MBP to TV, help me out with this one

[Sdao]

DVI and VGA will not give you any audio, it is for video only. It is no different than the connection between your computer and your display - no audio is transmitted over that link, only video from your graphics card. You will need to deal with audio seperately.



This *will* work, however if your TV has a VGA input (DSub-15) I think that would give you better quality than going through s-video or composite, which is what the above adaptor would accomplish.

Instead, perhaps you might want to consider this adaptor? And if you do, no need to buy it, as it should have been included with your MacBook Pro when it shipped. (I assume this is the one you already tried?)



If you were planning on using the first adaptor, then yes, these would be the right cables to use for the s-video component, however all you really need is the s-video cable, not the audio cables that appear to come bundled with it. Again, audio is seperate from video. Even if you buy one of the above s-video solutions, you will still need to plug the other ends of the audio cables into something, and your MacBook Pro does not have the proper interfaces for this. I believe your MacBook Pro has a combined optical digital output/headphone out accomplished via a minijack. So even after you sort out your video you'd need to sort out your audio.

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it

I'm going to go the VGA route, use the adaptor (DVI to VGA) that my MacBook Pro came with

Now, for the audio... what do i use?

 

[~Shard~]

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it

No problem at all.

I'm going to go the VGA route, use the adaptor (DVI to VGA) that my MacBook Pro came with

Sounds good. I assume you have the right cable for that? It may have even came with your TV. And not to complicate things, but according to that initial link you provided, your TV should have HDMI. We won’t worry about that right now though.

And again, for what it’s worth, obviously going digital is preferred over analog so if you ever have a choice, always choose HDMI or DVI over s-video, composite, etc.

Now, for the audio... what do i use?

The audio output on your MacBook Pro allows you to connect external speakers, headphones or optical digital audio equipment to it. The headphone / line output jack accommodates optical digital audio output, analog audio output and digital audio output. For analog headphone / line output, a standard audio cable with 3.5mm metal plug should be fine. For digital audio, a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter can be used. Since you’re wanting to hook it up to your TV, you require the latter, assuming your receiver supports digital audio. Or, if you’re hooking it up directly to your TV and not connecting it for output through a surround sound system, then your TV would require said digital audio inputs. If you are not using a receiver for a 5.1 surround system or the like, and are hooking it directly into the TV, and if your TV does not support digital audio input, then you may have to settle with using the 3.5mm mini jack. Not as good quality this way (analog versus digital) but it will still work and probably be a little easier since all you should need is a standard 3.5mm plug.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sdao]

No problem at all.



Sounds good. I assume you have the right cable for that? It may have even came with your TV. And not to complicate things, but according to that initial link you provided, your TV should have HDMI. We won’t worry about that right now though.

And again, for what it’s worth, obviously going digital is preferred over analog so if you ever have a choice, always choose HDMI or DVI over s-video, composite, etc.



The audio output on your MacBook Pro allows you to connect external speakers, headphones or optical digital audio equipment to it. The headphone / line output jack accommodates optical digital audio output, analog audio output and digital audio output. For analog headphone / line output, a standard audio cable with 3.5mm metal plug should be fine. For digital audio, a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter can be used. Since you’re wanting to hook it up to your TV, you require the latter, assuming your receiver supports digital audio. Or, if you’re hooking it up directly to your TV and not connecting it for output through a surround sound system, then your TV would require said digital audio inputs. If you are not using a receiver for a 5.1 surround system or the like, and are hooking it directly into the TV, and if your TV does not support digital audio input, then you may have to settle with using the 3.5mm mini jack. Not as good quality this way (analog versus digital) but it will still work and probably be a little easier since all you should need is a standard 3.5mm plug.

Hope this helps.

I've got it all hooked up, this is awesome.

I bought a VGA cable (male to male) hooked one end up to the DVI to VGA connector provided by apple, and plugged the other end into my tv. For the audio i used a simple 3.5mm cord, the ones that usually come with cheap computer speakers. So, no surround sound, but its coming from my TV speakers, which isnt all that bad.

It looks pretty good, I've got the displays mirrored so the TV isnt an extension, just a wider viewing space. I'd take a pic and upload it, but thats a whole other thread worth of instructions for me.

Thanks again, it looks awesome. I might even try and use my TV as my primary monitor

 

[~Shard~]

I've got it all hooked up, this is awesome.

I bought a VGA cable (male to male) hooked one end up to the DVI to VGA connector provided by apple, and plugged the other end into my tv. For the audio i used a simple 3.5mm cord, the ones that usually come with cheap computer speakers. So, no surround sound, but its coming from my TV speakers, which isnt all that bad.

It looks pretty good, I've got the displays mirrored so the TV isnt an extension, just a wider viewing space. I'd take a pic and upload it, but thats a whole other thread worth of instructions for me.

Thanks again, it looks awesome. I might even try and use my TV as my primary monitor

Excellent, I'm glad to hear everything is working great for you. And the audio setup you chose is probably the easiest and will suit your needs just fine.

If you ever have any other questions just post them and I'm sure you'll receive a reply from one of our many helpful and knowledgable members here on MacRumors.

 

[Sdao]

Excellent, I'm glad to hear everything is working great for you. And the audio setup you chose is probably the easiest and will suit your needs just fine.

If you ever have any other questions just post them and I'm sure you'll receive a reply from one of our many helpful and knowledgable members here on MacRumors.

haha well thank you very much, so far everyone has been amazing.

now that you've offered your extended help, I might as well ask one more question

Now that I have my MBP setup to my TV, is there a way to run the MBP with the lid closed? So i can be using it without running the screen?

Or, should I just dim it all the way and put the lid down a touch?

 

[~Shard~]

haha well thank you very much, so far everyone has been amazing.

Glad to hear it.

now that you've offered your extended help, I might as well ask one more question

Now that I have my MBP setup to my TV, is there a way to run the MBP with the lid closed? So i can be using it without running the screen?

Or, should I just dim it all the way and put the lid down a touch?

Your MacBook Pro definitely has a lid-closed mode. Follow these steps and you should have no problems:

- Make sure the computer is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adaptor
- Connect a USB keyboard and mouse to your computer
- Connect the Apple VGA (or DVI) adaptor that came with your MacBook Pro to the appropriate port on your TV and turn the TV on
- With the computer turned on and your keyboard or mouse connected, connect the other end of the adaptor to the video output port on your MacBook Pro
- Once your computer's Desktop appears on the TV, close the computer's lid
- Once the lid is closed, wake the computer up by either clicking your mouse button or by pressing a key on your keyboard
- You should now be able to use your MacBook Pro as you normally would, using your USB keyboard or mouse

 

[Sdao]

Glad to hear it.



Your MacBook Pro definitely has a lid-closed mode. Follow these steps and you should have no problems:

- Make sure the computer is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adaptor
- Connect a USB keyboard and mouse to your computer
- Connect the Apple VGA (or DVI) adaptor that came with your MacBook Pro to the appropriate port on your TV and turn the TV on
- With the computer turned on and your keyboard or mouse connected, connect the other end of the adaptor to the video output port on your MacBook Pro
- Once your computer's Desktop appears on the TV, close the computer's lid
- Once the lid is closed, wake the computer up by either clicking your mouse button or by pressing a key on your keyboard
- You should now be able to use your MacBook Pro as you normally would, using your USB keyboard or mouse

That is awesome, haha Apple thinks of everything

What about if im using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse?

 

[~Shard~]

That is awesome, haha Apple thinks of everything

What about if im using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse?

Bluetooth should be no problem at all. As long as you've got power and external video, the MacBook Pro will wake up (and stay awake) just fine from Bluetooth. Here are the modified first steps to the instructions I provided above:

- Once again, make sure the computer is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adapter (for lid-closed mode to work, you MUST be plugged in to power)
- Verify that Bluetooth is turned on by using the Bluetooth pane of System Preferences or the Bluetooth menu icon
- Pair your Bluetooth keyboard or mouse with the computer (I assume you know how to do this)
- In System Preferences, be sure that the 'Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer' option is selected

And that's it! You should be good to go.

Lastly, for what it's worth, I have read comments from individuals that it is not wise to leave the lid on the MBP closed when it is switched on for extended periods of time, as heat will get trapped by the lid and it may cause the LCD to warp or even crack. I have never seen any proof of this or heard of anyone who has actually run into this problem, and in short I believe it to be false due to the way the MacBook Pro performs heat management. So if you hear this comment, I would take it with a grain of salt as I personally do not believe it is that significant of an issue.