Mac Mini/Video Advice

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Level 2

325 points

Mac Mini/Video Advice

(Apologies for the cross posting.)

I'm planning to get a new Mac Mini to server as our home theater machine. I'm also buying a new video projector and am looking for HD resolution (1080p). I'm wondering if the video output of the Mac Mini can deliver this. Assuming the projector has a VGA and S-video in, can the Mac Mini provide HD video for that?

MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 29, 2008 7:03 PM

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Answer 1

Boece

Level 5

6,264 points

Nov 30, 2008 5:52 AM in response to Paul Seymour1

Is the projector for your home theatre? Is there a particular model in mind that you can point us to?

Can the projector do 1080p over VGA? (S-video won't be anywhere close to 1080p.)

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Answer 2

Paul Seymour1 Author

Level 2

325 points

Nov 30, 2008 11:50 AM in response to Boece

Hi Boece,

Yes, the projector and Mac Mini and 5.1 sound system will be our home theater. The projector I'm looking at is the InFocus X10:
http://www.infocus.com/Products/Projectors/X10.aspx

Its native resolution is 1080p. If you look at the technical specs, it mentions VGA under the data compatibility: "VGA (640x480)". This leads me to believe that if I plug the Mac Mini's VGA into the projector's VGA, then all I'll get is 640x480. That's really low, so maybe I'm misunderstanding something.

Meanwhile, the Mac Mini offers "DVI video output to support digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels." And the projector says it has a DVI input ("requires M1 to DVI cable"). So, that indicates that some high-res connection can happen between the Mac and the projector. But I'm trying to confirm that for sure.

Thanks for your help.

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Answer 3

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Nov 30, 2008 7:23 PM in response to Paul Seymour1

InFocus has a FAQ for making connections to Mac computers. You can find it on this page:

http://www.infocus.com/Support/HowToGuides/Computers.aspx

There is even a section referencing the Mac mini. But you might want to call InFocus and ask your questions directly. It looks like it should be no problem to get the mini and the X10 to play at 1080p, but there is nothing anywhere that says for sure it will work, so you might as well ask them.

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