Interesting... I've got a question about overscan and maybe someone here can answer it:
I recently bought a mini-displayport to hdmi adapter. Hooking it up to my macbook pro running Snow leopard and plugging it into the tv I get options in OS X for adjusting overscan (and putting sound out through hdmi). Hooking up my mac mini which doesn't have snow leopard, I can turn overscan on/off but not adjust it and have no option to pipe sound out through the hdmi. Turning overscan on cuts off the desktop at the edges, turning it off leaves black bars around everything.
Is this purely hardware related? or will upgrading to snow leopard on my mac mini allow me to better adjust the overscan? I'm doubtful the sound through the hdmi can be helped but that would be nice.
@tad604 Snow Leopard doesnt fix that, Apple doesnt have the slightest clue on how TVs work. Try turning on overscan for the tv and turning off overscan on the mac to cancel eachother out. Youll get overscan quality but the edges should line up.
@tad604 Alternating the overscan option on the mac and TV doesn't work, at least not with my Samsung TV. With the TV's overscan off and the mac's overscan on, the image is still going past the edges of the screen.
You can try third party apps to create a custom resolution. Look into SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX. A lot of mac owners resort to this, because there's no other option.
Also, the only way to turn my TV's overscan off is through the service mode, and it looks like this only works with 1080P. When there's a 720P or any other source, the option is grayed out.
@tad604 I had the same problem. The only solution for me was to plug my macmini into the VGA (PC) input on my TV. That one is always 1to1 pixels. If your TV has a VGA input try that. For audio I had to use a mini-stereo (headphone) type connector. Fortunately my TV has a separate audio input that corresponds to the VGA video input.
@tad604 I have the exact same problem when hooking up my MacBook through a Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter. I try to output to 720p, but I get about a 1 inch box around the screen, and only can lessen the problem by hitting the Zoom function on my TV. I think it's a problem with the Apple Video Ports & Drivers VS the Non-Apple Manufactured cable (Apple does not manufacture cables or adapters in HDMI standard, especially seeing as how they backed the Display Port Alliance, thus dropping Mini DVI). I think there is a program called ActiveResX that can mess with the various resolutions, but the program is a bit convoluted and hard to use sometimes. And unfortunately, no, sound cannot be piped out through the Display Port. It's video only, and no sound cabling is involved in the port on the Mac. You can get Digital Optical audio through the headphone/speaker port though, which may be connectible to a digital in audio port on your HDTV. Just get a Toslink to Mini Digital Optical SPDIF Audio Cable, and you should be set.
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Interesting... I've got a question about overscan and maybe someone here can answer it:
I recently bought a mini-displayport to hdmi adapter. Hooking it up to my macbook pro running Snow leopard and plugging it into the tv I get options in OS X for adjusting overscan (and putting sound out through hdmi). Hooking up my mac mini which doesn't have snow leopard, I can turn overscan on/off but not adjust it and have no option to pipe sound out through the hdmi. Turning overscan on cuts off the desktop at the edges, turning it off leaves black bars around everything.
Is this purely hardware related? or will upgrading to snow leopard on my mac mini allow me to better adjust the overscan? I'm doubtful the sound through the hdmi can be helped but that would be nice.
@tad604 Snow Leopard doesnt fix that, Apple doesnt have the slightest clue on how TVs work. Try turning on overscan for the tv and turning off overscan on the mac to cancel eachother out. Youll get overscan quality but the edges should line up.
@tad604
Alternating the overscan option on the mac and TV doesn't work, at least not with my Samsung TV. With the TV's overscan off and the mac's overscan on, the image is still going past the edges of the screen.
You can try third party apps to create a custom resolution. Look into SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX. A lot of mac owners resort to this, because there's no other option.
Also, the only way to turn my TV's overscan off is through the service mode, and it looks like this only works with 1080P. When there's a 720P or any other source, the option is grayed out.
@tad604 I had the same problem. The only solution for me was to plug my macmini into the VGA (PC) input on my TV. That one is always 1to1 pixels. If your TV has a VGA input try that. For audio I had to use a mini-stereo (headphone) type connector. Fortunately my TV has a separate audio input that corresponds to the VGA video input.
@tad604 I have the exact same problem when hooking up my MacBook through a Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter. I try to output to 720p, but I get about a 1 inch box around the screen, and only can lessen the problem by hitting the Zoom function on my TV. I think it's a problem with the Apple Video Ports & Drivers VS the Non-Apple Manufactured cable (Apple does not manufacture cables or adapters in HDMI standard, especially seeing as how they backed the Display Port Alliance, thus dropping Mini DVI). I think there is a program called ActiveResX that can mess with the various resolutions, but the program is a bit convoluted and hard to use sometimes. And unfortunately, no, sound cannot be piped out through the Display Port. It's video only, and no sound cabling is involved in the port on the Mac. You can get Digital Optical audio through the headphone/speaker port though, which may be connectible to a digital in audio port on your HDTV. Just get a Toslink to Mini Digital Optical SPDIF Audio Cable, and you should be set.