iBook Aspect Ratio With Widescreen TV

afro_puff · 01-28-2004, 03:44 AM

I just got a little 15" Samsung widescreen HDTV with PC input on the back. I have a G5 and 802.11g network in the house and I recently (yesterday for that matter) just picked up a G4 iBook. I want to have the HDTV connected to the iBook via VGA so I can stream movies over the network to my iBook and display them on my HDTV in the other room. The only problem is that there are no 'zoom' options in PC mode, only TV mode. So my only options are 'normal' (black bars on the sides) or 'wide' which just stretches the normal image across the widescreen display.

I want to stream all my movies which are widescreen but have them play in full widescreen as well. So basically the idea I had was that maybe I could trick the iBook into using a 16:9 resolution so that when it does play on my TV in wide mode it would actually be the full mode. That was just MY idea though, if there is anything else I could do (aside from reencoding my movies to anamorphic when they aren't) I would be willing to give it a go.

Another possible option would be if there was a VGA to component video adaptor that I could buy. But I want to reduce the number of cables (and transitions) the video has to take before it gets to the monitor so a down and dirty hack would be nice

mclbruce · 01-28-2004, 08:51 PM

There's a hack that will enable screen spanning on the G4 iBook. Perhaps that will help. It's definitely down and dirty, as you requested :-)

http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/...ningDoctor.sit

afro_puff · 01-28-2004, 09:04 PM

That certainly is pretty dirty, but I was hoping more to hack the current resolution and just have the mirrored image be the same as the hacked one.

I did find a program called "DisplayConfigX" which appears to allow very funky resolutions (both smaller and larger). I tried using it with my G5 setup to test and it wouldn't let me actually use any of the resolutions. I'm sure that i just didn't use it properly though. I'm about to move in a few days so once I get everything unpacked properly I will put it on my iBook and start some tests. They even go in depth about HDTV resolutions and how to output/convert your screen to these resolutions so I will attempt that when everything is unpacked!

eliahoo · 07-05-2004, 09:35 PM

Hey, I'm trying to find information about hooking up my mac to my HDTV set using component video. Looks like custom resolutions are required. Any more information about your attempt?

afro_puff · 07-05-2004, 10:07 PM

There is a DVI to Component adaptor that is available, I am not sure if it works without drivers, etc. I believe it comes (or works with) the Radeon 9800. I think its like 30 bucks or something. Again, I didn't test that out before so I'm not sure if it will work.

If your HDTV is 4x3 then you don't need a custom resolution, if it is 16x9 then you would need to do a 1280x720 (720i) or 1920x1080 (1080i) and then use the "Wide" option on your TV to stretch the image. That should work. It won't look perfect but it will work.

01-28-2004, 03:44 AM	#1
afro_puff Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2002 Location: NYC & Boston, MA Posts: 303	iBook Aspect Ratio With Widescreen TV I just got a little 15" Samsung widescreen HDTV with PC input on the back. I have a G5 and 802.11g network in the house and I recently (yesterday for that matter) just picked up a G4 iBook. I want to have the HDTV connected to the iBook via VGA so I can stream movies over the network to my iBook and display them on my HDTV in the other room. The only problem is that there are no 'zoom' options in PC mode, only TV mode. So my only options are 'normal' (black bars on the sides) or 'wide' which just stretches the normal image across the widescreen display. I want to stream all my movies which are widescreen but have them play in full widescreen as well. So basically the idea I had was that maybe I could trick the iBook into using a 16:9 resolution so that when it does play on my TV in wide mode it would actually be the full mode. That was just MY idea though, if there is anything else I could do (aside from reencoding my movies to anamorphic when they aren't) I would be willing to give it a go. Another possible option would be if there was a VGA to component video adaptor that I could buy. But I want to reduce the number of cables (and transitions) the video has to take before it gets to the monitor so a down and dirty hack would be nice __________________ ..// afro_puff //..

01-28-2004, 09:04 PM	#3
afro_puff Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2002 Location: NYC & Boston, MA Posts: 303	That certainly is pretty dirty, but I was hoping more to hack the current resolution and just have the mirrored image be the same as the hacked one. I did find a program called "DisplayConfigX" which appears to allow very funky resolutions (both smaller and larger). I tried using it with my G5 setup to test and it wouldn't let me actually use any of the resolutions. I'm sure that i just didn't use it properly though. I'm about to move in a few days so once I get everything unpacked properly I will put it on my iBook and start some tests. They even go in depth about HDTV resolutions and how to output/convert your screen to these resolutions so I will attempt that when everything is unpacked! __________________ ..// afro_puff //..

07-05-2004, 10:07 PM	#5
afro_puff Major Leaguer Join Date: May 2002 Location: NYC & Boston, MA Posts: 303	There is a DVI to Component adaptor that is available, I am not sure if it works without drivers, etc. I believe it comes (or works with) the Radeon 9800. I think its like 30 bucks or something. Again, I didn't test that out before so I'm not sure if it will work. If your HDTV is 4x3 then you don't need a custom resolution, if it is 16x9 then you would need to do a 1280x720 (720i) or 1920x1080 (1080i) and then use the "Wide" option on your TV to stretch the image. That should work. It won't look perfect but it will work. __________________ ..// afro_puff //..

01-28-2004, 08:51 PM	#2
mclbruce Hall of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 3,878	There's a hack that will enable screen spanning on the G4 iBook. Perhaps that will help. It's definitely down and dirty, as you requested :-) http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/...ningDoctor.sit

07-05-2004, 09:35 PM	#4
eliahoo Prospect Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2	Hey, I'm trying to find information about hooking up my mac to my HDTV set using component video. Looks like custom resolutions are required. Any more information about your attempt?