Resolution 1920x1080 not available for an external monitor

Question

Level 1

5 points

Resolution 1920x1080 not available for an external monitor

Hi,

I've just bought a Tv Lcd + Monitor 24 Samsung P2470hn, I have a DisplayPort to DVI adapter and a DVI to HDMI cable to the monitor. But when a I go to System Preferences -> Displays, I only have resolutions up to 1600x900. The monitor supports 1920x1080 but it isn't available. What I'm doing wrong? Could it be the DVI to HDMI cable? The monitor has a DVI input.

One weird thing is that when I go to System Profiler -> Graphics/Displays I see that the external monitor has this

SyncMaster:
Resolution: 1600 x 900 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Television: Yes

Note the last item "Television: Yes" could be that the problem? if so how can I change it?

Thanks

Gabriel

MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 15, 2011 12:49 PM

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Answer 1

owdi

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2011 4:44 PM in response to gguardin

Hi all,

I'm also helping a friend to connect his Macbook to a Panasonic Viera TV. We know it can do 1920x1080, but his external display options does not list this resolution. It shows lower resolutions and 1080i and 1080p, but when selected, it looks like it's missing the top and bottom part of the screen. The best that can be done is to select a lower resolution with "Overscan" set to on but we can tell it's not high resolution.

I've been trying to search the forums and it seems to be a problem for a long while with no fix. Is there any way of manually setting the resolution? I know that PCs can do it, why can't Apple!?

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Answer 2

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jan 15, 2011 1:26 PM in response to gguardin

When you open System Preferences/Displays are you seeing two preference panels, one called LCD and the other called TV or similar ?
You should be able to set the external resolution using that panel ...

Here's what my Panasonic Plasma shows:

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Answer 3

Jan 15, 2011 2:49 PM in response to gguardin

I'm no expert - having problems with blurry fonts on my external 1920 x 1080 monitor as well, which is why I looked at your message. But I did solve this first step by using a miniDisplay to DVI-D cable, instead of the HDMI setup. Then I could choose the 1920 x 1080. But, still blurry on the external monitor (less so on the laptop), so much so I'm wondering what the heck to do??? Anyways, good luck and hope this helps

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Answer 4

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jan 15, 2011 8:43 PM in response to owdi

They should select 1080i that's HD resolution on a panasonic Viera as it shows in my screen snap) then use the TV's own Formt settings to adjust the screen size and it will fit fine. At 16:9 you will have a letterbox effect as that's how most films are ...

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Answer 5

owdi

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2011 11:40 PM in response to iVmichael

Hi Michael,

Cool, I'll give that a try. Thanks!

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Answer 6

gguardin Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 17, 2011 6:47 AM in response to iVmichael

Thanks, using 1080p worked! (1080i shows weird colors)

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Answer 7

Feb 17, 2011 10:32 PM in response to gguardin

I find it very annoying that I have to use MiniDisplay Port to VGA to get 1366x768 or 1920x1080 resolution options in the Display Control Pane. If I use MiniDisplay Port to HDMI, I get some old common resolutions, (some weird ones too like 1344x1024) as well as 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. 1080p would be great, except this is more of a "TV" video input rather than a "PC" monitor input, I either get overscan or underscan (depending on the "Overscan" check box).

Why, especially since it's all digital with HDMI, doesn't Apple include nice 1:1 Pixel mapping using HDMI? It's very frustrating! I've noticed some, (generally more expensive HDTVs, like my 63" Samsung Plasma), HDTVs will do "Just Scan" (as opposed to "OverScan" or "UnderScan") then the 1080p with HDMI works beautifully.

All of my VIZIO TVs, I have to use the VGA to get 1:1 Pixel mapping. At least, with a high quality VGA cable (even my 25 foot one from MonoPrice.com that would cost 10 times more at a local store) does convert back to digital (for LCD panel) without noticeable noise and pixel shifting (or ghosting, which I've seen with cheap VGA cables, weird, seeing analog distortions on a digital LCD display, but hey, bad analog in -bad analog looking image out). Plus, unless you have the newest Macs with audio supported through the MiniDisplay Port, you can only get the TV speakers to work with the "PC" VGA input and the "PC" audio input (3.5mm stereo phono jack) next to it. With an HDMI input, the TV will look for audio in the HDMI source and not from the "PC" audio input.

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Answer 8

Dec 14, 2011 2:12 AM in response to gguardin

I'm having this issue, Television: Yes is definitely the issue.
Is there no way to run a Terminal command to force external monitor to not be seen as a Television?

Anyone with expertise in th Terminal out there?! 🙂

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Answer 9

FilRmonic

Level 2

165 points

Jan 29, 2012 3:55 AM in response to gguardin

I have a macbook Air (with Lion) but a similar experience. The curious thing in my case is that whilst my friend and I both have MBAs and very similar Samsung Syncmaster monitors, in my case I can only get 1080p mode (with underscan available) and my friend gets 1980x1080 with no underscan (as you would expect). However, her monitor has an HDMI input which mine doesn't and if she uses that then she gets 1080p option only.

I supect that because I used a HDMI-DVI adaptor cable the first time I plugged my monitor in, the MBA has "remembered" this setting and keeps applying it despite the fact that I subsequently used a DVI-only cable.

Although there are many topics that say 1080p is 1920x1080, there are subtle differences when it comes to monitors and I would like to be able to apply the latter resolution.

Does anyone know how to tell the MBA to forget this setting (other than a complete re-install of Lion!)?

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Answer 10

DrBenru

Level 1

15 points

Jul 29, 2012 5:05 PM in response to gguardin

I kept having the same problem using a Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter on my Samsung LCD TV. After many iterations of cables and settings. I set it to 1080p and as I was missing part of the screen, the menu was cuttoff and I could tell there was clipping on all 4 edges, I decided to check if it was not the TV that had some internal overscan setting.

As it turned out it was the TV. After madly navigating through the many menu's in my TV with the remote I found a setting that was criptically named "optimize image" (it was actually in spanish as I live in Mexico) when I changed it from optimized to standard, my entire display: Menu, Dock, and all edges displayed correctly and the slight blurry haze of my fonts went away. This might not be the case for everyone but you might want to check the settings your TV assigns to the DVI or HDMI input you're using.

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Answer 11

Simonron

Level 1

25 points

Aug 3, 2012 1:27 AM in response to FilRmonic

I have set my Panasonic TV to the 1080i option and my screen ruler shows1920x1080 pixels - but, the hardware monitor says

Resolution:

1600 x 900 @ 60 Hz

The pic is just about OK, but frankly I am wondering if it is such a good idea - 32inch screen this close - and gritty pixelated - but at least I see all of the screen. Turning off Overscan makes the image smaller - it leaves a gap around the sides, but as a large number of image pixels are being displayed by fewer TV screen pixels, the resulting image resolution - the grittyness - is worse. Normal viewing distances it is fantastic !

Make sure the TV is set to 16:9 or you will be in all sorts of trouble.

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