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Mac Mini and HDTV

Toddgabweg

Toddgabweg

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2007
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Can you connect a mac mini to an HDTV 1080P LCD TV with a VGA input? Instead of buying an expensive 24" imac, I think I can get away with a mac mini and buy a new LCD HDTV with a vga input- is this possible- I mainly need a mac for iphotos and imovies???:confused:
 
Why would you use the VGA input instead of the HDMI input via a DVI/HDMI adapter? You likely wont get the full resolution via the VGA input.
 
I connected my Mac mini (G4) to my Sony 1080P 60" LCOS RPTV.
via vga I get 1366x768 resolution. Black bars top,bottom, both sides ... bummer.
via HDMI, I did get 1920x1080 interlaced. The screen flickered and I changed resolutions to try something else. I Got a black screen on the TV. I haven't figured out how to correct the situation yet. I'm not sure if the mini can do 1920x1080p. Hopefully tonight I receive the RAM I ordered for my G5, then I'll try the G5 on my TV. Hopefully it can drive my 20" cinema via ADC and my TV to 1920x1080p via DVI, via DVI to HDMI cable.

Anyone with ideas to change my mini resolution?
 
Flynnstone said:
I connected my Mac mini (G4) to my Sony 1080P 60" LCOS RPTV.
via vga I get 1366x768 resolution. Black bars top,bottom, both sides ... bummer.
via HDMI, I did get 1920x1080 interlaced. The screen flickered and I changed resolutions to try something else. I Got a black screen on the TV. I haven't figured out how to correct the situation yet. I'm not sure if the mini can do 1920x1080p. Hopefully tonight I receive the RAM I ordered for my G5, then I'll try the G5 on my TV. Hopefully it can drive my 20" cinema via ADC and my TV to 1920x1080p via DVI, via DVI to HDMI cable.

Anyone with ideas to change my mini resolution?
Click to expand...

The mini can output 1080p. It's likely that your Sony can't accept a 1080p source.

What model Sony is it? The SXRD TV's with the side speakers (aka Dumbo Ears) can't take a 1080p source. The newer SXRD's can take a 1080p source.


EDIT - I just noticed that you have a G4 mini. I'm not sure if the G4 mini can output 1080p, but I would bet that it does.
ft
 
I just tested with my G5.
It would only goto 1920x1080 interlaced. hmm
My tv has the speakers on the bottom.
But it did look great!. I ran a slideshow in iPhoto.
Simply awesome.!
 
Flynnstone said:
I just tested with my G5.
It would only goto 1920x1080 interlaced. hmm
My tv has the speakers on the bottom.
But it did look great!. I ran a slideshow in iPhoto.
Simply awesome.!
Click to expand...

Does your TV report the type of signal that it's receiving? On my TV, when I switch the input, it displays whether it's receiving a 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i or 1080p signal.

I ask because Mac OS X has a little quirk where it can send a 1080p signal via DVI, but the Display System Preference shows 1920x1080 (interlaced). It's a documented issue in this and other forums. You may very well be sending a 1080p signal.

For the record, when my Macbook sends a 1080i signal, it's very obvious. 1080p looks great, not as good as a dedicated monitor, but then again, the pixels on my TV are about 8x bigger.

ft
 
ftaok said:
I ask because Mac OS X has a little quirk where it can send a 1080p signal via DVI, but the Display System Preference shows 1920x1080 (interlaced). It's a documented issue in this and other forums. You may very well be sending a 1080p signal.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'll check.
 
Will SwitchRes X allow me to reset the resolution on my Mac mini?
I get a black screen on my tv when I connect my mini via the DVI to HDMI cable.
 
Got it working with my Mac Mini. It appears to be 1080p. It looks good, but ...
When I did an iPhoto slideshow, I started to see some "tearing" of the screen.
Then the screen went mostly black except for about an inch across near the bottom of "noise" signal. Then to complete black.
I don't thick the mini can handle this much work! Shared video :mad:

I wonder how a Intel mini behaves?
I like :apple: TV , but the mini hopefully can do 1080p.
 
Flynnstone said:
Got it working with my Mac Mini. It appears to be 1080p. It looks good, but ...
When I did an iPhoto slideshow, I started to see some "tearing" of the screen.
Then the screen went mostly black except for about an inch across near the bottom of "noise" signal. Then to complete black.
I don't thick the mini can handle this much work! Shared video :mad:

I wonder how a Intel mini behaves?
I like :apple: TV , but the mini hopefully can do 1080p.
Click to expand...
You do know that your mini (G4) has a dedicated Graphics Card, right? Anyways, I can sort of vouch for the Intel mini being able to handle 1080p without a problem. We have a 2ghz Macbook with only 512MB RAM. It can handle 1080p output without a problem. Slideshows (via Front Row) work fine. And this is with Integrated Graphics.

ft
 
I have my G4 mini connected to my 1080P Sony HDTV.
If I connect via HDMI, I can get 1920x1080 progressive. It looks impressive. But ... when I have motion (iPhoto slideshow), the screen goes black.
If I connect via the VGA connector, I get 1380x768 progressive. This is a form of 720p. This works fine. On my TV I get black bars top, bottom and sides.
I prefer the full screen.
So from my perspective, a G4 mini outputting to 720p TV is no problem.
 
I got it working via VGA

I had to set the G4 Mini resolution to 1280x768, millions of colors, 59.9 Hertz. It also works at 1024 x 768. All other resolutions give a black screen which makes it imposible to adjust on the Sony Bravia. Hook the Mini to a regular computer monitor and find the right resolution first, before hooking up to the TV.
 
Help? maybe?

I just bought a Mitsubishi WDY57 , Has 2 HDMI's and a DVI port. ive used the DVI port to display my PC @ 1080p And worked GREAT! looked great too.

Well I dont want my main PC in the living room LOL Would like to get my Mac Mini to work in there. But for the Life of me I cannot get it to Display @ 1920x1080 TV just says Invalid Signal type.

But if i put it in 1280x720 it works fine, but really dont look that great. black bars around the sides and the image is fuzzy especially while playing a DVD movie.

ive tried everything I can think of. I have an Older G4 Mac Mini with an ATI Radeon 8500 in it. According to ATI that card will support 1920x1080

Ive also tried using that SwitchResX Either im not using it right or I Dont have a clue. Could be Both. The Manufacturers book says the DVI will accept 1080p.

Any Clues or Ideas would be much helpfull!!

Thanks in advance
 
Is there a reason you are using HDMI? Are you are running audio to the TV? Does the TV have a DVI? I found that most do. Most TVs are made to be a monitor. I have found that some are better than others in this regard.

I had my mini connected to a 1080P TV and it outputted in the full 1080P res at 60hz (progressive).

I did have to use ScreenResX however, to make a custom profile for 60hz. That worked just fine.

YMMV. I know some TVs just don't play nice. Make sure you are using a good quality cable and DVI-D. You can get some great cables from monoprice.com and they are very inexpensive.

Then use ScreenResX to make that custom profile for 1920x1080 @ 60hz. It will autofill the other details from the TVs internal settings.
 
suneohair said:
Is there a reason you are using HDMI? Are you are running audio to the TV? Does the TV have a DVI? I found that most do. Most TVs are made to be a monitor. I have found that some are better than others in this regard.

I had my mini connected to a 1080P TV and it outputted in the full 1080P res at 60hz (progressive).

I did have to use ScreenResX however, to make a custom profile for 60hz. That worked just fine.

YMMV. I know some TVs just don't play nice. Make sure you are using a good quality cable and DVI-D. You can get some great cables from monoprice.com and they are very inexpensive.

Then use ScreenResX to make that custom profile for 1920x1080 @ 60hz. It will autofill the other details from the TVs internal settings.
Click to expand...

Im not using HDMI for the Mac, Im using DVI. and the Grade of DVI cable i have is good. not the cheapest and not the most expensive.

I dont quite understand i guess how ScreenResX works. im still fairly new to OSX only been using it for little under 2 years now.
 
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