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2010 Mac Mini HDMI video issues - Flickering/Tearing

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pj-

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
50
0
Cross posting this from AVSforum

I replaced my 2009 mini with a new one a few days ago and finally pinpointed what is bothering me about the hdmi video.

Bright spots, such as people's faces, will flicker in dark scenes. The severity seems to vary with source material, but it's most apparent in dark tv shows like House and True blood. It also has minor screen tearing during fast motion, such as someone walking in front of the camera. I ruled out the player as the problem because it happens in both Plex and VLC. I ruled out my TV by using mini display port -> dvi -> hdmi into the same input, which made the problem to go away.

First I had to abandon audio over HDMI because of handshaking issues, now I'm going to have to abandon HDMI video unless I can solve this problem. I'm starting to regret buying this stupid thing. I sold my old mini for a good price so I'm not out much, but I only got a new one because it looks cooler and has HDMI. I guess there was a good reason macs didn't have HDMI; apple doesn't know what the hell they're doing.

I will try connecting to my 24" 1080p monitor via HDMI tomorrow to double rule out my tv as a contributing factor
 
I

indg

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2007
459
12
no issues with audio/video over hdmi for me.

if you're seeing tearing, it might be a resolution issue. what's the native resolution of your tv, e.g. 1920x1080? are you using 1080p, 1080i, 720p, etc.?
 
P

pj-

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
50
0
indg said:
no issues with audio/video over hdmi for me.

if you're seeing tearing, it might be a resolution issue. what's the native resolution of your tv, e.g. 1920x1080? are you using 1080p, 1080i, 720p, etc.?
Click to expand...

The tearing is slight, and it's possible that it is unrelated to the flickering problem, which is far more annoying. I can live with the tearing because I've only seen it in one scene and only with my face 1' from the 46" screen. The flickering can be seen from anywhere. It's bad enough that I think I can capture it with my cell phone and upload it to youtube.

My TV is 1080p native (panasonic viera g10). The mini is outputting 1080p @ 60hz through both HDMI and mini display port (not at the same time).
 
V

vslo

macrumors regular
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
the only problem that is commun in mac mini 2010 running 1080p is some glitches in the grapchis. For exemple, in the dock, or dashboard. Its a commun issue, some dont even bother, but its normal and probably everyone has it. Will get better after the graphics update.
 
P

pj-

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
50
0
I've narrowed the problem down to the THX picture mode on my TV. If I change it to standard mode, the flickering goes away. I still don't know why the THX mode flickers with HDMI but not Mini Displayport ->DVI->HDMI.
 
A

analogkid

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2003
109
0
Savannah
vslo said:
the only problem that is commun in mac mini 2010 running 1080p is some glitches in the grapchis. For exemple, in the dock, or dashboard. Its a commun issue, some dont even bother, but its normal and probably everyone has it. Will get better after the graphics update.
Click to expand...


As everyone told you, that isn't a common problem. You mentioned you had issues with a reinstall you did of the OS, but you never bothered to correct it.
 
V

vslo

macrumors regular
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
analogkid said:
As everyone told you, that isn't a common problem. You mentioned you had issues with a reinstall you did of the OS, but you never bothered to correct it.
Click to expand...

Actually it is a common problem. I reinstalled the OS and it persisted. It is not a hardware issue because it used to happen with my 9400M Mac mini, and it got its logic board replaced 2 times and the problem persisted. It is a software problem. It is common and most of mac mini 2010 owners DO have it when running @ 1080. It might be a problem with some monitors, but it is a Frame rate drop problem and will be solved in the next update.
 
I

indg

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2007
459
12
pj- said:
I've narrowed the problem down to the THX picture mode on my TV. If I change it to standard mode, the flickering goes away. I still don't know why the THX mode flickers with HDMI but not Mini Displayport ->DVI->HDMI.
Click to expand...
@pj- glad you figured it out. my guess is that thx mode is doing something to the incoming video signal (to clean it up perhaps?) from the mini hdmi that puts the pic out of sync, hence flicker. and the reason why it works with the minidp-dvi-hdmi is because the dvi-hdmi adapter you're using is doing some sort of sync first. i really have no idea.

@vslo - your issues are different and unrelated to the OP's. you're running SL Server and you reported high kernel usage and other gui slowness. if it's faulty hardware, you should have gotten it replaced by now through apple. maybe you should post a video of your problems on youtube.
 
V

vslo

macrumors regular
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
I dont think it is a faulty hardware. It used to happen with my old late 2009 mini and it had its logic board replaced 3 times, and still with the same problem. It might be a comaptibilty problem with my monitor. The problem used to be more evident in the old mini, still persisted in the 2010 one but less frequent. So I must assume its a software problem. I am not the only one to report this. It is clearly a GPU power management / frame rate drop problem. Hope it get better in the next update.
 
I

indg

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2007
459
12
vslo said:
I dont think it is a faulty hardware. It used to happen with my old late 2009 mini and it had its logic board replaced 3 times, and still with the same problem. It might be a comaptibilty problem with my monitor. The problem used to be more evident in the old mini, still persisted in the 2010 one but less frequent. So I must assume its a software problem. I am not the only one to report this. It is clearly a GPU power management / frame rate drop problem. Hope it get better in the next update.
Click to expand...
actually you are the only one reporting the problems you described. so you can assume it's a software problem and i'll just assume you have no clue what you're doing.
 
V

vslo

macrumors regular
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
indg said:
actually you are the only one reporting the problems you described. so you can assume it's a software problem and i'll just assume you have no clue what you're doing.
Click to expand...

And I will assume you are too lazy to make a google search Go on and you will see I am not the only one with this problem, might be the only in this forum, wich ,as you know, is not the only apple/mac forum in the world. There is a big topic on that at apple forums. This is a little problem and most of the people dont even care about it. Few as me are meticulous and need everything to run perfectly smooth.
Lets stop assuming.
 
I

indg

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2007
459
12
vslo said:
And I will assume you are too lazy to make a google search Go on and you will see I am not the only one with this problem, might be the only in this forum, wich ,as you know, is not the only apple/mac forum in the world. There is a big topic on that at apple forums. This is a little problem and most of the people dont even care about it. Few as me are meticulous and need everything to run perfectly smooth.
Lets stop assuming.
Click to expand...

i don't need to google search. i'm not the one having the problem. i'm not the one who can't figure it out.
 
V

vslo

macrumors regular
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
indg said:
i don't need to google search. i'm not the one having the problem. i'm not the one who can't figure it out.
Click to expand...
Thats the point. I know what is going on. I just dont think you are right when you say I am the only one having the problem, because Im not.
 
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