Macbook + LCD TV help

[addz93]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if you could give me some advice regarding how to get my LCD TV up and running with my macbook (Early '09 Unibody 13"). I've just purchased a Mini DisplayPort to Female HDMI adapter and using a HDMI lead I've successfully connected my HDTV and MacBook together but I've been having a few problems with it being the first time I've used an external display.

Basically, I want to be able to do the following:

-Use my HDTV as my sole display
-Have both the dock and menu bar showing on my HDTV
-Find the right resolutions to use for both of my displays so that everything shows (I've managed to get the dock and menu bar on my HDTV by mirroring the displays but the bottom half of the dock is cut off and I can only see the tip of the menu bar. I assume I'm using the wrong resolutions but I can't seem to find one that works.

The TV I'm using is a 1080p, 32" Toshiba Regza LCD if that's any help.

If you can give me any advice at all on how to get my TV up and running as my main moniter, I would be eternally grateful, thanks

 

[bobtomay]

Unfortunately, there are not enough resolutions supplied with the video drivers for you to get the picture set to the proper size in OS X.

Been awhile now - am currently using a Win7 machine as my HTPC.

But, you'll want to go into System Preferences - Displays

I believe it is the last tab - turn off overscan - should be on the window for the external display. You will now have the complete menu bar and dock. You will also now have a black border around all 4 sides of the screen. This is the option I lived with until I built my Win7 HTPC.

The next option will be to delve into the menus on the TV to see if it has an option to turn off overscan for computer input. The Toshiba Regzas I'm familiar with (up through the '07 models) do not have that option. But, it'd be worth pulling out the manual to check. If you have an audio input associated with the HDMI port, you might be lucky here.

The third option will be to get SwitchResX and create a custom resolution for your HDTV. It is not a free app, but does have a trial period so you can see if it works for you.

If you are wanting to use an extended display instead of a mirrored display with your HDTV as the primary display when attached - you'll go to the Appearance tab - on the right side in the the picture of the two monitors - see the white bar at the top of one? - that represents the menu bar, simply drag it to the other monitor. And of course, uncheck 'Mirror Displays'.

You can also move those two monitors around to change their position for dragging windows from one screen to the other.