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MacBook video out to 1080i TV

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OK, I have the DVI out connector, a SVHS cable and a 1080i TV. How can I watch iTunes in full screen on the TV, preferably using Front Row? At the moment, my Mac thinks the TV is just a 2nd display, not the primary display. Is there a simply way around this?

It's a widescreen (16:9) TV... I know the mac is 16:10, but at the moment I am having to move the window onto the 2nd screen and kinda guess at the size.

Cheers
 
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Yes, once you hook up the TV go to the Display prefs. You'll see two blue screens (representing the displays) and one will have a white bar across the top.

Drag the white bar to the other screen in the prefs to make that one the primary.
 
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ok, I have done that - thanks.

Now the display seems like it's been transformed to a 4:3 aspect ratio then stretched back to 16:9... if that makes sense. Also, the TV display is in 480i... not even 480p. Obviously 1080i would be nicest.
 
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480i is just "standard definition"

That is the exact same as using an antenna to pick up TV on a tv from 1991. What kind of TV is it?
 
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480i is just "standard definition"

That is the exact same as using an antenna to pick up TV on a tv from 1991. What kind of TV is it?

Yeah I know what 480i is, I just wish the image wasn't interlaced. Does the DVI do this or is my TV doing this? I don't suppose Apple do a mini DVI to HDMI do they?

I am having all srts of problems now. Everytime I switch the display is defaults to PAL, and the TV screen goes black and white and bounces around. If I change it to NTSC it is fine until I hit the switch screen (F7) then it goes back to PAL!

It's a Philips 1080i CRT.
 

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Don't have your laptop, so I can't check out what display resolution options you have when going to your TV. My 32" LCD is in the shop right now, the on/off switch quit working so I can't check it out on mine either.

Are you using a dvi or vga connection on the TV? Also, which specific model do you have?
On my primary desktop (it is XP and Mepis) I use a dvi to hdmi cable in XP. I bought at Radio Shack and set the resolution to force 720p output or you can set resolution to match the display since most of them are not true (or exactly) 720p. Would think it would be the same with a 1080i screen. Am not sure if your integrated video card will produce a 1080i signal, but TV should accept a 720p signal. Linux (of the 10 or so distributions I tried) will not display a picture via HDMI, you have to use vga connection. They will display through HDMI from most of the liveCD versions. It has to do with the info being passed to the BIOS from the HDMI connection. Never found anyone with success using dvi to HDMI in linux. May have same issues with OS X. When I get my LCD back, will give dvi to hdmi a try with my laptop and let you know the results.

If you are connecting the laptop to your TV via the SVHS cable, this only provides 400 lines of resolution. It is only an upgraded VHS specification and you will probably see significant loss of video quality.
 
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Like bobtomay is saying, the reason you are only getting 480i is because of your cable. Its only capable of 480i. If you want 720p or 1080i you need a DVI to HDMI cable (assuming your TV has a HDMI input, but it should since its an HDTV). Then you will actually have a digital signal, versus the horrible analog signal you are using now.
 
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Thanks to the last 2 replies. I am using a SVHS cable, so that explains the poor IQ I am getting. The DVI adapter I bought only had component video and SVHS out so I assumed the SVHS one would be marginally better.

I'll look out for a DVI to HDMI adapter.
 

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Since the adapter you bought has SVHS, I'm guessing it has composite out not component out.
Composite has a single line connection to carry the video signal and the 2 RCA plugs for carrying the audio
Component has a three line connection to carry the video signal - Red, Blue and Green and will handle HD signals

If it is the composite, yes the SVHS is probably marginally better
If it is a component and you have a set of component cables - I would give that a try before you get more cables

Don't have my main monitor back from shop yet, but, you got me curious now, so give me about an hour and I'll try connecting this laptop up to my 55" screen with dvi to hdmi and let you know how it goes.
 

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Well, didn't take an hour - about 3 minutes, been playing with it for a few minutes now. Have DVD player running watching "The Wild" on the 55", while I'm typing this on the laptop. It looks pretty nice.

The dvi to hdmi cable does work here. My 55" is a 720p TV.

Important**** - One thing you need to know - with an HDMI connection to a TV - you must turn on the TV before you boot the computer. At this time there is still an issue with the way HDMI passes it's info to a computer due to no standards really having been set within the industry. If the computer is turned on first, TV's will sometimes refuse to pass resolution info, etc. required by the computer to initialize that display.

A lot of the info related to connecting a computer like this is very hard to find, as there are just not a lot of people doing it yet. Mostly, you will find problems out there with no solutions. At this point it either works or it doesn't. And as I said before, there will be no luck with Linux at least on a system that uses a BIOS, may have to try Linux on this board to see what happens.

Once you are connected and up and running, you will need to go into System Preferences - Displays: You will more than likely have to reset the resolution for the laptop, mine booted up in 800 x 600 mode. And you will need to set the resolution for the TV screen. When you get into Display, there will be one on your LCD and a separate one on the TV. It will initially have the TV on the right side of the monitor - so just move your mouse off the right side of your laptop screen and this will move it onto the TV screen.

You may also have to play with turning on and off overscan in Display properties on the TV and also adjust the overscan options within the TV's menu if you have those options available on your set.

On the TV Display options on mine under the Color tab is a calibration option. Would recommend running that also.

PS. You may not have as many options in System Preferences with the onboard video. And it may not have the ability to keep your laptop display running at it's typical resolution and out put 1080 to the TV. You may have to reduce to the ouput to the TV to 720 which it should accept fine. Let me know how it goes.
 
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ok, i have a macbook pro and i hook it up to my Sony 46" HDTV perfect, at first it would only display it in 16:10 ratio so there were black spots on the left and right. you said you were having trouble with it trying to switch the tv to the primary monitor and such. here is my trick. Plug the macbook into the tv and get it set up so the mac book screen is being displayed on the tv, (as secondary). Then you need to connect a usb mouse and just close the mac. It will go on standby just click the usb mouse a couple of times and then the macbook should activate in closed mode and display it on the screen. It will automatically be in 16:9 ratio and it is the primary monitor becuase the macbook is closed. don't open the mac or it will revert back to the mac display as your primary. The only downside to this is that you can't type unless you have a usb keyboard aswell.
but for me it works fine cuase i just need to the mouse to open the videos and if you are using frontrow the mac remote will work perfect :p

thats what i do and it works perfect....hope it helped :p

also i have bluetooth mighty mouse and once the mac book activates in closed mode then u can turn on the mightymouse and then i can do everything from my couch :p (note: you can't activate closed mode with a bluetooth mouse)
 
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Are you sure? If your bluetooth mouse is already paired with your mac it should work. I use a bluetooth keyboard and mac with my 42" and it works great.
 
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oh wow, i just tested it aslong as the device is connected before you close it it works. ok well thanks for that. Either way thats what i do, closed mode and it works perfect. i hope it works for ya.
 

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