Just got a new mac mini to go with my new Sony Bravia lcd tv. Works Great! Except that I can't ge the Picture in Picture function to work (so that I can watch tv via my tv antenna and be on internet via mac mini at the same time). Apparently the Bravia only lets you do PiP with one of the 'pictures' being the PC VGA input. WOuld really like to take advantgage of the HDMI mac mini output. ANy ideas experiences with a lcd tv / mac mini setup that works completely?
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2010 Mac mini and lcd tv - no PiP
- Thread starter kpop67
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I'm not sure what your question is, since your television only works one way and you can't change it. But for my Windows 7/Nvidia GeForce 210 HTPC that I'm replacing with a new Mac Mini server, I was able to just use the Sony Bravia XBR VGA input and still got 1920x1080 resolution. However, I eventually settled on the HDMI input because I got more options for controlling the Sony picture that way. For the Mini, you'll have to buy the DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter to try it and see if you get the resolution and picture controls you want. (Unfortunately, the Sony turns off many of its varied video and audio options when using the PC input.)
vga is analog so your tv will act just like a monitor and leave the picture controls up to the host (your mac). in some instances, vga may even look better than hdmi if you can display the native resolution of the tv. for example, an lcd hdtv with 720p may have 1366x768 native resolution. over hdmi you'd see 1280x720 scaled up to 1366x768, but over vga, you'd get the full 1366x768.
but back to your question re p-i-p... i'm not sure if any tv's can't do pip with a digital source and another digital input (like hdmi). perhaps it's due to content protection? on my tv i can't display another digital pip when watching hdtv. but i can display an analog signal in a pip like over s-video i think. so i think analog is ok, digital is not. just my theory.
but back to your question re p-i-p... i'm not sure if any tv's can't do pip with a digital source and another digital input (like hdmi). perhaps it's due to content protection? on my tv i can't display another digital pip when watching hdtv. but i can display an analog signal in a pip like over s-video i think. so i think analog is ok, digital is not. just my theory.
I know with my TV (Vizio) I can only do PiP with different inputs. Example, I can PiP with 1 HDMI source and 1 Component source, but I cannot PiP with 2 HDMI sources. This is totally a problem with your TV but if you really want to watch TV while surfing the net, buy an EyeTV...