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Sony Bravia connected to Mac Mini = No go?

D

davemulheran

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 6, 2009
119
0
UK - London/Kent
Hi all

I have a Bravia KDL-40T3500 and am concerned that I will not be able to hook a mac mini up to it by DVI -> HDMI

On searching google, I found ONE other person in the same boat and looks like he had no joy.

Apple - Support - Discussions - HDMI on Sony KDL-40T3500 ...
Is this the nail in the coffin to me adding a mac mini to my TV (no the missus will not let me get a new TV!) :god::god::god:

Is there anyway to get a mini attached to my LCD?

Dont really want to use the PC input as that will give me a crap picture from all accounts??

Please help!



thks

Dave
 
Actually, in my experience VGA has been a better quality than HDMI. Over HDMI the picture looks "hard" and quite a few pixels get cropped. VGA fills the display and looks smoother.

Experienced using a Samsung 26" 720p set over HDMI and VGA, plus a 40" 1080p Bravia using HDMI.
 
I've got my mini hooked up to a 36" Samsung LCD via PC VGA and am more than happy with the picture. It was the only spare option I had at the time but has since become "established". I am however going to get a DVI > S-Vid output as I want to modulate to RF to send picture to different locations and RF seems the best option to achieve this
 
davemulheran said:
I have a Bravia KDL-40T3500 and am concerned that I will not be able to hook a mac mini up to it by DVI -> HDMI

On searching google, I found ONE other person in the same boat and looks like he had no joy
Click to expand...
That was back in 2007, though - two years is a hell of a long time in the AV world.

Have you checked out the encouragingly-named post Yes, You Can Get 1080p Out Of A Mac mini?

You might also want to read Mac mini HDMI 1080p success with Panasonic 50" on the Apple forums.
 
VGA is a very competent connection. I have used VGA for PC-HDTV connections to do HD gaming, as well as HD video. VGA is capable of resolutions that HDMI cannot even count up to. I much prefer VGA to connect PC/MAC to HDTV over HDMI/DVI and adapters of the like, there is much less hassle, the compatibility is a non-issue and the picture quality, IMO (and I feel after selling HDTVS for over a year I have a pretty good eye for picture quality) is quite nice.
 
davemulheran said:
I dont see where that is the case for a sony bravia though... ?
Click to expand...
Just because someone had trouble getting it working 2 years ago doesn't mean it's impossible now, does it? And maybe that guy *would* have got it working if he'd had access to the information given in those two posts I linked to...

Personally, I wouldn't consider spending £50 for a converter box unless I'd actually tried it with a normal DVI-to-HDMI cable, following the specific instructions given in those two posts, and it still didn't work. And even then, I wouldn't buy the box unless I was certain I could return it for a full refund if it didn't make any difference.

nickXedge said:
VGA is capable of resolutions that HDMI cannot even count up to
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, many (most?) TVs limit the resolution that may be obtained via their VGA ports to sub-1080 levels.

Even if a TV allows you to pump 1920x1080 in via VGA, being an analogue connection it can never be as sharp and crisp as the direct pixel addressing provided by DVI/HDMI. You may find the VGA image *subjectively* more pleasing, but that's obviously a different issue.
 
Works with an XBR5

I have my mini hooked up to a Sony XBR5 via the included dvi adapter then a dvi->HDMI adapater and everything works fine and I can get 1080p resolution. My DVI->HDMI cable was $10 or $12 on Ebay and works great.
 
I have now a Mac mini Core Duo 1.66 GHz hooked to my 40" Bravia 40L4000, via the XtremeMac DVI to HDMI cable.
The Mac mini "detects" the Sony TV, and resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz (the TV "detects" 1080p).
Yes. video overlay is active, but for watching HD movies, it's superb!!
 
jnc said:
Actually, in my experience VGA has been a better quality than HDMI. Over HDMI the picture looks "hard" and quite a few pixels get cropped.
Click to expand...

But that's just a subjective measure. All quantitative measures prove that HDMI is superior to VGA in terms of staying true to signal content.

If you are seeing smoother pictures in VGA mode, then it is probably due to a processing board applying some smoothing functions. That's just adding more loss to an already lossy analog signal.
 
VGA cable was the solution for my friend with a bravia I think its an S series on his powerbook g4 and early 09 mac pro.
 
AVR2 said:
Unfortunately, many (most?) TVs limit the resolution that may be obtained via their VGA ports to sub-1080 levels.

Even if a TV allows you to pump 1920x1080 in via VGA, being an analogue connection it can never be as sharp and crisp as the direct pixel addressing provided by DVI/HDMI. You may find the VGA image *subjectively* more pleasing, but that's obviously a different issue.
Click to expand...

Although I don't technically disagree with what you are saying, I am not familiar with TVs that limit their VGA input resolution to lower than their own native resolution. I have Samsung's very first available retail 40" LCD 1080p TV, and I have used VGA from a gaming PC and it displayed 1920x1080 resolution without any hassle or problems whatsoever.

As far as the digital vs analog picture, my rebuttal will be that slightly annoying and lacking argument that the human eye can only see so much detail and it is less likely for an untrained person who is not a connoisseur of video or graphics to really notice much of a difference. I still maintain that VGA is the superior connector for computer to TV relations, providing an exuberant picture without the hassle of adapters and digital connections.
 
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