Adjust Screen Size

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Adjust Screen Size

Got my Mac Mini Core Duo in the mail yesterday, My first Apple Computer.

Hooked it up to my High-Def television via DVI.

I'm trying to figure out how I can adjust the screen size a bit.

With the 'overscan' option off in display settings, the picture is a bit small, it only uses 80% of the screen. With the 'overscan' option on, the picture is a bit too large, the menu bar at the top is off the screen.

(I've been trying both the 1080i, and 720p widescreen resolutions)

Is there anything I can tweak to get a size somewhere in the middle? (With my Linux box I am able to tweak the video card driver to resize the output for a given resolution.)

Core Duo Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Mar 3, 2006 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

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a brody

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82,841 points

Mar 3, 2006 10:06 AM in response to KGordon

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

I had hoped I wouldn't hear this problem with the new Mini given the bottom of the page here:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html

though thank you for mentioning it. I had the same issue with my Samsung Dynaflat 30" HD-TV and my Powerbook G4. Two titles which I was suggested to use for this issue are:

DisplayConfigX - http://www.3dexpress.de/
SwitchResX - http://www.madrau.com/html/SRX/About.html

and was unable to set it up properly to get it to work nicely. If you can figure out what one needs to do, please let me know.

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Answer 2

KGordon Author

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Mar 3, 2006 4:49 PM in response to a brody

Well, Your right, it does say:

Picture Zoom will typically allow you to adjust the size of the picture displayed on the TV. Use this in conjunction with the Overscan option under Display Preferences on the Mac mini to get an optimal picture size.

I'm not sure what 'typically' means in this context, but I haven't seen the feature anywhere. I'm new to OSX but I dug through every menu I could find looking for it.

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Answer 3

a brody

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82,841 points

Mar 3, 2006 4:54 PM in response to KGordon

Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Displays is the only context I'm aware of. But I've never seen Picture Zoom there. Then again, I don't have the new Mac Mini.

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Answer 4

a brody

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82,841 points

Mar 4, 2006 4:46 PM in response to KGordon

I am standing at an Intel Mac Mini right now, and I looked in the Displays System Preferences, and Spotlighted, no Picture Zoom option exists. The closest I could find is Universal Access, which is in Apple menu -> System Preferences, but that zooms in, rather than out from the default setting. Not sure if that could help in your situation, but figured I'd mention it.

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Answer 5

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Mar 4, 2006 10:40 PM in response to a brody

From what the Apple page seems to be saying, Picture Zoom is something "typically" found on the TV itself, not the Mini. Basically, I think it is saying to use the TV's controls & Display prefs on the Mini together to get the best results.

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Answer 6

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Mar 5, 2006 5:04 AM in response to R C-R

I had another revelation. Perhaps some TV sets support a standard which brings up those options in the Options section of the Displays preferences. Which sets support that standard is presently a matter of mystery.

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Answer 7

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Mar 5, 2006 11:21 AM in response to a brody

While the DVI interface is easily capable of signaling to the Mini the capabilities of the connected display, DVI doesn't seem to have the ability to control them (although HDMI might). This would mean that any adjustments done on the Mini would apply only to its graphics output, so it would probably still be necessary to use the "on-screen display (OSD) interface" of the TV itself to optimize results as Apple suggests.

Apple's developer hardware docs would probably have the answer but unfortunately, as yet there isn't one for the new Mini.

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Answer 8

Jun 1, 2006 2:43 PM in response to R C-R

Same problem here. The mini is connected to a Sony SXBR set via DVI to HDMI cable. OSX sees the Sony, and lets me choose various resolutions.

Unfortunately, none use the native resolution of the tv. Overscan on takes the menu bar off the top, off uses less than the full screen. The Sony has preprogrammed zoom functions, but none of those make the mini's output match the Sony's screen exactly.

Whereas the Sony DVD player, on an HDMI to HDMI cable does the job perfectly.

Seems to me that Apple's video driver, as it sees the tv correctly, is at fault.

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