I've just been playing around with it and was delighted to see that on the DVI connection to my 50" panny, the Mac Mini works perfectly at 1366x768.

I've been playing DVD's on it and they actually looked pretty good. I'm not seeing a lot of artifacts or poor deinterlacing. I'll have to dig around do a more thorough comparison, but the normal movie stuff is very comparable to the DVD2900, no audio sync or frame drops that I can see.

I tried a VGA-DVA input and could only get 1360x768 as the closest match. It looked pretty good also.

All in all, pretty pleased with it. I've taken it apart, and bumped up the ram. I'm going to borrow a 2.16ghz Core Duo and see how that works.

What Panny do you have?

Maybe I misunderstood your post - but are you saying that DVD playback is comparable to a denon 2900 DVD?

Not disputing - if that is the case - then more details please.

My Denon dvd just died and while looking to replace - if the mac mini has that kinda playback then may have to reconsider it.

Thanks

I haven't done any extensive testing. I just eyeballed movie content on both the Denon and the Intel Mac Mini on the same disc, swapping back and forth.

The Mac Mini did fine and the movie quality was actually quite good. I know in the past, the Mac DVD did a lousy job of deinterlacing, leaving visible combing and other artifacts. This version seems substantially improved.

To make a real comparison, I'd need to dig up an obstacle course disc with examples of things DVD players "do bad" on.

Nuke, did you do anything special to get this resolution or did the Mini automatically detect it? I am asking because I have a 1366x768 Sony TV and the best I can get is 1280x720. Any ideas?

I have a Panny 50PHD8UK and the mini booted into 1366x768 hooked up through DVI. I did nothing special and it did it right of the box for me.

-Jerry C.

I have the 658u and I wonder if the used G4 mini I have on the way will do the same?

The Intel Mini just worked on DVI, but only got close on analog with 1360x768.

I don't know if the G4 will do it. 1366 is problematic for a lot of graphic chips, ATI and nVidia, because it is not divisible by 8. I think the G4 mini used ATI graphics.

The intel integrated grpahics chip seems to have no problem with it.

Wait Nuke, did u say in ur first post that u were going to pop in a 2.16Ghz Core Duo processor into the Mac Mini?? Did i misunderstand? If i didn't, HOLY #%#!!! You've got me hooked man, if thats the case, you gotta let us know how you did it and talk about all the performance gains and whether or not you need modded fans and heatsinks and what not. Good stuff! Keep us posted!

-Mike

PS
I have Pioneer Elite 43" Plasma HDTV and i went out of the Mini with a DVI-HDMI cable (because the Pioneer only takes HDMI) and I output to a standard 1280x768 resolution at about 60Hz. The image is underscanned as there is an unused black frame all around it. Text and some other things are not very well drawn and even though they are legible and 'O.K.', they can be a lot better through the all-digital connection they're running on. I got underscan because I unchecked the 'Overscan' button in the Graphics preferences window. When Overscan was checked the picture was too big and the top was cut and a small portion of the bottom dock was cut as well. I also tried VGA as the Pioneer has 1 VGA input on the front and that didnt work at all, I just got a black screen. Is there a setup step involved with using VGA that I missed? And also, how can i achieve that crisp 1366x768 resolution on my Pioneer as well? What must I do? Let me know. Thanks.

It's been posted all over about a successful Core Solo swapped out of a mini for a Core Duo 2.16. The CPU's in the new minis are socketed to most peoples surprise. It doesn't look too difficult to do and the guy who did it claimed the fan was good enough for the extra heat generated but from a practical standpoint it isn't a very good deal as the 2.16 goes for around $700.

-Jerry C.

But the 2.0GHz is cheaper with a big price cut expected May. Could be interesting. I have also heard that Merom will be pin compatible with Yohan, though I don't know if that alone will mean you could upgrade a Mini to a Merom chip.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20051019183430.html

-Sean

I also tried VGA as the Pioneer has 1 VGA input on the front and that didnt work at all, I just got a black screen. Is there a setup step involved with using VGA that I missed? And also, how can i achieve that crisp 1366x768 resolution on my Pioneer as well? What must I do? Let me know. Thanks.

I have a iMac G5 connected to my pioneer 50" via VGA — very crisp 1280x768 resolution. and everything works fine… did you select the PC input on your remote? VGA = PC and not input 1-4 on the pioneer remote…

But the 2.0GHz is cheaper with a big price cut expected May. Could be interesting. I have also heard that Merom will be pin compatible with Yohan, though I don't know if that alone will mean you could upgrade a Mini to a Merom chip.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20051019183430.html

-Sean


Oh I think it is great news for future upgradeability of our minis. The forthcoming chips are supposed to be pin compatible AFAIK but I wonder if Apple will make that kind of swap as easy from an OS level. It is one thing to replace a chip with the same type, albeit one with dual cores in this case, that has a faster speed than to replace it with a different architecture.

-Jerry C.

hey jasper, i did switch out my DVI>HDMI cable for the VGA one into the front panel of the media outbox and yea it's working like a charm now. it's not the native 1366x768 resolution but it's 1280x768 and it seems fine. is there really a difference? for some reason the damn digital way just didnt cut it, as surprising as that can be. the text wasn't clear and it just generally 'could have been better.' im surprised an analog display cable has a better throughput than the all digital DVI/HDMI route.

also jasper, i should say that last nite i kept my mini on for about 3 hours and after i turned it off there was some BURN-IN. i coudl see the 'Q' for quicktime and the '17' off the iCal icons in the dock. I started sh*tt!ng bricks but this morning when i turned it back on there was no burn-in. I guess i experienced GHOSTING which is just a ghost of the image instead of a permanent silhoutte. So i gotta say, watch out man. I have taken some measures to prevent this from happening. I enabled the dock to come up only when my mouse goes over it and to have the icons 'magnify' when i scroll over, so as to prevent them from staying static like that forever. I recommmend you do these too cuz our TV's are great and wouldnt want anything damaging them. I just wish there was VGA-in on the back of the TV's media outbox instead of the front.

Does anyone know why DVI/HDMI is WORSE than VGA with the Mac Mini? And is it worth it to get SwitchResX/DisplayConfigX to try to achieve 1366x768 or screw it just stick with what I have? Thanks guys.

-Mike

dukee, i only have a VGA output on my iMac G5, so i can't test it with DVI.
the native resolutions for the Pioneer plasma's are 1280x768 for the 50" and 1024x768 for the 43" (so not 1366x768)

i also wished that the VGA connection was on the back of the media receiver, now i only connect a vga cable when i want to watch something from my iMac on the plasma. if it was on the back, the vga cable could be connected all the time to the media receiver.

it's true that the pioneers have trouble with burn in… but i only use the imac with the plasma for watching movies/dvds and not for anything else, so i don't have the dock and menubar displayed at all… i use Media Central as my movie player or VLC full screen (if it's a file that Media Central can't display)

if you have some burn in on your plasma after connecting it to your mac, just display some snow on your screen for 15 minutes or so and everything will be OK again ;)

Does the VGA cable come with the mini?

Can a MacMini output 1920 x 1080 to any of the 1080p sets? I'm on the fence between a Sony SXRD and Samsung DLP. Either would be 1080. I know my year-old G4 PowerBook (1.67GHz) wouldn't be able to output that high a resolution, but I'm hoping the new MacMini can. Thanks!

Does the VGA cable come with the mini?

It doesn't come with any accessory other than the remote and power cord.

jasper: when i said native resolution i wasnt referring to that of the pioneer's, but rather the Mac's themselves default to 1366x768 when connected to their Apple Cinema Displays, or at least that is the way i have understood it. so therefore i would assume that 1366x768 is the way Apple really envisioned us to really see their desktop. and by the way, i'm running 1280x768 on my pioneer 43" just fine and i like it much better than the 1024x768. i would assume the 50" can support even higher resolutions? also, im right there with you as far as the VGA being in the front. it's stupid of pioneer to put it in the front. i don't understand why they couldn't have just shoved it in the back like everything else and helped keep my home theater looking good. also jasper, can you use Media Central to play FLAC music files and DivX files, or no, u gotta use VLC for that?

evanhunter: no the VGA cable does not come with the Mini.

mtw76mtw: i don't wanna give any false info out, but i read somewhere on another forum or macworld or some enthusiast site like that that because the new Mac Mini's dont have a dedicated graphics card achieving 1080p resolutions is very unlikely. However, they did mention that the included Core Duo (And even the Solo, apparently) are powerful enough to display a great picture with 720p. So the 720p thing is for sure, but for the 1080p, I doubt it, but it still may be possible.

Ein: it does come with one other accessory besides the two you mentioned: the DVI-to-VGA adapter that i think many people would find useful. if you still dont have one, you can even buy one from Apple.com or from their retail chain.

-Mike

I hooked my mini up to my 23" cinema display, 1920x1200, which is above 1080p resolution, so the integrated intel graphics can most certainly handle it. It is all a matter of compatibility between some TV's and the mini. The mini does come with a DVI-VGA adapter - and a very nice one at that ;) Instead of those annoyingly small and sometimes painful to use metal screws the entire side of the adapter is a thumb-wheel making it very easy to get in place. It is white of course ;)

-Jerry C.

i'm running 1280x768 on my pioneer 43" just fine and i like it much better than the 1024x768. i would assume the 50" can support even higher resolutions?

also jasper, can you use Media Central to play FLAC music files and DivX files, or no, u gotta use VLC for that?

i don't think the 50" can display a higher resolution. how did you manage to get 1280x768 on the 43" ?

some xvid files with subtitles (dutch srt files) won't play in MC (application will quit, VLC plays it without problems) and a 720p TS movie is horrible when playing with MC on my iMac G5 (VLC also just plays it fine)… i don't have flac files to test in MC.

jasper

The 2.16g core duo seems to run just fine in the Mini-Intel. The fan runs substantially more, but no unstability was noted.

As far as the resolutions go, you do NOT need any utility if the DDC data that comes across from the display offers a native resolution. The Mini's Intel graphics is happy enough to output whatever your display says it can do. A lot of HDTV's in the larger sizes, like 50" plasma, have 1366x768 resolution as the native size. Pio's 50 has a different size than most Panny or NEC based displays.

So far, it's working pretty well. DVD film content and high-quality quicktime content look great, although 1080p is definitely dropping frames. Apple's DVD player software needs some work on the de-interlacing though when playing NTSC content.

As far as the resolutions go, you do NOT need any utility if the DDC data that comes across from the display offers a native resolution. The Mini's Intel graphics is happy enough to output whatever your display says it can do.

Would this be the case for a television running natively at 1920x1080, such as the current SXRDs and DLPs?

Can a MacMini output 1920 x 1080 to any of the 1080p sets? I'm on the fence between a Sony SXRD and Samsung DLP. Either would be 1080. I know my year-old G4 PowerBook (1.67GHz) wouldn't be able to output that high a resolution, but I'm hoping the new MacMini can. Thanks!

Your G4 PowerBook can easily output 1920 x 1080p. I use mine to drive a 30" Apple Cinema Display and that has a resolution of 2560 x 1600. Also, my G4 Mac mini drives my 37" LCD TV at 1920 x 1080p. The new Mac mini can cover this as well.

jasper: when i said native resolution i wasnt referring to that of the pioneer's, but rather the Mac's themselves default to 1366x768 when connected to their Apple Cinema Displays, or at least that is the way i have understood it. so therefore i would assume that 1366x768 is the way Apple really envisioned us to really see their desktop.

-Mike

Where did you get the idea that Macs default to 1366 x 768 when connected to Apple Cinema Displays? That's simiply not true. A Mac will drive an ACD at whatever is its native resolution. For the 20" that is 1680 x 1050 and for the 23" it is 1920 x 1200.

yes i learned that that is not true bsteely. but there was so much hype about it on the forums as if the optimum resolution for a display outputted from a mac just HAD to be 1366x768, i got confused. now i know just about anything above 1280x768 is gonna look great. sorry for any misinformation i may have leaked out.

to jasper, i dunno how i got that resolution off the 43", it just works, what can i say?

-Mike

Your G4 PowerBook can easily output 1920 x 1080p. I use mine to drive a 30" Apple Cinema Display and that has a resolution of 2560 x 1600. Also, my G4 Mac mini drives my 37" LCD TV at 1920 x 1080p. The new Mac mini can cover this as well.

Thanks for the update. Last weekend, I connected my PowerBook to a 50" Sony SXRD at a showroom via DVI-to-VGA adapter. My PowerBook instantly recognized the external display, but the maximum resolution I could set to display on the Sony was the PowerBook's default resolution, 1280x854. I tried a few things to see if it would let me put out 1920x1080 (the SXRD's native resolution) with no luck. Granted, I didn't have SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX or anything like that installed. Still, I'm not sure if this limitation was due to my PowerBook, the SXRD, or the fact that I was having to use the DVI-to-VGA adapter.

The Intel Mini just worked on DVI, but only got close on analog with 1360x768.
Is your TV running at 1:1 native at that rez? ie. Is there a black border at the left and right?

If it's running at 1:1 native that's fine.

I have a Panny 50PHD8UK and the mini booted into 1366x768 hooked up through DVI. I did nothing special and it did it right of the box for me.

-Jerry C.

Damn you guys, you are slowly forcing my pocketbook open.

Love my G4 mini, but it does 1360x768 at best to my 50" 7UY. That's over either DVI or VGA. I keep telling myself that I am going to hold out for a Mini with a Blu-ray player and a 64bit processor. But the no-fuss SPDIF sound, combined with the 4 USB ports, and now the fact that it does true 1366x768 are just getting so tempting...

It's only possible to drive the 30 inch display if you have the dual link DVI for that generation right? So some 1.67 powerbooks won't be dual DVI. Mine is though.

Your G4 PowerBook can easily output 1920 x 1080p. I use mine to drive a 30" Apple Cinema Display and that has a resolution of 2560 x 1600. Also, my G4 Mac mini drives my 37" LCD TV at 1920 x 1080p. The new Mac mini can cover this as well.

Not entirely true. You can hook up an intel mini to a 30" display but won't be able to drive it at full resolution. I don't recall the exact resolution (800x600)? but its doable. Whether you would want to "waste" the 30" display running at that resolution is another matter.

Hey guys... I'm so glad I found this thread. I am considering buying a Panny 50PHD8UK display to show photo slide shows from a new Intel Core Duo MacMini... Panasonic offers three boards for connection:

• DVI-HDCP
• HDMI
• RCA Composite

Can you recommend which one I should get for the Panny so I can connect it to the MacMini?

Thanks, in advance.

The panel and the DVI blade is all you will need to get up and running. The HDMI is not the best for a PC style hook-up as it won't give you native res AFAIK. The commercial panny's do not include mounts/stands or speakers which you may or may not care about, just FYI. For slide shows this panel with the DVI blade should look fantastic at the native 1366x768, no scaling or distortion.

-Jerry C.

Thanks for the update. Last weekend, I connected my PowerBook to a 50" Sony SXRD at a showroom via DVI-to-VGA adapter. My PowerBook instantly recognized the external display, but the maximum resolution I could set to display on the Sony was the PowerBook's default resolution, 1280x854. I tried a few things to see if it would let me put out 1920x1080 (the SXRD's native resolution) with no luck. Granted, I didn't have SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX or anything like that installed. Still, I'm not sure if this limitation was due to my PowerBook, the SXRD, or the fact that I was having to use the DVI-to-VGA adapter.

Make sure you have mirroring turned off in the display system pref. Once you turn it off you should have the the native resolution of the display availble with an extended desktop setup.

@JerryNY-

I (and others) have been having problems getting the Intel Mini to display 1366x768 when routing through a Denon receiver. The Denon only has HDMI in, so, I've been using a DVI -> HDMI cable into the Denon, and then an HDMI -> DVI cable into a DVI blade on the Panasonic. You wrote that an HDMI connection from a PC won't give native resolution. So, maybe the reason the Mini won't see 1366 x 768 when routed through the Denon is bc of the HDMI connection itself, and it isn't a Denon problem? Going DVI directly into the Panny gives 1366 x 768 automatically, through the HDMI/Denon, I only get 1280 x 840 (or something similar).

Could this be the problem?

Thanks.

Brad

The DVI blade should give you more flexibility with regard to resolutions. HDMI tends to be geared toward TV reses like 480p, 720p and 1080i. I think Panasonics tend to only like using these particular reses through HDMI. I don't think I have come across anyone getting native 1366x768 over HDMI on a Panny but there could be some I am not aware of. HDMI voodoo seems to be tough to figure out w/o the trial and error of hooking components up and just seeing what works. I would think DVI might be more likely to work in your particular application but there is no guarantee. Routing through a receiver seems to add a whole layer of abstraction which may make things react differently than expected.

-Jerry C.

The DVI blade should give you more flexibility with regard to resolutions. HDMI tends to be geared toward TV reses like 480p, 720p and 1080i. I think Panasonics tend to only like using these particular reses through HDMI. I don't think I have come across anyone getting native 1366x768 over HDMI on a Panny but there could be some I am not aware of.

There are a couple people doing it (not me), but it would require custom timings (SwitchResX). To me its not worth messing around with it since its not supported by Panasonic and it won't improve PQ.

HDMI voodoo seems to be tough to figure out w/o the trial and error of hooking components up and just seeing what works. I would think DVI might be more likely to work in your particular application but there is no guarantee. Routing through a receiver seems to add a whole layer of abstraction which may make things react differently than expected.

-Jerry C.

Yep.

Going through the receiver not only adds all sorts of places for things to go wrong with HDCP handshake (which is not really an issue just yet with PCs but it will be soon), but its also possible the receiver won't pass non- consumer electronic signals through correctly anyway.

Could anybody clarify whether they've been able to get native resolution (1366x768) through analog VGA in on a Panasonic 50PHD8UK?

As a recent buyer of a HDTV (Panasonic TX-26LX60) and a Core Duo mac mini, I purchased these in the belief that it would be easy connecting up the two via a DVI --> HDMI cable. There are caveats - and any help sorting these out would be very appreciated.
After hours of fiddling, I've managed to get a stable 1280x720, but unfortunately, the edges are cropped. I can move the picture around on the screen using DisplayConfigX and the porch settings, but cannot for the life of me get it to display a native resolution without cropping.

I suspect this is an issue with the TV, but if not, help! What resolution will this Panny accept through the HDMI connection? Can I alter the overscan on the TV via a hidden menu at all?

Trying to get the TV to display 1366x768 over DVI --> HDMI doesn't seem possible. TV just blacks it out. So no, I haven't managed to get the native resolution.

I've ordered a DVI to component cable to test with that, because I'm hoping that the porch settings are not ignored over this connection. I think Mac OS X behaves better when it thinks a TV is connected (it should now...), because at the moment, there is something decidedly funky going on with this setup.

Thoughts? If anybody has any decent DisplayConfigX settings for my kind of setup, please post them here.

I use my Hitachi LD6600 with the mini, and have much the same problems as alastairj.

With DVI-HDMI I have 1280*720 working, and a black border around the image. I can't found a way to make my TV scale the image to 1366*768, though a guy from Hitachi said it would do it if I used a "proper DVD player"... The TV manual says that I only can feed 720p or 1080i via hdmi. Does this mean I can give up getting 1366*768 via hdmi, or is there still hope? I haven't tried using displayconfigx at all, since I'm a little scared of it...

I also tried VGA, but then my screen went black and said 'out of range' when the bootscreen was done. After I got 720p via hdmi I didn't bother to try VGA again, but I might if it turns out that 720p is max via hdmi. Will the picture using vga be anywhere close to as good as hdmi?

Well, I'm a couple of days into this, and I'm quite happy with the slight overscan problem. I can't seem to correct it, thought.

I bought a DVI --> Component cable, and I cannot for the life of me get it to work. The TV just scrolls the image. Any suggestions on settings? Could it be the cable? Mac OS X finds the tv, and 1368x768, but nothing outputs clearly on the TV, although you can tell it is trying.

So yeah, any suggestions on settings I might want to apply in DisplayConfigX? Or do I need to get a VGA to composite cable?!

I'd like to give it a go @ 1366x768 on a 23" Syntax Olevia. I wanna stream HD into the bedroom.

Anybody know how liberal the return policy is on buyer's remorse. If I can't achieve native 1366 or 1368x768, then I don't think I want the mini.

...If I can't achieve native 1366 or 1368x768, then I don't think I want the mini....

The Mac Mini uses the Intel 950 chip. The Intel drivers DO NOT support custom resolutions. Not for OS X, not for Windows.

Which means, unless the Intel drivers support your monitor's native resolution, you CANNOT create custom resolutions using third-party software like SwitchResX or PowerStrip.

On the other hand, on monitors in the 40"-50" range, you are not going to notice a difference between 1x1 and a reasonably well-scaled image.

So, just get a resolution which works on your monitor, get it geometrically correct using your monitor's controls or SwitchResX, and let the monitor do the scaling.

I have to disagree with you there Ryan1. My new Mini Core Duo 1.66 has no trouble running in custom resolution, in my case 1224x688. I set this up with DisplayConfigX to get rid of the overscan for my plasma. I'm now have perfect proportions and sharp picture via DVI->HDMI.

A single link DVI Mac such as the 1.5Ghz g4 powerbook, will drive the 30" Cinema display at exactly half of its native resolution, 1280x800. I know because I tried it... The Mini is a single link. The 23" Cinema Display (1920x1200) is a single link DVI and runs full native with an Intel Mini...

I have my HT Mini hooked up to a 57" Zenith RP-CRT TV via DVI/VGA adapter into an RGB Scaler with Component outputs and with some tweaking, it looks fairly comparable to the HD cablebox component on Digital cable. I have a DVDO VP50 on the way and will hopefully be able to use the DVI input on the TV with a HDMI to DVI adapter on the output of the VP50. For some reason, I can't use the Mac's DVI out to the TV's DVI in. I have tried it with a powerbook, a Macbook pro, and my HT Mini, but no go... I am going to try again once I install Apple Remote Desktop so I can view the Display control panel which is of course not visible if all I get is a black screen! No big deal for me since I am going to be getting my VP50 soon and will at least be able to use the component output to the TV as I am right now. Also I am going to load DisplayconfigX to try and control the output more exactly.... this my first post by the way :) good to see some other Mac pioneers here.

Here is my issue, I got some custom display settings for an 50px60u panasonic plasma. Well the settings work great when I plug the mac mini directly into my tv. However I generally plug it in to my denon avr-4306 receiver. The problem is when I use the custom timings my receiver wont pass the video. It did work for about 2 weeks but them stopped. Now I have to use the OSX default timings which means I lose almost 1/3 of a inch on all sides. Any suggestions?


Here are the custom settings for display config x

Horizontal Description Vertical
1232 Active 694
128 Front Porch 20
80 Sync 5
208 Back Porch 31
1648 Total 750

This was using a refresh rate of 59.943.

Did you make sure that "overscan" is unchecked? I think it gets checked by default if the Mini detects a "TV".

Where is overscan? Dont see it in displayconfigx

Hello,

I am trying to get my powerbook G4 (12 inch) to fill my hdtv's screen. I have to use the VGA output because the HDMI input is filled on my tv (Sony KDL-32S2000). Right now I am having no problem getting the powerbook to output the desktop to the tv, but it is only a 4:3 image. I installed switchresx and tried to change the sony's resolution to 1360x768, which it says that it has accomplished, but the desktop is still not widescreen. Is there anyway I can make it work, or am I stuck with the 4:3 desktop.

Thanks.

Just wondering if anybody has used the mini dvi out on a regular macbook or a imac? Does this work better than the mac mini for outputting to a tv?

A clarification (sorry if this has been answered, but it seemed the information conflicted a bit):

Does the Intel C2D Mini "just work"(tm) with a Panny plasma that has the DVI blade in it (DVI<-->DVI) at 1366x768? i.e. native resolution/freq support...

Thanks,
Hunter

Hello,

i got a Panny Plasma 42px71E (european) , i plug my new Mac mini with DVI/HDMI wire, i can get 1280x720 with around 3% overscan, the picture is sharp enough to surf on the web.

But how to get rid of that overscan?

I tried all night to change the resolution with SwitchResX, i got black screen for hours...

Does anyone happen to get the right resolution in SwitchResX to feed a Panny Plasma 42px60 / 70 series with no overscan?

Thanks for your help!

My mini is at 1600x900. Connected dvi to hdmi into my toshiba 32HL67 set to "Native" and fits my screen perfectly.

So what is actually going on?

my panny is a plasma 1024x768, means the pixels are not scare, so no 1:1 pixel mapping like on a LCD screen or full hd plasma, i dont know how to get rid of overscan on my panny...:confused:

Does anyone have the same plasma tv (panasonic 42px71) and made it without overscan?

Thanks:)

I just got a mac mini 2.0Ghz duo2core.

may I know how do you guys adjust the resolution?

From what I see, I can only get 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x768 etc from the display option but not 1280x720, 1360x768 and 1920x1080. I'm connecting it to my Sanyo Z3 projector via DVI->VGA dongle that comes in the box.

as for 1360x768 on the 50" Plasma, I think it's a limitation for all 50" WXGA panel.

SwitchResX (http://www.madrau.com/html/SRX/indexSRX.shtml). I just finished doing the same for my Mini hooked up to a 42" Sony. Follow the easy, straightforward directions posted in a couple of places around this forum.

as for 1360x768 on the 50" Plasma, I think it's a limitation for all 50" WXGA panel.

Not true. With an appropriately capable video card, you can run these displays at 1366x768.

I'm trying to set up a Denon AVR-3808CI with my Mac Mini and a Pioneer Pro 1150HD, and am running into problems with screen resolution. Depending on the resolution set on the Mini, I've either got two thin grey horizontal lines spanning the 1150 screen, dividing the picture roughly into thirds, or I get a series of horizontal bands made up of thin lines that appear and disappear over time. These bands are about 25% of the screen height. In any case, The Mac menu bar is off the top of the plasma screen, which is less than ideal.

I have the Mini connected to the 3808 via a monoprice DVI to HDMI cable with ferrite core, and then a single HDMI cable runs from the 3808 to the Plasma, which is in a different room from the receiver and computer.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Adam

1) Try toggling overscan on the Mac mini.
2) Try checking if TV is set to 1:1 instead of 16:9 maybe
3) Maybe try using the SwitchresX screen utility
4) Look for any other settings in your TV menu that may allow you to adjust picture size.

I'm trying to set up a Denon AVR-3808CI with my Mac Mini and a Pioneer Pro 1150HD, and am running into problems with screen resolution. Depending on the resolution set on the Mini, I've either got two thin grey horizontal lines spanning the 1150 screen, dividing the picture roughly into thirds, or I get a series of horizontal bands made up of thin lines that appear and disappear over time. These bands are about 25% of the screen height. In any case, The Mac menu bar is off the top of the plasma screen, which is less than ideal.

I have the Mini connected to the 3808 via a monoprice DVI to HDMI cable with ferrite core, and then a single HDMI cable runs from the 3808 to the Plasma, which is in a different room from the receiver and computer.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Adam

What resolution are you running the mini at? I would not try to push anything through an AVR besided 720p or 1080p (or 480p). Any other (non ATSC resolution) might be asking too much of the device.

Also, I'd take the AVR out of the picture, bring the mini right to the plasma and debug it from there first. And there again, I have my doubts that the plasma is going to take anything other than a few ATSC resolutions (plus 1080p/60) via HDMI.

I've tried it at multiple resolutions, including 1280 x 720, which is, I believe, the ideal resolution. Last night, this was working beautifully for a few minutes, then the screen got a bit darker and the two grey horizontal lines appeared.

I'll take the AVR out of the equation this afternoon, and see if I can rule out an issue there.