Output to Projector / External Display

I ran into sort of a similar problem trying to use a LCD TV via DVI-component cable. After many searches and questions, I ended up getting an Apple DVI-Video adapter ($20) and hooked up via the a video RCA input.

Looking at this site: http://www.thebigpicturedvd.com/vw10ht_faq.shtml - it looks like you can do the same or use an S-video cable.

Good luck.

I'm having the same problem with both LCD projectors and external LCD displays using either DVI connectors or DVI to VGA adaptors. Applecare doesn't seem to know there's a problem.

I output from my mbp to lcd projectors all the time and have no problems with the dvi-vga adapter supplied by apple. Is your issue more complex than this? I don't get a feeling for it from your post. Sometimes you can go to the display control panel (I keep mine on the task bar, but you can get it from the black apple>system preferences>displays) and click on "detect displays". If it can detect it, it can output to it.

Most discussion about this topic falls under this entry:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1058380&tstart=0

i know the topic says "crashes", but there's a lot of talk about projectors just not working.

So what's there to know?
Many older model (and some newer) projectors do not work with the MacBook Pro and a VGA adapter. It has to do with the DDC signal and it somehow getting dropped/out-of-sync. It may be drivers, it may be hardware...I'm leaning towards hardware which explains Apple's lack of comment/fix over the past year (admission == actionable culpability in court).

Anyway, there's a few workarounds:
1) Buy the Dr Bott gHead II DDC adapter. It fakes a DDC signal (originally intended for headless servers, btw) and makes the MBP believe a monitor is really there ( http://drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=0153-GHDD). I personally know 4 people for whom this solution has worked.

2) Connect the MBP to a working VGA setup (monitor, tv) and then switch to your projector...DO NOT DETECT DISPLAY. A possible bug in the driver won't pick up the change in DDC info and the MBP will happily send a signal out.

3) If possible, eliminate VGA from the equation using either a DVI-RGB adapter or direct DVI/HDMI. If you can go digital, do it as I'm not aware of any situation where a digital connection fails.

One poster mentioned S-Video. Do not go this route. It may work, but you'll hate the image quality.

Hope this helps. I know it's not a "fix", but, if you're like me and MUST PROJECT but can't control what projector you'll be using, the gHead is a life saver. Everyone who's picked one up has reported success.

mj

What you are doing won't work. You will need to purchase the specific Apple adapter for the MBP that goes from DVI to Video. It is crucial to use the Apple adapter because it has a ROM inside of it with display driver data loaded on the ROM. When it is plugged into the MBP, the MBP recognizes that it will be driving a TV and acts accordingly. Without use of this adapter, the MBP has no awareness it is being connected to a TV and so it doesn't offer the right resolution options and signals.

Kev, sorry, I misunderstood the question. Component inputs on a TV won't accept regular RGB. For one thing, sync will be missing from the signal. That's a big problem. The other issue is that RGB color encoding is not the same as YPbPr as with component. The bad news is, it isn't going to work at all. The only way to make it happen would be to insert a $100+ RGB to component video converter between the Mac and the Sony. You'll have to decide if it is worth it or not.

You are right that S-Video won't look so great, but it's better than no screen at all.

if you have the time you can check out the wikipedia info on component video. Lowest in the quality line-up is "video" (composite) 1 signal with all information, next is "s-video" (Y/C) carries luminance (brightness) and chrominance (color) on seperate lines, continuing up the chain is YPbPr (incorrectly know in the consumer world as "component") is the most often format in consumer DVD, TV's ..., luminance, and a kinda complicated luminance minus blue and and luminance minus red, an older RGB format's next RGBS, it was common on projectors up until about 5 years ago (Sony, Barco...) It has red, green, blue and a seperate, combined synch signal, with RGBHV you have red, green, blue, horizontal synch, and vertical sync, it's about the best of the analog world.
Sorry about the video format lesson but it explains why you don't want to use either the Mac video adaptor or the 3 RCA adaptors Looking at "the bigger picture dvd" website mentioned earlier you apparently have RGBHV capability so... you should be able to purchase a VGA male to 5 wire BNC breakout cable from a high quality computer store / or online attach that to your Mac DVI-I to VGA adaptor and put BNC to RCA "bullets" on the breakout cable.
With all that said, you'll still have to set up the resolution on your computer to match the native resolution of the projector.
Hope my long winded response helps. Oh, BTW the best way I've found to connect to a Mac is to turn on the projector, connect all the cables except to the computer, close the Mac's cover ( to hibernate) and plug in to the Mac and finally open the top to un-hibenate
Hope it works