Connecting your Mac to your TV

Cooke159:

It looks like this may be one I don't have an answer for.

It appears that you have the proper connections made on the TV. The manual is sort of ambiguous since they have a single manual for 19 different models and then have things listed which only work on a few of those models.

Question - are the HDMI ports on your TV labeled "HDMI/DVI"?

Make sure you have turned the audio up considerably while you're testing and back down prior to changing inputs.

Think the first thing I'd try is to verify the cable and the port actually work: while you're watching a movie or something you know has sound, try changing the input to the 'RGB-PC' and see if you get sound there. Make sure the volume is maxed or close to maxed on the iMac. Slowly turn the volume up on the TV. Make sure you turn it back down before you change inputs again.

I found nothing that indicates there is any manual switching you need to do via the menus to change from digital to analog audio. It should just work, but it's worth prowling the menus.

Highly unlikely that the audio cable is faulty, but the next thing I'd try would be another cable - and make sure you unplug and replug the cable you have - even if it looks good.

ptpro:

Open up your owner's manual to page 28 & 29. You need to open up the Audio menu on the TV, head for the HDMI 3 and change it from Digital to Analog.

Well im going to have this sticky at close hand as i have one more pay day and ill be purchasing my Panasonic 50" Viera Full HD 1080p .... Woohooo and then to sit back and watch Avatar as if i was at the Cinema itself .... Thanks bob

You getting their new 3D model or just the standard plasma?

I have their current model plasma 42" and 58". They're the best looking sets I've owned. Got the 58" so cheap, I sprung for the calibration on it. It was a waste of money. The adjustments made on it in the service menu were from zero to minuscule. Couldn't see the difference from my own calibration and no adjustments in the regular menu. I can't discern any difference between the two of them walking from one room to the other.

bobtomay said:

You getting their new 3D model or just the standard plasma?

Click to expand...

Just the standard ATM bob. Mind you for a extra $1500 i could get a 46" 3D, but im not one to have the latest and greatest.
As with the iPad i will wait a while and hopefully see the price come down and for them to iron out any bumps.
And im in total agreeance with you, in that they are a nice looking TV.

LOL never thought i would be ever talking about a TV like this though ;P

5 days and counting

Hey all! I'm Danielle. I'm new...

So heres the deal... I just got a (new to me) Macbook computer, and an Apple Cinema Display so far I am happy as can be, however; the macbook uses what I guess is DVI, and the Apple Display has DisplayPort. I also found out so far that I can’t connect my apple TV (have had this for a year, and it rocks!) to the cinema display as well. Any ideas? I thought this display was supposed to be pretty amazing, but so far it pretty useless...

Frankly, I'd take the Cinema Display back where you got it.

I "assume" this is the newest 24" LED Cinema Display? It has been presented and advertised specifically for use with the new Macs that have a mini displayport output.

It's going to cost you a minimum $150 for a converter plus whatever adapter/cable. If you're not in the market for a new Mac, take it back and get a monitor that will work with your system.

If you want to keep it and go for the cabling required, you'll need to let us know specifically which Mac you have. There has never been a MacBook with DVI. That was limited to the MacBook Pro.

Connecting MacPro to multiple monitors

Hi,

In the office I have designed a new Mac setup for the R&D team. By default my company only use Dell so this is the first Mac in the company (global company with 70,000+ employees). I am part of the IT team on site and have hit a wall... I'll try to explain as best as I can but please ask for clarification if required....

I bought the guys a MacPro (2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon | 11GB DDR3 | OS X 10.6.3 | 640GB HDD & 1TB HDD) which is connected to an Apple 24" LED Screen. I have installed a second graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce GT120) so that I can have a second 22" monitor connected side by side (standard Dell 22" monitor).

Now I also want to connect the MacPro to a TV unit to allow for presentations, demos etc. The TV is a Samsung 42" HD Plasma TV, documentation here. I have also connected a Dell Desktop to the TV via the VGA port and 3.5mm audio cable. This machine is on our internal network (Mac will not be located on network) so email, shared network drives etc can be accessible. I also have a 17" MBP (2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo | 4GB | 500GB HDD) connected to the TV monitor via the MiniDisplay Port to HDMI Connector. This is connected to HDMI/DVI port on the TV.

The problem I am having is that I can't get the MacPro to the TV. It is working on the dual screen no problem (Mac LED & Dell Monitor). The configuration I have tried is:
DVI / Audio Convertor to HDMI. I have a DVI Cable connecting the MacPro to the convertor and a regular 3.5mm audio jack from the MacPro to the Convertor. Upon switching on the TV to HDMI extension 1 the message that appears is "Mode Not Supported"...

Side Note: If I plug a HDMI cable directly into a HDMI to DVI adapter, picture appears fine, but no audio... As soon as I start using the convertor box, I get the problem....

Any thoughts?

Forgive the double post

Please forgive the double post but I sorted my issue!

The TV's HDMI ports were very specific... HDMI 1 was for HDMI only but I had the HDMI/DVI connection plugged into that one and vice-versa! So I simply swapped them out

And at times I wonder why I am in IT at times...

Thanks in advance for not bullying me about my stupidity!!

bobtomay said:

Frankly, I'd take the Cinema Display back where you got it.

I "assume" this is the newest 24" LED Cinema Display? It has been presented and advertised specifically for use with the new Macs that have a mini displayport output.

It's going to cost you a minimum $150 for a converter plus whatever adapter/cable. If you're not in the market for a new Mac, take it back and get a monitor that will work with your system.

If you want to keep it and go for the cabling required, you'll need to let us know specifically which Mac you have. There has never been a MacBook with DVI. That was limited to the MacBook Pro.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately teking the cinema display back is not an option, I didn't buy it. on the CNET forum someone suggested using the ALTONA DP200. I looked everywhere and I can find any pictures of it in use. People have told me that all converters make your picture look pretty bad. Any one ever use one of these things? I also found someting on google news about a converter called the HD620 from the same company that goes from HDMI to the new apple plug. So right now I've got a Macbook (DVI) an AppleTV (HDMI) and this **** Apple display (mini displayport). what the ****

Newswire: New HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Scaler for Mac - The AT-HD620

So, if you have read my other posts, this is I think what I have been looking for... I think.

Newswire - PR / Atlona Technologies Introduces New HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Converter - The AT-HD620 - Audio/Video Equip./Surveillance - Atlona Technologies | NewswireToday

Then you're looking at needing one of the Atlona converters. Belkin is suppose to have one on the way also, but I haven't seen it yet.

What you'll need is this one. As I said above $150.

Or this one for the AppleTV. It was never designed to be connected to a computer monitor (which the Cinema Display is) but to a TV.

Note: Merged threads. No reason to start a new thread.

Edited to add:
Also, if you need to know specifically what all cabling you need to connect the Mac to this display, you still need to let us know which Mac you have. You won't even need that converter if your Mac has a mini display port. Think I was just assuming from your post above that it does not.

Can't get audio to my TV

Hey guys,
I am new to the forum. So if I am posting to the wrong place I apologize. I am having trouble getting audio when I connect my MacBook Pro to my TV. I am getting a nice picture using the HDMI cable. And I also have 3.5mm RCA cables plugged in. My TV is a Dynex: DX-26L150A11. My MacBook Pro is a 15 inch. I bought it about 9 months ago. I am sorry I could not find the owner's manual for my TV. I tried looking everywhere on the web. Also, I apologize for not knowing the proper name for my computer. If anyone could help, that would be great.

Welcome aboard tyson.

Where is the audio plugged into the TV?

A 3.5mm (or mini) plug and an RCA plug are two different things.

You need to be using the PC audio input which is a 3.5mm stereo mini port. You need a cable like one of these (outdated link removed) and plug it in here:

(outdated link removed)

Sorry, these are the 2 things I have:

1. PREMIUM 3FT 3.5mm Stereo Male to 2RCA Male 22AWG Cable - Gold Plated
2. Mini DisplayPort Male to HDMI Male 32AWG Cable - 6ft

will they work, or do I need the PC audio input?

Hi, I have an iMac 21.5 December 2009 connected permanently to the TV to watch DVDs, downloaded films etc. usually via front row. I have a Sony Bravia KDL-32U3000 (KDL-32U3000 (KDL32U3000) : TV & Home Cinema : Sony) and the iMac is currently connected via the mini display port to HDMI and the audio via a standard audio cable via the headphone jack. Obviously this is a little inconvenient as every time I want to use Skype, watch a youtube video on the Mac I have to disconnect the audio cable. So I am trying to find a solution where I can leave the TV permanently connected to the Mac and I can choose which Audio comes out through which audio output. i.e. Quicktime or Frontrow through audio output and all else through inbuilt speakers. Is there any way of doing this?

I have also heard there are mini display port to HDMI cables that now transfer audio as well. Where can you get these? and would this work as a solution? i.e. would that cable transfer the video and audio for just things using the mini display port or would it output all audio?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I am worried that continually plugging and unplugging the audio jack is going to eventually break it. I have read the whole of this thread but I am still quite unsure of how to solve the problem. Thanks a lot

Tyson:
I read what you have. I have already posted what you need.

To find your owners manual, you'll need to learn how to search the web...
type 'Dynex' into the google search field - press enter
click on the number 1 hit which is aptly called 'Dynex Consumer Electronic Products'.
click on 'Support and Service'
Type your model number into the box and press 'Search'
select the language you want next to 'User Manual'
if you selected 'English', you'll want to read page 9.

richardclarke:

No, similar to pretty much every receiver on the market, once you plug headphones in, all other audio outputs are disabled.

It wouldn't do you any good to find such a cable. The mdp port on your Mac does not support audio.

You could try some third party USB sound card. Which one and as to whether any of them allow for software selection of which port to use I really don't know.

I will say that while it may be possible to wear out the port by stressing the connection, I have never seen this happen on any of my personal devices over the 40 years that I've been purchasing electronics. Don't know that anyone could plug and unplug cabling any more than I did on my early '70s models reel to reels.

Thanks a lot

Thanks a lot

thanks again for your time

Ok, I am an idiot. Your directions were perfect. It was very easy to locate the manual. And it described on p. 9-11 how to connect. Which is exactly how you posted it in the diagram earlier. Thank you for your patience.