Mac Mini i5 recommended Resolution on 60''

[snavid972]

hello all, I just purchased a mac mini i5 with 8 gigs of ram. im having one problem i got it connected to my 61'' samsung dlp monitor and the movies do not look as good as when I had them playing on a media player box (nboxv4) im trying my best to make them look like they did and I cant. can anybody help me setting this up....

-picture looks a little cloudy not as sharp

another question...I been reading around and correct me if im wrong will a thunderbolt to hdmi adapter work better or is that the same as using the hdmi port thats already on the mac mini?

this is my first mac product so anyhelp would be appreciated...thanks.

 

[CausticPuppy]

Assuming your TV is 1080p, then the native resolution would be 1920x1080. Just use the HDMI adapter directly - you won't see any difference using the thunderbolt adapter.

 

[SirCarrington]

The Thunderbolt to HDMI connection will be the same as using the built in HDMI port; there is no reason to switch over.

The resolution should match the native resolution of the TV (most likely it's 1920x1080). If you're finding that the display is not as crisp as you would like it to be, try adjusting the setting on the TV. There isn't much in the way of display adjustments on the Mac.

 

[Chippy99]

... depending on what media player you are using, there may be some adjustments possible.

The MAC OSX DVD player allows you to change deinterlace settings and to adjust black level and contrast, colour etc, for example.

 

[Poki]

Just play a bit with the color settings in the OSX settings, and choose an appropriate media player. The standard colors in OSX are too cold for watching TV - mainly because most people use it with computer monitors.

 

[snavid972]

I'm using plex and xbmc ..there's not that many options on the mini display section to adjust...I just feel its cloudy not as sharp as my previous media box....

 

[Chippy99]

I'm using plex and xbmc ..there's not that many options on the mini display section to adjust...I just feel its cloudy not as sharp as my previous media box....

Digital doesn't do "cloudy" ;-)

If you've got the resolution right, black level and contrast adjusted properly and checked the colours against some test patterns, you are good to go.

 

[snavid972]

Digital doesn't do "cloudy" ;-)

If you've got the resolution right, black level and contrast adjusted properly and checked the colours against some test patterns, you are good to go.

guess your right since I have a hdmi splitter im just going to hook up my old media box and put a movie on then put the same movie on the mini and adjust all my settings on the mac to match whats on my old media box.

also do you suggest messing with the display settings in plex or just mac mini display settings?

 

[Chippy99]

guess your right since I have a hdmi splitter im just going to hook up my old media box and put a movie on then put the same movie on the mini and adjust all my settings on the mac to match whats on my old media box.

also do you suggest messing with the display settings in plex or just mac mini display settings?

Don't think it makes a lot (if any) difference. So long as you are outputting 1080p, you can adjust anywhere so long as the adjustments work.

The one thing that could make a difference to image quality as you describe, could be the deinterlacing settings. If these are wrong, they could mess up the picture, but making it "cloudy" would be a stretch. Anyway, you'd have to mess with those in Plex I guess. I don't know Plex particularly well.

 

[blueroom]

It's not sharp because your TV is made for video not text. Turn off over scanning and sharpening.

 

[snavid972]

It's not sharp because your TV is made for video not text. Turn off over scanning and sharpening.

turn it off on the tv over on the mac. and if its on the mac where are those settings located at? remember im a new to macs its taking me some time to get use to. just found out about the whole ntfs issue on external drives. was driving me nuts.

 

[blueroom]

Those settings are on the TV. Try turning sharpening to zero. And overscan to 1:1 or just fit.

 

[Ice Dragon]

The best resolution for my 32" Vizio VO320 is 1366x768. You should be able to get better resolution than that on your TV.