Mini DisplayPort to HDMI

[cb220]

Hi, I've been looking into this a bit because I'd like to connect my Mac to my TV.

I have a bit of an older Mac (Macbook Pro 5,5 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo), so I've been a little confused about what will work with my Mac and what won't. If I understand correctly, I'll need a way to go from Mini DisplayPort -> HDMI, as well as an audio connection from my Mac to the TV. I've just got a few questions.

1) Does my Mini DisplayPort support DisplayPort++? I found one post that said Macbook Pros all do, but I wanted to be sure that even my older MBP does.

2) Is there a big difference between different Mini DisplayPort -> HDMI adaptors, other than the durability of them? If there is, do you have any recommendations?

3) Since my Mac won't be able to put the audio through the HDMI cable, I was wondering if it's still fine to use an HDMI cable that supports audio. That is, will I still be able to put the sound through a separate cable if I use an HDMI cable that is trying to take audio? Not even sure there are any HDMI cables that just send video, I've only seen A/V.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tinmania]

I don't know about the ++ part but I picked up a cheap Mini DisplayPort-to- HDMI adapter for around $8 on either Amazon or ebay and it worked flawlessly with my mac mini 2010. I bought the HDMI cable from the same place also at about the same price. It supports audio but that does not matter. It all worked fine. Just make sure you get the proper male-to-female thing right if you don't get it from Apple.



Michael

 

[DaveN]

1) I don't know the answer to #1. I don't know the difference between DisplayPort and DisplayPort++. I have an iMac 9,1 which had the DisplayPort with no sound and picked up the MiniDisplay port to HDMI cable and it worked just fine for the video out to the TV.

2) I picked mine up from eBay for about $9 including shipping. At that price, if it breaks, I'll just get a new one but since they are solid state, I don't see much going wrong with them if it doesn't break in the first month or so.

3) My cable is sound capable but since my iMac doesn't output sound, I don't get the sound carry through. I don't know if there are any video only cables around any more and frankly I don't think it would be cheaper than $9 anyway.

A little side note. I used my cable to connect to a 22 inch Samsung LED HDTV and was disappointed. I think the connection was fine but the color of the Samsung monitor way awful. But it wasn't just the mac to monitor that was bad. Apple TV feeds, DishTV, over the air sources and DVD videos were bad no matter what the calibration. Eventually I returned the TV to the store and am back searching for a good tv/monitor. I probably just got a bad TV but such is life.