Display Calibration Issue/SwitchResX Tutorial?

I was able to download SwitchResX Control, which was a little stand alone free app by the same developer. It is much simpler to use, but he took it down so it is no longer available. I am sure that he feels really burned by all the folks here in the Mac mini discussions who download SwitchResX (SRX) because it is fully functioning shareware, use it to fix their issue, toss it and never send him a dime.

Anyway, I think SRX works very similarly to the freebie, just more complicated. However, before you do anything, make sure that you do not leave yourself blind. Sometimes just choosing one of the resolutions in System Prefs>Displays can leave you with invalid signal flashing around a black screen and no way to see to change it back! So make sure that you have enabled screen sharing on your mini and can use one of your other Macs/iPhone to access the mini in case of mishap. I speak as one who choose the wrong resolution and who had not enabled screen sharing on my Mac mini.

As I understand the process, you should be able to export an EDID as a text file to your Desktop from SRX. You can look over this text file with TextEdit. From the information in the EDID, you can garner the info for the best resolutions for your display and then use that to create a custom resolution with SRX and save it. After a restart it should be active and available as a choice in Sys Prefs>Displays.

Dah•veed

+PS my monitor is fine with all my other inputs - satellite receiver, DVD player, AppleTV etc so pretty clear that the issue is the Mac.+

If you go into Displays Preferences on the mini, is there a checkbox for Overscan? What happens when you toggle its setting?

Generally speaking, in order for the Options tab to show up in Displays Preferences, which is where you will find the Overscan checkbox, the attached display has to be detected by OS X as being a TV, not a monitor or other information display. It sounds like, through EDID, the NEC PX-50 does not indicate it is a TV. Is that, in fact, the case? Is the NEC a TV with a tuner or is it some kind of large, digital information display that is not necessarily meant to be used as a TV?

The same is true for those TV timings. OS X won't show them as options unless it thinks it's hooked up to a TV. It sounds like that's not happening with the NEC.

So what resolutions are showing up in Displays Preferences? What ones have you tried? Also, what is the native format of the NEC? Is it one of those 1024 x 768 type, anamorphic plasma panels, or is it a true 16:9 native panel?

One last thing, does the NEC have a VGA input? If so, have you tried using that as an alternative to DVI or HDMI?

Go to System Prefs>Displays>Options. If it is available Overscan should be there.

I have a 1080p, but it gives me an image way too big for my display.

Dah•veed