MBP Retina: Poor image quality from hdmi output

I have a Macbook Pro 10.6.8 with Snow Leopard. I purchased an HDMI cable so that I could display MS PowerPoint Presentations via Parallels Desktop. Everything looked fine on the TV monitor until I switched over to the MS Powerpoint! The slides are completely distorted! Has anyone ever run into this problem before? And, if so, were you able to resolve the issue?

I will admit that I have been reluctant to purchase the Apple equivalent of MS Powerpoint because it involves upgrading my OS and, I have been so happy with Snow Leopard! The other reason for my procrastination is that frustratingly, Apple no longer seems to sell the office apps separately and, I already have the Pages wordprocessing app so it kind of bugs me that I will have to purchase the whole package, which includes something I already have and have already paid for!

Anyway, if anyone can offer some suggestions on how I can resolve this Parallels Desktop > MS Powerpoint issue on my MacBook Pro, I will be very happy and also very grateful. Thanks. 🙂

Thank you!! My new MBP feels much better like that.

Hey Alex,

I have the same monitor and the same problem that you "were" having...

I tried to do as per your instructions but appratanly I am not that Mac savvy and unable to understand and follow the instructions that you posted.

I would love for my HP 23xi to work nice...

Is there a simple way to do this or understand this?

thanks

Vik

hold on... I think it worked... The resolution is not as good as it is on the MBP but better and sharper...

thanks

And a more detailed write up by Mathew Inkson:

http://www.ireckon.net/2013/03/force-rgb-mode-in-mac-os-x-to-fix-the-picture-qua lity-of-an-external-monitor

Imperyal's solution worked for me on a Samsung 32" UN32EH5000F LED TV. I tried everything else you can imagine, including all the other suggestions listed in this thread, but nothing else worked - not even the DCI to HDMI adapter. But never in a million years would I have thought to rename the HDMI input source to "PC". Genius!

Thank you! This was a GREAT help. I am using a Dell U2410 with two inputs (DVI for a Thinkpad and HDMI for a MBP Retina). The MBP's output was embarassingly bad on the same display. This fixes it and gets it back to where it's supposed to be. Quite disappointed that Apple hasn't provided a patch for this.

Thank you to all of you that helped us get this working.

MacBook Pro 15" running OS X Yosemite with a Samsung SyncMaster P2770HD and running into the same problem.

If I connect via HDMI, the image looks completely fuzzy as everyone else has experienced.

If I connect via an old school VGA Connector and Mini DisplayPort connector, the picture quality is just fine.

I tried the patch and that unfortunately didn't resolve things. I then went into the Samsung Monitor and changed the name of HDMI to "PC" as suggested and it was magically fixed.

So great to get suggestions like that from these forums.

Incredibly disappointing that an issue that is so pervasive and has been around so long has not been solved yet by Apple.

I have a Philips Full HD with MBP, HDMI- Mini DP. Quality appalling. Went into TV settings, HDMI mode and change from Video to PC and big improvement (still not as good as i was hoping from a HD TV, but shouldn't be getting headaches from the jagged type).

I also changed the format from 16:9 to point to point. Maybe have also helped slightly

I know this is a pretty old thread, but I just had the same issue with an HP monitor. The picture was absolute crap using HDMI.

To fix it I had to turn off underscan on the monitor, mine was set to auto, and then turn off underscan in the system preference in Yosemite (slider under Display settings).

Now the picture looks great.

Did anyone get this sorted yet?

Im running my late 2013 MBP 15" Retina i7 to my LG 32" LED Smart TV via HDMI. The image quality isn't great and doesn't look as good as it should.

Any help appreciated.

Chris

I had the same issue where the MacBook Pro HDMI output on an HP 2509m monitor looked blurry. I read the suggestions of renaming the HDMI source in the monitor to "PC" unfortunately the monitor model I have doesn't allow me to do that.

I ended up buying an HDMI to DVI cable (20$) and connected the MacBook Pro to the DVI source on the monitor. The quality of the image is now good.

Dear apple colleagues,

I have the same problem.

I'm connecting my mbp 15 retina via hdmi to my aoc lcd monitor (230LM00025).

Colour and contrast is okay, but the text is horrible. That was even better on my old TFT with my Windows Notebook.

I'm running the newest OSX.

Could somebody help me?

Thanks to all previous posters because you helped me resolve my problem.

I don`t use an external monitor but an AOC LE24H037 TV with HDMI input, as a second monitor for my MBP.

Here is my humble contribution:

Walk through the settings of your TV/Monitor.

See if it accepts YPbPR input and select that option

On your MBP turn Underscan to 0.

It worked for me and now I have crystal clear output.