Picture not filling screen on HDTV

Question

Level 3

530 points

Picture not filling screen on HDTV

I have hocked up my older 2007 MacBook Pro to my LG HDTV using the DVI to HDMI connector. I have a number of 1080p movies on my hard drive but they do not play with Apples video software, so I use VLC which appears to work great. I can detect the LG TV as a display and I select 1080p. The only issue is the picture has a 1 inch boarder on each side no mater what aspect ratio I use. I can make the pisture taller but not wider. My MacBook screen is filled from side to side. So how do I maximize the picture size? I am using a 60 inch LG HDTV.

Mac Pro 2.66 GHz, MacBook Pro 2.1 GHz, eMac G4, PowerMac G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 14, 2011 5:23 PM

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Answer 1

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jun 14, 2011 5:31 PM in response to Bobbbo

In System Preferences/Displays if you look at the panel for the external monitor, there's probably an Options Tab and under that 'Overscan' which should resolve your problem.

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Answer 2

Bobbbo Author

Level 3

530 points

Jun 14, 2011 5:40 PM in response to Bobbbo

Michael,

I went into system preferences / displays and found an LG TV pane. it was set at 24hertz and over scan was checked. If I uncheck overscan the picture gets even narrower. Changing the rescan rate has no impact.

Any other ideas?

bobbbo

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Answer 3

Bobbbo Author

Level 3

530 points

Jun 14, 2011 6:47 PM in response to Bobbbo

I found some more when I played with setting in the display preferences. With the display in overscan mode, when I turn off the Display Mirroring the border go away on my TV screen. But when I go to full screen on VLC. the picture is moved to my MacBook display not the TV. If I can solve that I may have the fix. The control panel for VLC remains on the TV not the computer.

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Answer 4

Bobbbo Author

Level 3

530 points

Jun 15, 2011 6:45 AM in response to Bobbbo

I may have found the solution. Apparently the screen in the mirror mode of the MacBook constrains the HDTV picture. if you turn off mirroring and arrange the displays so the MacBook is on the left of the HDTV screen, the movie plays full screen without the left and right boarders. The only issue is it is very hard to control setting on the VLC player using the TV screen.

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Answer 5

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jun 16, 2011 4:40 AM in response to Bobbbo

Mirroring is constrained by the lowest common denominator so that makes sense.

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