Composite video does not fill TV screen

[Mr Skills]

When I connect a macbook to any TV with composite or S-Video, the picture never fills the screen - so DVDs on front row have a small black border to the left and underneath.
(The 'overscan' option does not help because it overcompensates and loses too big a chunk of the picture.)

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Also, will using DVi-->HDMI solve the issue (my main TV does not have VGA)? I don't want to spend £30 on cables then find that the problem is the same...

 

[Marky_Mark]

Check in the displays preference pane that the output is PAL - I can't be sure, but this reminds me of an issue I had with my iBook the first time I used it with the Monster video cables. try switching between resolutions as well - you might find one with a better aspect ratio.

 

[Mr Skills]

Check in the displays preference pane that the output is PAL - I can't be sure, but this reminds me of an issue I had with my iBook the first time I used it with the Monster video cables. try switching between resolutions as well - you might find one with a better aspect ratio.

I've tried all the resolutions it gives me to no effect. It is definitely PAL - changing to NTSC makes it monochrome.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Sorry for the bum steer. BTW, your band is very good. I've just listened to the track on your MySpace page.

 

[Mr Skills]

Sorry for the bum steer. BTW, your band is very good. I've just listened to the track on your MySpace page.

Thankyou, and thanks for trying to help

I was thinking of getting a DVi to HDMI cable... does anyone know if this will help matters, or is the same thing liable to happen?

 

[atszyman]

When I connect a macbook to any TV with composite or S-Video, the picture never fills the screen - so DVDs on front row have a small black border to the left and underneath.
(The 'overscan' option does not help because it overcompensates and loses too big a chunk of the picture.)

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Also, will using DVi-->HDMI solve the issue (my main TV does not have VGA)? I don't want to spend £30 on cables then find that the problem is the same...

It might help to know what kind of TV you have. Also how are you getting the composite and/or S-video signals? I assume you're generating them via the mini DVI port and an adapter cable. The HDMI/DVI might solve issues since you may just be hitting a limit on what the mini DVI port will output using the composite/S-video adapter.

 

[Mr Skills]

My TV is a Panasonic TX-32LXD60 and I am using Apple's converter from the mini-DVI port. The composite/S-video problem is the same with any TV, old or new - and I used to have the same problem with iBook G3, which was a completely different cable.

 

[atszyman]

My TV is a Panasonic TX-32LXD60 and I am using Apple's converter from the mini-DVI port. The composite/S-video problem is the same with any TV, old or new - and I used to have the same problem with iBook G3, which was a completely different cable.

If I had to make my best guess, The composite/S-video outputs or is converted to 720p (1280x720) by your TV and the actual pixel count on your TV is 1366x768. For some reason the TV is not up-converting the signal to it's native resolution. How are other components (ones that display without the black lines) connected to the TV?

The DVI/HDMI might very well solve the issue as would the DVI/VGA adapter since you might have more control over the output resolutions on your mac with those cables. There may be some sort of limitation on the S-video/composite due to their analog nature versus the more digital connections.

 

[ErikCLDR]

Did you try screen spanning vs. mirroring? Press F7

See if anything happens.

 

[Mr Skills]

Thanks for the help so far...

Screen spanning won't work because Front Row only comes up on the main display (and it doesn't seem to help anyway). The TV resolutions available are:
640x480 (interlaced)
720x480 (interlaced)
720x576 (interlaced)
800x600 (interlaced)
1024x768 (interlaced)

Please note: the MacBook only detects that there is a composite/S-Video adapter - it cannot, of course, know what type of TV it is connected to. The list of resolutions is the same on any TV be it old, new, HD, SD, flat, fat, or even if there is no TV connected (only the AV adaptor). The actual problem is also the same on *any* TV. It was also my experience that this happened on my old iBook G3 (5 years ago).

Is it possible that the AV adaptor is 'calibrated' for American TVs and so cannot quite fill all the pixels on a UK TV screen?

I am really scared of spending a lot of money connecting by HDMI only to find that the same thing happens

Clicking "Overscan" fills the screen but goes too far - the front row interface is actually cut off.

 

[SteveD999]

Dont Buy that cable !

Hi, i am new to the mac, bought a Mini on friday, but have a similar problem

 

[SteveD999]

...... ctd

I connect to my Hitachi 32ld7200 with a dvi to hdmi cable and set the mac to 720 mode, which is less than the screen can support ( 13nn by 768 ish) so i get a border around the mac screen output.

What I , and i suspect you, need is to be able to set the output of the Mac to the CORRECT size, then it will fit the screen.
Overscan does the same for me as for you, ie its picture is too big :-(

So, no help really but the cable wont fix it !

Steve

 

[matticus008]

I connect to my Hitachi 32ld7200 with a dvi to hdmi cable and set the mac to 720 mode, which is less than the screen can support ( 13nn by 768 ish) so i get a border around the mac screen output.

Have you checked your aspect ratio/zoom settings on the TV? My TV is the same resolution (1366x768), but it is a Philips. I was able to set the resolution to the native 1366x768 with the DVI connection, but when I use systems that aren't capable of that resolution, I change the TV to "fill screen" to eliminate the black box on 1280x720. Problem solved.

What I , and i suspect you, need is to be able to set the output of the Mac to the CORRECT size, then it will fit the screen.

This will only work on a digital connection (or analog HDTV input [VGA or component]). With a composite or S-Video connection, there is no way to exceed the standard PAL resolution. Your desktop resolution will be downconverted no matter what it is set to on those inputs.

 

[motulist]

I've never seen this before, but I wonder if your TV has an image geometry control in its settings? It's worth a look.

 

[hotbelgo]

32LD7200 over DVI

I connect to my Hitachi 32ld7200 with a dvi to hdmi cable and set the mac to 720 mode, which is less than the screen can support ( 13nn by 768 ish) so i get a border around the mac screen output.

I'm new to Macs. When I first connected my Macbook via the min-DVI to DVI connector to my 32LD7200 the best available screen was 1024x768. This corresponds to the information in the brochure about screen formats, but the results seems to be nearly 30% stretching of image by the time I see it on my screen and that gives a rather squashed appearance (e.g. to photos of faces).

I'd welcome advice, but I also don't understand why Hitachi make their TV report such wildly incorrect specifications for its screen via DVI. 1024x768 may be a standardised standard but so seemingly is 1368x768.