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Q: Poor resolution when plugged into 1080p 32" TV

I've plugged my brand-new mac mini into my 32" LG LCD TV. although the display reads "1080p", the image is not crispy by any means and the picture goes over the size of my tv. i've fixed the desktop size by using overscan. i cannot figure out how to fix the clarity.

any ideas?

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 18, 2010 6:47 AM

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Q: Poor resolution when plugged into 1080p 32" TV

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  • by Ted Jaffe,

    Ted Jaffe Ted Jaffe Nov 4, 2010 5:24 AM in response to rikard1979
    Level 1 (18 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 4, 2010 5:24 AM in response to rikard1979
    Same story all around it seems. The HDMI port was a push to allow use of the mini as a HTPC, not to replace traditional monitors.

    Re: plex (don't use it myself, but ) Video playback via HDMI looks fine, no worse than any HD channels on my cable channels, but the text and still images are fuzzy.

    I made an appointment at the Apple store Genius Bar last weekend, and brought the mini with. They hooked my mini up to the only HDTV they had on hand (a 30-ish inch Panasonic, I think), and the guy said it didn't look so bad to him, despite my pointing out the crap text. He asked/confirmed that I have tried setting the output to 24Hz. They gave the expected line of "it may be 1080 lines of resolution, but it's blown up to 30, 40, 50 etc inches, it's going to lose quality." They're not expecting people to hook the mini up to an HDTV at close range as a monitor, just as an optional output for youtube, hulu, itunes movies, etc, and NOT as a primary desktop monitor. They had no solution for me. I asked if the quality would be any better via the Displayport-VGA dongle, and they did not know, nor had any on hand to test or sell to me. They said I could buy the VGA dongle, and if it doesn't make it any better, return it. Will go back next week and get one, and see if my HDTV has any better quality via the PC input, though I'm not expecting much.

    I'm very disappointed, I like the machine itself, but the "bring your own screen, mouse, keyboard, and webcam" was not the way to go. I saw this as a means to gain a large chunk of desktop space so I could run several apps onscreen at a time, and sort through large numbers of photos at a time, but the poor quality of the photos makes it semi- pointless, as I have to move things back to my old macbook to see if the pictures look good or bad). And as for what I spent on the customized upgraded config + the HDTV (has other uses, but this was the primary intention), I could have just bought a monster sized imac or a new powerbook.
  • by BSteely,

    BSteely BSteely Nov 4, 2010 9:41 PM in response to Ted Jaffe
    Level 5 (7,635 points)
    Nov 4, 2010 9:41 PM in response to Ted Jaffe
    Bad looking text can't be blamed on the HDMI interface. OS X doesn't do anything differently with text handling or rendering over HDMI. Whatever is resulting as disappointment in screen quality can wholly be blamed on the display itself. TVs are not computer monitors. At least they are not treated that way by most manufacturers.

    There may be settings worth looking at on the TV. Check for Sharpness. And also make sure a color setting like Normal or Natural or Standard of something like that is in use.
  • by b4ckman,

    b4ckman b4ckman Nov 5, 2010 10:41 AM in response to Ted Jaffe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2010 10:41 AM in response to Ted Jaffe
    I am having the same problem, I bought a mac mini yesterday and have been trying to get it too look good on a 37" 1080p LCD. The text looks awful!! For all these morons who claim the LCD is to blame for the bad text, I have this LCD hooked up to a Windows 7 PC and it looks PERFECT. The problem isn't the LCD it's the MAC mini. If you find a solution let me know... otherwise this apples going back, I'll stick with PC.
  • by pfweeks,

    pfweeks pfweeks Nov 5, 2010 12:07 PM in response to b4ckman
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 5, 2010 12:07 PM in response to b4ckman
    Interesting. I don't have one of the new minis, but was checking in here in advance of purchasing one. Given that a Windows 7 PC looks great on a 1080p LCD, has anyone tried loading Windows 7 via BootCamp on a mini and see how that looks over the HDMI cable?
  • by Mr Kirk,

    Mr Kirk Mr Kirk Nov 8, 2010 11:36 AM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Nov 8, 2010 11:36 AM in response to spark plugs
    I have just unpacked my new 2010 Mac Mini and plugged it into my 40" Samsung LCD TV. The picture quality is terrible. I also have my 2007 Mac Mini plugged into the same TV and the picture is perfect. I can quickly flick between the 2 to see the vast difference.

    The 2007 Mac Mini says it's outputting 1080i, the 2010 Mini says 1080p. (I seem to remember running some script or program to force the 2007 Mini to output in 1080p). The TV says it's receiving a 1920x1080 signal @ 60Hz for both.

    If I can't find a solution to this, it's going straight back and I'll go back to using my 2007 Mini. Not happy.
  • by Mr Kirk,

    Mr Kirk Mr Kirk Nov 8, 2010 11:43 AM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Nov 8, 2010 11:43 AM in response to spark plugs
    And to add, the 2010 is using an Apple HDMI cable ordered at the same time as the Mini. The 2007 Mini is using a DVI to HDMI cable.
  • by zebulonx,

    zebulonx zebulonx Nov 8, 2010 6:45 PM in response to Ted Jaffe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2010 6:45 PM in response to Ted Jaffe
    Same problem here. I had my dual G5 hooked up to my 47" LG (running at 1080p though the PC port) for about a year and it looked perfect. I sold it and bought a new 2010 Mac Mini Just picked up a 2010 Mac mini and now running it through the HDMI port. It looks SO bad it's not funny. After spending a day trying to get it to look good, I gave up and called Apple. Unfortunately he wasn't able to help me. I have other devices I've hooked to the HDMI ports and they all looked perfect (PS3 and Cable box) so it tells me it's the Mini. I'm so disappointed in Apple right now. I've purchased and used Apple computers all my life (MANY of them), but never have I had a problem like this. Please Steve, get your guys on this ASAP!!!
  • by Allen Tyson,

    Allen Tyson Allen Tyson Nov 16, 2010 8:10 AM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Nov 16, 2010 8:10 AM in response to spark plugs
    I hate to join the choir but I am in the same boat. I replaced my old Olevia LCD with a new Sony EX500.
    I have tried everything to no avail. I am really surprised at Apple. The wife is going to kill me.
  • by SVMini,

    SVMini SVMini Nov 16, 2010 10:26 AM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2010 10:26 AM in response to spark plugs
    Since my last post, I am now on my 3rd 2010 Mac Mini.
    I replaced the first Mini thinking my video card may have been problematic.
    I replaced my second Mini due to other technical issues.
    On all 3 Minis the image quality was relatively the same.
  • by Allen Tyson,

    Allen Tyson Allen Tyson Nov 16, 2010 12:19 PM in response to SVMini
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Nov 16, 2010 12:19 PM in response to SVMini
    I changed to the VGA on the Sony. Text is better but still have issues with pixalation on some photo's. They look fine on my monitor on my HP. They were taken by the same point and shoot camera. I think the graphics are not that good on the mini. My G5 is great.
  • by danks,

    danks danks Nov 18, 2010 2:27 PM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2010 2:27 PM in response to spark plugs
    I have saved up for a while, and just bought a mac mini, in hopes to connecting it to my 32in sony bravia ex700. With all the problems I am hearing about, I am wondering if it would be best to return the Mini and the TV? I can't believe I am hearing all the negative feedback with regards to display issues.
  • by Allen Tyson,

    Allen Tyson Allen Tyson Nov 18, 2010 3:33 PM in response to danks
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Nov 18, 2010 3:33 PM in response to danks
    If I had to do it again I wouldn't buy the mini. If you can return it I would.
  • by Ted Jaffe,

    Ted Jaffe Ted Jaffe Nov 18, 2010 4:47 PM in response to Allen Tyson
    Level 1 (18 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 18, 2010 4:47 PM in response to Allen Tyson
    I picked up BOTH the mini-display to VGA and MD to DVI dongles tonight, will be trying out all 3 options to see what works best over the weekend. I'll post my results in a couple days.

    If you're thinking about a mini, there's nothing wrong with the computer part of it, just poor results using it with an HDTV instead of a classic computer monitor. If you have a good VGA monitor around, it should be fine (check back in a couple days to see if that proves true), but for what it costs plus the price of an HDTV (bigger than you'd get on a macbook, or imac) it's not going to be up to the quality of the LCDs that are built in to those other options, and the price isn't that far off when you add it up. Given the HDTV has other possible uses, but the 27" imac would have had higher specs and been less money than what I invested, and I didn't need another TV, just thought I was being more efficient with my money, doesn't appear to be the case.
  • by dasp,

    dasp dasp Nov 20, 2010 9:53 AM in response to Allen Tyson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 9:53 AM in response to Allen Tyson
    I wrestled with this myself for a week with the kind of lousy font display described here and elsewhere on two LCD displays (trying VGA and DVI/HDMI) and a Sony Bravia large screen. Two long calls with the Apple tech support people (who, BTW, try quite hard to be helpful). We tried everything, including a clean wipe/reinstall of Mac OS X. If I did not get great results on all those displays with a three year old Macbook I probably would have accepted it as is. So I took the Mini back and got a full refund. This was at an Apple store (even waived the restocking), so I took a few minutes to talk to a Genius. The net: the Genius said the Mini is a great little package but don't expect great display performance on "old" displays. My guess is that most people just accept what they see or else the return line would be very long.
  • by Daders,

    Daders Daders Nov 20, 2010 12:10 PM in response to spark plugs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 12:10 PM in response to spark plugs
    once i set sharpness on tv to 0 everything is perfect
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