Watching Video From iMac to HDTV

[Mileman2011]

I currently have no problem watching whatever is on the screen of my iMac (e.g., video, CDs) on my HDTV by means of a mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter.

My problem is that I can't seem to play video without having to watch it on both screen simultaneously. In other words, I would like to be able to use the iMac for other things while I watch the video on the HDTV.

Is it possible to do this, and, if so, how?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ted

 

[yubbie2]

I currently have no problem watching whatever is on the screen of my iMac (e.g., video, CDs) on my HDTV by means of a mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter.

My problem is that I can't seem to play video without having to watch it on both screen simultaneously. In other words, I would like to be able to use the iMac for other things while I watch the video on the HDTV.

Is it possible to do this, and, if so, how?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ted

I think in the 'Display' System Prefs there's an option to "Mirror Displays". Turn that off and your HDTV should show up as a secondary monitor (make sure it's plugged in and turned on)

 

[Mileman2011]

Thanks, But Still A Problem

Thanks for the tip about turning off the screen mirroring, but now I'm stuck trying to figure out the ins and outs of "Display Arrangement".

I am missing something clearly, because I love my iMac for its simplicity of use, and I know it can't be THIS hard!

When I move the menu bar over to the TV display, I understand this makes it the Primary Display, but after that I'm lost as to how to get the video from the iMac to the TV display.

None of the Apple support on this seems to go very deep, so I haven't a clue as to where I'm messing up.

Ideas?

 

[bigcreek]

Try leaving the menu bar on the imac. - you will need it for other work.
Move the video over to the HDTV display by dragging the quicktime window.

 

[mstrze]

Buy a refurbished AppleTV for $84. This will solve all of your problems.

iTunes will serve up movies/music to the HDTV without any intervention from you through ATV while you do whatever you need to do on the Mac.

I'd imagine your viewing experience would be better with an AppleTV too, since you can't watch a full screen video AND do other things on another monitor easily as far as I know....maybe that is only with a browser viewing window though.

 

[rikbrown]

Thanks for the tip about turning off the screen mirroring, but now I'm stuck trying to figure out the ins and outs of "Display Arrangement".

I am missing something clearly, because I love my iMac for its simplicity of use, and I know it can't be THIS hard!

When I move the menu bar over to the TV display, I understand this makes it the Primary Display, but after that I'm lost as to how to get the video from the iMac to the TV display.

None of the Apple support on this seems to go very deep, so I haven't a clue as to where I'm messing up.

Ideas?

Just drag the window.

 

[xkmxkmxlmx]

Do not listen to the Apple TV advice. As you probably already know, ATV has NOTHING on what a good iMac can output, including stuff rented/bought through iTunes. As well as do as much work on your iMac at the same time.

As said, turn off mirroring.

My display setting is like this:



My iMac is on the right and my HDTV is on the upper part of the left.

Keep all your stuff on your Mac side, as normal. When you want to watch a movie, just move the window over to the HDTV with your mouse and push it to fullscreen and you should be fine. Literally drag it as if it was just one big monitor and you were moving it to the side.

In VLC player, you can actually set it to always just play in full screen on your HDTV until told otherwise. You can also have it black out your main screen so you don't have another bright light source when you want to just watch a movie.

Last but not least, you kind of lose a hot corner. So choose the one you use less, and position the second screen close to that corner. For instance, I never use the upper left corner as a hot corner as I would probably hit it too many times while trying to select something from the menu bar. So I positioned it to the upper left (instead of the lower left).

 

[michial]

Do not listen to the Apple TV advice. As you probably already know, ATV has NOTHING on what a good iMac can output, including stuff rented/bought through iTunes. As well as do as much work on your iMac at the same time.

As said, turn off mirroring.

My display setting is like this:

View attachment 297778

My iMac is on the right and my HDTV is on the upper part of the left.

Keep all your stuff on your Mac side, as normal. When you want to watch a movie, just move the window over to the HDTV with your mouse and push it to fullscreen and you should be fine. Literally drag it as if it was just one big monitor and you were moving it to the side.

In VLC player, you can actually set it to always just play in full screen on your HDTV until told otherwise. You can also have it black out your main screen so you don't have another bright light source when you want to just watch a movie.

Last but not least, you kind of lose a hot corner. So choose the one you use less, and position the second screen close to that corner. For instance, I never use the upper left corner as a hot corner as I would probably hit it too many times while trying to select something from the menu bar. So I positioned it to the upper left (instead of the lower left).

I just got a new iMac a few days ago and I have the mini display to hdmi adapter. I hooked it up to my panasonic tv and the computer recognized the tv specs but I don't know how to get the mac to show up on the tv? What does it mean when you say to keep your stuff on the mac side? How do you move your window over to the hdtv side? I am coming from a pc where all I had to do was plug my hdmi into the laptop and right into the hdtv and it worked right away. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
c