Mac Mini (2014) Blurry or Off Center Display

Hi there,

I'm having a really hard time getting my 2014 Mac Mini to display correctly on both a small Magnavox HD (2008) television (that I am trying to "repurpose" for use with the Mac Mini), and my 46" Sharp Aquos. When I use an HDMI to HDMI cable (sold by Apple) the text is incredibly blurry. After a bunch of Google searches and reading many articles I decided to concede and simply buy a Thunderbolt to VGA cable from Amazon. The problem with the Thunderbolt to USB is that it works 50% of the time with no problem, but the other 50% of the time I wake the Mac and the display stays black, or the desktop appears 2" to the right and bottom (leaving a 2" black band along the left and top of the screen). The problem is fixed by unplugging the Thunderbolt form the back of the Mac and reinserting the cable (with both the Sharp and Magnavox televisions).

I prefer not to spend money on a new monitor if possible. I have friends and family that use televisions as displays for their Mac Minis or other Macs that don't have the problem. I've tried turning the sharpness all the way down on the televisions as was suggested in many threads to no avail (when using the HDMI cable).

This post looks helpful (and I found his commentary about Apple humorous), but a bit complicated, and it is for a MacBook Pro to Dell monitor.

Any help or insights would be very appreciated. My preference would be to use the HDMI cable if possible.

Thank you!