Does anyone know what I need to get in order to hook up my iMac to a HDTV with HDMI? I would like to use my TV as a monitor but I don't know what I need to get to do this. I know I need a mini DVi - DVi cable but my problem is how do i now conncet it to a HDMI input? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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Intel iMac hooking up to HDTV Help
- Thread starter Zonked14
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Zonked14 said:
Ok your options are:
0a) What make and model?
0b) Be wary about cheap and also stupidly expensive cables. Always buy a decent quality insulated cable, and dont run them too long unless you can take them back if they dont work (5 meters for VGA, maybe 10m for HDMI). Audio can be longer but I hear optical shouldn't run more than 10meters - no experience knowing what happens if you do.
1) Add a DVI to HDMI cable to the mix (should be male to male couplings iirc) and plug it all into your TV. Not a cheap option as DVI to HDMI cables can be quite pricey.
You will also need to run either a normal audio cable or an optical sound, preferably into a real receiver or into the back of your TV where there should be left and right RCA inputs. You may need a simple splitter from your 3.5mm out to plug into this.
Problems I experienced with this arrangement was overscan (an option under the screen preferences when screen spaning normally on by default) led to a small part of all the edge of the image going off the sides of the screen out of view - I lost part of the picture. I could only see part of the bar for any window and was tricky using menus (This happens to almost everyone apparently). When I turned overscanning off I got a perfect 1280x720 image on my screen but because my LCD (like most on the market) is 1360x768, I got a black border all the way around as well. This reduced 40" to 37". Usable but annoying.
2) Had a DVI to VGA adapter (Male to Female) Got good quality VGA cable (Male to Male). 10 meters didn't work - could only get 1280x720 stretched to the full 40". 5 meters worked allowing 1360x768 at 60Hz. Picture looks quite solid and I have been using it this way for a few weeks. Did the same thing for sound - 3.5mm 1/8th inch sound input is next to VGA input on my screen. I am toying with the idea of using a 5 meter male DVI to DVI with a female DVI to male VGA when I meet the TV to see if that allows higher refresh but really to allow me a cleaner attachment to my powerbook.
Ok, well price is not really an issue. I work at Best Buy so i et these cables somewhat cheap. I guess I should ask, does the mini dvi cable have a female dvi on the other side or is it male? I think it is male so now I need some sort of DVI to HDMI converter. I deal with these everyday but the problem is that as far as i know the dvi-hdmi converter is directional (it goes from hdmi to dvi only). So that is where I am having the issue. Are they directional? I have the 17" intel iMac. Audio isn't an issue either. Thanks
Zonked14 said:
I thought it terminated with a female DVI end...you have it right?
You can get DVI to HDMI cables or you can buy a converter and an HDMI HDMI cable...
imacintel said:I am also running a 17 inch iMac with Intel(tm) technology(the intel jingle plays
I was wondering if there was a way to connect my iMac to my TV using s- Video
Yeah, search on apple.com for a DVI to S-Video converter, theres one there for like 20 bucks... you can probably get it for less.
Mini-DVI to composite and s-video to be exact. Also, if the cable is digital, then if it works, it works. If not then it doesn't. There can't be much signal loss without it being total, as half a one is still a one in binary as with terrestrial digital TV.Nar1117 said:
SLJ said:
DVI-P?The iMac's port is mini DVI-I, it carries both digital and analog signals. The other DVI-* are DVI-D and DVI-A which are digital only and analog only. Never heard of DVI-P.
One of the main issues with iMac to DVI to HDMI is that you don't get the audio on the HDMI, so your HDTV needs to be able to pull the audio from another input.
Another thought is to go from the iMac to DVI or VGA to Component Video using an inexpensive adapter cable.
B
DVI/HDCP is what I am referring, in general, most computer equipments use DVI-I, DVI-A or DVI-D display output. In terms of Home Cinema display or HD LCD/Plasma or Projector, the DVI port has HDCP compliance. You cannot connect any DVI-* sources to a DVI/HDCP display. As the subject line, connecting an iMac to HDTV, most likely the HDMI/DVI converter or direct connection would not work, unless the HDTV support DVI input as PC display connection. Just warning you before buying the converter or cable.
imacintel said:I am also running a 17 inch iMac with Intel(tm) technology(the intel jingle plays
I was wondering if there was a way to connect my iMac to my TV using s- Video
Depends on what TV. Not HD, but a normal CRT TV could easily be done. But get a DVI to video adapter. These have both composite and Svideo. Get a svideo to scart adapter and youre off!!
FWIW I think you're confusing a number of things. HDCP compliance refers only to the capabilities of the devices on either end to work with copy protected HDTV signals. I agree that it is important, but not for this. Also note that the iMac's ATI GPUs were originally sold as supporting HDCP, but this was later removed, since HDCP encoding is not yet actually implemented anywhere.SLJ said:
I can tell you that my DirecTV HD-TiVo has an HDMI output that is definitely NOT HDCP compliant and yet works absolutely fine with my Toshiba HDTV using an HDMI to HDMI cable. it also came with a nice HDMI to DVI adapter cable and works nicely with my Samsung monitor.
I have yet to try hooking up my iMac (the only DVI Mac I have) to my HDTV, but I suspect the biggest probem I will face is the overscan aswitcher mentioned and SwitchResX will give me a way around it to get the right resolution color depth and refresh rate settings to take full advantage of the HDTV.
B
I hooked up my 20" intel iMac to my HDTV (mitsubishi 52") as soon as i got it. The input on the back of my HDTV is HDMI. Here's a list of stuff i did to do it:
1) 33ft HDMI cable (you can also get a DVI-HDMI cable [diff connector on each end] but i opted for HDMI since i can reuse it for other stuff later on)
If you get a DVI-HDMI cable, you don't need #2.
2) DVI-D single link Male to HDMI Female adapter (only if you get a straight HDMI cable)
3) Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
I bought 1 and 2 from monoprice.com and 3 from apple.
Once i got it hooked up, i had to configure my TV to tell it that it was a "PC" connected to my HDMI port because the signalling is different. But besides that, it works flawlessly.
I also hooked up a TOSLink cable from my receiver to the iMac so i can have audio.
The piece de resistance was programming my harmony remote to control all 3. I can use frontrow from the comfort of my couch
1) 33ft HDMI cable (you can also get a DVI-HDMI cable [diff connector on each end] but i opted for HDMI since i can reuse it for other stuff later on)
If you get a DVI-HDMI cable, you don't need #2.
2) DVI-D single link Male to HDMI Female adapter (only if you get a straight HDMI cable)
3) Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
I bought 1 and 2 from monoprice.com and 3 from apple.
Once i got it hooked up, i had to configure my TV to tell it that it was a "PC" connected to my HDMI port because the signalling is different. But besides that, it works flawlessly.
I also hooked up a TOSLink cable from my receiver to the iMac so i can have audio.
The piece de resistance was programming my harmony remote to control all 3. I can use frontrow from the comfort of my couch
balamw said:
Another thought is to go from the iMac to DVI or VGA to Component Video using an inexpensive adapter cable.
B
You have a link to an inexpensive VGA->Component (not composite!) Video adapter? Cuz the ones I have found are several hundred!