2007 (A1226) macbook pro to hdtv

i know this is probably a stupid thread, and has been done to death, but i cant work out which cord/ converter i need to connect my 2007 A1226 macbok pro to HDTV. i spoke to somebody who said that cos its a bit older i wouldnt have much luck and would be disappointed by the quality. any advice? tried the DVI to VGA on the tv and got no signal... not sure if my laptop has mini dvi or mini display port... cheers

All MBPs sold in 2007 have a standard DVI port.

Your friend is quite mistaken. My '06 MBP has been used with Westinghouse, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Hitachi (to mention a few) HDTVs, incl'g rear projection, LCD and plasma models with both 720p and 1080p.

However, if you would like specific recommendations on cabling, you'll need to provide the info requested in the sticky.

ah ok, thanks mate. i bought a dvi to vga (my tv has a VGA input) and the screen on the tv was just black when i plugged it in. is there something i need to do on the mbp other than just plug it in? the screen goes grey for a sec then fades back to the desktop each time i would plug/unplug the cord :-s

Open System Preferences > Displays and click "Gather windows". You should now see 2 "displays" windows, one for your internal display and one for the TV.

Try playing with the settings there.

Is your TV set to the correct input?

The first thing to do is pick up the remote for the TV and press the 'Input' button to change it to the VGA input.

Next open up the 'Displays' preference pane as Apt pointed out. You will then need to select a resolution from the window for the HDTV that it will accept. The VGA port on HDTVs are typically not created equal with the other ports depending on the age and manufacturer of your TV.

You may need to open the owner's manual and do some reading to find the resolutions your TV will accept via VGA.

nah still no dice. could be a problem with the TV or something? any other suggestions? thanks for the help anyway.

ok, so ive tried it now on a different hdtv (soniq qsp424t), still using the vga connection on the tv and a dvi to vga converter. the TV instruction manual says that it supports VESA 640x480@75hz. i hook all the wires up, change the tv to vga input, the computer now recognises the TV when i click detect displays, and brings up a window for the tv. i change the res in this window to 640x480@75hz, and the computer changes slightly, and allows me to drag windows outside of the border of the lcd screen, so im assuming it knows another monitor is plugged in; but still nothing on the TV. ive fiddled around for about an hour trying different resolutions etc and im still not having any luck. what am i doing wrong?

"Assuming" you have changed the input on the TV to the VGA input, no picture on 2 separate TVs, then I'd have to go with a bad adapter/cable as my first suggestion.

yeah mate, im not that dumb.