MAC PRO DVI TO HDTV Suggestions

[artnews300]

Hi
I used to stream online movies from my Power mac to my HGTV via the DVI to Video Apple adapter.
Just upgraded to the new Mac Pro with the NVIDIA 8800gt card and realized the adapter is no longer supported (it only works with a couple of ATI cards)
Basically I've been researching into getting some sort of - USB/Firewire based or VGA/DVI based, etc hardware which will help me output my desktop (mirroring or extending it) onto my HGTV. Possibly there is software which helps in the process and maybe substitute the rather obsolete "video mirroring" process.
Any suggestions?
There are so many option to turn you Mac into a TV but so hard to do the opposite

Thank you

 

[OneHump]

Can I hijack your thread just a small bit? I have the same question.

Mac Pro on the way with 8800GT and ACD 30". I bought a DVI>HDMI adapter, but just learned that I'll need both DVI-D out for ACD 30" at full res. So, in addition to the answer to the OP's question above, can I just toss another 8800GT in there to drive my 50" plasma? Assuming I can, I'm also very curious about the answer to OP's question as I'm hoping a straight DVI>HDMI adapter will work.

Sorry for the hijack. If you protest I'll delete my post.

 

[artnews300]

no prob as long as people do answer my question first

 

[O. Frabjous-Dey]

artnews300: Almost all HDTVs take component and HDMI. Your 8800GT card has two dual-link DVI ports, right? Just find a DVI-to-HDMI cable and jam that in. Amazon sells them for $5-$15 bucks. No heavy equipment is necessary, since HDMI is essentially a wrapper for DVI signals.

 

[O. Frabjous-Dey]

OneHump: Dual-link DVI doesn't mean that you'll need both DVI ports. IIRC, BOTH of the ports on the 8800GT are dual-link DVI. You don't need a new card - your Mac Pro can drive both at the same time.

Don't be fooled by the misleading name: dual-link DVI ports look just like single-link DVI ports. I've got a 30" monitor running at 2560x1600 hooked up to my MacBook Pro, which only has one port.

 

[nanofrog]

Don't be fooled by the misleading name: dual-link DVI ports look just like single-link DVI ports. I've got a 30" monitor running at 2560x1600 hooked up to my MacBook Pro, which only has one port.

This seems suspicious to me, as it takes both DVI connectors on the back of a graphics card to support full resolution (2560x1600) on a 30" or larger.

When a single DVI connection is used, it can't operate at full res. Only 1920x1200 Not enough bandwidth.

DVI spec.

External Yes
Video signal Digital video stream.
(Single) WUXGA 1920 × 1200 @ 60 Hz
(Dual) WQXGA (2560 × 1600) @ 60 Hz
Analog RGB video (-3 db at 400 MHz)
Data signal R,G,B data + clock and display data channel
Bandwidth (Single Link) 3.96 Gbit/s
(Dual Link) 7.92 Gbit/s
Max devices 1
Protocol 3 × Transition Minimized Differential Signaling data + clock
Pins 29

 

[Mackilroy]

Wrong. Each one of those DVI connectors is a dual-link - thus, you can hook up two 30" displays to your Mac Pro with any current Mac Pro GPU (HD2600, 8800 GT, HD3870, the two Quadro models) except the 7300 GT.

Plug your monitor into one port, plug your TV into the other.

From Apple's site:

- ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and two dual-link DVI ports
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of GDDR3 memory and two dual-link DVI ports

 

[OneHump]

Excellent, thanks very much for the clarification. All I need then is the adapter I got from New Egg. Artnews, thanks for the piggy back. Here is a link to the connector I bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...A-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-N82E16812186016

 

[bradleykavin]

full resolution?

I then have a question. I have a 42 in Plasma 1080p tv connected to my mac pro via hdmi to DVI. the highest resolution available according to system prefs is 1920 x 1200, if I get a different cable can I use 2560 x 1600 on this tv?

 

[OneHump]

I then have a question. I have a 42 in Plasma 1080p tv connected to my mac pro via hdmi to DVI. the highest resolution available according to system prefs is 1920 x 1200, if I get a different cable can I use 2560 x 1600 on this tv?

Your TV is going to "scale" up or down to the native resolution of the display, which is 1920x1080 in your case. While I'm not sure your display will even accept 2560x1600, your best bet is configure your output to match the native resolution of your plasma, avoiding the scaler on your display.

Most high end video setups will attempt to 1:1 pixel matching as close to the source as they can get it, and will usually go with an external scaler, if necessary, rather than rely on the usually cheap internal scalers of just about all displays.

The moral of the story is that your display will never output a higher resolution than its native resolution and your best off matching that resolution at the source.

 

[Mackilroy]

I then have a question. I have a 42 in Plasma 1080p tv connected to my mac pro via hdmi to DVI. the highest resolution available according to system prefs is 1920 x 1200, if I get a different cable can I use 2560 x 1600 on this tv?

No. The TV's native resolution (max) is 1920x1080 - to get 1920x1200 it's doing a bit of scaling. No matter what cable you have it won't go any higher.