HMDI or VGA or DVI for my Mac mini?

I'm getting a new TV tomorrow that I'll use with my Mac mini and just came across the idea of getting a DVI-HDMI adaptor instead of using my current DVI-VGA setup. Will it be worth it though? Either way I'm going to have a 1920x1080 resolution, so will I actually be able to tell a difference worth buying a $15-$25 connector? Also, something about the TV I'm getting is a little confusing. The descriptions and specs say it has a DVI port, but the picture of the ports just shows two HDMI ports next two each other with one saying "HDMI/DVI." The last time I checked you can't plug a DVI cord into an HDMI port, unless they're implying that HMDI port is the only one I can use with a DVI-HDMI adaptor, which would be kind of stupid.

Thank you! ="^_^"=

BeatCrazy said:

You'll just need to run HDMI straight from the mini, to that television. No adapters needed, and that set doesn't have DVI.

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Maybe I should have clarified this, but my Mac mini is far from recent. It's from 2006. It's only video port is DVI. If it was a recent model I wouldn't be able to use a DVI port in the first place. I think got that TV doesn't have DVI, I just wonder if they mean something else or at least why it says that.

ActionableMango said:

I got a DVI to HDMI cable. It was less bulky than using an adapter and less expensive than buying an HDMI cable + DVI adapter.

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Oh, well maybe I might end up doing that. Though I don't see it as big of a deal to switch my HDMI cable around from my xbox to Mac mini. Does the DVI to HDMI cable transfer audio? I know mini-DVI doesn't support audio, but maybe it's different. Did you ever see the picture connected via VGA at some point? I don't think HDMI was too popular when our Macs came out, haha.

COrocket said:

DVI to HDMI cables will not carry audio.

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Eh, ah well. TV speakers usually blow anyway so I'm not expecting too much out of them.

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ActionableMango said:

I got a DVI to HDMI cable. It was less bulky than using an adapter and less expensive than buying an HDMI cable + DVI adapter.

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Damn, the DVI to HDMI cables I'm seeing on Best Buy's website are like $40. Did you get it cheaper elsewhere?

ActionableMango said:

Best Buy, oh my God no. I once overheard a salesman telling someone to get an $80 Monster HDMI Cable to "make their HD faster".

I always use Monoprice or Amazon.

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Ahahahahahaha. "Make their HD faster." Now that's a good one. I've had a few horrific experiences with Best Buy, but this TV looks like a good deal and I always check their website for blu-rays and other things on sale since they support the sale in the store yet don't advertise most of them. I'd wait longer to get a better TV, but mine was stolen last week and I don't want to wait to get another one. I need to save money for a car instead of a better TV anyway and it's only costing me $132 after tax since I have a $50 gift card.

ActionableMango said:

Actually they can, but not on a C2D Mac Mini.

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Hm. Do you know which computers can, or would it be PCs with DVI and not Macs?

This USB-HDMI/DVI cable is another example of the confusing labeling the TV has! The page says DVI, but it clearly is an HDMI port. Then again the whole thing is misleading. I just came across it earlier while looking for something else, but couldn't I technically use something like this to adopt a second display to my Mac mini, though I might get much lesser quality on both?

ActionableMango said:

Best Buy, oh my God no. I once overheard a salesman telling someone to get an $80 Monster HDMI Cable to "make their HD faster".

I always use Monoprice or Amazon.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2

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Damn. Thank you! I even looked on Amazon and they had 9.8 feet cables for $7!

If you really want digital audio over HDMI, I believe Monoprice has an optical+DVI to HDMI adapter. Depending on your setup you could have digital multichannel audio instead of just analog stereo.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10114&cs_id=1011405&p_id=5369&seq=1&format=2

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Ahhh. A lot of that audio information is probably really useful, but I don't know what a lot of it means. :\ At first I thought you meant a DVI-HDMI adaptor/cable that also plugs into the audio out port, but then I got lost. I'll probably just go with my current setup of my video and audio cables being separate since I'm sure my stereo is going to sound better than this TV's speakers anyway; unless I run the audio through HDMI then the audio out port on my TV to my stereo, but then that seems redundant and like I'd lose quality.

Welp, I didn't really get an answer to my question, but I think I'm just going to go with HDMI anyway due to the low cost of DVI-HDMI cables.