I've got an older 2009 Mac Mini with a mini display port, and I'm trying to get this connected to my flat screen TV. I understand that this particular model has a hardware limitation that doesn't allow audio out via the mini display port, so, other than Dr. Bott's little device (http://www.drbott.net/product/9601-MDOP/) , does anyone have a solution for getting audio & video out into HDMI?
Mac mini (Early 2009)
The Dr Bott adaptor is actually a rebadged Kanex iAdapt 51 see http://www.kanexlive.com/iadapt51 this is the only sort of adaptor other than similar more bulky ones which will combine the audio in to the HDMI signal.
However most HDTVs allow feeding the audio seperately to the video via a standard stereo phono connectors and either VGA or DVI connection.
Personally I would go for the adaptor.
Finally another option is to sell your current Mac mini and buy a newer model which supports audio via the Mini Displayport interface.
Thanks for the reply John Lockwood!
Nice catch - I didn't see the Kanex device otherwise I think I would have ordered that instead. (Mainly because I've seen other Kanex accessories on the Apple website.)
Is that preferred over the Dr Bott adaptor?
There are multiple inputs for this TV (4xHDMI, 2xComponents, 2xRCA) but I haven't seen an option in the UI to select a different audio source when using HDMI (or any of the other inputs). Oddly there isn't an optical input.
Thanks again for your feedback!
The Dr. Bott adaptor is the Kanex one with a different sticker on it.
I believe most TVs select the audio source automatically based on the chosen video connection, however its possible they also accept from all audio sources simultaneously. If the former, I would expect that for HDMI video it would only listed to HDMI for audio, but if it has a DVI or VGA connection it would have to listen to RCA as those do not support audio.
If you have a mini-jack to RCA cable it would be easy enough to test, connect the cable between your Mac and TV and have the Mac play a music track or something, then set the TV to differing video inputs (even if not connected) and see if the audio comes out of the TV speakers.
2009 Mac Mini: Audio + Video Out to HDTV Options
