New TV and computer
So I bought a big ass TV. It's a 42 inch 1080p LCD HDTV. My laptop is also on it's last legs so I bought a mac mini and have been trying to use the TV as a monitor since I got it. I read up on the internet and everything said it was as easy as hooking it up via a DVI to HDMI cable. I got one at the Apple store and got nothing but a 1pixel SD image on the screen, basically a black screen. So I hooked it up via the VGA input with a DVI to VGA cable. At first it wasn't working and I was really pissed. Thinking that there might be something wrong with my mac mini I hooked it up to a huge CRT monitor that I have laying around. That worked just fine. So I played with the display settings while it was hooked up to the old CRT and then hot swapped the connection out to the TV. It worked!
Not only did it work but it automatically synced up to a 1920x1080 resolution!!!! Everything I read said that you couldn't get a full 1080 resolution with VGA and it was only possible with HDMI with some fancy editing to create a custom resolution on the mac or through the use of software. The picture is beautiful and huge. I can sit across the room with my wireless keyboard and mouse and use the computer with no problems. DVDs look great, much better than when I play them through my Sony PS2. I think I'm going to hold off on buying an HDMI DVD player now.
One problem still needs to be worked out though. Whenever I restart the mini the display doesn't work. I have to connect the old CRT, reset the display settings, then hot swap the connection back to the TV. I think I can set up Remote Desktop so I can log in with my laptop to change the settings without using the old CRT but I really shouldn't have to go through any of that trouble. For now I am only putting my mini to sleep when I am done using it but I am going to keep looking for a way for the mini to keep the proper settings even through a restart.
Here is a crappy picture of the TV being used as a computer monitor...*clicky*
Not only did it work but it automatically synced up to a 1920x1080 resolution!!!! Everything I read said that you couldn't get a full 1080 resolution with VGA and it was only possible with HDMI with some fancy editing to create a custom resolution on the mac or through the use of software. The picture is beautiful and huge. I can sit across the room with my wireless keyboard and mouse and use the computer with no problems. DVDs look great, much better than when I play them through my Sony PS2. I think I'm going to hold off on buying an HDMI DVD player now.
One problem still needs to be worked out though. Whenever I restart the mini the display doesn't work. I have to connect the old CRT, reset the display settings, then hot swap the connection back to the TV. I think I can set up Remote Desktop so I can log in with my laptop to change the settings without using the old CRT but I really shouldn't have to go through any of that trouble. For now I am only putting my mini to sleep when I am done using it but I am going to keep looking for a way for the mini to keep the proper settings even through a restart.
Here is a crappy picture of the TV being used as a computer monitor...*clicky*
