Turn off the iMac main display when using Plex on the TV?

[Dave1979]

I can't find a plain or recent answer to this anywhere!

I am thinking of getting an iMac (hopefully next week when the new 5k come out) to replace my 2011 mac mini. It is in the corner of my living room and I currently run an HDMI out to my TV and run Plex. I can obviously just turn off the external monitor. Is it possible to properly turn off the iMac display and still have plea running with no issues. I mean properly off - not just dimmed where it would still be a distraction in the corner of the eye especially in a dark room.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

 

[ericv]

I can't find a plain or recent answer to this anywhere!

I am thinking of getting an iMac (hopefully next week when the new 5k come out) to replace my 2011 mac mini. It is in the corner of my living room and I currently run an HDMI out to my TV and run Plex. I can obviously just turn off the external monitor. Is it possible to properly turn off the iMac display and still have plea running with no issues. I mean properly off - not just dimmed where it would still be a distraction in the corner of the eye especially in a dark room.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

I don't think you can. I've tried a failed. There might be a software solution. I use a Roku which runs Plex. Nicer interface than the web also.

Try CTRL+OPTION+EJEC

 

[Dave1979]

I don't think you can. I've tried a failed. There might be a software solution. I use a Roku which runs Plex. Nicer interface than the web also.

Try CTRL+OPTION+EJEC

Cheers - that's a deal breaker so no iMac for me. Rubbish!

Maybe a MacBook Air/Pro as I imagine that will be do-able to stop it sleeping when closed.

 

[daniel.hershman]

An Air or MacBook will run a second monitor while in 'clamshell mode' just fine. But you will need an external keyboard and mouse

 

[Even Longer]

I can't find a plain or recent answer to this anywhere!

I am thinking of getting an iMac (hopefully next week when the new 5k come out) to replace my 2011 mac mini. It is in the corner of my living room and I currently run an HDMI out to my TV and run Plex. I can obviously just turn off the external monitor. Is it possible to properly turn off the iMac display and still have plea running with no issues. I mean properly off - not just dimmed where it would still be a distraction in the corner of the eye especially in a dark room.

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

SwitchResX Utility did the trick for me in the past. I didn't try it after Lion, though.

You may still have a look...

 

[Fishrrman]

This may or may not be what you're looking for, but there is a little piece of freeware out there called "Shades".

It's a slider that works like a volume control -- only it controls screen brightness.

You can drag it "all the way down" and it will darken your display.

It doesn't "turn off" the display -- that's probably impossible -- but it dims it as far as it will go.

 

[Dave1979]

An Air or MacBook will run a second monitor while in 'clamshell mode' just fine. But you will need an external keyboard and mouse

It would just be for running plex on the tv so I assume the apple remote will be fine?

 

[daniel.hershman]

I'm not familiar with plex but once you close the lid on a MacBook you don't have access to the keyboard or touchpad. The Apple TV remote will not allow you to control the laptop in any way.

 

[Dave1979]

I'm not familiar with plex but once you close the lid on a MacBook you don't have access to the keyboard or touchpad. The Apple TV remote will not allow you to control the laptop in any way.

The apple remote works fine to control iTunes or any media player running on the mini so should be ok on the MacBook - as long as it has an IR receiver.

 

[Toydoll]

No need to close the MB/MBP. Simply shut the display of, that's what I do.
You can either turn the brightness down to zero or have an "acitve corner" so that you shut down the screen whenever you point in a desired corner. I use the later.

 

[Dave1979]

No need to close the MB/MBP. Simply shut the display of, that's what I do.
You can either turn the brightness down to zero or have an "acitve corner" so that you shut down the screen whenever you point in a desired corner. I use the later.

I think a trip to the Apple Store is in order to have a play about with the iMacs and MacBooks and see how they look with the various options.

 

[cynics]

With the laptops you can just turn the brightness to 0 and it shuts off. I do something similar with a projector and a MBA on El Capitan.

When I get home I'll check my iMac but in Yosemite there was no OEM way to turn the monitor completely off. I imagine El Capitan would be the same way.

 

[MandiMac]

I don't think you can. I've tried a failed. There might be a software solution. I use a Roku which runs Plex. Nicer interface than the web also.

Try CTRL+OPTION+EJEC

ericv is right: with the combination ctrl+option+eject key you turn off the display instantly without stopping any work.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

ericv is right: with the combination ctrl+option+eject key you turn off the display instantly without stopping any work.

I've been trying to figure this out, and haven't heard about ,ctrl option eject', so will be interesting to see if it works. I have recently downloaded F.lux (for other reasons) and was going to use their 'dark room' mode to dim the screen if I couldn't find out how to actually turn it off.