Connect 2009 uMBP to TV /w AUDIO?

[TheBritishBloke]

Is there any possible way to connect my June 2009 uMBP 15" to my TV, yet have it working with audio too? Can use any port such as HDMI, SCART, 3-Prongs, I'm not bothered.

Cheers

 

[0858131]

With the Mini DisplayPort, you won't be able to transmit audio, just video.

So you'll have to do two things.

For video, get an adapter from Mini DisplayPort to DVI (or HDMI -- without audio). And then plug a DVI cable (or HDMI cable) to your TV.

For audio, you'll have to plug a cable into the headphone jack that splits to RCA (red & white), which you can pickup at Radio Shack for $5. Or, you could get a mini-Toslink optical cable to plug into the headphone port -- which gets you really good, digital sound. Note that your TV or sound system has to have an optical-in port to do this however.

Plug both into the computer at the same time, and volia. Audio and video.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply (Y)

As for the ports, Here is what my TV has.

3 x HDMi
2 x scart
1 x component video
1 x PC input
1 x AV input
1 x common interface
1 x audio output
1 x headphones socket
1 x digital (optical) audio output
1 x audio output for subwoofer

Don't know which would be inputs, it's going to be hooked upto a Toshiba Regza 32XV555DB.

As for the MiniDP, do Apple sell a cable to HDMi? Or would I need to get it off some no-name knock-off company?

Cheers

 

[0858131]

So now this will depend on your setup.

From what you've said, it doesn't look like your TV has an optical input for audio (most TVs don't have optical input, only output). So unless you're hooking this up to a sound system, using digital audio is probably out of the question.

Which means you'll just need a cable to plug into the headphone jack with RCA on the other end. This would plug into your TV, giving audio.

Now for the video, you could get a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter from Apple and then get a DVI to Component cable to plug into the red, green, blue ports on the TV.

Alternatively, you could get a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter from a third-party (I've never used them, but there's a lot of people on MacRumors who have). This will get you video. You'd still have to plug in the headphone-to-RCA cable though -- and I can't guarantee if that will work. Because HDMI *normally* carries audio, the TV might not accept the audio from the RCA cables when you're using HDMI.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Yeh this is the thing I worry about. Even if I use the DVI to component cable, I'm worried that it won't accept the RCA cables as I believe that's on a different 'section' like you have "HDMI1, HDMI2, AV1 etc."

Hard to guess.. argghh . Lol. Do TV's generally work with the RCA cables and a HDMI plugged in? Or is it tv-specific?

Thanks!

 

[Bill Gates]

Check and see if your TV has a setting specifically for audio within the setup menu.

 

[0858131]

If you use the DVI-to-Component method, I believe the audio RCA cables will still work. While yes, it depends on the TV, I use this setup currently without a problem. DVI doesn't carry audio, and so the TV manufacturer would *have* to provide an audio-input. Imagine if people bought DVD players, and couldn't get audio? It'd be a mess. DVI-to-Component + RCA cables for audio should do it.

If you want to try HDMI, however, I couldn't tell ya.

 

[TheBritishBloke]

If you use the DVI-to-Component method, I believe the audio RCA cables will still work. While yes, it depends on the TV, I use this setup currently without a problem. DVI doesn't carry audio, and so the TV manufacturer would *have* to provide an audio-input. Imagine if people bought DVD players, and couldn't get audio? It'd be a mess. DVI-to-Component + RCA cables for audio should do it.

If you want to try HDMI, however, I couldn't tell ya.

Well, my TV does also have a VGA port (thats the 'PC Input') however I currently leave my desktop PC plugged in, just so at night I can leave my films on there instead of on a 15" screen by my bed 😉. Would this be similar to your setup so it is generally more likely to be compatible with RCA? This is only because as you state, the HDMI may try to carry audio and fail the RCA to load.

Check and see if your TV has a setting specifically for audio within the setup menu.

I believe it does have a menu for audio, however I'm unable to check what specifically is on the menu, as I'm currently 1000Miles away at my other home in Germany 😛. One benefit here, is I'm a 10 minute walk from the only actual Apple Store in Germany xD