Mac Mini connected to Sony HDTV

Guys i just ordered a Mac Mini and i was wondering what i needed to connect it to my 46" Sony Bravia. I have seen some video son youtube but they arent as straight forward. So if anybody could point me in the direction of what to get in order to connect it to my HDTV it would be grateful.

No one!!!

Need model # of the Sony.

Do you want sound from the Sony or through a separate stereo/surround receiver?

its a bravia 46 inch XBR9 i want sound from the sony at the moment

Get back to you later today in this same post, must head out to the daily grind.

You must use HDMI 1 on the TV.

Then you'll need a stereo mini-plug (3.5mm) to RCA cable for the audio - example.

OK cool, thanks. I figured it would be that so i went to Radio Shack and picked it up.

What should i do about the fonts and stuff like that, looks real small and stuff.

First off, that's going to be fairly subjective and will have a great deal to do with how far you're sitting away from the set.

As I immensely dislike OS X's font rendering when displayed on large, low resolution monitors, I gave up very quickly on using my Mac connected to a HDTV for anything except watching videos. 'The' primary reason I use a Win7 machine for my HTPC. So, I won't be much help here.

You can try using a 720 resolution instead of 1080 from your computer to make everything larger. You can also go into Safari Preferences (and other individual apps as well) and set up the minimum font size much larger - I use 12 on my 15" MBP.

You can also turn on the magnifier and use it when you need; "option command 8" to turn it on and off, then "option command =" to make the screen larger and "option command -" to bring it back to normal.

In addition to bobtomay, I can speak from experience.

You can get a cable like this.
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

It allows you to choose 1080p, 1080i and a couple other resolutions.

If you have a receiver that allows it, you can also select that you want audio to go through an optical cable.

You will need this.
Amazon.com: 6ft Toslink to Mini Toslink Cable: Musical Instruments


I have my Mac Mini connect to my receiver on the AUX source via HDMI and Optical cable.

Make sure you set your TV to overscan so you can get the whole image on your TV.

Sorry, I forgot the video cable - forget the adapter and separate HDMI cable - head over to monoprice.com and get a mini display port to HDMI cable in the length you need.

And just FYI: The adapter has nothing to do with what resolutions you are allowed to select. That will have to do with the EDID info that is passed from the TV to the computer.

Im not an expert in displays, but when I tried a VGA cable, the largest resolution it allowed me was 1600 x something, cant remember. I also didnt mean that with that specific adapter you'd be able to get 1080 exclusively, I just meant it gives you the option.

And I'm just letting you know, that adapter had nothing to do with providing you the option of getting 1080p. That option was provided by using a HDMI port instead of the VGA port on that particular TV.

While different cables do have varying capabilities, what you are experiencing connecting to your TV has to do with the resolution capability of the ports you are connecting to, not the adapter, nor the cable.

You can open up the User Guide for your TV, and if it's any of the major manufacturers it will have a section providing the resolutions it's VGA port is capable of. Many TV's do not provide a full range of resolutions via their VGA port like you would see on a computer monitor. Just one of those places where they scrimp to save another 20 cents.

Whatever your particular TV is capable of via VGA, would have absolutely no bearing on another brand or even within the same brand on different year models they changed so much. Many widescreen TV's still only provide a 4:3 aspect ratio available via their VGA port instead of 16:9.

The resolutions available from a monitor/TV are transmitted to the device via what is called EDID.
You can read about it in the Wiki here.

THanks for the info guys!!!!!

But i went with a setup of getting a mini dvi to HDMI and then going with a 3.5 mm jack to RCA.

I have it set to overscan and the resolution to 1080i. When i change it to 1080p the screen gets way tooo big. I dont know why maybe someone can tell me what im doing wrong.

Thanks for the clarification. It's always good to learn something new.

Bigrahizzle said:

THanks for the info guys!!!!!

But i went with a setup of getting a mini dvi to HDMI and then going with a 3.5 mm jack to RCA.

I have it set to overscan and the resolution to 1080i. When i change it to 1080p the screen gets way tooo big. I dont know why maybe someone can tell me what im doing wrong.

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rzj90059 said:

Thanks for the clarification. It's always good to learn something new.

Click to expand...

What do you mean way to big? Is some of it off of the screen?

If you have overscan turned on in the TV settings, you need to turn overscan off in the computer settings. Open up Displays preferences, I forget now exactly where it is, but I think it is on the last tab in the TV preference window.

Yea it was like mushed in and didnt even cover the screen, the screen was just liken slim and streched vertically.

But i figured it out i set it to 1080p and turned off the overscan like bobtomay said. Now im using the zoom in feature to read things i cant.

thepachman said:

What do you mean way to big? Is some of it off of the screen?

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