Mini Displayport -> HDMI -> Samsung HDTV. Settings help?

[PRSplayer]

Hi everyone,

I have a Unibody MacBook, and want to connect it to my 46" Samsung HDTV (model LNT4671F, 1080p, 120Hz). I have the Mini Displayport-HDMI adapter from Monoprice, but when I hook it up to my TV, it turns it in to a secondary display. So if I want to watch a ripped DVD, or any video for that matter, I have to physically move the window across to my TV (is that normally how it works?).

After fiddling with it, it's apparent that I don't understand enough about display settings to figure out how to make this work. Sorry if this has been covered already, I did a quick search and didn't really find anything that answers my questions.

My questions:

1. If I want to use my TV as my primary monitor, so that my entire Mac desktop fills the TV screen, what do I need to change/set, and what resolution should I set it at? Or will it always be a secondary monitor?

2. When watching a ripped DVD stored on my HD, what's the best program to use if I want to watch it on my TV? Because the TV acts like a 2nd screen, i can't get FrontRow to work on it. The other option is DVD Player.

3. If I was to install something like Boxee and stream to my TV, would any settings/resolutions need to be changed, compared to watching a DVD or just using the TV as a monitor?

Any help is appreciated!

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

1. Go into the display settings under the arrange tab. Here you can either select the mirror check box at the bottom or drag the menu bar to the display that you want to be primary. Not the menu bar at the top of the screen but the one at the top of the illustration in the arrange tab of the display settings.

2. I'd use either QuickTime Pro or iTunes. You can also use FrontRow which is very nice if you have an Apple Remote.

3. I have no clue about this. Sorry

I hope this helps.

[Peace]

In the display settings in preferences the window on the left is always the primary display. Your HD TV should show up as a larger window than the Macbook. If you want to use the HDTV as the main display make sure the large window is on the left and the small taskbar at the top is on that window.You can do this by simply dragging the window to the left or right.

[PRSplayer]

Hey guys,

thanks for the quick replies. Apparently i'm a complete moron and didn't even notice that "arrangement" tab.

Ok, so now the question is what resolution to pick - the only two that look relatively decent are 1280x720, or 1920x1080. However, in both of them, the dock is 1/2 cut off and a lot of my icons are not on the screen. The biggest pain is that the top menu bar is not visible, regardless of what resolution i pick.

Also, the 1280x720 appears to look way more crisp. But I have 1080p tv, so shouldn't the 1920x1080 setting look better? Am I missing something else? I read something in another thread about 1:1 pixel mapping on the TV, but I dont' think my TV has that setting...or at least I haven't found it yet.

Thanks again for the help!

[jpk32092]

If I do the same thing, except mini dvi -> dvi -> hdmi will i get sound?

[crazzyeddie]

In the manual on your Samsung, it should address connected a computer via an HDMI port. It will usually tell you to use the bottom HDMI port and tell you how to configure the video mode to display it properly. Also, on the Mac, you should try to find the Overscan setting in the Displays preference pane and play with that.

[PRSplayer]

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look at the Samsung manual. As for the overscan settings, I don't see anything of that sort. After some searching it appears that the OS 10.5.6 update may have screwed with that and eliminated it (looks like its gone for most, but there for some).

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=9291634

Hopefully Apple comes out with a fix for it soon.

[NewMacbookPlz]

Originally Posted by PRSplayer

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look at the Samsung manual. As for the overscan settings, I don't see anything of that sort. After some searching it appears that the OS 10.5.6 update may have screwed with that and eliminated it (looks like its gone for most, but there for some).

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=9291634

Hopefully Apple comes out with a fix for it soon.

There's no overscan available on Samsung LCD TV's. Sucks, I know. I just use extended mode to get a fullscreen scaling.

As for jpk duder, no, you cannot get sound via this adapter, no matter how you plug it into the TV, at this point in time. You most definitely cannot do sound via Mini-DVI, as DVI has no capacity to carry an audio signal.

[PRSplayer]

A friend of mine just informed me that for Samsung TV's, just cycle through the picture size (16:9, 4:3, Wide/Zoom, etc...), until "Just Scan" is reached. That appears to have solved my problem with the menu bars, and the dock being visible.

Looks like I've got my laptop working with my TV pretty well now. I've been futzing around with the resolutions and it looks (to my eyes at least) that 1344x756 interlaced looks the best. Thanks for the help guys.

[iLog.Genius]

Might as well post in here rather than creating another thread in the MacBook Pro forum seeing how it's related.

Anybody know why the desktop doesn't fill the whole screen if I set the resolution to 1920x1080 (interlaced)? If I connect my PC, it fills up fine but won't do it for my MacBook Pro. I am in Mirror Mode. I can see my dock and title bar but on the right and left side, there are black bars about an inch and a bit thick.

Using Sharp AQUOS 46" LCD TV.

[NewMacbookPlz]

Originally Posted by iLog.Genius

Might as well post in here rather than creating another thread in the MacBook Pro forum seeing how it's related.

Anybody know why the desktop doesn't fill the whole screen if I set the resolution to 1920x1080 (interlaced)? If I connect my PC, it fills up fine but won't do it for my MacBook Pro. I am in Mirror Mode. I can see my dock and title bar but on the right and left side, there are black bars about an inch and a bit thick.

Using Sharp AQUOS 46" LCD TV.

Mine does this as well. I think it has something to do with the fact that the MB has a 16:10 screen whereas the TV is 16:9. It seems to be outputting the TV's signal at the MB's ratio, which is really lame if that's truely the case.

[Apple all life]

Originally Posted by jpk32092

If I do the same thing, except mini dvi -> dvi -> hdmi will i get sound?

Thats what I just bought like 2 days ago. No it does not support audio but I dont think any adapter does? Can someone correct me on this?

[NewMacbookPlz]

Originally Posted by Apple all life

Thats what I just bought like 2 days ago. No it does not support audio but I dont think any adapter does? Can someone correct me on this?

Nope, just won't work. Like I said just above, DVI does not carry audio.

[jhsfosho]

Originally Posted by NewMacbookPlz

Mine does this as well. I think it has something to do with the fact that the MB has a 16:10 screen whereas the TV is 16:9. It seems to be outputting the TV's signal at the MB's ratio, which is really lame if that's truely the case.

That would be my guess as well. I haven't tried mirror'd display mode, but with extended desktop my MBP doesn't do this.

[The General]

I wish they just had a freaking CABLE that had HDMI on one end and mini displayport on the other. I hate adapters so much. Has anyone found just a cable like this?

[Nocturnal22]

Just cycle through the picture sizes until you reach "just scan" thats what i did worked great.

[firstapple]

Check out here (for minidisplay to HDMI):

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Also, it says in bold that audio will only work if the source device allows for audio out through mini displayport:



According to Gizmodo's review of the mini displayport -> HDMI, audio will not work

[iLog.Genius]

Originally Posted by jhsfosho

That would be my guess as well. I haven't tried mirror'd display mode, but with extended desktop my MBP doesn't do this.

Same. Extended desktop is full screen but once you enable Mirror, it crops the sides. I guess the ratio makes sense...kinda ******. lol

[FlavioB]

Hello people.
Just got my setup working with my Samsung LCD TV (using monoclick's adapter and a 3m HDMI cable).

Now my question is: how do I start let's say VLC on the external display (Samsung) and play a video in FULL SCREEN on that? When I start VLC, I drag the video window on the Samsung display, but after doing "Full Screen" I get it fullscreened on my macbook aluminium's display! Dragging it on the Samsung, I still can't put it in full screen mode.

Anybody can help?

Thanks in advance,
FlavioB

[apeacock]

Originally Posted by FlavioB

Hello people.
Just got my setup working with my Samsung LCD TV (using monoclick's adapter and a 3m HDMI cable).

Now my question is: how do I start let's say VLC on the external display (Samsung) and play a video in FULL SCREEN on that? When I start VLC, I drag the video window on the Samsung display, but after doing "Full Screen" I get it fullscreened on my macbook aluminium's display! Dragging it on the Samsung, I still can't put it in full screen mode.

Anybody can help?

Thanks in advance,
FlavioB

Video menu -> full screen video device. Select the right screen (depending on how your primary/secondary is set up you'll have to just experiment and see which one you have to select)

[FlavioB]

Thanks for your reply, but as I want to try your suggestions, I can't see anymore on the Samsung Display. It tells me "No signal" on HDMI 1 input...

How come that I got it working few days ago? Nothing changed neither on my MacBook, nor on my TV!

SOLVED: just powering off and again ON the TV, brought back my video.
Now the question is to apeacock: are you talking about the VLC "Video Menu"? I seem not to find the "Full screen video device"... where should that parameter reside?

Thanks...

[FlavioB]

Originally Posted by apeacock

Video menu -> full screen video device. Select the right screen (depending on how your primary/secondary is set up you'll have to just experiment and see which one you have to select)

OK, I realized that I can make this setting only when the video is already running.... that's ok...

Another question: is it possible to have the VLC output on *every* display of my macbook, on the external (Samsung TV) ones? Because I'm working with 4 different desktops, but would like to have on my external Samsung TV always the video from VLC, also when changing desktops on my MacBook...

Hope to get some help!

THanks...

[apeacock]

I don't think that is possible, unless you change your displays to mirrored in the display settings - then all monitors will always been the same.

[mbvogel]

Originally Posted by PRSplayer

A friend of mine just informed me that for Samsung TV's, just cycle through the picture size (16:9, 4:3, Wide/Zoom, etc...), until "Just Scan" is reached. That appears to have solved my problem with the menu bars, and the dock being visible.

Looks like I've got my laptop working with my TV pretty well now. I've been futzing around with the resolutions and it looks (to my eyes at least) that 1344x756 interlaced looks the best. Thanks for the help guys.

I agree that 1344x756 looks best. I also have the Monoprice adapter, a new Mac Mini and a new 40" Samsung 1080p LCD TV. However, when I push the info on my remote, the TV reports that it's at 1080i. Is there anyway to get 1080p resolution?

[tombarnes]

I am thinking of buying the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter to connect my MBP to my 1080p TV. I see that it won't play the sound through the TV, but will the sound still come out of my MBP's built-in speakers when my TV is plugged in?

Just wanted to make sure!

-Tom