No Native Res with DVI/HDMI but OK with DVI/VGA cable on Loewe 32" LCD

Question

Hi there, I am a little confused about connecting my mini to my Loewe Individual LCD TV and coudl do with some help.
I purchased a DVI to HDMI cable at enormous cost because my experience of DVI versus VGA is like night and day and I wanted to have the best possible connection to my HD TV.
The problem is that when I connect the mini with the DVI/HDMI cable the native resolution of my TV is not available. (1366x768 or thereabouts) The only resolutions to choose from are 1920 x 1080? and 1024 X 768. Using overscan on the 1024 fills the screen correctly but looks all stretched.
Instead I connected with a VGA cable and the correct resolution is automatically detected immediately and there is no problem at all.
I am a little bit confused as to why it works fine with VGA but not with DVI/HDMI. The VGA connection looks OK but why compromise when you shoudln't have to?

Answer 1

First of all, I am far from an expert but as I said, from my experience and after reading a LOT, HDMI cannot support 1366x768, that is why the TV goes without picture if you try. Why? I don't know.
Now, DVI is almost like VGA, both are analog, and can support 1366x768 or 1920x1200. But since you go from DVI output from the Mac Mini to the HDMI cable, screen goes black, blue, etc, res no supported.
That is why some people don't have problems with the powerbook and their HDTV's, and then they try with the DVI-HDMI adaptor (normally with the mac mini) and it's no good.
The thing is, you can get 720p, 1280x720 but with overscan, so with DisplayconfigX you go from:
1280x720 (720p)
128 Front Porch 10
80 Sync 5
200 Back Porch 15
1688 Total 750
to
1240x680
128 Front Porch 19
80 Sync 5
240 Back Porch 38
1688 Total 750
for example, with this setup you get the image cut to a minimum.
As you can see the totals are in both cases 1688 750. As soon as you don't respect this totals, like in this example:
1366x768
28 Front Porch 5
80 Sync 5
40 Back Porch 15
1514 Total 793
your TV won't be able to dispay the image. But with VGA the totals don't matter!!!!, that is why it works with one cable and not with the other.
Apple should update the Intel graphic card drivers, maybe that would help.
Bye
Mac Mini   Mac OS X (10.4.5)