Hooking up MBP to Plasma

[marclapierre13]

I want to play games on my MBP attached to my SVA PLasma TV.

The connectors I have are S-Video, 'PC In" and the regular red white yellow connectors.

I want sound and the best quality possible. How do I do this?

[gr8tfly]

What type of connector is "PC In"?

edit: found some info on a 42" model (http://www.tvauthority.com/Plasma-TV-Monitors-and-TVs/SVA-4201EP.asp). Looks like a 15-pin D-sub analog display connector. The MBP comes with a DVI-analog adapter, so you probably need a standard display cable (15-pin to 15-pin). Of the three choices, that probably would be the best.

For audio, you'll need a 3.5mm stereo to RCA L/R cable to go from the headphone jack on the MBP.

[marclapierre13]

Sweet. Ya, thats my plasma. Ive had it for years now, so it doesnt have HDMI.

[marclapierre13]

From what ive read previously, i think PC IN is VGA.

[jnc]

Don't MBPs come with a DVI-VGA adaptor? Then all you should need is a VGA cable.

[motownflip]

I think I'll give this a shot. Should it be any different for a newer plasma or lcd?

[Erukian]

My 50" Panasonic plasma has HDMI in, so i just take a spare DVI cable, hook it up to the MBP and i bought a female-dvi to male-hdmi adapter ($10 at circuit city) and set the res to 1920x1080, beautiful. :)

-Joe

[marclapierre13]

Ya, my MBP came with a dvi to VGA adapter.
What else do I need to get picture and sound?

[jnc]

vga cable gets you your picture, sound's trickier, you won't be able to run headphone jack to composite adapters because your tv source will have to be set to the vga channel to pick up a picture. PIP is a ridiculous workaround because you'll have sound, but you'll have a blank space in whichever corner you use for the composite channel.

Either run the sound out the laptop's speakers, find a 2.1 solution that uses the MBP's headphone jack (I use harmon/kardon II), or use the optical out on a sound system separate from the plasma unit's internal speakers. Anything geekier than that, I can't help you with! :apple:

[gr8tfly]

vga cable gets you your picture, sound's trickier, you won't be able to run headphone jack to composite adapters because your tv source will have to be set to the vga channel to pick up a picture.

Didn't think of that. Seems like the TV should have separate sound select when using the VGA.

[jnc]

Heh, I've run into the problem personally

I'm away from my Mac setup atm and I'm currently using my brother's POS Windows laptop with terrible speakers. If I want to watch anything on it I have a separate CRT television providing more adequate sound through composite, with a blank screen...

[marclapierre13]

I went to FS today.
The guy told me I need to plug in my DVI to VGA adapter, then get a VGA male to male cable, and thatll get me picutre. To get sound he said I needed a y cable, a black and red for sound, and on the other end is a plug to put into the headphone jack on the MBP

[gr8tfly]

I went to FS today.
The guy told me I need to plug in my DVI to VGA adapter, then get a VGA male to male cable, and thatll get me picutre. To get sound he said I needed a y cable, a black and red for sound, and on the other end is a plug to put into the headphone jack on the MBP

If your model is configured the same as what I linked to earlier, it should work fine that way. According to the specs on that page, there are audio inputs specifically for the analog RGB input.

[marclapierre13]

If your model is configured the same as what I linked to earlier, it should work fine that way. According to the specs on that page, there are audio inputs specifically for the analog RGB input.

So it has a port so I can connect an audio Y cable, and have it on the same time as I have my computer hooked up via VGA?
The VGA is the "Pc In" slot on my tv, so its meant for to be hooked up.

[gr8tfly]

So it has a port so I can connect an audio Y cable, and have it on the same time as I have my computer hooked up via VGA?
The VGA is the "Pc In" slot on my tv, so its meant for to be hooked up.

According to that spec, yes. There should be L/R jacks for audio next to the VGA connector.

Make sure you get a stereo mini-plug (3.5mm) to stereo (L/R) RCA cable, not a mono "Y" splitter.

[marclapierre13]

According to that spec, yes. There should be L/R jacks for audio next to the VGA connector.

Make sure you get a stereo mini-plug (3.5mm) to stereo (L/R) RCA cable, not a mono "Y" splitter.

The cable the dude at FS was showing me had a Red and Black cable on the other end of the mini plug ( i think its this one)

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10067950&catid=10494#

[marclapierre13]

I just got my VGA to VGA cable, its friggin awesome!
I can even go to 1150x something resolution on my TV even thoguh my TV can only go up to 800x something...it looks great!
now to get sound.