Comments on: Yes, You Can Get 1080P out of a Mac Mini http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/ The personal blog of Adam Nash Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:08:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: What do you have for a home server for multimedia? http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-31222 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:45:56 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-31222 [...] can feed an HDTV and play DVDs and most video formats like DivX. No Blu-ray [...]

]]> By: bliss http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-29017 Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:20:57 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-29017 OMG THANK YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!! WOW.

That’s really lame. Also, for those who cant find the “other” 1080 setting, change the “Number of Recent Items” to 10, and it should be there.

Thanks again and again and again :D

]]> By: bobby http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28995 Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:00:51 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28995 i’m not sure if this will help anyone, but i had a problem where my mac mini connected to my 1080p samsung hdtv looked fuzzy.

i was using the ‘underscan’ slider adjuster in the display settings to make the entire desktop fit onto my tv screen. but that made stuff look fuzzy. but if i didn’t adjust the underscan, i couldn’t see the menu bar or dock, etc.

so the solution was to turn underscan off on the mac, and then use the hdtv menu to make everything fit. on my model, this screen mode is called ‘screenfit’.

still, i’m pretty sure that my windows xp box looked way crisper when connected to this same tv. look a lot better now, tho.

]]> By: fuzzy http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28965 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:51:42 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28965 More interesting stuff! Connected the mini direct to the TV to see if it was the AV receiver that was the trouble, still no luck but some more failed attempts at various methods.

The 1920×1080 option in the Display options has completely disappeared from both the menu bar display drop down as well as accessing it normally through system preference. Instead its been replaced by an option of 1080p. It also now allows me to choose my refresh rate in Hz – 24, 30, 50 (PAL) and 60 (NTSC). It also allows me to toggle the “overscan” option. All this being when accessing it through the system preference. When using display from the menu bar drop down the options are called 1080p (Television) thrice and 1080p (PAL Television) once. All it does really is change the refresh rate.

I’ve tried almost every combination of settings and have only managed to achieve the following:-
a) 1080p is always easily achieved
b) Under the 1080p option with overscan selected the menu bar and the bottom of the dock are cut and so not viewable in my TV screen.
c) With overscan not selected there is a black border roughly 1.5 inch thick on each side of the displayed desktop screen effectively reducing my 42″ LED to a mere 39″.
d) Selecting 720p still results in a perfect sized image albeit in a lower quality resolution.

Any suggestions? Anyone! Cheers.

]]> By: fuzzy http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28964 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:38:41 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28964 Oops! Forgot to mention – Mac Mini is connected to the Onkyo AV Receiver via a XtremeMac HD DVI-HDMI cable and the AV Receiver is connected to the LG LED TV via a Hive HDMI-HDMI cable.

]]> By: fuzzy http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28963 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:16:09 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28963 Mac Mini mid-2007 connected to Onkyo HT-R380 (AV receiver) connected to LG 42SL90QR (42″ LED). Found the two 1920×1080 options using the displays option in the menu bar and tried using both. TV onscreen display says both using 1080p @ 60Hz. Hardly noticeable difference in quality. My problem is in both options my menu bar is out of the screen. When put to 1360×768, the menu bar and bottom of the dock returns to normal viewing, however image quality is certainly reduced. I can’t seem to find the “overscan” option.

Any ideas on how I can continue using one of the 1080p options and yet have the menu bar etc showing as they should?

Cheers!

]]> By: Preston http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28912 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:20:42 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28912 Ok. Mac mini with 1gig of ram. Been using it flawlessly with a 42″ Sony for a couple of years now. Upgraded to Leopard recently. Had to use a small monitor to complete the upgrade of the OS(due to resolution issues). THE PROBLEM OCCURRED when I went and plugged the Sony Tv back into the Mac mini. The apple apeares at startup and then NOTHING! BLack screen. Now if I plug back into the small monitor , it works fine but why not on the TV ANY MORE. I DO T UNDERSTAND WHAT COULD HAVE CHANGED. Any advice would be appreciated.

]]> By: saneman http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28842 Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:08:40 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28842 I used a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (female) Cable for Apple Mac which was a lot less expensive and I did not have to enable the display in the tool bar to get the setting.

]]> By: mikezang http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28759 Sat, 22 May 2010 16:06:46 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28759 I have a opposite problem.

I bought a Mac mini just yesterday with 2.53GHz, 4GB, 320GB and MaxOS10.6, but my Sharp AQUOS TV does only support 1080i.

When I connect mini to AQUOS with Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, I got a message as “The video signal can’t be received, please confirm input equipment”, then black screen.

I think the newest Mac mini set 1080p as default resolution, I hope that I can set it back to 1080i.

Why Mac set high resolution as default?

]]> By: Brent http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28334 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:27:03 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28334 I have a Mac Mini (mid 2009 before snow leopard) using a 37″ Proscan 1080p monitor w/ HDMI input. My problem is a combination of several of the above.
The tip to get 1080p works great! But if I select Overscan in Preferences, the top menu goes off the screen. If I de-select it, I get HUGE black bars around the image, essentially converting my 37″ 1080p screen into a 32″ 720p screen!

Anyone else had or solved this problem?

]]> By: Milo http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28327 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:37:30 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28327 I spent half an hour, carefully reading this. Adam did a great job help us to get the best out of our HDTV and Mac Mini. I noticed that most SONY HDTV work well with minimum setup, SAMSUNG a bit tricky. I am personally have SONY and Mac Mini 1.8GHz with Snow Leopard upgrade to 4GB of RAM. Currentlr connect them via DVI to VGA adapter (supplied by Apple) + Normal VGA cable (Take it from old LCD monitor) to VGA port in my SONY (46″). I used them with XBMC for 3 months, quite happy with it. Use digital (optical) cable draw sound to my Bose sound system (great DTS and AC3 sound).
I just wondering that If I try with DVI to HDMI adapter + 1.3 HDMI cable (already owned the cable), Is it will be any better? What’s the different between adapter and DVI to HDMI cable. I searched in wiki, it said no different coz, DVI is a subset of HDMI then no conversion, means no lost.

Can’t help but wonder (like Carries Bradshaw in Sex and the City) my understanding is true……

]]> By: Edgard http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28218 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:07:28 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28218 All,

Can anyone share what the lowest possible configuration is for a mac mini to use it as a full media center? I am curious to set this up but do not like buying the new one from Apple.

thx,
E

]]> By: Edgard http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28217 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:06:13 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28217 Hi Peter,

Can you share if the 1.83GHz is enough to use the mini as a full media center (1080p)? I am considering buying one just for that reason so I would like to be sure.

thanks
edgard

]]> By: thewebgal http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28185 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:37:48 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28185 I’m not getting this – you spoke of the
“G4 Mac mini with DVI > HDMI cable (2.0GHZ Core 2 Duo 2GB Ram)”

Sorry, but there is NO SUCH ANIMAL –
the G4 mac Mini has a PowerPC processor in either 1.25, 1.42 or 1.5 gHz … the Core 2 Duo machines have INTEL processors …

Its Either/or – and they handle Video (and video memory) quite a bit differently!

]]> By: menicknick http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28085 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:39:12 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-28085 Hi Matt,

Open Preferences, then Displays. Then click on the “Options” tab/button near the top of the window and make sure the “overscan” box is checked. That’s how to get rid of the black box around your picture. Let me know if this helps or if you have any other questions. :)

Nick

]]> By: Dave http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27992 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:43:29 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27992 Question: I’ve got my Mac Mini switched through the receiver to a Vizio 42″ screen. If I have the screen switched to the Mac Mini at boot, I can get the resolutions I need (DVI, 1080p and i) – on Snow Leopard.

But if the TV or the amp are switched to different inputs at boot time, the Mini doesn’t even turn on DVI output unless I sleep/wake it once I switch to the screen (at a minimum).

I have no trouble using SwitchRes X to force resolution to 1080, but that won’t turn on the output if there’s no TV connected yet.

Any ideas? Anyone else seen this?

]]> By: Dan http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27957 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:13:36 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27957 Hurray, I have a Sharp too, Thanks Adam for the fix, and Zombie for the TV confirmation!

]]> By: Mike http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27688 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:29:29 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27688 #1 was my concern. Couldn’t find that answer for the life of me. Since you can put the res to that rate through HDMI guess I will be keeping the TV. Thanks for the info.

]]> By: Jon http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27389 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:59:16 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27389 Hi I have a late 2009 MAC Mini and a SONY HDTV and have had none of the difficulties encountered by others in connecting up. Not sure if this is due to the new MAC Mini (with Snow Leopard) or my TV. I just connected the Mini Display Port to DVI connector which ships with the MAC Mini to a Belkin DVI to HDMI cable (also available from Apple Store) and connected the HDMI to my TV. I switched on the MAC and could see the picture immediately. I was missing the menu bar at the top so went to SYSTEM PREFERENCES and then DISPLAYS and the OPTIONS tab, and unselected OVERSCAN, and that gave me a perfect picture.

My MAC Mini displays a number of resolution with a little TV screen icon beside them, as if suggesting those resolutions for use with the Sony. It shows 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. There are also lots of others without TV icons beside them. By default the resolution was set to 1080p, but I found that this made it quite difficult to read text on my screen, even though it’s not so far away from the sofa. I swiiched therefore to 720p and this produces a very comfortable size of text for using the MAC.

My question is whether it really makes such a big difference whether one chooses 720p or 1080p, as I really can’t see much difference for playback of video from Hulu or other streaming websites. Even when I played a DVD movie from my MAC Mini superdrive, the difference in quality was hard to detect. I guess if I tried viewing HD material, there might be some difference, but how much of that material is available on the net right now anyway. In short, I would question why so many people seem so desperate to set the resolution to 1080p. I have that option out of the box but find 720p to be far preferable so far.

Look forward to hearing views!

]]> By: Anonymous http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27384 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:21:51 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-27384 [...] [...]

]]> By: Joseph http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26897 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:14:15 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26897 The trick worked for me! Though, my LG HDTV doesn’t register PCs/Macs as 1080i/1080p, rather just shows the resolution (1920×1080). Anyways my main problem is that everything is really small and I use my computer from far away. My main concern anyway is it’s also annoying that I have to zoom in all the time for each new website you visit. Does it really matter what resolution you use and will it still remain 1080p? I can base my theory of it being the same quality because each resolution plays the everything bigger but still looks like the same quality. Thank you very much.

]]> By: Eric http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26889 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:57:03 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26889 Very interesting & helpful thread! I am working on setting up a Mac Mini as a HTPC (still photo library+home videos+video recorded off-air via EyeTV) with a Sony 40″ XBR HDTV as the display. Getting digital video/audio out has stymied me, so I’ve held off buying the computer.

My question for people: has anyone tried the following solution:
http://tinyurl.com/yat5d8u
(Apogee DVI and S/PDIF Audio to HDMI Converter, much cheaper than a similar Gefen device; it claims to combine DVI video and digital audio into a single signal it outputs via HDMI)

As far as I can tell, to use this you’d need: the included miniDisplay Port to female DVI cable, a male:male DVI:DVI gender changer, a digital audio cable, the above converter, and an HDMI cable out to the TV.
That’s in theory; only a few on-line stores sell this converter, so I wonder if it actually works in practice. Anyone use it successfully to get 1080p video and digital audio from the Mini to an HDTV?

Thanks for your help! Apple would sure make things a heck of a lot easier if they’d add an HDMI port to the Mini, at least as a build to order option. Any guesses when the next refresh of the Mini line is?

]]> By: Gary http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26816 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:09:04 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26816 Great post and solution.

I have got 1080p; but the picture quality for the desktop and web pages is crap; for DVD’s sing FrontRow its GREA – is this right?

I was hoping for crystal clear HD quality on all apps for my MAC Mini. I am using a Sony Bravia 46″ HDTV….

Thanks

]]> By: richard http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26575 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:37:51 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26575 You ARE a genius. Such a simple fix. My picture is so much better.
Mac Mini /42″ phillips

THANK YOU.

]]> By: Brad http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26544 Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:53:41 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26544 Adam,

Wow that’s awesome. Four hours of forums and you were here all along. Way to go! BTW It also works on iMacs….10.5.5 still.

You’re awesome! Thanks for the info! I had started trying all sorts of random things but I wouldn’t have thought of that!

]]> By: John Sibly http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26499 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:41:58 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26499 If anyone else is using a European TV, you might find that you only have 3 options (including 1920×1080 PAL and 1920×1080 NTSC), and all of them are interlaced (1080i). Try increasing Number of recent options to 5, and you should get the duplicates Adam mentioned. Selecting the other 1920×1080 (PAL or NTSC) and your TV should start receiving 1080p.

I’m using a Panasonic viera 37 inch (not sure the exact model number)

]]> By: peter http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26398 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:16:26 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26398 Hey

I am going to buy Mac mini with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 1.83GHz. All mini can play 1080p files, right? I want to use it as a HTPC.

Thanks.

—–
Peter from http://www.dealsvista.net

]]> By: Joao Amado http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26346 Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:26:01 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26346 Hi,

This was Posted on January 24, 2008 by Adam Nash, and we’re still talking about it. wonderful !!!

I’m thinking in buying a MacMini as a HTPC, because until now I’ve been using my MacBook Pro with XMBC player (free download at http://xbmc.org/ )

Does anyone tryed to plug in to MacMini 2x TV’s ou 2x TFT’s ?
Does anyone as tryed to play 30 GB MKV blueray files?

]]> By: al http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26322 Sun, 31 May 2009 06:38:40 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26322 My mac mini (intel core duo 2/gma 950/10.5.6) is connected to my 1080p Vizio 32″ tv via a dvi->hdmi cable. The signal is 1080i only, however when I use a vga cable it does 1080p (much better quality). The displays icon is in the menu bar but only shows the 1080i option).My ram is only 1gb could that account for this?

]]> By: Adam Nash http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26273 Sun, 24 May 2009 04:10:41 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/2008/01/24/yes-you-can-get-1080p-out-of-a-mac-mini/#comment-26273 Jason,

My Vizio reports that it is receiving a 1080P signal. On the other setting, the Vizio reports a 1080i signal.

Adam

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