My MacBook to and HDTV, the screen looks larger, help!

[Bader]

I have connected my MacBook to my my HDTV through Mini Dvi to HDMI cable, but the screen on the HDTV appears larger, I mean I am not able to see the upper bar of my Mac OS which contains the Apple logo, Finders and etc.

Kindly help me with this.

Thank you

 

[stefmesman]

most likely the aspect ratio on your television, your macbook send out 16:10 as that is what your mbp screen is and your television is 16:9. your tv scales it up cropping the bottom and top. should be a setting on your tv to make it fit. even though this will give you black borders.

 

[adrian1480]

I have connected my MacBook to my my HDTV through Mini Dvi to HDMI cable, but the screen on the HDTV appears larger, I mean I am not able to see the upper bar of my Mac OS which contains the Apple logo, Finders and etc.

Kindly help me with this.

Thank you

You need to drag the little bar from the top of the Mac display to the top of the external display.

I can't really describe it but if you open System Preferences > Displays, I believe you'll see 2 rectangles representing your 2 displays. 1 will have a really small/thin rectangle above it. You need to drag small rectangle from one display icon to the other in order to see the menu bar.

edit: here:

see the red arrow? drag that bar from one blue rectangle to the other. the menu bar will move to the other screen.

 

[snaky69]

I have connected my MacBook to my my HDTV through Mini Dvi to HDMI cable, but the screen on the HDTV appears larger, I mean I am not able to see the upper bar of my Mac OS which contains the Apple logo, Finders and etc.

Kindly help me with this.

Thank you

You're probably mirroring your display, which would explain the poor image quality.

 

[Erasmus]

Do what adrian1480 suggests. If that doesn't help, it's probably overscan. That may be harder to fix, likely requiring 3rd party mods.

 

[pulp1]

HDTV on my Macbook Air

Hi guys,

I am trying to setup my Macbook Air 2010 with an HDTV.
Think I follow everything but it seems like I have 2 options:

1) Mirror - which gives me black bars

2) Switch the arrangement and menu bars which gives me full screen but I noticed for example the little icons on my macbook are cut off ever so slightly on the edges.

Can anyone tell me why? And / or what is the best way to get full screen on my HDTV.

Actually I just tried adding a tiny bit of overscan, that brought the last edges of my macbook Air screen into full screen (before it was slightly cropping the title of the folders. Is this the best way to do it?

Or is it better to use the mirror option (or another)

Thanks so much
d

 

[SurferMan]

You're probably mirroring your display, which would explain the poor image quality.

So what are you supposed to do vs mirroring? I watch movies from my Mac to my tv, everyone says to mirror. I can't even find any other info as to what other way it would be done/setup???

 

[pulp1]

Hey surfer, do you have black bars though when you mirror?
Just along the side.

The other way seems to be to go into arrangement and switch your screens round as Adrian said and the menus so that the Tv is my main screen. When I did that I got full picture but with my icons slightly cut off. Then I adjusted it with the underscan thing so that it fit perfectly. Now your TV is the only thing you use and you control everything from that screen. Plus you can turn your macbooks brightness down to minimum to save power.

Thats what I tried anyway.

What does everyone else think? Which is the best way?

d

 

[snaky69]

So what are you supposed to do vs mirroring? I watch movies from my Mac to my tv, everyone says to mirror. I can't even find any other info as to what other way it would be done/setup???

Say you have a 1080p TV and a 13" MBP. If you mirror, the resolution the TV will display is the 13"'s resolution: 1280 by 800 (native) which is a tiny bit over 720p.

If you have a 1080P video file, mirroring will make it not run as 1080p, the video quality will be quite bad, looking pixelated and slightly out of whack.

Whereas if you extend your desktop(or alternatively use clamshell mode) your TV will remain at it's native resolution(1080p) and will have a much better image quality.

 

[SurferMan]

Hey surfer, do you have black bars though when you mirror?
Just along the side.

The other way seems to be to go into arrangement and switch your screens round as Adrian said and the menus so that the Tv is my main screen. When I did that I got full picture but with my icons slightly cut off. Then I adjusted it with the underscan thing so that it fit perfectly. Now your TV is the only thing you use and you control everything from that screen. Plus you can turn your macbooks brightness down to minimum to save power.

Thats what I tried anyway.

What does everyone else think? Which is the best way?

d

yeh the desktop on the tv seems to be cut off, I know the top is (like if you had a browser, the task bar itself is off screen), and i think the bottom is or at least cut off... can't remember there lol. No boarders on the desktop but there are when watching movies.

Say you have a 1080p TV and a 13" MBP. If you mirror, the resolution the TV will display is the 13"'s resolution: 1280 by 800 (native) which is a tiny bit over 720p.

If you have a 1080P video file, mirroring will make it not run as 1080p, the video quality will be quite bad, looking pixelated and slightly out of whack.

Whereas if you extend your desktop(or alternatively use clamshell mode) your TV will remain at it's native resolution(1080p) and will have a much better image quality.

Hmm I'll have to try that, do you need a keyboard and mouse, or can clamshell be run with just usb mouse (don't have a wireless keyboard for the computer)?

Never had a problem with the PC setup at my last place but building a new theater system, so using the MBP via mini-hdmi for movies on the tv.. i've noticed some movies look good and then others look kinda fuzzy even if HD and sometimes movies have boarder top, bottom, or even on the sides as well.

I'll have to see... wasn't aware of that as everyone said to run it mirroring display with a tv.And you know what, I thought well that doesn't make sense in a way b/c both have different resolutions (tv's hd 1080).

 

[Alexjones]

After i close my lid, A full image pops up on my HDTV. There is an aspect ratio setting under display settings in preferences. I just slide it until the image is snug with my tv. Very easy.