the Vga and Dvi -d ports can both be used at the same time. I have the dvi-d converter to vga hooked up to a monitor through the Vga port on one computer ( that is not working). The port from Vga to vga works fine( the first monitor. I already check the easy stuf like "enabling dual monitor", unplugging the monitor, updating the lastest driver for radeon 3000 and restarting windows. I hooked up two monitors before with no problems. Any ideas out there?
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Manny
This question was solved.
View Solution.

>I have the dvi-d converter to vga ....
This will never work!
vga is an analog signal, dvi-d is digital.
Only dvi-a or dvi-i can convert to analog vga.
Check the diferencies here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital%E2%80%93visual_interface#Connector
Either graphics card or monitor can't recognize each other.
V.
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Viewing Canvas Video Feed on a Seperate Monitor through DVI or Component

Hey All,
This is something I have been researching with no simple, possibly cost efficent solution. Basically I would like to view the timeline canvas feed on a seperate monitor without the use of my hvx200. I will be editing in 720p60 and have an 17" hd tv with component and dvi inputs on the way.
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Look at the back of your mac and see if you have two monitor ports on your video card. Depending on the type of card you should be able to connect to your HD monitor as a second screen and then setup FCP to put external video on the digital cinema desktop.
I am using a siimilar setup, using a Dell Ultra-Sharp flatscreen as both my second computer monitor and my external video. The Dell's have DVI, VGA, component, S-video, and composite inputs, but right now I'm just using the DVI and FCP switches the video back and forth when I turn on external video.
Hope this helps -
Max Average

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Hey everyone,
I just bought an HDTV and would like to set my PowerBook up with it.. When I connect the thing with a DVI->VGA adapter, the system recognizes it, but gives it a max resolution of 1024x768. I have tried changing the colors to Thousands with no luck.
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Thanks,
~s

Any ideas at all?
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MacMini HDTV through DVI

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