Trying to connect macbook to LG television

[susaneturnbull]

Hello

I have borrowed a friend's cables to see if I can connect my macbook to my LG television. I have the apple mini DVI to HDMI cable and the belkin HDMI to DVI cable and the television tuned to hdmi1 channel - there is only one hdmi port but i've checked all the input settings,

Should i be changing any settings on my macbook? The tv is just showing as no signal and it's driving me mad!

Thanks
Susan

 

[fiatlux]

In my experience, it is easier/safer to use the VGA input for computer connections on TV sets. Some sets will only allow for video resolutions and timings on HDMI inputs (720p, 1080i...), not computer ones.

 

[susaneturnbull]

Great thank you,
Could you point me in the direction of where i can find out what cables I'l need for that?

 

[fiatlux]

Great thank you,
Could you point me in the direction of where i can find out what cables I'l need for that?

You'd need a miniDVI-VGA adapter, a regular VGA cable and a mini-jack audio cable.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Not sure what fiatlux is talking about, because scads of users here connect their Macs to their TVs via HDMI, including myself. A digital signal is a digital signal whether it comes from a PC or a Blu-Ray player, just make sure you've chosen a compatible resolution for the TV in the Mac's Display Settings.

That being said, I'm confused as to what you're using to convert your Mac's output though. You state...

I have the apple mini DVI to HDMI cable and the belkin HDMI to DVI cable and the television tuned to hdmi1 channel

If you're using the mini-DVI to HDMI adapter, that (plus an HDMI cable) should be all you need. Mini-DVI out on the MacBook goes to HDMI in on the TV. Why are you also using a Belkin HDMI to DVI cable?

 

[fiatlux]

Not sure what fiatlux is talking about, because scads of users here connect their Macs to their TVs via HDMI, including myself.

Yes, but it may depend on your TV set. HDMI is equivalent to DVI, from a digital signal point of view, but there are different timings and resolutions that can be used over such link. A 720p setting (at 50Hz or 60Hz) is not the same as a computer resolution setting of 1368x768 for instance (which is the native resolution of my LCD TV for instance).

I know my TV set manual explicitely states NOT to use HDMI for computer connections, only VGA inputs. I suspect it may still work if you computer can output 720p on DVI, but, in my experience, VGA has just been easier to deal with. I can get cristal-sharp 1366X768 resolution this way, with perfect pixel mapping (which is not the case in 720p mode).