HDMI cables on older Macbook Pro

[ThunderRoad]

I recently bought a new TV, and it happens to have screen-mirroring capabilities. It's a Sony Bravia, and I think it connects via HDMI cables to the Macbook Pro. My MBP is a mid 2009 unibody however, so it doesn't have HDMI cables.

My question is, are there adapters or indeed another gadget I can buy to work around this?

 

[AppleFan22]

Yes you need an adapter

You'll need an adapter to get the job done, it's a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter and plugs into a double male HDMI cable, and also transfers sound. They're available in Maplin, and it plugs into the lighting strike socket on the MBP

 

[ecschwarz]

Also, since your machine is one of the older unibody models, you won't get audio out via the Mini DisplayPort connector (it is as simple as getting a MDP->HDMI adapter), so you'll need to run audio separately through the headphone/audio out jack. This can either be done with optical audio cables to a stereo (your TV probably won't have a jack for that) or analog to your TV or stereo. Many TVs have settings to allow a mix of HDMI and analog audio on one of the inputs. Some are labelled as such, or you may need to consult your manual. Sometimes it also will share the audio in that is usually paired with the VGA port on your TV.

On newer Macs (I think after 2010), the MDP can carry audio and then works like any other HDMI device.

You can use one of these if you just want one cable for video: http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=102&cp_id=10246&cs_id=1024603

...or you can use one of these if you have an extra HDMI cable around (or want the flexibility to use different ones): http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2

Finally, this one will give you a few options so you can connect to a number of different displays: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=8119&seq=1&format=2

I've had good luck with Monoprice's products, except for one MDP->VGA adapter that caused my particular model (mid-2012) MacBook Pro to freeze - it worked fine on other Macs, so I ended up just getting the Apple one in that case.

 

[ThunderRoad]

Cool, thanks for the help both of you!

 

[ScandalOz]

macbook pro to sony bravia

I have been looking to solve my problem with getting my Macbook pro and Sony Bravia to recognize one another so please let me know what you do and if it works cause it has been a real pain.

I had no problem at first with an older mac than I have now (my latest is a 2010) and the Bravia I just had to reset the older one from time to time. But when that stopped working I used the newer computer I use for work and that worked for a while and then they just stopped recognizing one another as well.

TIA

 

[ecschwarz]

I have been looking to solve my problem with getting my Macbook pro and Sony Bravia to recognize one another so please let me know what you do and if it works cause it has been a real pain.

I had no problem at first with an older mac than I have now (my latest is a 2010) and the Bravia I just had to reset the older one from time to time. But when that stopped working I used the newer computer I use for work and that worked for a while and then they just stopped recognizing one another as well.

TIA

It sounds like it might be an issue with the adapter/cables you're using - have you tried any other adapters? Have you tried a different Mac with the setup that you have?