Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

prs986

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 16, 2007
105
1
Central CA, USA
Ok so I connected my new Alu 20" iMac to my 46" Sharp Aquos HDTV via DVI to HDMI and it's AWESOME! But the thing is that it doesn't fill the whole screen. I have it set to the proper res at 1080. Any thoughts?
 
Ok so I connected my new Alu 20" iMac to my 46" Sharp Aquos HDTV via DVI to HDMI and it's AWESOME! But the thing is that it doesn't fill the whole screen. I have it set to the proper res at 1080. Any thoughts?

Are you sure the resolution is correct on the iMac? Sometimes the correct TV resolution isn't available on the Mac and you need a third party application. I don't remember off hand, but it's been posted here a few times. DisplayConfigX? Does that sound right to anyone?

Also, although you shouldn't need this for a digital signal, is your screen set up for underscan (check in display Preferences)?

also is there a way to shut off the imac display and use the HDTV as my main display?

Hmm, there's a widget that modifies your screen settings (temporarily) to do this, but there's no way to turn off the screen. Really, the only way is to turn down the brightness.

By the way, if you want to add a new point to a post, you can use the edit button rather than add a new post - just a suggestion.
 
thanks for the info! I did some more digging around on the forum and it is DisplayConfigX. I'll try it once I get home from the office. Thanks again!
 
Hmm, there's a widget that modifies your screen settings (temporarily) to do this, but there's no way to turn off the screen. Really, the only way is to turn down the brightness.

You can set your screen to turn off after a time in System Preferences > Energy Saver.
 
I have the same setup as prs986 but is experiencing problems. When I first got it hooked up i can see my extended desktop on my HDTV. After about 10 min the screen on my tv went black and gave me this error: "An incompatible signal have been recieve. Check the output device settings." Not sure what to do now, I've downloaded the SwitchResX software but not sure what to do with it.

HELP!?!?! :confused::confused:

here is what it shows on my display preference

Picture1.png


should i check mirror or no?
Picture2.png
 
Why don't you make a new thread, instead of piggybacking off this one? I personally don't know enough to answer your question, but I do know that creating a new thread will get more results than taking over another.

Just a friendly piece of advice. :)
 
Why don't you make a new thread, instead of piggybacking off this one? I personally don't know enough to answer your question, but I do know that creating a new thread will get more results than taking over another.

Just a friendly piece of advice. :)


I know, I was debating on posting a new thread on this issue but did a search and found this thread talking about the same exact problem. Plus some admins don't like repost of the same issue when there is one already out in the forum.
 
Ok so I connected my new Alu 20" iMac to my 46" Sharp Aquos HDTV via DVI to HDMI and it's AWESOME! But the thing is that it doesn't fill the whole screen. I have it set to the proper res at 1080. Any thoughts?

Generally speaking, using DVI->HDMI to connect a computer to a TV is asking for trouble. Obviously, it's easy to get just any signal on the screen, but if you want a pixel-accurate picture, be prepared to spend a lot of time tinkering with manual settings in 3rd party apps. If your TV has a standard analog PC connection, this is absolutely the way to go, OS X will instantly recognize the correct resolution and everything will work as expected.

macmini123.com has a home theater forum with dozens of threads about getting DVI-HDMI to work right, if you're looking for more detailed help on getting your setup to work this way.
 
Generally speaking, using DVI->HDMI to connect a computer to a TV is asking for trouble. Obviously, it's easy to get just any signal on the screen, but if you want a pixel-accurate picture, be prepared to spend a lot of time tinkering with manual settings in 3rd party apps. If your TV has a standard analog PC connection, this is absolutely the way to go, OS X will instantly recognize the correct resolution and everything will work as expected.

It also depends on the set. I have a Philips LCD HDTV that supports various overscan modes. The set is 1920x1080P@60Hz. Running it "unscaled" shows 1:1 pixel ratio and a flawless picture. A Samsung 1080P at work also has a "Just Scan It" mode and does not scale the picture. A Sceptre 1080P also had no issues.

The cure to the issue is to buy a set that supports 1:1 pixel ratio or explicitly says they support computer modes. Quite a few of them do nowadays, especially the LCD models.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.