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Any way to make the 1080p resolution not suck on this Westinghouse at work on MacMini

AndrewMRiv

AndrewMRiv

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
151
0
Hey, everyone. I made a similar post about this recently but I didn't quite ask the correct question.

So at work, I have graciously been given a nice Late 2012 Mac Mini to work on. I am the web designer here. The Mac Mini is awesome but the display isn't too great.

Unfortunately, it is plugged into a 32" Westinghouse.

When set to the default resolution that is "best for this display" (1366 x 768) the color accuracy is decent. I do not get to use a lot of screen space, thanks to that. It's like looking at a magnifying glass on a tiny resolution or that this resolution was built for one with terrible vision.

I tried to set it to 1080p (and 1080i) and the colors are horrid and the text is blurry. I tried every single color profile while in a 1080p resolution but nothing made the display look half-decent.

Is there any third party app I can get to work around this? I am in no place to demand a Dell Ultrasharp or old Thunderbolt/Cinema Display unfortunately.

Thank you.
 
Most likely you have a 720p tv, not a 1080p. So when you force the Mini to 1080p, it dithers everything to make 1080 try and fit on the screen - it's just not going to look good no matter what you do.

You can verify that based on the model number, but I spot-checked a bunch of 32" displays on http://www.westinghousedigital.com - and all the ones I looked at are 720p native displays.
 
AndrewMRiv said:
Hey, everyone. I made a similar post about this recently but I didn't quite ask the correct question.

So at work, I have graciously been given a nice Late 2012 Mac Mini to work on. I am the web designer here. The Mac Mini is awesome but the display isn't too great.

Unfortunately, it is plugged into a 32" Westinghouse.

When set to the default resolution that is "best for this display" (1366 x 768) the color accuracy is decent. I do not get to use a lot of screen space, thanks to that. It's like looking at a magnifying glass on a tiny resolution or that this resolution was built for one with terrible vision.

I tried to set it to 1080p (and 1080i) and the colors are horrid and the text is blurry. I tried every single color profile while in a 1080p resolution but nothing made the display look half-decent.

Is there any third party app I can get to work around this? I am in no place to demand a Dell Ultrasharp or old Thunderbolt/Cinema Display unfortunately.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

No offense, but didn't we beat that dead horse already? :D

No app will overcome the hardware's physical limits. You'd be better off finding a way for that POS Westinghouse to have a misfortunate accident ;)
 
AndrewMRiv said:
Is there any third party app I can get to work around this? I am in no place to demand a Dell Ultrasharp or old Thunderbolt/Cinema Display unfortunately.
Click to expand...

No as it has a 1366x768 panel, no matter what you do it will never do better than that as it is a hardware limitation.

It would be fine if you used it as a TV for 720p content, as in sit a fair distance away from it and use it to watch videos which is what it's designed for. Unfortunately it will never be much good as a computer monitor as it's a TV, and even with calibration it likely won't have great colours accuracy wise, even when running at its native resolution (no interpolation, which is what you are seeing at higher resolutions).
 
You haven't been given the right tools to do your job. The Westinghouse is not a computer monitor and is not meant to be sat within less than 6-10 ft of it. A 24" monitor can be had for less than $200 these days, have work invest in one. You can't do your job on it without straining your eyes.
 
priitv8 said:
That's why they are called HD-Ready. They are not FullHD, just "ready".
Click to expand...

This is wrong. This is an HD television. HD Ready was a moniker given to TV sets that had an HD resolution (whether it was 720p, 1080i, or 1080p) but did not have an HD tuner. I know because I had an HD Ready television. It has nothing to do with resolution.
 
paulrbeers said:
This is wrong. This is an HD television. HD Ready was a moniker given to TV sets that had an HD resolution (whether it was 720p, 1080i, or 1080p) but did not have an HD tuner. I know because I had an HD Ready television. It has nothing to do with resolution.
Click to expand...
Even Internet agrees with your statement. But in my life, I have yet to see a HD Ready TV set that has 1920x1080 pixel screen. I must have not seen it all :eek:
 
paulrbeers said:
HD Ready was a moniker given to TV sets that had an HD resolution (whether it was 720p, 1080i, or 1080p) but did not have an HD tuner.
Click to expand...
The meaning behind HD Ready versus Full HD may be different depending on whether you are in the US, Europe or elsewhere.

So for example here in the UK I have had a couple of TV's labelled as Full HD (they have 1920x1080 panels) which only have SD Freeview tuners built in.
 
Regardless of whether a TV is 720P or 1080P it is really not meant to be used as a computer monitor at any intermediate distance of 2-3 feet.
 
It sucks that you're in this position. As stated before, maybe it's time the Westinghouse had an accident. I'm not getting the impression that your employer would help otherwise, if at all. You may have to make a personal investment into your own monitor just to protect your eyes.
 
Here's what I did. I'm using a Westinghouse LD2240 22" through HDMI with a Mac Mini, native resolution is 1920x1080 according to the specs in the manual, but no monitor setting was working for me. I scrolled all the way down and selected 1600x900 and bingo, the picture looks great. It's a 16:9 display after all. After a quick calibration the picture is very comfortable to view.
 
priitv8 said:
That's what paulrbeers wrote in post #7.
Click to expand...


And I expanded on it by adding references so people could read more about it if they choose to do so. Just because one person says something doesn't mean that no one else can then talk about it.
 
brand said:
And I expanded on it by adding references so people could read more about it if they choose to do so. Just because one person says something doesn't mean that no one else can then talk about it.
Click to expand...
Sorry. That's not what I had in mind.
Just was too lazy to re-type what I did up there.
I have a theory that in USA the term HD Ready has been used in more relaxed way, than in Europe (I honestly can't recall having seen any HD Ready TV set that had higher than 1366x768 panel).
And there is no confusion with the FullHD designation.
 
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