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Connecting to TV - What am I doing wrong?

G

gregorymorris

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2006
3
0
Hi there,

I am attempting to connect my macbook to my tv. I have a mini-dvi adaptor that has an s-video connection running directly to the back of the tv (Citizen 20" JCTV3241XA). The problem is that the only thing that shows up on the tv is rolling grey lines on a black screen. No video from my laptop. I've tried changing the display resolution in system preferences and tried chaning from pal to ntsc and back again (tried all the options). I tried just running a regular yellow video cord instead of the s-video. I've tried shutting down the laptop and turning it back on again. I've tried it with the laptop closed and an external mouse. I've tried just about everything I can think of and I still just get these rolling grey lines on a black screen. Yes, I've hit F7 more times than I can mention.

The tv works fine with a dvd player.

The audio is connected from the macbook's headphone jack and is working just fine.

What am I doing wrong? Is it possible that this just won't work with my tv? Strange if it has a s-video jack and all.... Any suggestions?

GM
 
How old is your TV?

My 40" Sony Bravia LCD, has a VGA plug-in, and I bought the mini-DVI to VGA adapter and plugged the adapter in, then went to the TV remote and pressed MENU and went to INPUTS, selected #7 since that is the INPUT on the back of my TV for PC. Once I selected #7 "Poof" and it's up and running! I'd be concerned with the AGE of your TV, then I would check to see if there was a VGA connection, since I've never hooked-up my MacBook via the "S" cable!
:cool:
 
Have you tried adjusting the settings on the TV, not the laptop. Perhaps your on the wrong channel, or something along those lines.

Resolution isn't likely to be very good regardless.
 
TV not too old

The tv is only 2 years old. I have tried all of the settings on the tv - nothing seems to work. I have tried every possible channel - but AUX1 and AUX2 are the ones for this purpose and AUX2 is the one that I get audio and the rolling screen. When I fiddle with computer settings the rolling on AUX2 does seem to change a bit so I know there is a connection. It just seems to be off by one step someplace and I can't figure it out.

Should Macbook's graphics card info need to be updated? Do I have to download anything to make this work? Some sort of PAL to NTSC converter?

Any help will be accepted. Thanks.
 
I'm just not convinced that the S-Video Cable...

is the right choice for the job. 'Cause I know I've used the S-Video Cable for direct connection for my DVD Player/CamCorder and some other items to my TV, but never for my Apple Computers. What is clear is that you should be able to utilize the VGA or HDMI connections via an adapter (mini-DVI); sometimes there is a LINE 1, LINE 2 or LINE 3 prompt or setting on your TV that would need to be selected via INPUTS, though it sounds like you've exhausted all of your options with your TV. Give appleCare a call or visit the appleStore; I'm tapped, SORRY!:(
 
Trepex said:
Hold on, I didn't think mini-DVI to s-video was even possible... Where did you get the cable?
Click to expand...

Presumably from Apple...

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9319G/A

OP, this is what you have, right?

m9319ga_125.gif


Let me ignore the issue of whether you ought to use S-Video or not for a moment. Whether or not it's the best choice, it SHOULD WORK. Composite should also work.

I'm not sure how you're doing this, but try this: put the TV in S-Video mode, plug the S-Vid cable into the TV and into the mini-DVI adapter, but not the Mac. With the TV on and the Mac on, now plug in the mini-DVI adapter. You should get a flash to blue on the internal screen and then it should adjust to showing internal and external screens. Now (presuming you still don't see video), do this: open system preferences -> displays. Go to the tab that shows resolution on the Macbook screen, and hit gather windows. You should now see two resolution windows. Report back what is selected in each of them.

Now that aside, if this TV is two years old, it's an HDTV, right? Doesn't it have an HDMI, VGA, or DVI connection?
 
mkrishnan said:
Presumably from Apple...

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9319G/A

OP, this is what you have, right?

m9319ga_125.gif


Let me ignore the issue of whether you ought to use S-Video or not for a moment. Whether or not it's the best choice, it SHOULD WORK. Composite should also work.

I'm not sure how you're doing this, but try this: put the TV in S-Video mode, plug the S-Vid cable into the TV and into the mini-DVI adapter, but not the Mac. With the TV on and the Mac on, now plug in the mini-DVI adapter. You should get a flash to blue on the internal screen and then it should adjust to showing internal and external screens. Now (presuming you still don't see video), do this: open system preferences -> displays. Go to the tab that shows resolution on the Macbook screen, and hit gather windows. You should now see two resolution windows. Report back what is selected in each of them.

Now that aside, if this TV is two years old, it's an HDTV, right? Doesn't it have an HDMI, VGA, or DVI connection?
Click to expand...

Ah so it's an digital-analog adapter and not just a straight cable. Makes sense :)
 
I've been doing the same thing.

I've had a few problems with it and this was one of them... have you tried changing/slowing down the refresh rate?
 
Trepex said:
Ah so it's an digital-analog adapter and not just a straight cable. Makes sense :)
Click to expand...

No, it's not. So I think this stems from confusion about what DVI is and what DVI does. The DVI standard actually addresses both digital and analog video signals. There are separate pins on the DVI plug/port standard for each. Standard DVI cables are DVI-I -- I for integrated, meaning they can carry both analog and digital signals, whether or not the devices being used actually make use of either/both. Manufacturers are also allowed to use DVI-D -- D for digital, meaning that the analog output pins are either absent or dead. A prime example of where DVI-D is used is an LCD display that does not have an A/D converter in it (since all LCD displays must have a digital signal internally to provide to the digital screen). Those devices will use DVI-D because they are not able to respond to the analog signal. And finally of course, they could in principal create DVI-A devices, although that's a bit silly.

Now there is one confusing wrinkle with Apple... Apple's ports on all their computers are DVI-I ports. Their Displays are all DVI-D, however -- none of the Apple Cinema Displays support analog signals, AFAIK. What gets complicated is that, while the Mini-DVI to Video and Mini-DVI to VGA adapters use the analog output of the DVI port, the Mini-DVI to DVI cable outputs DVI-D only. So you cannot stack this adapter with other adapters that expect an analog signal, because there won't be one. Not that this is relevant to the current situation.
 
sorry to jump into your post.. but i didn't want to start another thread. If someone could help me.

What cord do i use to connect to the tv?

I have a DVI output cord.. what do i need to buy to get my laptop to a video out? it doesn't look like i have a mini DVI port like my Imac
design_topright20061024.jpg
 
Trooperof3 said:
sorry to jump into your post.. but i didn't want to start another thread. If someone could help me.

What cord do i use to connect to the tv?

I have a DVI output cord.. what do i need to buy to get my laptop to a video out? it doesn't look like i have a mini DVI port like my Imac
design_topright20061024.jpg
Click to expand...

That would depend on what inputs your TV has. Does you TV have a DVI input? A VGA input?
 
Trooperof3 said:
Just regular A/V & Component inputs
Click to expand...



You need a DVI to Video adapter. --> http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7DED6670&fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/video_devices&nplm=M9267G/A

But you will also need a splitter/adapter for the audio to go from the headphone jack to the component audio. --> http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=DE03946D&fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/cables&nplm=TN983LL/A

The latter, you can get probably at walmart for cheaper.
 
Trooperof3 said:
Just regular A/V & Component inputs
Click to expand...

Is this a high-definition television or a standard definition television? And what country do you live in? It's very rare in the US for there to be a TV that has composite and component lines and nothing else (if it's SDTV, by the time it has component it would also have S-Video in the US or SCART in the UK; if it's HDTV, it ought to have at least one more from among HDMI, VGA, DVI, and S-Video).

I have no personal experience with them, but if this is an HDTV, you might want to consider mini-DVI to VGA and a VGA to Component converter. Component lines are capable of high-resolution; composite has fairly poor resolution -- think typically poor enough that a non-HD DVD player can outdo composite video.
 
I have a question. I'm connecting mine to a HDTV, but it's not doing full screen, and only allows a smaller resolution than the TV. Is this because i'm using just the DVI to TV using just the video composite cable? My TV is 720P
i should be getting 13**X720 or something.

Would DVI to HDMI cable fix this? or is my macbook not able to detect this tv's correct resolution. also, its not as impressive looking as i was hoping.

Could anyone help me with this? Thanks!


-Ed
 
binaryspazz, yes it is because you're using a composite cable. You can't get HDefinition with that cable. Why aren't you using a DVI connection on your TV? That will get you the higher resolutions.

As for the OP it sounds like there is a problem with the TV and Mac. Otherwise I haven't a clue what the problem would be. You don't have Overscan or Best for TV checked in the display prefs do you? Might mess with that. Do you have any of the clamshell hacks applied? Could just be the TV.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
You don't have Overscan or Best for TV checked in the display prefs do you?
Click to expand...

Sorry to change the topic a bit, but I've been doing this and finally got it set up so that it seems to work with a standard regular old TV. I checked in Best for TV, because... I was using a TV... but what does this preference do?

And Overscan got rid of the annoying black bars on the left and right of the video.... I'm assuming that means it displays the content a little larger than the screen... is that right? If so... how much of the picture am I losing?
 
If anyone out there in the Interwebs has their MBP connected to the TV. i'd like to see a pic showing the setup.
 
Trooperof3 said:
If anyone out there in the Interwebs has their MBP connected to the TV. i'd like to see a pic showing the setup.
Click to expand...


Sure when I get home, I have my mbp connected to a 40" samsung lcd via dvi->vga. I need to give dvi->hdmi a try too

and to the OP, have you tried an svideo to composite? I'm assuming your dvd player is connected via composite and since that works then svideo to composite should work via your macbook
 
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