HTPC: Mini Displayport vs. Mini DVI

bobsmith58d · New Member Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 3

I've searched this (and other) forums, and I can't seem to find a definitive answer on the preferred method of hooking up one's Mini to an HDTV (and maybe there just isn't one).

I've been researching my (future) HTPC for months, and I'm now starting to pull the trigger on buying the components (found a steal on the diNovo Mini two days ago). Relevant to this discussion, I'm going to buy the new Mini (2.0 GHz, upgraded to 4MB from newegg) and the new Panasonic TC-P50G10 (1080P HDMI plasma).

I'm going to buy an adapter (to hook into HDMI) from monoprice.com. It seems both the Mini Displayport and Mini DVI will work, but which one will work better? The fact that one costs about $7 and the other is about $15 is irrelevant to me. What are the pros/cons of the two different technologies? What are the limitations of the different methods? Am I the only one still confused by this? Shocked

As always, thanks to the expert advice from those who have already figured it out!

Bandit Bill · Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:35 pm Post subject:

The Mini DP supports a higher resolution than the Mini DVI port. From what I understand they both offer equal video quality. Being you will likely ony ever need 1920X1080 for a television you may want to reserve the mini display port for either an Apple monitor or another brand that may support higher resolutions.

I really haven't dug deep into the technical differences. Perhaps someone who has can chime in.

nyck · New Member Joined: 15 Jun 2009 Posts: 12

from apple.com/macmini

Simultaneously supports up to 1920 by 1200 pixels on a DVI or VGA display; up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on a dual-link DVI display using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)

polarbear · New Member Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 8

I am currently using the mini-DVI/DVI cable and a DVI/HDMI cable and that works well. However I also asked myself the question what benefit the mini-DisplayPort cable would offer for a standard HDTV resolution of 1920x1080.

don731 · Member Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 80 Location: Chicagoland

I had problems with using the mini-dvi to hdmi hookup to a panasonic plasma set. Apparently this does not carry the hdmi drm data required by some sets, and the panny would go into a sleep mode. This is well documented on the avsforums (sorry, don't have a link). I then switched to mini-displayport to hdmi using a monoprice cable, which works perfectly (apparently the hdmi drm data is transmitted via the mini-display port). Resolution isn't perfect, put the panny reports the mini as outputting 1080p.
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Cheers,

Don in Chicagoland

ez061111 · Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:52 am Post subject:

polarbear · New Member Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 8

ez061111 · Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:

Yes, you are correct. My personal feeling is that I don't particularly agree with much of DRM which may ultimately force people to purchase new equipment: equipment becoming obsolete only because of DRM, not better quality.
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2.26 GHz C2D Mini 4GB RAM | 1.66 GHz CD Mini 2GB RAM | 2.4 GHz C2D MBP 4GB RAM| 2.0 GHz CD iMac 2GB RAM | 2.53 GHz Mini Server 4 GB RAM


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