Comments on: Boldly Going Plasma!

By: billsimmon

billsimmon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:17:30 +0000

I’m afraid you’re doubly wrong on this one, Alex. First of all, HDMI essentially *is* DVI with a different connector. The HDMI port carries audio and DVI doesn’t, but the encoded video is completely compatible between the connections as far as the ones and zeros are concerned. I have a DVI-HDMI connector hooked up now from the mac mini and it looks great.

Secondly, VGA is not digital, it’s an analog video standard.

I’m doing a bunch of re-tweaking on Saturday and I’ll try the VGA port and see if I notice an image difference.

By: Alex C

Alex C — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:30:13 +0000

Bill, the Mac doesn’t do HDMI very well. You can’t actually buy an HDMI adapter from Apple. Use DVI for the computer… or even VGA; it’s digital too and just fine.

By: billsimmon

billsimmon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:07:27 +0000

Therem, there is a VGA plug, but since DVI and HDMI are actually the same video standard (HDMI just carries audio too), I prefer to keep that signal clean and not convert it. It’s a good thought though, and maybe I’ll give it a try and see how it looks.

By: Therem

Therem — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:23:05 +0000

Does your new TV have a VGA plug? If so, you should be able to connect the Mac that way, and the video will still look great.

As for cables, if it were me, I would order them from Newegg.com or PC Connection. They usually have good pricing and cheap and fast shipping.

By: BenMac

BenMac — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:40:29 +0000

I probably have some optical cables kicking around, depending on what you need.

For CAT-5, I would suggest going to “the Shack” and picking up a spool and some connectors. That way, you get exactly the length you need.

If you don’t really care about that, new egg has great prices on cabling.