Weird HMDI issues

[darb78]

Ok, so I have a projector set up in a classroom. The HDMI cord that we have there will only work with a PC and not any of our Macs. We have tested with different Macs and see the same issue. The Mac recognizes the projector but the projector fails to recognize the Mac. When we switch out the cord the projector works with the Macs just fine. -- Has anyone seen issues like this? I'm assuming the cord is bad but it strikes me as odd that the cord would still work just fine for the teachers with PCs. I want to verify that it's just an oddity prior to purchasing a new cable.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

There are a lot of variables in play that we normally don't think about. The age of the computers involved, the HDMI version the cable supports, the version the Macs support as opposed to the PCs. The version the projector wants to see and so on.

HDMI is a connection type, but within that connection type there are various versions of HDMI that do different things. Now, technically, most devices will always fallback to the oldest standard/version, but that isn't always the case.

So look up the projector make & model and determine it's HDMI needs, ensure the cable supports that version and so do the Macs and you should be good to go.

 

[ferrarr]

Are you using an adapter along with the HDMI cable?

 

[MacInWin]

As Ashwin says, HDMI is not always the same. It's a bit like USB in that sense. The same connector supports USB, USB2, USB3 and USB3.1 protocols. But if you try to plug a USB3.1 device into a USB2 port, it won't work properly. Same for HDMI, as Ashwin said. Make sure the cable specs match the Mac specs and the projector specs and it should work.