Problem when displaying macbook pro through 40" 1080p LCD

[pinksta]

Hi,

I have recently bought a 40" Samsung 1080p LCD TV, I want to watch HD content from my Macbook pro on the Samsung TV.

I have bought a Dvi to HDMI connector and it works fine.

The problem I am having is that the whole of the screen on the TV is not being utilised when viewing the Macbook pro through the TV.

The TV is set to 1920x1080 and the macbook pro is 1680x1050.

I expected that when using mirroring mode this would happen but even when I use the TV as a second separate screen for the Macbook Pro it dosn't fill up the whole screen.

When using it as a separate screen it does get a bit larger than when in screen mirroring mode though.

I also have another problem in that when I use the TV as a separate screen I do not seem to be able to watch anything full screen on it as when I go to fullscreen it automatically jumps to the macbook pro screen instead of the TV!

So is there any way I can get what is being displayed to use the whole of the TV display and also some way to tell it to go full screen on the TV not the macbook pro?


Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[pacmania1982]

I had this problem with my friends 42" LCD. It was full HD and my MBP would only display its max internal resolution on the TV. The only way around it I have found is to hook up a keyboard and mouse via USB, close the lid of the MBP to put it to sleep, then hit the space bar or press the mouse button. The MBP will wake up but use the TV as an external monitor. You should then be able to open System Preferences and set the preferences to 1920x1080.

Give it a shot and let us know the outcome

pac

 

[pinksta]

Thanks for the suggestion, I tried doing exactly what you said but still had the same problem of not the whole screen being used.

Edit: I just did it again and it worked, I got slightly confused last time and reopened the macbook pro and pressed a button on there instead of the external keyboard...DOH!

So now the TV is the external screen which is great, it still dosnt fill up the whole of the screen though, I am starting to think it is not possible. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[pacmania1982]

Can you see the TV's res in System Preferences? Sounds like its not set correctly??

pac

 

[spacepower7]

You can tell VLC or Quicktime which screen to display full size.
VLC - Video/Fullscreen Video Device
I can't find it in Quicktime without another screen hooked up at the moment.


Also
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/450341/

"In quicktime, when your display is plugged in, open preferences, and then under the full screen tab it shows a picture of your two displays. You can just drag the image to whichever display you want."

 

[hscottm]

I was coming on here to post basically the same question/problem.

I have a Toshiba 42RV535U, which is a full HD (1080p) display. Its "PC input (VGA)" has resolutions of 1024x768, 1280x768, 1360x768, and 1280x1024 (all about 60 Hz). HDMI of course has regular 1080p resolution.

I tried the technique above of letting my MBP sleep and then awaking with an external kbd but am still having problems. I still have lid closed and am typing on external kbd now. The 1024x768 picture is clear, but looks like an SD broadcast in dimension (5 inch bars on left and right). 1280x768 mostly fills the screen but leaves about 1 inch bars on left and right (top and bottom look flush).

1360x768 (WXGA) isnt supported by OS X so I cant try it. 1280x1024 is clear but is even smaller in size than the 1024x768 picture (6 inch bars on each side). That really confuses me.

Any other ideas? I know part of the issue here is the TV's built-in resolutions, but am surprised I cannot get a match using a supported resolution in the TV specs and on my mac (1280x1024)..

 

[pacmania1982]

With regards to the last post, I would suggest rather than using the VGA connection, get an adapter and hook up your Mac via DVI-->HDMI. This should allow you to select more screen resolutions than what your Mac can detect hooked up by standard VGA.

pac

 

[hscottm]

With regards to the last post, I would suggest rather than using the VGA connection, get an adapter and hook up your Mac via DVI-->HDMI. This should allow you to select more screen resolutions than what your Mac can detect hooked up by standard VGA.

thats the next step, but does not explain why I cannot get a listed resolution on both to work correctly, and why it results in a picture smaller than another resolution!

anyone else have odd TV issues like this or have fixes?

 

[Ktjn]

try this

did you try pressing the blue "P.Size" button on your remote for the samsung TV?

 

[pinksta]

Can you see the TV's res in System Preferences? Sounds like its not set correctly??

pac

In system preference the screen res is set to 1920x1080 so that looks fine but there is about 3 cm above and below and 4cm to the left and right that isnt being used and is just black! It's strange..

Oh and I tried pressing the "P.Size" button on the remote but it was already on 16:9 and changing to wide zoom didnt help.

 

[hscottm]

I know its partly confusing since 2 different users with 2 different TVs (although the same root problem), but pressing the picture suze button on my remote just stretches the screen. When in native (the appropriate) mode, I get the margins mentioned above.