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Help with MacBook to Sharp 46 HDTV 1080p

mkrishnan and ftaok, I decided to hold off on the tv deal I told you about. Any advice on what I should get instead. I am thinking that it is better to go with a 46/7'' rather than the 52'' because the technology is developing so quickly and with price drops it seems crazy to spend so much based on the 52'' costs. I'd rather get an amazing 46'' and be able to put it in a living room when I am ready to drop some loot on a big boy when they have come down a bit in price.

By the way, slingcatcher is going to be amazing.
 
Aniej said:
I'd rather get an amazing 46'' and be able to put it in a living room when I am ready to drop some loot on a big boy when they have come down a bit in price.
Click to expand...

I personally think that makes a lot of sense.... Especially if you have a planned second use for the TV you get now. Right now, my apartment is small enough that the 32" I bought is perfect for my living room. I want to wall mount it eventually. If I did move into a much larger home, it could certainly make a good bedroom television.

I guess in terms of tech, I'd decide what it is that you suspect might change... 1080P is going to be fine for a long time. At least I am pretty confident in that. I I think HDMI is finally stable. I think that, if any, the major issues are the continuing transition for larger sets from Plasma to LCD, and the possible beginnings of OLED and other LCD replacement technologies. What will ultimately happen for a standard for transmitting HD over cable, is also up there....

But in the end, there are lots of personality variables. Like to me, having a basically nice TV that interfaces with lots of things was the most important thing. I'm very happy watching DVDs and SD DVR on my TV. Also for me, I wanted something portable... I'm very happy with 32" because I can actually move it around by myself! Those things, vs. other things like good black level, contrast, etc.... You gotta really decide for yourself on your priorities, my friend.
 
Two quick questions....!

1. Must the macbook use "extended display" and not "mirror mode" to
display 1080p on a HDTV?

2. FT, or anyone else for that matter, how did you close the macbook and
only use the TV as the display, thus keeping front row running smoothly?
If I close my macbook turning both screens off, and then click my
wireless mouse, would this work?

I guess that's three questions, but I only ask because I'm thinking about
buying a Sony KDL-52XBR2 and want to make sure my macbook can drive
it.

Thanks for the help,
Mike
 
mikeklimo said:
1. Must the macbook use "extended display" and not "mirror mode" to display 1080p on a HDTV?
Click to expand...

Yes. Mirroring means that the two displays have the same resolution. Since the MacBook internal display cannot display 1080P, you cannot mirror and have 1080P on the external display at the same time. So you have to mirror or do "clamshell" (external only, see below).

2. FT, or anyone else for that matter, how did you close the macbook and only use the TV as the display, thus keeping front row running smoothly? If I close my macbook turning both screens off, and then click my wireless mouse, would this work?
Click to expand...

Two options. (1) is Clamshell -- you close it and wake it with an external mouse / keyboard. (2) I think is to use a program such as Sleepless that defeats the auto sleep feature on close.

As for question three, it depends... If it's Bluetooth, yes, as long as you select System Preferences -> Bluetooth -> Settings -> "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer." If it's not Bluetooth, I have no idea.
 
Aniej said:
mkrishnan and ftaok, I decided to hold off on the tv deal I told you about. Any advice on what I should get instead. I am thinking that it is better to go with a 46/7'' rather than the 52'' because the technology is developing so quickly and with price drops it seems crazy to spend so much based on the 52'' costs. I'd rather get an amazing 46'' and be able to put it in a living room when I am ready to drop some loot on a big boy when they have come down a bit in price.

By the way, slingcatcher is going to be amazing.
Click to expand...

Only you can determine if 46 or 52 is right for you. The price gap between the two sizes is pretty substantial. Seems like you pay a premium when you jump the 50" size. Sorta like diamonds above 1.5 carats, but I digress.

As for waiting, that's a good move in my opinion. Unless you're getting an incredible deal on a older TV, I'd wait a month or two to see the new TVs that they just announced at CES. Sharp has a boatload of new 1080p TVs that cover just about every price point. All the other manufacturers did the same.

Hopefully, these manufacturers fixed the problems that affected the first wave of 1080p LCDs (e.g. banding, clouding, etc.).

Some of the new buzzwords and terms that you'll be seeing in the new year, now that 1080p is passe: 120mhz and LED backlighting.

ft
 
mikeklimo said:
1. Must the macbook use "extended display" and not "mirror mode" to
display 1080p on a HDTV?

2. FT, or anyone else for that matter, how did you close the macbook and
only use the TV as the display, thus keeping front row running smoothly?
If I close my macbook turning both screens off, and then click my
wireless mouse, would this work?

I guess that's three questions, but I only ask because I'm thinking about
buying a Sony KDL-52XBR2 and want to make sure my macbook can drive
it.

Thanks for the help,
Mike
Click to expand...
Mike,

mrkrisman is correct, although he had a typo.

There's another way to wake the Macbook up while it's closed. Hit "menu".

"On the remote?"

"No, the menu at the Red Lobster ... yes the remote."

Seriously, you can wake the MB up using the Apple Remote.

Also, when you set up your MB and TV, set the TV as the Primary Display when you have it extended.

ft
 
mkrishnan said:
Yes. Mirroring means that the two displays have the same resolution. Since the MacBook internal display cannot display 1080P, you cannot mirror and have 1080P on the external display at the same time. So you have to mirror or do "clamshell" (external only, see below).

You mean, "so you have to EXTEND or do clamshell," right?
And yes, the mouse is bluetooth. Sorry, I should've clarified.

Thanks for the help everyone!

-Mike
Click to expand...
 
Just thought I would give our little thread a bump and see if you all had any new favorite picks now that we are a bit into 2007 and CES is decently in the past?

I have been seeing some interesting things coming out of Samsung, namely the new 40, 46, and 52 inch lineup.

Did you all see that wireless 46'' and 52'' LCD that was shown at CES, I think it was from Hitachi or Panasonic, but not sure.

Sharp was supposed to be rolling out their new D92U series, but so far I have seen nothing, which is a bit surprising and disappointing.

Finally, on the peripheral side, I cannot wait for slingcatcher to be released. I would have been really excited about :apple: tv, but the ability to send media both to and from the computer is amazing. The only thing I have noticed recently, that I don't recall being there before is what sounds to be like a qualification on slingcatcher's ability to send certain kinds of data. Specifically, it is now sounding a bit like the device cannot send data displays such as word documents and pdf, but rather only things like streaming media and pictures and music, similar to :apple: tv, which would be a big disappointment for me because the whole goal would be to make the tv capable of serving as a large display of documents I am working on. I am not sure about this so any insight would be great. I hope all is well.
 
I was just wondering if any of you all were still subscribed to this thread? I am still looking at some options to buy a new hdtv, but it seems like there has not been too much in the upgrade department and instead heavy action in the price cut area, which obviously is nice, but I would like to see some of the newer products hit the shelves.
 
ftaok said:
In my pursuit to get 1080p, I read something that helped me out. Apparently, when you go up into the Display "widget" in the Menu bar, there are listed resolutions that have been recently used. There were (2) separate resolutions listed for 1920x1080 60Hz. When selecting one of them, the TV reported 1080p. Looking in the Display system pref, it still showed 1920x1080 (interlaced), but the screen looked great, so I'm convinced that the Macbook is outputting 1080p.
ft
Click to expand...

Thanks for this tip. I couldn't get my Macbook to display 1080p (only 1080i) on my Samsung LNT4665F 46". It's fine now, but it's still not filling the entire screen on the left and right (around 2 inches).

I tried mirroring on Windows XP through Boot Camp and it displays 1080p and fills the entire screen. I'm prepared to use this and VLC, but I'm worried that Windows might be messing with the aspect ratio to fill the whole TV screen. Which OS is displaying 1080p correctly, Win or Mac?
 
METOO999 said:
Thanks for this tip. I couldn't get my Macbook to display 1080p (only 1080i) on my Samsung LNT4665F 46". It's fine now, but it's still not filling the entire screen on the left and right (around 2 inches).

I tried mirroring on Windows XP through Boot Camp and it displays 1080p and fills the entire screen. I'm prepared to use this and VLC, but I'm worried that Windows might be messing with the aspect ratio to fill the whole TV screen. Which OS is displaying 1080p correctly, Win or Mac?
Click to expand...
The fact that the WinPC can fill up the screen and the Mac isn't sounds like you need to check/uncheck the overscan checkbox in the Display System Preference window.
 
:DThis thread tells me everything i need to know. Thanks to all the previous posters. You could file this as a "How To" guide.
 
ftaok said:
The fact that the WinPC can fill up the screen and the Mac isn't sounds like you need to check/uncheck the overscan checkbox in the Display System Preference window.
Click to expand...

When overscan is unchecked, there are black bars on the top and bottom also. When I check overscan, it stretches the images so there are only black bars on the sides. The only aspect ratio that fills up the entire screen at a good resolution on OS X is 1280x720.
 
METOO999 said:
When overscan is unchecked, there are black bars on the top and bottom also. When I check overscan, it stretches the images so there are only black bars on the sides. The only aspect ratio that fills up the entire screen at a good resolution on OS X is 1280x720.
Click to expand...

OK, it kinda sounds like you have the Macbook and TV set to mirror the display. Because the MB's LCD screen is limited to 1280x800, this may be the source of your problem.

Set the Sammy to extend the desktop. The MB will remain set at 1280x800, the Sammy can be set to 1920x1080. Play with the overscan button. Make sure the TV is set to have overscan "off" (not sure what the Sammys call the 1:1 mode).

That should do it.

Good Luck!
 
ftaok said:
OK, it kinda sounds like you have the Macbook and TV set to mirror the display. Because the MB's LCD screen is limited to 1280x800, this may be the source of your problem.

Set the Sammy to extend the desktop. The MB will remain set at 1280x800, the Sammy can be set to 1920x1080. Play with the overscan button. Make sure the TV is set to have overscan "off" (not sure what the Sammys call the 1:1 mode).

That should do it.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Samsung's have "Just Scan," which reads the original AR from the source I guess. That's what I usually leave it at. There's also 16:9 which makes things a bit bigger, and a zoom setting that never looks right, which you can move up and down (who knows when I would ever use that).

I turned mirroring off, and it seems to be correctly displaying the TV in the rectangle next to the MB's rectangle. I changed the settings to 1080p. I then dragged the VLC window to the Samsung display and put it on full screen. Finally!

For some reason I always thought you had to mirror to use a second display. Then I remembered in the Apple stores where they had Powerbooks hooked up to Cinema Displays.

Edit: Hmm, I completely missed the posts higher up the page explaining how you can't mirror a Macbook and get 1080p. D'oh! I thought I had scoured everywhere.

Thanks for your input!
 
METOO999 said:
Samsung's have "Just Scan," which reads the original AR from the source I guess. That's what I usually leave it at. There's also 16:9 which makes things a bit bigger, and a zoom setting that never looks right, which you can move up and down (who knows when I would ever use that).

I turned mirroring off, and it seems to be correctly displaying the TV in the rectangle next to the MB's rectangle. I changed the settings to 1080p. I then dragged the VLC window to the Samsung display and put it on full screen. Finally!

For some reason I always thought you had to mirror to use a second display. Then I remembered in the Apple stores where they had Powerbooks hooked up to Cinema Displays.

Edit: Hmm, I completely missed the posts higher up the page explaining how you can't mirror a Macbook and get 1080p. D'oh! I thought I had scoured everywhere.

Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...
GREAT!!!

Incidentally, I didn't want to put too much information in the previous post to you, but now that you have it set up properly, I'll add this tidbit.

When I have the MB connected to the TV, I like to have the TV be set as the main display. You can do this in the Display System Preference window by dragging the menu bar over to the TV. I'm making it sound unclear, but it's obvious when you're at the Mac. This will allow for Front Row to display on the TV.

When you disconnect the Macbook, the primary display switches back to the MB automatically.

ft
 
ftaok said:
GREAT!!!

When I have the MB connected to the TV, I like to have the TV be set as the main display. You can do this in the Display System Preference window by dragging the menu bar over to the TV. I'm making it sound unclear, but it's obvious when you're at the Mac. This will allow for Front Row to display on the TV.

When you disconnect the Macbook, the primary display switches back to the MB automatically.

ft
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will do this tonight on movie night. :)

I prefer VLC because it supports Dolby Digital 5.1 whereas Front Row uses Quicktime Player, which doesn't output DD to my receiver.
 
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