Mini display port to HDMI problem

Hi aarjee, your posts talk about the mdp to hdmi cable. That is also what I recommended on the posts on this page, and on every single one of my posts, from back in 2012, on every apple discussion about the display problem, for example see this link...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2731536?answerId=20174277022#20174277022

Please just help people instead of getting frustrated, its a frustrating experience for many and they may miss the advice in their quick reading of the pages, thats why i pop back here every so often and just repeat myself, patiently.

I don't know if anyone else here has had a chance to look into the problems that are also occurring with Apple's very own Thunderbolt Monitors, but they seem to run into a number of the same issues that we all are where the monitors just go silent after being connected to a Thunderbolt port. Please take some time to check out Thunderbolt Monitor problems by clicking here. Strangely similar symptoms.

Have any of you had a chance to read some of the overwhelmingly low reviews for Apple's mDP to DVI adapter in their store? People just go on and on about how they go bad at random. I had multiple types of mini DVIO adapters with my old MacBook (white, Core2Duo) and never had these issues.

mDP to DVI Reviews:

http://store.apple.com/us/reviews/MB570Z/B/mini-displayport-to-dvi-adapter?page= 0&rf=1

Hello folks, my 2¢ of summery on how I got this audio/video solution working.

Connecting MacBook Pro 13" to Sony Bravia 40"

Hardware and Software environment:

• MacBook Pro: 13" i5 Thunderbolt/DVI, early 2011, running OSX Lion 10.7.1
• Sony Bravia: 40" LED with ex520 panel. Four HDMI-in ports with one 3.5mm Audio-in port for HDMI

Accessories used:

• mini DVI to HDMI connector: DVI male, HDMI female
• HDMI to HDMI cable: both male
• 3.5mm stereo audio cable: both male

Hardware setup:

[Turn off Bravia while you do the cable fiddling and connections.]

1. Connect DVI male into the Thunderbolt port of MBP

2. Connect one end of the HDMI port with the DVI connector's female, and the other end to any of the HDMI-in ports of Bravia

3. Connect one end of 3.5mm audio cable MBP's headphone jack, and the other end to the audio-in port for HDMI found at the back of Bravia. (The back panel has a proper indication mentioned for this port. Other way of figuring this out is to look for a female pin that is of plastic and is not shiny like other metal plated component input pins etc.)

Software settings:

1. On MBP: Go to System Preferences > Displays and check "Show displays in menu bar"

2. On MBP: Go to System Preferences > Sound and check "Show volume in menu bar" if not already checked. Keep this window open

3. On Bravia, navigate to Home > Settings > Sound and scroll down to "HDMI/DVI Audio Source". Choose "PC Audio" as the option.

4. Next, scroll to "Speakers" and ensure "TV Speakers" is selected. Also ensure that Bravia is not on mute.

Video:

5. Power on Bravia. Navigate to the HDMI port where the MBP has been connected.

6. The "handshake" between the two devices is typically a brief blue screen on MBP, and OSX Lion's Andromeda Galaxy wallpaper being displayed on Bravia. [It is really as simple as this.]

7. In case your see different results on the screens, click on the monitor icon on MBP menu bar. "Sony TV" should be an item group on the list, with 1080p and other resolution options. If not, try to go through the above connection steps once again.

8. Now, Start playing a video clip on MBP and drag the window beyond the right-hand edge of your screen. You should see the window creeping on the Bravia screen. Pull it all the way on to the Bravia screen. This is the MBP's "TV Desktop". [Check the other relevant posts on this forum for Mirroring, Camshell mode, etc.]

Audio:

9. On MBP, remove the 3.5mm audio cable from the headphone jack. Use headphones or external speakers to check if the sound is playing from the video clip.

10. Insert the 3.5mm audio cable back into the headphone jack. On the menu bar, you may notice some change in volume levels when you insert the cable.

11. On MBP, again go to the "System Preferences" window for "Sound". Navigate to the "Output" tab. The default and selected option should be "Headphone". You should also see "Sony TV" as one of the listed devices with "HDMI" as its device type. Select "Sony TV" on this list.

12. Viola! You may notice the volume control on the menu bar being grayed out, and now the sound should be from Bravia speakers which you can control with your TV remote.

Conclusion:

• The devil is in the details, really. For windows users who are used to see the desktop screen being projected on the LCD "As-it-is", the advanced and default Apple display features for hi-def video could be overwhelming.
• This solution should work with VGA interface as well. I see no apparent reason to think otherwise. Replacing the HDMI connectivity with VGA in the above. Previously, I could mate an LG 50" with an MBP using VGA for video, and an RCA Y cable for audio.
• Do try with cheaper connectors first. I have used the most basic and rather cheap cables while I was figuring things out things. The oeverall solution costed about $15 or so. Those with Gold plated ports and Platinum leads may have their advantages, but I see no reason why one should start one's fiddling with them to begin with.
• Contrary to popular belief, a DVI port can output audio as well. Hopefully, among future updates Apple may enable this thunderbolt/DVI ports that streams audio data as well.
• The headphone jack of MacBook Pro also doubles as an elegant optical port for 5.1 digital output. There are connectors in the market which can combine DVI and headphone jack into a single HDMI female output. One can connect this with HDMI cable to the LCD and both audio and video are taken care of. While this sounds a better solution, I have not tried it myself.

Hope this helps.

Cheers / Mil.

Well, it's not that things don't work on my system, but they are "wonky". The specs:

• 2009 MBP 15" 3.06 Ghz IC2D, Lion
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
• an off-brand MDP to HDMI adapter
• LG E2250V Flatron monitor
• the LG is set to 1080p in Display Preferences

Always when re-starting, and often when waking up, the display reverts to a "most-of-the-screen" image, as opposed to a full-screen image. What does always work, though sometimes only after a few tries, is cycling the Energy Saver setting in System Preferences from Higher Performance to better battery life. Then I will get the full-screen image on the LG's monitor. And as I operate with the MBP folded, I don't really care to check to see if there are any changes to it's screen. But whenever I pull it out to work "on-site", there are no problems.

According to other posts, it could be my adapter. And I do remember things being better under SL.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Hey all,

Just thought I'd post about my troubles, and solution for me, in case it helps someone else!

I have a 2011 Macbook Air 13", connecting to a brand new 42" Panasonic Plasma, using a Mini DP to HMDI adaptor and an HDMI cable to the telly.

The problem I was having:

• Would connect adaptor and cable, TV would receive image but almost straight away would start flickering and jumping, then would just turn to snow. Occaisionally, image would come back for a second and then repeat the problem.
• Tried a different HDMI, no luck.
• If I lowered the resolution of output, the effect lessened but was still there.
• If I lowered the refresh rate, the effect lessened but was still there.
• If I lowered both (24Hz and 640x480) then it was stable, but obviously pointless.
• Connected other computer (PC) via same HDMI to same TV, worked fine.
• Connected other Macbook (Pro) to same TV, with same adaptor and cable, same problem.
• Connected Macbook Air to friend's 32" Panasonic LCD, same adaptor and cable, worked fine! This was the bit that confused me the most...

So! I called Apple. They told me that they had no idea, but it was possibly the graphics card. I told them it wasn't... it was working fine on other TVs, and lots of other people had the same issue. They told me to take it to the store and they have a look.

Took it to the store, they had no idea, wanted to take it away and run full diagnostic to see if they could find anything. If they couldn't, they'd replace the logic board (with graphics card). I asked "What if that doesn't work?". I got a blank look and a shrug 😕

I figured the only thing I hadn't explicitly tried / double tested was swapping the adaptor. So, I bought the one sold in the Apple store (iWires Mini DP to HDMI) and it worked perfectly... Go figure. Still no idea why my crappy original adaptor worked at the same res on another TV, but I'm happy enough now!

Problem: External monitor flashes on and off at irregular intervals

• Using Mini Displayport to HDMI cable. Same problem with two different monitors (LG and HP).
• Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro.

Changing resolution settings on MBP does not fix the problem.

I've been searching this and other forums for an explanation and solution. No luck.

Plan to try a Mini Displayport to DVI or VGA adapter but that's a suboptimal solution.

Ok since it is a long thread i thought i would summarize the results.

There definitely seems to be a hard/software problem associated with the thunderbolt/mdp port and its compatibility with HDMI especially in OS X Mountain Lion. The user has to go through an iteration of various solutions before he can come to a solution well suited to his issue.

Problem definition – You are trying to connect an external display like an HDTV to a macbook using the thunderbolt/mdp to HDMI cable/adaptor. The screen on the laptop blinks to blue and returns to original state and you HDtv returns “no signal/source” message.

1. This pertains to the order in which you connect the cable. Ideally this should not matter, but some users seem to have success using this method. Shut down macbook, switch off the TV. Connect the cables. Now start the macbook and then the TV. If this does not work you can try the reverse that is switching on the TV first and then starting up the macbook. Some users seem to have limited success by putting the macbook to sleep and waking it up. Seems to be plug and play detection issue with Mountain lion
2. Intel based macbooks have too GPUs. One a board based Intel GPU for light work and a third party GPU (like NVIDIA) for the most graphic intensive operations. The switching between this is automatic and should happen by itself when you connect an external monitor/tv. However it seems that this fails to happen in some cases. Gfx Card status is third party software than can be installed into macbook and lets you control the switching process. Some users seems to have success in connecting a external monitor when you set the macbook to use only the third party gpu but changing setting in gfx card status to discrete.
3. This pertains to disc permissions, especially when you have recently updated the OS. You can go to the disc utility and scan for permissions. And if the scan throws up some graphics related problems , fixing them seems to solve some problems
4. The cable/adaptor you are using. Macbook and Mountain lion seems to have a problem with adaptors.ie mdp to HDMI female cable. Some apple accessory manufacturers like Kanex and Iwires now supply direct cables ie mdp male to HDMI male. These cables seem to solve the problem in a vast majority of cases. The funny part is that HDMI warns that it does not support these cables and has issued notice to these cable manufacturers that they should make only adaptors.

Note: Post 2009 macbooks support sound through thunderbolt/mdp port. So if you using an older macbook you may not be able to get sound to work through HDMI.

Post 2009 macbooks which support sound may have problem with sound quality. There are far too many variables that maybe playing into this including cable quality. Also the HDMI is devoid of volume control and delivers only at 100% which maybe be jarring in audio equipments. A third party app called sunflower bed may resolve your problem. In sound setting of macbook you set device to sunflower and in sunflower you need to set device as HDMI. Now the macbook volume control will control HDMI volume too.

I have struggled with this for months now but I found a method that works for me everytime..

1. Make adapter is unplugged from Macbook
2. Open System Preferences
3. Select Displays
4. UNCHECK "Show mirrioring options
5. Plug adapter in
6. Check show "Show mirrioring displays"
7. Display should mirror.

Hope that works for you too.

This morning my iMac suddenly failed to recognize the mini display port to HDMI driven ASUS display I have been using for the last month.

No amount of replugging video cables, restarting the computer, or turning on and off the screen did anything.

However, I did eventually find a solution:

1. Turn off the Computer.
2. Turn off External display.
3. Unplug both ends of the video cable (and any other video cables if you are using 2 or more external displays).
4. Unplug the power cable to the external display.
5. Reset the pram on the computer by pressing the power button and holding Command Option P R until you hear a second power chime.
6. Login and wait for the computer to finish loading.
7. Open system preferences.
8. While holding the option key, open "Displays".
9. Plug the power into your external display. (It will have been long enough to fully power cycle it by now.)
10. Plug the video cable into your computer.
11. Plug the video cable into your external display.
12. At this point point it may recognize your display. However, if it does not: hold the option key and observe the "Gather Windows" button change to "Detect Displays". Click this button.
13. You should now see both displays. You may have to go into "Arrangement" to disable mirroring and rotate/scale the screen as necessary.

Hope this helps!