Connecting MacBook Pro to TV (Help!!)

[darkshadowofmordor]

Hi, I have the 15" MacBook Pro (not unibody) which is quite new. I've been searching for months for a solution but have been unsuccessful to connect it to the HDTV I have at home. It is a SONY Projection TV that supports HD. My computer supports digital and analog signals out and has DVI-I dual link which gives me up to 2560 x 1600 resolution on an external display. It has 512 MB in NVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card. My TV has YPbPr and RGB H/V (horizontal/vertical sync) so I got a DVI-I to component video cable which did not work because the signal was not supported by the TV. The video cables were red, green and blue so it could have been YPbPr or RGB and I tried it in both inputs and neither worked. The 8600M GT, I have verified, can support composite, component and S-Video, so I don't understand why it wasn't working. Does anyone know of an inexpensive way to hook up my laptop to the HDTV from DVI-I to YPbPr (preferably) or RGB even? No luck so far...

[edDV]

I'm fairly certain the MacBook does not support analog component.

Choices are

-DVI-D
-VGA (RGBHV) via adapter that should have been packed in the MacBook box.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8754G/A

-and maybe DVI to S-Video (check compatibility).
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9267G/A

Find out if your projector supports VGA as first option. Its manual should list supported resolutions and refresh.


OOps: MacBook has Mini-DVI right? Or is it the one with Display Port?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9320G/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MjE2MTExMQ
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MjE2MTExMA

[terryj]

ahem.
if your specs are correct in your profile,
You simply need this:

DVI to Female VGA adapter

then a trip to radio shack for this:
Male to Male SVGA cable

Then go into your TV's input options, and make sure it can recognize
PC Input. Once you connect the cable to the Female VGA port on
the back of the TV, and are on PC Input, the signal should be recognized.
The MBP will output to the TV at the largest resolution it recognizes
is acceptable. MBP is set to mirror display, not extend, and you
should be in business.

You say you have a 15" Macbook Pro, so I assume it is an 07 or 08 model
BEFORE unibody. Thank God. The MBPs have the full DVI port,
the lower model Macbook has the mini-dvi.

I've hooked three Toshiba 42" tvs so far in the education
district I service this way, and no problems with this model
(MBP) and hooking them up this way to the TVs.
If you Sony can accept the PC input, you should be fine.
If not, well...check Sony's website, but you may need
a new TV.

[rumplestiltskin]

...2560 x 1600 resolution on an external display...

Did you set the Display System Pref to a resolution that your TV actually can play? Is the TV 720p or 1080? Set your Mac to output whatever the TV has as its native resolution.

[edDV]

...2560 x 1600 resolution on an external display...

Did you set the Display System Pref to a resolution that your TV actually can play? Is the TV 720p or 1080? Set your Mac to output whatever the TV has as its native resolution.

Or what the manual says it accepts which may be only 1280x720p and/or 1920x1080i.

[Cyrax9]

The MBP that darkshadowofmordor has a Mini-DVI OUT (standard on all Pre-Unibody MBPs,) and IIRC an S-Video OUT on the side of the machine, although I honestly can't remember if they dropped the S-Video OUT on the MBP or not (I know that the PBG4 had it, and I'm pretty sure the MBP did as well.)

The following should be included with the MBP: 1) A Mini-DVI to DVI (DVI-I?) adapter/extender cord. 2) A Mini-DVI to VGA adapter/extender cord or adapter that connects to the aforementioned DVI cord (these were also included with the last generation of G4 laptops.)

The cable that darkshadowofmordor purchased is probably for the AppleTV or iPod which allows for component output which the MBP itself doesn't.

Darkshadowofmordor, if your TV set has a VGA input, try that with the adapter that should've been included with your MBP, under system preferences, choose "Displays" and use the "Detect displays" option; this usually works from what I've seen as long as your project/TV is configured correctly (e.g. MBP/TV are set to the same refresh rate and a resolution that your TV can handle; see edDV's post above for more on the resolution issue.)

It's been my experience that the Mac will usually "auto-adjust" the second display once the "detect displays" button is used under system preferences, so definitely try that once everything's connected. I recently ran into an iBookG4 that was acting up when connected to a projector (it worked just fine a week earlier,) and the "detect displays" option fixed the whole problem.

edDV the new "Unibody" MBPs (not the kind Darkshadowofmordor has,) are the ones with the Mini-DisplayPort connectors, and they present a whole new can of worms to deal with. Unlike the older MBPs such as Darkshadowofmordor's, the unibody ones utilize HDCP and won't connect to certain VGA-based devices (e.g. projectors,) the way that older MBPs would. There's supposedly a new VGA cable for these laptops, so I'd advise anyone whose buying a VGA cable for a MBP to make sure that if they have a pre-unibody MBP to make sure that they're not buying the Displayport to VGA cable and vice-versa. Sometimes Apple lists cables simply as "MacBook/MacBookPro VGA cable,) and only in the details is the DVI/Displayport connector noted. Just a heads-up to avoid purchasing the wrong cable.

[terryj]

The MBP that darkshadowofmordor has a Mini-DVI OUT (standard on all Pre-Unibody MBPs,) and IIRC an S-Video OUT on the side of the machine, although I honestly can't remember if they dropped the S-Video OUT on the MBP or not (I know that the PBG4 had it, and I'm pretty sure the MBP did as well.)

S-Video Out was dropped after the last of the Titanium G4 PBs were manufactured.
SVideo Adapters were included that hooked to the mini vga ports on these models.

Aluminium PBs have DVI Dual link ports, the 12" PB has a Mini DVI port on its side.

Mini-DVI is not standard on all pre unibody MBPS, the Mini-DVI out,
first popularized with the Mac Mini, and then added to the 2006 Xserve lines as well
as the lower end Macbooks, NOT
the Mac Book Pros, did not become standard
on MBPs, as MBPS, including the one I'm typing this on (2007, 2.2ghz model)
has the Dual Link DVI port on the upper right side.
The manual, which I also have handy, shows where the port is.

Apple decided to phase this out
in favor of the Mini Display Port, which is now common on the Unibodys.

other links:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/stats/macbook_pro_1.67.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/ports/macbook_pro.html

simply put, a 2006 (1.6 to 2.0 Intel) and 2007 (2.2, 2.3) model MBP uses Dual Link DVI.
An early 2008 MPB uses Dual Link and a mid summer/late 2008 MBPs are Unibody and use Mini Display ports.

Picture worth a thousand words:

[terryj]

The following should be included with the MBP: 1) A Mini-DVI to DVI (DVI-I?) adapter/extender cord. 2) A Mini-DVI to VGA adapter/extender cord or adapter that connects to the aforementioned DVI cord (these were also included with the last generation of G4 laptops.)

there would not be an extender cord in the box,
not for a Macbook Pro.
Simply put there should be the DVI to VGA adapter.
You'll need to go buy the Radio Shack cable I mentioned four posts up
to run it to the TV from the adapter to the TV, if your TV's VGA port is
in the lower back end ( like the Toshiba's I've hooked up).
If your lucky and it is on the side of the Sony tv you have, then the 3inch DVI to VGA
adapter included in your box will reach and connect.
With the MBP sitting next to the Toshiba 42 inch TVs I've connected to,
the distance is almost a foot ( roughly 12 inches) from the adapter to the back of the tv, or if the
MBP is turned at 90 degrees west, then you can get by with 6 inches of cable.
Since those I've hooked this up for want both TV & MBP facing them
directly, which makes for excellent use of using the Front Row remote
in this setup, then a 15ft cable was necessary to hook up from adapter to
TV.

[darkshadowofmordor]

I have a MacBook Pro that has a DVI-I out, not Mini-DVI. The MacBooks have Mini-DVI. My TV unfortunately, does not have SVGA or VGA input. It's all S-Video, YPbPr, or RCA or coaxial cables. And besides, SVGA is 800 x 600. I want to specifically watch 1080 on the TV since that's what it can handle. And 1080 is transmitted over DVI, HDMI, YPbPr etc. and YPbPr is what it has. I messed with the resolutions and refresh rates and nothing worked. Something may be wrong with the cable even though it's brand new I guess. I don't know. I want to connect by component (YPbPr) only because it gives maximum quality that the TV supports and the quality of the video I'd like to watch. Look up the NVidia 8600M GT tech specs somewhere and you'll see that it's written that the graphics card supports analog and digital video out and S-Video/Component/Composite video out, so I really shouldn't be having a problem.

[terryj]

While the card MAY support that,
Apple may not have written the drivers to
Support that, which is why your having a problem.

Since the machine is new, have you tried escalating this to Apple?
MBP support is pretty good and may be able to help....

[edDV]

Unlike typical ATI/NVidia display cards, the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro lack the 9-pin analog TV port that normally outputs analog component, composite and S-Video. Instead, the Mac outputs composite and S-Video out pins on a non-standard DVI-I port but not analog component.

The PC versions of the ATI HD 2600 XT and NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT have the 9 pin circular TV port.




Typical connectors for the PC version of the cards.

[rumplestiltskin]

There are converters that will take DVI or VGA and provide you with Component output but, IIRC, they are expensive and don't always work very well.

For $100 (on sales at BestBuy), why not try the WD media extender? Here's the link:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993217&st=western+digital&type=product&...=1218008588808

It claims to do 1080p and connects via HDMI to your TV. Then a cheap USB hard drive can feed the WD and the WD will send its signal over to the TV.

Alternatively, there's the AppleTV which does both component and HDMI. Apple doesn't support 1080 media but does support 1080 TVs. There's the "patchstick" hack that lets you play many other otherwise unsupported media files (that Perian and Flip4Mac's WMV codecs provide) but I don't know if this includes 1080i/p media.

I am very happy with the AppleTV but my TV is 720p and I don't even mind watching SD media so YMMV.

[canicus]

Has anyone on the new 15" MacBook Pro tried connecting via Mini Display Port to VGA, and VGA to S-video converter and getting the 2nd monitor option in the system prefs? I'm a VJ using Arkaos and need to get it to recognize the 2nd monitor (the projector), NOT in mirror mode as the audience needs to see programing not my computer screen. But equally important, I'd like to use the DV output option in Arkaos to show the program on the miniDVcamera which is connected via FW. On my old 12"Powerbook I used to be able to have the camera's LCD viewer as my monitor which also sent out the S-video signal to projector (connected to S-video of course). With the new MacBook Pro's everything's changed
Thanks for any insight!
VRV