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How to connect an iMac to a Sony Bravia HDTV with a VGA connection (not HDMI)

F

FrenchPB

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 15, 2005
389
0
Hey all,


I just replaced my HDTV with a new Sony Bravia 32EX500 (Full HD, 1080p). My previous TV (HD Ready, 720p) was linked to my 2008 iMac with a VGA cable (with a mini-DVI to VGA adapter on the Mac end). It worked perfectly fine, but I can't get it to work with the new TV.

Could you please tell me what resolution, frequency, and colours I should use to make it work ?

Please not that I do not want a HDMI cable. I know it'd be better and easier, but my computer is quite far away from the TV and an HDMI cable of that length would be way too expensive. I'd rather find a way to make it work with the existing VGA cable.

I just need to find the right settings for that VGA input. The TV doesn't recognize the signal right now.

Thanks for your help, I hope you guys will find the solution.
 
If 1920x1080 doesn't work for you, my money is on the TV only accepting digital signals over DVI. There are two standards that use (almost) the same cable. As you are only feeding the analog signal into the cable, if the TV only looks at the digital signal you are SOL.

Try connecting the computer to the tv using just a dvi cable (eliminating the vga adaptor) and see if it works (temporarily move the computer so you can use a short cable). I suspect you will need to buy a long DVI or hdmi cable to make the new tv work.
 
alust2013 said:
Try 1920x1080 @60Hz. That should be the native res of the TV.
Click to expand...

The 1920x1080 resolution doesn't appear in the list for that screen (display settings in parameters), so I can't choose that one. Any way to force my Mac to send a 1920x1080 resolution to the TV ?
 
im thinkn youd need the dvi,cause im on vga and would like my tv to use its 1080p,but it dont work and ive thought of getn the dvi adaptor and it should work?
 
timestoby said:
im thinkn youd need the dvi,cause im on vga and would like my tv to use its 1080p,but it dont work and ive thought of getn the dvi adaptor and it should work?
Click to expand...

Does your VGA work ? What resolution do you use ?

I don't mind if I can't send 1080p with my VGA. I just want to send 720p videos through that cable to the TV, but I can't get it to work using my VGA cable (the TV doesn't recognize the signal).
 
timestoby said:
i get 1360x768 60hz and yes,it obviously does 720p lol and good for mac monitor aswell.
Click to expand...

I'll have to try that again, I thought I tried it out this morning and the TV still couldn't recognize the signal :-/

What colour do you use in display setting ? Is that RGB something, or did you put a different settting ?

If that could work, that'd be perfectly fine for me and I wouldn't have to buy a new adapter and a new cable :p
 
I have exactly the same problem.

But I CAN make it work with a hack. If I connect my PowerBook first then the PC input connection becomes active. Then if I quickly swap the VGA cord over to the Mac Mini, the connection is maintained and everything works!!!

BUT ... As soon as I watch tv the PC input is lost and I have to go through the faff of swapping cords around.

It's looking like a horrible compatibility issue, probably to do with Minis not sending out an HDCP signal.

Does anyone have a solution?

TIA

Matthew
 
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