# Macbook Pro and HTDV



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

I recently picked up a Sharp 37d90u, a 1080p display. When I connect my Macbook Pro to it, it runs the resolution fine in stretched mode, but when I try to do dot by dot - for a crisper picture - it gives me a black bar on the right side of the display.

My PC did the same thing until I tweaked the graphics driver and settings, so that ti runs at 1920 x 1080, at 59.94hz, Progressive. Is there anything in the OS that allows more tweaking of the video card performance and will allow me to drive the display at 1920x1080, dot by dot?

Crap. I meant HDTV in the title.


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

There are at least two programs that I know of that will help you custom set the resolution on your Mac to match the output of your HDTV:

Scweder's DisplayConfigX - http://www.3dexpress.de

switchResX - http://www.madrau.com


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## used to be jwoodget (Aug 22, 2002)

Be areful with those resolution switchers. If you select a resolution not supported by the monitor, you'll get a black screen and clearing it is a royal pain since the computer "remembers" the last resolution of the attached monitor. I'd highly recommend you install chicken of the VNC software so you can control the settings for the OS remotely (by logging into the computer from another). There is also a glitch with some HDTVs where they send a subset of the allowed resolutions to the computer. This includes Sharp Aquos sets. This is the EDID signal and the only way to fool it into the highest resolutions permaently is through the use of DVI Detective - a C$100 device that intercepts the EDID signal and holds it. You can use the software in the above post, but it'll need to be reset everytime you power off.

More on EDID and its problems here.


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## dmg (Feb 4, 2003)

*no prob with PM Quad G5 and MBP 17" with same tv model*

I have the same TV - greeat choice, absolutely love it. 

When I connect it using an nVidia FX4500 from my PowerMac it works just fine. The correct resolution of 1920 x 1080 is automatically detected.

I just connected my 17" MacBook Pro and there are no problems.

I did however have to turn off mirroring. I suspect that this will correct your problem because once I turned off mirroring, and clicked 'Detect Displays', both displays appear correctly.

1680 x 1050, Millions

1920 x 1080, 60Hz (NTSC), Millions

Hope this helps,
~dmg


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Are you using dot by dot mode, or stretch? Stretch works fine, but not dot by dot. The resolution appears and is supported, but stretch = menus a little off screen (you can see this by setting the sharp to be the primary monitor), dot by dot = image shifted to right. (change view mdoes)

It doesn't really matter, as I'll probably be using my PC for the HTPC mostly, but it would be nice to be able to show iPhoto slidehsows via my Macbook Pro.


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## dmg (Feb 4, 2003)

*double checked - PMG5 good, MBP not so good*

Hi again.

When I forced 'Dot by Dot' mode from the MacBook Pro I had the same problem you experienced - my window was shifted to the right. Using the tv's controls I moved the image back to the left and found black vertical bars on both sides meaning that the image wasn't using all 1920 pixels.

That made me double check my PowerMac G5 Quad. Here it worked correclty so the issue must be with the ATI cards in the MacBook Pros.

Still quite usable but definately a pity. We should report this to Apple and ATI. Working correctly with the nVidia card rules out the tv as the problem.

~dmg


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Sorry about making you aware of the problem; dot by dot mode is cripser and much, much more clear than stretch. I had to fiddle with the drivers to get my PC work (see original post), but there's nothing that sophisticated in OSX's control panel. However, I'm finding that my Athlon 64 3500+ and 6600GT OC is not capable of keeping up with 1080p video. What the heck will the system requirements be for 1080p video?


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## icrusoe (Aug 9, 2005)

I've got the 32" 1080p Sharp Aquos. And when I hook my macbook up to it the highest resolution selection in System Preferences -> Displays is 1920 x 1080 (interlaced). Frankly at that setting it looks like **** and starts to give me a headache after 5 minutes. Apparently there was a fix if you selected the "show displays in menu bar" it would display another 1920 x 1080 resolution, which, in fact it did - but I still don't believe it to be true 1080p because it still looks like crap and I still get headaches  I've tried that SwitchResX program but that still didn't change a thing!? Any ideas on this guys!? The TV is pretty much useless to me now 

Running a macbook with leopard, and an Apple mini dvi-dvi adapter with a Belkin dvi-hdmi cable.

Also forgot to mention, even at the 1080i and what seems to be "1080p" setting the screen still has huge 1 inch black bars all the way around the leopard desktop when displayed on the tv.


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

icrusoe said:


> I've got the 32" 1080p Sharp Aquos. And when I hook my macbook up to it the highest resolution selection in System Preferences -> Displays is 1920 x 1080 (interlaced). Frankly at that setting it looks like **** and starts to give me a headache after 5 minutes. Apparently there was a fix if you selected the "show displays in menu bar" it would display another 1920 x 1080 resolution, which, in fact it did - but I still don't believe it to be true 1080p because it still looks like crap and I still get headaches  I've tried that SwitchResX program but that still didn't change a thing!? Any ideas on this guys!? The TV is pretty much useless to me now


Can you elaborate on "looks like ****" - does it not show all of the pixels? I'm thinking of purchasing a sharp Aquos and a Mac mini to connect to it so this concerns me.


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## icrusoe (Aug 9, 2005)

One other thing I've noticed. The minidvi-dvi adapter I got from Apple is of the type DVI-D Dual Link. While the actual hdmi-dvi cable I bought is only DVI-D Single Link. Refer to this website and scroll to the bottom for the types of dvi cables All About DVI 

I'm no expert, but could that be the solution to the entire problem!? That I'd need to buy a DVI-D Dual Link to HDMI cable?

And to hayesk - It must not show all of the pixels. I'm not 100% sure if that's in fact what it is, but man it's brutal to look at. So bad that the TV is sitting idle.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

hayesk said:


> Can you elaborate on "looks like ****" - does it not show all of the pixels? I'm thinking of purchasing a sharp Aquos and a Mac mini to connect to it so this concerns me.



I use an HD Toshiba CRT TV with a MacIntel Mini hooked up to it via HDMI. So while not a direct comparison I can make a couple of observations. On my set up I wouldn't say the the picture looks like crap, but if you are expecting it to be as sharp as it looks on an actual monitor, you will be disappointed. These TVs even though you can hook your computer up to them weren't designed for that purpose. You will notice the difference especially when viewing OS screens (desk top, programs etc.), menus and finer print are especially difficult to read at times. Not so bad with the internet because you can up the text size until it is perfectly legible.

However, for viewing movies that you may have downloaded or any other video content I find that the picture is great, maybe not as great as coming off of an upsampled progressive scan dedicated DVD player, but still very good. Photos look great as well for slide shows.

If you are like me you are hooking your Mini up to your HD TV so you can view media, not use it as a true computing platform. If that is the case then you should have no worries so long as you are using it through a DVI or HDMI connection.


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

icrusoe said:


> I'm no expert, but could that be the solution to the entire problem!? That I'd need to buy a DVI-D Dual Link to HDMI cable?


That could be it, but I thought 1920x1080 fit within single-link DVI - I could be wrong though. I looked a little more on this. Some people have set their Aquos to "PC View" as well as turning dot-by-dot on. I don't know if you have tried the PC View setting on the TV.

I plan on getting an Aquos after Christmas - it's the best looking LCD TV I've seen, so I'll still probably buy it, as my computer need is secondary.


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