Mac Mini to Panasonic 42" Plasma (VGA? or HDMI?)

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Level 1

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Mac Mini to Panasonic 42" Plasma (VGA? or HDMI?)

Hi,

I just bought a Mac Mini and want to set it up to display on my Panasonic TH-42PX600U for watching movies. I have read many posts on resolution and display problems.

Does anyone have any insight as to whether I should use DVI to HDMI or DVI to VGA? How do I fix potential display problems for either?

I don't want to go out and spend the money on a cable only to find it does not work or work correctly.

Thank you.

Mac Mini 2.0, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 16, 2008 12:24 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 16, 2008 2:01 PM in response to sacksyboy

i have a newer mac mini and used hdmi out to a 42 inch pioneer plasma and had no issues.

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Answer 2

sacksyboy Author

Level 1

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Jul 16, 2008 2:14 PM in response to matty dread

So were there any aspect ratio issues. I have heard some people having no problem but only due to the fact that their native resolution settings did not pose a problem.

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Answer 3

gm206

Level 1

5 points

Jul 16, 2008 4:02 PM in response to sacksyboy

First of all go to a place like Radio Shack and get a less expensive wire. I just don't think buying an expensive wire like a Monster cable makes a lot of sense.

There are programs such as DisplayConfigX and SwitchResX which will override the Apple settings and allow you to better control the video signal your mini sends to your TV. This may be needed to make it compatible with the TV itself. Programs like these can also improve the quality of the image on your TV buy changing the video settings to ones that the TV "likes more." You can find this sort of information in the manual on online (this includes stuff like refresh rate and aspect ratio and more technical things like horizontal frequency and pixel frequency).

-> A guy who has the 65" version of your TV actually did run into a problem with the video signal not filling up the whole screen (he used DVI to HDMI), but he solved it by changing the "HD size" setting on the TV to "Size 2" in one of the settings menus. I don't believe he actually had to use any software to get the mini to work on the TV.

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Answer 4

AndyO

Level 6

17,064 points

Jul 17, 2008 3:53 AM in response to sacksyboy

You will get better image quality using a suitable DVI-HDMI cable to connect the Mac and TV rather than a VGA cable - basically for the same reason as you get a better picture with a digital monitor than you do with an analog one.

Whether you then have issues with correct resolution and aspect ratio depends on whether the TV passes the right data to the mini or not. If it does you should have no issues at all, but if not you will almost certainly find that a combination of settings in the TV and the use of a utility such as SwitchresX will resolve it.

Don't be put off by the number of posts you see here about problems other users have had. People don't come here to post that they have just unpacked everything and it's all working perfectly! Search for any posts regarding the specific model of TV you have, but otherwise don't assume you'll have a problem, or at least one that is not easily soluble because what you are hoping to achieve has been done successfully by many people before you!

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