Mac Mini, HDTV and Screen Cropping
OK. My new Mac mini arrived last night. Rather, I had to go and pick it up, but it's still here nonetheless. I have it installed (though the Mac-specific wireless keyboard I bought from Best Buy doesn't work), and up on the HDTV in the theater. However, I've got a problem that I'm wondering if anyone knows the solution to.
See, the TV is apparently cropping off a pretty good size chunk of screen real estate. It's connected to an RCA HDTV via DVI and gives a nice sharp image. Just not all of it. Here's a screenshot that illustrates what I'm talking about. The area marked in a red border is what the TV shows.
I've tried all of the available screen resolutions and none of them return all of the screen real estate to me. The screenshot is via VNC, which is working fine. I've also gone through the TV menus looking for the monitor-style adjustments I'd use on a normal monitor with no luck. All there is is a horizontal position adjustment.
Any ideas?
November 23rd, 2005 at 3:33 pm
For TV's with an analog connection, there used to be an "overscan" option. You probably have to look at the Mac, rather than at the TV. Can you post a screen dump of the System preferences' Monitors panel?
Maarten
November 23rd, 2005 at 9:29 pm
This is quite normal. About 5% overscan is deemed acceptable. My HDTV overscanes by a bit too, and it's annoying.
December 7th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
i called apple and they dont know what to do ether!!! they said that it could be the video card that that i need to get a better one. I called the apple store around here and they said that they have a web site that they can fix it with but they still haev not been able to send it to me cause there computers crashed!
December 9th, 2005 at 7:56 am
There are a couple of software packages that theoretically will adjust the images size. However, they require about 10-12 numbers to be set exactly correct and the numbers are different for every HDTV. I haven't had the time to sit and figure them out, but it does look promising.
December 14th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Did you ever find a solution to this? I'm having the exact same problem with my Sony rear projection LCD TV, and found this blog entry while googling in search of an answer!
December 14th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Hmmm… Just spotted your May 13 post, so I guess the answer to my query above is "no". Darn.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Yep. Never got an answer. The new MediaCenter PC I'm using instead with MediaPortal has a setting to crop all video to the TV edge. The interface still crops on Windows too, but at least the media software looks right when I use that.
December 16th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Actually, I managed to figure it out! A mysterious clue at Apple Support ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303406 — see the Picture Zoom section near the bottom), led me to look again at the Display Preferences pane on the Mini. On the Options tab, there was a checked checkbox labeled Overscan. I unchecked the box and abracadabra — I can now see the whole screen! Huzzah!!
This seems to be something that was added to Mac Minis this year, since the Apple Support page is titled "Using Mac mini (Early 2006) with a television". As you had a 2005 model, you would have still been out of luck. My guess is that enough people like you complained so that Apple fixed the problem. So I guess I owe you some thanks!
February 7th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
The overscan tip was fantastic but I have another problem. By default, the Mini does not seem to detect the native resolution of 1366×768 for my Sony LCD HDTV. You can do 1280×720 and 1920×1080, but since those are both scaled, they do not look sharp at all. I tried DisplayConfigX, but when I put in 1366×768 and rebooted, all I got was a blank screen. Any thoughts?
February 7th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
No ideas. I got sick of the problem and sold the thing. According to other commenters the 2006-2007 versions of the Mini fixed this, but otherwise, I've got nothing.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:54 am
After an agrivating chat with a Sony tech support rep, it seems as though Sony has hamstrung the monitor capabilities on the HDMI port. When it was plugged into the DVI on my intel Mini, the resolution of 1360×768 was not automatically detected and I could not force the resolution (using DisplayConfigX) without making the Mini boot into a black screen. However, when you plug in the VGA cable to the PC port on the back of TV, everything works flawlessly. The picture looks fine, but I am annoyed at having to step down from digial to analog just to get it to show right on the screen. Oh well.
February 25th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
OMG, this is excellent. I have been looking for this setting too.
Thanks!
April 16th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I have the same problem with my brand new Mac mini and Sharp 32" LCD TV. When I hook it up to the HDMI input I get the 1280×720 and 1920×1080 ones but not the 1366×768. Then I tried the VGA port and that only offers 1080 or less… this is a fu….. problem. I don't wan't to sell the damn thing again. Any other suggestions?
June 16th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Hi Guys,
You must spend $10 and purchase the German S/W DisplayConfig http://www.3dexpress.de/index.html
All problems gone.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I have the same problem with my Mac mini (Leopard) and Toshiba 32" HDTV - the native resolution is 1366×768 and the mini does not have this. Means I have a black border around the screen. Tried DisplayConfigX too - and that didnt work, just ended up with a black screen after reboot. Does this mean I'm stuck with this (haven't tried the VGA connector yet - guess that is worth a go).
February 27th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
This tip sounds exactly the solution I'm after except I don't see Options on System Preferences -> Display. Just Display & Colour ….any ideas?