Optical sound with new Mac Mini?

[felixen]

Hey.

Sorry about bombarding the forums I just have another question regarding the new mac mini. I heard before buying it that it had an outlet for a optical sound cable, so I went and bought the Mac Mini and an optical cable, got both today, hook up everything and now I dont see the outlet on the Mac Mini. How do you get optical sound from it?

 

[KettyKrueger]

The 3.5mm output jack is for digital and analogue.

I pressume you just bought a regular optical cable (TOSlink)? You'll also need a mini adaptor, often referred to as a TOSlink mini adaptor.

They can be had for a couple of quid (or bucks).

If you're planning on watching DVDs using Apple's DVD Player, be sure you change the preferences to digital output, otherwise you'll only get stereo output.

 

[felixen]

Cool, where do I change that? This is my first time on a Mac so its pretty damn new to me haha. And thanks imma go buy one of those

 

[KettyKrueger]

DVD Player -> Preferences

Can't remember the exact location...

 

[Cave Man]

Cool, where do I change that? This is my first time on a Mac so its pretty damn new to me haha. And thanks imma go buy one of those

It should autodetect once you connect an optical cable (TOSLink with mini plug on one end) to it. However, if there's an issue, then you can set it in the System Preferences Sound pane.

If you plan on using it for 5.1 surround from video you must make sure your content have digital audio tracks (e.g. Dolby Digital and DTS) and that you're using software that can pass those tracks to your receiver (e.g. Plex, XBMC).

 

[felixen]

cool, imma order one of those right away. I have another problem though. I have the mac connected to my LE40M8 Samsung tv, but some of the picture is missing. For instance I dont see the "equivalent-to-start-button" in the upper left corner. Its like something is missing on each side of the screen. I tried changing the resolution, but its either as it is now, or its a small square that doesnt fill out the whole screen. How do I fix this?

 

[felixen]

So I got it hooked up now and it did autodetect. However I cant change the volume in the volume bar in the upper right corner. I simply cant slide it. How come?

 

[Oi-Oi-Oi]

So I got it hooked up now and it did autodetect. However I cant change the volume in the volume bar in the upper right corner. I simply cant slide it. How come?

Be it PC or Mac when you are using the optical you need to use your amplifier (in your case your TV?) to change volume. Optical out doesn't carry 'volume' information. I had exactly the same thing and was a bit disappointed when it didn't work as I love the ability to change volume on the keyboard. So just yesterday I went back to a normal copper analogue audio cable. The quality isnt that much different from the optical and I have the ability to change volume again.

 

[Tee.Nutter]

Agree with Oi there, I just bought a TOSlink cable with a mini adapter for my iMac and the volume control being disabled is normal.

I have my optical out going to some speakers with a digital input, and the volume control on speakers takes over from the iMac and works a treat.

 

[felixen]

cant you use optical sound with the apple docking station?