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Do the MAC PRO video cards have drivers that are friendly with dvi-hdmi HDTV outputs?

N

nafai23

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 13, 2008
141
21
I will be a hardcore PC guy gone mac soon. I am getting a MAC pro in a few days.
On my PC I run a dell 30'' and a sony XBR3 at 1080P on an 8800gt. It works well.

The one thing that could ruin my mac switching plans is my TV giving me problems.
I will have an ATI and nvidia card on hand for the MAC pro.

Will have any trouble getting this to work well? Meaning being able to run native 1080P and adjust for overscan/underscan if I need to.
Nvidia and ati vista drivers allow for all of this.
I have heard the mac drivers are not very robust.
 
Drivers have nothing to do with this. If you can hook the computer up to the TV, it'll display something. Just get a DVI-HDMI adapter, and you're set.
 
nafai23 said:
I will be a hardcore PC guy gone mac soon. I am getting a MAC pro in a few days.
On my PC I run a dell 30'' and a sony XBR3 at 1080P on an 8800gt. It works well.

The one thing that could ruin my mac switching plans is my TV giving me problems.
I will have an ATI and nvidia card on hand for the MAC pro.

Will have any trouble getting this to work well? Meaning being able to run native 1080P and adjust for overscan/underscan if I need to.
Nvidia and ati vista drivers allow for all of this.
I have heard the mac drivers are not very robust.
Click to expand...

Actually the drivers on Mac OS X are designed with HDTV in mind. So ANY Mac that you connect to your TV will work right out of the box. Apple has designed Mac OS X to work with seamlessly with any display.

So in regards to your question, yes it works perfectly on any HDTV, with overscan, etc. Depending on your TV type, VGA may work/look better than HDMI/DVI. In my case, my Samsung 1080p LCD monitor looks better with VGA than HDMI. Maybe it's because the VGA input was made specifically for PCs in general, hence specifically being called "PC input".
 
HDMI IS DVI but with a different connector and additional pins for sound. There are no drivers needed because it is no different than any other display.

Buy a $15 adapter and be happy. :)
 
If VGA looks better then the drivers/card are not doing 1920x1080(1080P) but doing the standard 1920x1200..

Just saying that vga looks better suggests a driver issue to me. I have heard on the apple forums of some problems also.

It took many driver releases for nvidia and ati to perfect HDTV support on vista/xp.

If you guys are right and my HDTV plugs in and works magically in 1080p with no overscan/underscan then even more reason to ditch vista...

.......but honestly based on the comments on other forums and my instinct I doubt it would be that easy.
 
nafai23 said:
If VGA looks better then the drivers/card are not doing 1920x1080(1080P) but doing the standard 1920x1200..

Just saying that vga looks better suggests a driver issue to me. I have heard on the apple forums of some problems also.

It took many driver releases for nvidia and ati to perfect HDTV support on vista/xp.

If you guys are right and my HDTV plugs in and works magically in 1080p with no overscan/underscan then even more reason to ditch vista...

.......but honestly based on the comments on other forums and my instinct I doubt it would be that easy.
Click to expand...

No, it's not a driver issue. It depends on how the TV decodes analog/digital signals. Most HDMI ports on TVs are optimized for use with consumer electronics, not computers. I've tried Windows XP and Vista with my PC w/8800GTX on my 1080p Samsung, and HDMI also looks worse. It looks like the TV is boosting contrast with HDMI, therefore, color-bleeding is visible. VGA looks a lot better, as I've stated before. Like I said, it's called PC input for a reason. :p
 
If it helps you at all, I plug my Mac Pro into my TV all the time (though only through VGA right now, no adapters) and with 720p/1080p content it fits the screen perfectly, no bars anywhere.
 
To make it easier the xbr sony sets have no VGA....

My TV in vista through the 8800gt - dvi has overscan. I adjust the screen manually in the display properties to fit.
It seems that the apple control panel does not have this.
I assume I will have the same problem on an nvidia card on the mac pro but no way to readjust it.

Hopefully not or bye bye mac pro.......(i use my TV as a second monitor 30 percent of the time)

crossing my fingers.......
I'll update when I get it.
 
Well, I've plugged in my Macbook into my Samsung 1080p, and used DVI to HDMI, and it worked perfectly without any overscan or borders. Straight 1080p at correct screen ratio and resolution. Now that I think of it...I think I only tried DVI to HDMI with my Hackintosh...And it had overscan. :rolleyes:

But wait, it gets better...I just remembered I plugged in my Mac Pro a while back! And it didn't have any problems with DVI to HDMI, no overscan, etc. So I guess I was only thinking about the Hackintosh DVI...Since it did run with an 8800GTX...
 
To complicate things...
I read in the apple.com forums that the macbook's are near perfect on most HDTV's but the mac pro's where the source of problems for some people on some sets....


well see soon
 
posting from my macpro......


well so much for being pessimistic .....
I nailed all the issues on the head.
Overscan is not adjustable. It has underscan when the button is not checked and overscan when it is checked but not adjustable like in vista. Only two choices.
I can only select 1080i (interlaced) to my TV.

So much for the "it just works". With the variety of displays around today we need flexibility in the drivers. Adjustable overscan not a button to be checked and full resolution options!!!
 
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