question about connecting laptop to tv...

[mdwsta4]

today i bought a DVI to video adapter from apple to connect my MBP to my LCD tv. i used a standard video cable to go from the adapter to my tv.
when i connected everything, all the windows on my screen got super wide.
i was able to play full screen movies no problem, but regular apps were really unreadable.
after disconnecting everything the screen on my laptop shrunk back down, but now all the windows were small. nothing stretching the corners couldn't fix, but annoying nonetheless.

as i've never done this before, is there a setting i should adjust?

thanks!

 

[waw74]

i belive the dvi to video adapter maxes out at 800x600, so if you're on a widescreen TV everything will be stretched. and forget about reading text the resolution just isn't up to it.

the display on your macbook is 1280x800, so it's streching the 800x600 to fill that which is why everything gets big.
once you remove the adapter, it goes back to regular resolution, but all your windows are still sized to fit in the smaller window.

the blue is the screen on the video out
the red is a normal widescreen TV (16:9)
and all three add up to your macbook screen.


so you can see how if you stretch the blue to the same size as the red or the yellow, it's going to get out of whack.
your windows are also resized to fit in the blue, which is why they are so small when you go back to normal.


if your tv has a VGA or HDMI input i would highly recommend that.

for a dvi to hdmi try monoprice (link takes you to the right cable, price is under $5, same cable at best buy would be over $50)

 

[iknowyourider]

waw, That seems like a great buy on that cable. My mac mini is on my 42" plasma via dvi-to-vga. I love the picture and everything works great. Do you think dvi-to-hdmi would be better?

mdwsta, I hooked my macbook to a 42" plasma in a 5* hotel via dvi-to-vga and it worked fine.

 

[mdwsta4]

thanks waw, that answered my question!
does the cable you linked to do sound as well or will i still have to connect that separately? my tv has two HDMI ports and one is free so that would be perfect.

 

[waw74]

your macbook doesn't do sound on the DVI port, so you'll have to do it separately.
it will do optical though, if you have a stereo with optical in. so you can get 5.1 surround off your DVDs

 

[adyork]

So you guys are saying that if I were to run a dvi to hdmi adapter cable to my hdtv, to watch movies off my laptop, then I would have no sound at all, or I would have no 5.1 sound? If I dont have a seperate reciever, then how would I be able to play sound with my movie? Would I need to run some sort hook up from the TV to stereo system/sound bar/etc, etc? Any help would be appreciated. Just trying to get an idea of what I need before I get started on builiding my home theater set up.

 

[waw74]

DVI does not contain any audio, so when converting to HDMI, you can't convert what's not there. You'll have to come out of the headphone port of your laptop.

for the past few years, apple laptops have also had optical digital out built into the headphone jack, so to get 5.1 you need an optical cable, and something with an optical input.
For an example click here

or just get a 1/8" to stereo RCA, for 2 channel.
for an example click here

or a 1/8" to 1/8" male to male could also work.


don't know what your equipment has, but those are basically your only 3 options.