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getting fullscreen on a SONY Bravia?

F

flat6

macrumors regular
Original poster
I'm running a DVI output (through a VGA conversion) from my 15" PowerBook G4 to a 46" SONY Bravia KDL46XBR2. I've got display mirroring on the PB, so that I'm getting able to get its output to the TV. The problem is that it doesn't do a "fullscreen" on the TV; note the black area all around the TV's output:



Now, I've got the maximum resolution possible for the output to the TV, 1920x1080, which should match the 1080p resolution of the TV:



So I'm not sure what's going on here. The SONY's normal image adjust features, such as zoom onto display area, are not available for the PC output (they are available for TV channels or DVD movies, etc., but not for PC output).

I'm guessing the fix will come from some fiddling with OS X settings. Any ideas?
 
Maxwell Smart said:
Did you try to turn *off* mirroring? Using it as a separate display might work.
Click to expand...

Yes... you certainly will not get what you're trying to do with mirroring on. Right now, you're telling it to run the Sony at 1920x1080 and display a 1280x854 picture on it. So the Sony does exactly that, with the picture at the center of the display.
 
Right, good point.

When I turn off monitoring, it does output to the full screen, but it doesn't output what's actually on the screen. Rather, it just displays a wallpaper image from my PowerBook:



The only time I get anything else appearing is when I got under display settings, which pops up some resolution dialogue box:

 
Alright, I figured out what's going on. It's set them up as two side-by-side displays; right now the TV is an empty desktop.

Anyone know how I can turn off the PB's screen, or make the PB the "empty" screen and the TV the "main" screen?
 
I'm jealous. My Macbook's output to my Sony SXRD has large black bars on all sides - it doesn't fill the screen.
 
Hdtv

In the UK, the shops are flooded with HDTV's, but short of Sky (local satellite provider) and an xBox 360, there are NO High Definition feeds to put on those screens.

So, while I wait for more material to put on a screen with that resolution, the prices for these screens keep tumbling down. Must admit, I look forward to buying a 1.66GHz mini and having a 1080p video to put on the screen one day.

Those pictures are great. We just need more 1080p feeds!

F
 
Wow, nice HDTV!

To make your TV the primary display, go to system pref, displays, arrangement tab. Drag the white menu bar to the other display, Wala.

You should get yourself a DVI-HDMI cable so that you can go all digital instead of going though VGA. The image should get a lot sharper on your tv, especially at 1920x1080 res.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&style=

Under $7 bucks for a 15ft, 28 gauge DVI to HDMI cable!

You've got 3 HDMI ports on your TV too!

If you're rich and want it now, Best Buy has overpriced Monster versions of it.

gloss, which model is your SXRD?
 
How do you "reset" the display resolution?
I used DVI to vga adapter to connect my mini to my 60" Sony SXRD LCOS TV.
The best it will do is 1360x768 using the vga input on the tv. And it does black bars top, bottom and sides.
I tried a DVI to HDMI cable. It would do 1920x1080 interlaced. I tried another resolution and the screen went black. I can switch to vga and get an image, but I can't seem to correct or get an image using the DVI to hdmi cable.
How can I set the screen to a default resolution?
 
Flynnstone: Try enabling the displays menubar item (Sys Prefs -> Display -> Show displays in menu bar). This will let you change the resolution of the external display from the internal screen. If you continue to have trouble getting your television to show an appropriate resolution, try SwitchResX (I ended up needing it to get my LCD TV to display the correct resolution). SwitchResX does a variety of neat things, but if you only need it to enable a specific resolution or two that you will be using on your display, then you can just do that with the free version and then either uninstall it or just leave it there.

Flat6: As you seem to have figured out, if you want a full screen display on the external screen, you must use it as a separate monitor. You can use the Displays -> Arrangement item in Sys Prefs to determine which screen is where. Most apps that go full screen, including iTunes, will go full screen on the screen that has the menu bar (as pointed out earlier, this is the primary screen). So you will have to make the TV primary if you want to see movies, etc, on it. If you do this once, your Mac should remember every time you plug that specific TV in, how you want that display co-configured with your internal one, and automatically back-track to what you want.

If you want the PB screen off, you have two major options: (1) use the brightness buttons (fn keys) to turn the backlight of the internal display all the way down (on a powerbook, this should be effectively off -- my iBook is very dark with the backlight off); (2) if you have an external mouse/kb, you can plug them in, and with the external screen also plugged in, close the PB. Then wake it up again using the mouse or KB and it will be driving only the external screen. This is called "clamshell" operation.

Good luck everyone! Merry chrismakkuh! 🙂
 
Thanks Joony and mkrishnan, that was the last bit I was trying to figure out, the arrangement tab. Everything works beautifully now.

Joony, good point about using a DVI-to-HDMI wire as opposed to a DVI-to-VGA one. The thing is, right I'm only running relatively low-resolution stuff, no 1080p or even 720p content. My good old PowerBook G4 just isn't fast enough for it 🙂 But when I do get a faster computer that can handle high-definition content, I'll definitely remember the HDMI suggestion.

And Merry Christmas everyone 🙂
 
Yay, I'm glad it's working! So do you have any sources that really take advantage of that television? Like do you have blu-ray or HD-DVD or a new game console that actually does 1080P?

And is it true what they say? Is it really the first TV for men and women?

austin_powers_2.gif
 
Flynnstone,

Sometimes the HDMI port will not accept odd resolutions such as 1360x768. It generally likes HD resolutions, such as 1280x720, 1920x1080. So TV manufacturers give you a VGA port so that you can do these odd, but native resolutions.

What model is your TV?
 
mkrishnan said:
Yay, I'm glad it's working! So do you have any sources that really take advantage of that television? Like do you have blu-ray or HD-DVD or a new game console that actually does 1080P?

And is it true what they say? Is it really the first TV for men and women?

austin_powers_2.gif
Click to expand...


Well, some of the TV channels are 1080, and they look gorgeous. But at the moment no high definition DVDs or games, because personally I prefer classic/arthouse cinema, and those are the very last to ever come out in new formats.

As for men and women, we had a big party at the house last night, and it was enjoyed by all 🙂
 
Cheers!

Im planing to buy a Sharp XD1E with 1080p support.

I just want to know, if my Mac Book Pro can push 1080p or only 1080i.
My friend has an Toshi 67xxx. And obviously I could only select 1080i.

I m asking because I am highly intererested in progressiv resolutions.

thx Tayler
 
Tayler, how was the Toshiba connected to the television?

There's something fishy about this. If you output a resolution via DVI or HDMI (digitally), e.g. if you ran a DVI cable from your Mac to your TV, it will always be progressive scan, from what I understand. The Mac should have no problem outputting the resolution 1920x1080 via DVI -- that should definitely be a progressive scan resolution. I think that resolution should even be feasible by VGA (and will still be progressive scan).

The only way I can think of that you would get an interlaced signal out of a modern computer (I don't know too much about current Toshibas... I only ever used one that was a company laptop several years ago) is by using S-Video. 😕 That's not what you did, is it?
 
the macbook pro and do both 1080p and 1080i over HDMI or DVI. Not sure about 1080i over VGA, but it can do 1080p of VGA.

You can clearly see 1080p done by the OP,

and 1080i here:

engadgetHD

hdoutput.jpg
 
I'm sorry, I got a couple of things confused... 🙁

But now that Sony is an LCD, isn't it? In any event nothing is going to be interlaced on the Sony's screen. I'm surprised that an interlaced resolution comes up as a resolution that it can be driven at. I don't think mine does that. 😱
 
Joony said:
Flynnstone,

Sometimes the HDMI port will not accept odd resolutions such as 1360x768. It generally likes HD resolutions, such as 1280x720, 1920x1080. So TV manufacturers give you a VGA port so that you can do these odd, but native resolutions.

What model is your TV?
Click to expand...

My Tv is a Sony 60" LCOS. Model KDS-60A2000.
I was "scrolling" thru the different resolutions with my mini.
It was doing something at 1920x1080i, then I cursored down and the screen went black (using HDMI).
I need to get back to a working resolution.
 
Flynnstone said:
My Tv is a Sony 60" LCOS. Model KDS-60A2000.
I was "scrolling" thru the different resolutions with my mini.
It was doing something at 1920x1080i, then I cursored down and the screen went black (using HDMI).
I need to get back to a working resolution.
Click to expand...

Flynnstone, again, you have another display besides the LCOS, right? Use the displays menulet on the main screen or else SwitchResX to backtrack the external display to a working resolution.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but i was looking up some info on Google and it came to this thread, so i'd thought i'd ask the question here 😉

I have a Power Mac G5 with a GeForce 6800 Ultra in it. I've just recently also purchased a Sony Bravia 42 inch 1080p TV, the best Sony do in that size i believe.

Anyhoo, i'm a video editor, so would actually like to view this TV in 1080i as oppposed to 1080p so when i see interlaced video, i actually get the interlaced look. Now although 1920x1080 (interlaced) comes up as an option, and it does actually display that resolution, when i actually try playing interlaced video, it does play it interlaced and gives me the smooth video look for about 5 seconds, then goes all jumpy. I've got the refresh rate set to 50hz which is right for PAL isn't it. Other than that, i cant think what to do. I've tried using SwitchResX to no avail. I'm connected to the monitor with DVI-HDMI converter. Is my card just now powerful enough to run it then? It was the most expensive bloody card you could get only a year or so ago, grrrr
 
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