I have a 4 year old Hiatchi rear projection tv and I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini. As a test I plugged in my MacBook to the television going MiniDVI->DVI. For the most part, it plays DVDs just fine but when I pull up a browser, the sides of window have green streaks on it. That itself would be fine, but every now and then DVDs have the same problem and it's so distracting that I don't want to watch anymore.

I know that I'm not giving that much information but I was wondering if other people have seen this before. I figure it could be a bad video card in the MacBook, a bad patch cord connecting the two, a problem with the settings on the tv or the computer, or - and here's the answer I don't want but am expecting - a problem with the television itself being too old to handle a computer as an input. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, how have you fixed it. I can talk my fiancee into letting me get a Mac Mini and some external drives, but getting a television on top of that would be asking quite a bit.


Update: See my post on 11/23 for the fix.

Macbooks, even the oldest ones with the GMA 950, connect just fine to many older HDTVs. Does your MB detect the Hitachi in Display preferences and list the model by name and if so, what resolution options does it give you? Are you mirroring the two displays, running closed lid, what?

I know that I'm not giving that much information

That's right, you're not. You need to narrow down the variables a bit, maybe let us know the exact model TV, its native resolution, what other inputs it has, etc. My personal opinion, many of those big old clunky rear projection tvs really sucked and are dinosaurs now--so your Macbook is probably just fine. Hard to tell from afar without any more info.

I figure it could be a bad video card in the MacBook, a bad patch cord connecting the two, a problem with the settings on the tv or the computer, or - and here's the answer I don't want but am expecting - a problem with the television itself being too old to handle a computer as an input.

Troubleshooting-wise, you're on top of this, and you need to look at all of these. If you're using the official Apple mini DVI adaptor, and your LCD on the MB is fine, there's very little chance of an Apple hardware problem.
For peace of mind, try to connect your MB to a different display or HDTV to verify that the DVI cable is good, swap a different DVI cable in, too. But really, it's probably all related to your TV--so start by learning about your TV, read the manual for any limitations on its inputs and provide some specifics re: native resolution and inputs. Then we might be able to help you go from there...

Macbooks, even the oldest ones with the GMA 950, connect just fine to many older HDTVs. Does your MB detect the Hitachi in Display preferences and list the model by name and if so, what resolution options does it give you? Are you mirroring the two displays, running closed lid, what?


It does detect the Hiatchi in Display preferences. It displays it as "Hiatchi PTV" I'm mirroring the displays, not running closed lid, in part because I can't get the computer to wake up when I close the lid. I tried non-mirroring and that didn't help. The default settings are 640x480, millions of colors 60 HZ; 1024x576 millions 60; and 1280x720 millions, 60 HZ. The problem is in all of them.


That's right, you're not. You need to narrow down the variables a bit, maybe let us know the exact model TV, its native resolution, what other inputs it has, etc. My personal opinion, many of those big old clunky rear projection tvs really sucked and are dinosaurs now--so your Macbook is probably just fine. Hard to tell from afar without any more info.


It's a Hiatchi 51UWX20B. 1 DVI input, two components, 3 S videos. I don't know what you're looking for with native resolutions and I'm about to go to work so hopefully what I posted above is what you wanted. It's just frustrating that everything else works just fine but this device won't. DVD players? Fine. HD receivers? Fine. Playstation? Fine.

I thought I'd give an example so the problem would become more obvious. I apologize for the video quality. I paused the DVD and took pictures of both the tv and the monitor on the laptop.

http://pics.livejournal.com/thezzyzx/pic/001bdgwg/s640x480

See the green blob on the upper left corner of that tower in the background? You can't if you look on the monitor.

http://pics.livejournal.com/thezzyzx/pic/001behbt/s640x480

I hope that gives someone a clue as to if this is a problem that's easily fixable.

I don't know what you're looking for with native resolutions...It's just frustrating that everything else works just fine but this device won't. DVD players? Fine. HD receivers? Fine. Playstation? Fine.

Right, but computers work differently--your Mac exchanges information with your display a certain way.

What I mean by 'native res' is, usually you'll have the best chance of successfully connecting a computer to an HDTV if you connect to the TV at its native resolution--and each HDTV has one. Your set might have one that's non-standard--in your manual, does it say what the maximum vertical and horizontal resolution is?

I'm mirroring the displays, not running closed lid, in part because I can't get the computer to wake up when I close the lid. I tried non-mirroring and that didn't help. The default settings are 640x480, millions of colors 60 HZ; 1024x576 millions 60; and 1280x720 millions, 60 HZ. The problem is in all of them.

Don't mirror, go dual display.

And your problem might be that none of these are your TV's native res. It also may be that Hitachi wasn't anticipating that you'd connect a computer to the DVI input and it cheaped out, i.e. it isn't enabled to send the correct info back to your Mac. Again, look in the manual, download it if you no longer have it, and find out the native res and any comment from the manufacturer about connecting a computer. It helps to know this first, before you try to figure out what the Hitachi might be doing internally to the video signal from your Mac, i.e. whether it's upscaling it or processing it somehow before you see the image on the screen.

By now, most of us here are tired of these "help hooking up to my TV" requests, but, there's one guy who loves this, is patient and very very knowledgeable on this particular subject. He posts here and over at the Apple discussion forums as BSteely, especially in the Mac mini > Using displays with the mac mini subforum:

http://discussions.apple.com/profile.jspa?userID=386127

read him and you may find something that can help you.

Thanks for your help. That's the sort of direction I was looking for, not so much, "Solve my problem," as, "Has anyone seen this problem before and what sorts of things fixed it." Upon further review, I'm starting to suspect that it has something to do with using the DVI port, especially because of the line, "The DVI-HDTV input is NOT compatible when used with a DVD player from a personal computer. " I'm now leaning towards an Apple TV since it has component outs and no one seems to have problems connecting that to their tv.

Heh, it was a simple fix. Under calibration, I set things up so that the computer used the TV target gamma and the TV target white point. Boom. Green streaks gone.

Now I'm just trying to figure out if the DVD player app is having trouble scanning horizontally or if I'm just looking for problems at this point.