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tidyguy
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Joined: 14 Jul 2009
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 Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:49 am Post subject: DVI to HDMI out. What cables are you using? |
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Is anyone else using a cheapy £5-7 DVI to HDMI cable from their mini to their HD tv?
Anyone worried about the poor quality we might be getting because of this?
Can anyone recommend some good quality DVI - HDMI leads as I'm pretty sure performance could be better. |
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dannyv45
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:20 am Post subject: Re: DVI to HDMI out. What cables are you using? |
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| tidyguy wrote: | Is anyone else using a cheapy £5-7 DVI to HDMI cable from their mini to their HD tv?
Anyone worried about the poor quality we might be getting because of this?
Can anyone recommend some good quality DVI - HDMI leads as I'm pretty sure performance could be better. |
Can't beat these for quality and price.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2404&seq=1&format=2
I as well as many other forum members use these.
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tidyguy
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MST
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BarryV
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Joined: 04 Jul 2009
Posts: 10
Location: New Orleans
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| Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:22 am Post subject: |
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I recently picked up a mini display port-to-HDMI converter on Ebay for $11.99US and a 3 foot HDMI-HDMI cable for $6.99US. I'm editing 720p HD in Final Cut and quality seems very good on my 23" Samsung.
I don't see why anyone in their right mind would spend $75 or more for an HDMI cable at Best Buy or other retail stores.
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YesHD
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Joined: 15 May 2009
Posts: 100
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| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:36 am Post subject: |
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| Is anyone here using the Mini DisplayPort male to HDMI male cables from Monoprice? I'm not even sure if they have started to ship yet. These will work with the '09 Mac mini, right? I'm not crazy about how my adapter is hanging from behind. I'm also thinking the direct cable may also be better for picture quality and/or lengthy runs. |
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dannyv45
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:48 am Post subject: |
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| YesHD wrote: | | Is anyone here using the Mini DisplayPort male to HDMI male cables from Monoprice? I'm not even sure if they have started to ship yet. These will work with the '09 Mac mini, right? I'm not crazy about how my adapter is hanging from behind. I'm also thinking the direct cable may also be better for picture quality and/or lengthy runs. |
These cables are not so great. 32AWG is a very thin cable that will limit the cable run. The 3' cable may be ok but for a longer run I would suggest the mini displayport DVI/HDMI adapter and a good cable like a 28AWG CL2 cert for 6 - 12' and a 24AWG CL2 Cert for up to 25'. Anything longer use 22AWG and a DVI/HDMI externder/repeater may be required. If you use DVI make sure its duel link. If HDMI make sure it meets the HDMI 1.3 standard.
These cables you refer to have not started to ship yet.
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jplan
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:42 am Post subject: HDMI Cable Length |
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I am using Mac Mini (2009) as an HTPC. I purchased a 60 Ft 26 awg HDMI cable and a powered HDMI extender from Octava. The Mini works fine on a short cable, but if I go to the 60 Ft cable it does not work. If I reboot the machine the Apple splash screen appears, then when the desktop attempts to show I loose the signal and nothing shows up on my screen. I am using a 55" Vizio. As a side note, my Fios box and Samsung surround work fine on the 60 Ft setup. I was running 10.5.7 and updated to 10.5.8 - didn't make a difference.
The setup is mini DVI>DVI cable>DVI>HDMI Adaptor.
Any ideas on how to resolve this issue? |
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dannyv45
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:18 pm Post subject: Re: HDMI Cable Length |
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| jplan wrote: | I am using Mac Mini (2009) as an HTPC. I purchased a 60 Ft 26 awg HDMI cable and a powered HDMI extender from Octava. The Mini works fine on a short cable, but if I go to the 60 Ft cable it does not work. If I reboot the machine the Apple splash screen appears, then when the desktop attempts to show I loose the signal and nothing shows up on my screen. I am using a 55" Vizio. As a side note, my Fios box and Samsung surround work fine on the 60 Ft setup. I was running 10.5.7 and updated to 10.5.8 - didn't make a difference.
The setup is mini DVI>DVI cable>DVI>HDMI Adaptor.
Any ideas on how to resolve this issue? |
It sounds more like a resolution problem then a cabling problem just for the fact that you are getting the apple splash screen at startup. But just in case I'll advise on resolution as well as cable solutions.
Firstly I would go into safe mode and set your resolution to one that is compatable with the visio. If the visio is only 720P set the mini to 1280x720. If its 1080i set the mini to 1920x1080i if its 1080p set the mini to 1920x1080 60HZ or 30HZ. If none of those work try different resolutions until you find one that works.
A good way to approch this is if you have another Mac or a PC install a VNC client on the PC such as
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/
Then you can remote into the mini from the spare MAc/PC and make all the adjustments you want without having to restart into safe mode to reset each time you make a change.
If playing with the resolution does not help, then your situation could be similure to mine. I'm currently running via mini displayport to HDMI->25' HDMI cable run->hdmi to DVI adapter to a DVI KVM switch.
I get snow then it displays the desktop correctly for about 1 second then back to snow.
I suspect in my case that the signal is being degraded because the cable is a low quality 28awg. I ordered a new DVI (24awg) cable which will be delivered today.
I will be setting it up as follows:
mini DVI to DVI->25' cable run (Eliminating the HDMI to DVI adapter) directly into the KVM.
In your case you may be also getting a degraded signal from the 60' cable. I would also suspect that the HDMI extender could be at fault. I was only able to find details on the non-powered version of your extender. It would be helpful if you can provide a link to the specs on the one you purchased. This one is one of the best powered extenders but is very expensive.
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=5000
Thats a lot of money to spend on the chance that it may or may not correct the problem.
An obvious question would be. Are you connecting the extender correctly?
The extenders are polorized for source and link. Make sure its connected correctly
Source side connects to the end of the 60" run (not connected to the MINI) the other side of the extender (link) connects to the monitor via the shortest HDMI cable you could find.
If you are connected correctly then:
An inexpensive start to solving this problem would be to try shortening the cable run if possible and use a higher quality cable such as a 22awg cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023101&p_id=2751&seq=1&format=2
The concern with this cable is its very thick and would eliminate a run under a rug.
Also if at all possible GO DVI and not HDMI.
Keep us posted.
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philiparcario
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Joined: 19 Jun 2006
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Location: Howell NJ USA
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dannyv45
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:27 am Post subject: |
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Update
I finaly had success. I got the new 25' DVI cable in and hooked it up and to my surprise this did'nt work. I still had the same snow to desktop to snow flashing. Suspecting the KVM switch I by-passed it and went directly to the monitor and I got a perfect picture. At this point I suspected the KVM switch was not passing the correct monitor EDID information to the mini so I broke out my old Gefen DVI Detective and placed it just before the KVM switch and it worked. I now have both monitors working perfectly on my original setup which is mini displayport to HDMI->25' 28awg hdmi cable run->DVItoHDMI adapter->DVI Detective->KVM switch.
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jplan
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks danny and phil.
I Screen Shared into the Mini and tried all of the resolutions and no joy.
I am going to try a Mini-DVI > HDMI adaptor to try to eliminate the Mini-DVI>DVI > HDMI adaptor I have installed. Does anybody have input on Mini Display port > HDMI Vs. Mini-DVI port> HDMI adaptor. When I was at the Apple Retail store the sales person mentioned something about the Mini Display port being able to block some movies if they weren't purchased properly. I have no desire to do this, but don't want any of my movies blocked or have trouble because of this.
danny as you mentioned most problems are simple ones and the connection polarity is correct, although in the very beginning it was not.
Below is the link for the extender. The one they sold me IS a powered unit unlike what they describe on the website.
http://www.octavainc.com/HDMI%20extender.htm
Is there an advantage to run DVI cable instead of HDMI? I am sending back my 60' and getting a 50 ', so I can purchase either one. |
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dannyv45
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Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 647
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| Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 10:42 am Post subject: |
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Well the biggest recommendations that I've received was Minidvi to DVI but after I resolved my problem I tried both minidisplay to HDMI via a DVI adapter and minidvi to dvi and I found both to work equally as well.
But take into account the problem I had with DVI to HDMI. It could be that HDMI adapter is not passing the EDID information correctly so I would recommend going straight DVI if possible.
Another though is that you said the white apple splash screen is showing so I would assume monitor information (EDID) is getting to the mini so I would assume the problem is signal strenth. So a shorter cable does sound like the correct course of action but even at 50' I think a booster is going to be nessessary.
.
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jplan
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:20 pm Post subject: Fixed! |
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I finally found the issue. The HDMI 5 input on my Vizio 55" tv was not processing the signal properly. When I switched to another input it worked perfectly and without the booster! So either the HDMI 5 input bad or not supposed to be used with a longer cable.
Thank you all for your help and input. |
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rnelson5
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Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:39 am Post subject: Re: Fixed! |
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| jplan wrote: | I finally found the issue. The HDMI 5 input on my Vizio 55" tv was not processing the signal properly. When I switched to another input it worked perfectly and without the booster! So either the HDMI 5 input bad or not supposed to be used with a longer cable.
Thank you all for your help and input. |
ok. i Have a vizio 55 inch also and i was wondering what your final
setup is ? cables ?
i am planing to get a macmini and run almost a 100ft of hdmi cable. |
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