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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Apple Mac question...monitor out
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Stephen Furley
Film God
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Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 05-01-2009 08:11 AM
As far as the hardware is concerned one problem is that Apple keep changing the sockets; you might have mini-VGA, DVI-I, mini-DVI, micro-DVI or mini-displayport, and that's just in fairly recent models of laptops; if you add older models and desktop/tower machines there are other possibilities such as VGA and ADC. The various mini and micro connectors will need an adaptor to connect to anything. The mini and micro DVI connectors each have three different adaptors, one each to connect to VGA, DVI and composite/S-video. The DVI adaptors convert to DVI-D, so you cannot use another adaptor to connect VGA to this; you need the VGA adaptor if you want VGA. Mini-VGA only has adaptors to VGA and video. I haven't seen the mini-displayport yet, and don't know much about it, but it has it's own range of adaptors. What inputs do you have available on your equipment?
Most of the newer Apple machines can either mirror the display to two screens, or extend it onto a second screen; I've used this mode on my Macbook with a mini-DVI to DVI adaptor to drive a NEC NC-800C digital projector via a Christie Cine IPM without problems. Make sure he brings the appropriate adaptor with him if necessary, since you're unlikely to have one. The Mac should detect the additional display automatically. Go into System Preferences and then display to set the properties. [ 05-01-2009, 09:51 AM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Randy Stankey
Film God
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Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-01-2009 08:27 AM
All Apple laptops ship with a little dongle that plugs into the mini port on the side of the computer.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9320G/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MzE3MDEwMQ
Simply plug that dongle into the computer and connect your video projector or external monitor and you should be good to go. The computer should automatically recognize the device and start working mostly by itself.
The problem is that most people don't know what that little dongle is. They toss that piece aside, never realizing that they might need it. Then they walk in to your office, plop their computer down on your desk and say, "Here! Hook me up!" When you tell them that you can't help them they say, "But I thought Macs were great!?"
This scenario repeats itself virtually on a daily basis where I work. Every time I tell them, "You NEED to bring that little adapter! If you don't you'll be out of luck." Every time, they look at me like it's my fault when I tell them I can't hook them up.
Every Mac laptop that has a mini-DVI port or some other flavor of mini video ships with that adapter. But people always lose them, either because they don't know what it is for or they think they'll never need it.
Moral of the story: If you have a Mac laptop, go find that adapter right now! Put it in a place where you can find it. If you lose it, you'll be up Shit Creek.
I keep mine in the side pouch of my laptop bag. It's still in the original cellophane wrapper.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
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Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 05-01-2009 09:38 AM
Randy,
Not all models come supplied with the adaptors, at least not in this Country. My Macbook didn't come with any; they were optional extras if you wanted to buy them. Some models come with one adaptor, but I don't think any come with all of the available types for that model included.
I've got an almost complete set of adaptors, including the more obscure ones, but not the mini-displayport ones yet. I need them to cope with visitors who occasionally turn up with Apple equipment, but not the adaptor. They're essential, but almost impossible to obtain quickly, unless you happen to have an Apple store nearby.
i-Book was mini-VGA
Powerbook was DVI except for the smallest which was mini-DVI
G4 i-Mac was mini-VGA, I think the G5 one switched from mini-VGA to mini-DVI at some point
Original Macbook was mini-DVI
Original Macbook Pro was dual-link DVI-I
Original Macbook Air was micro-DVI
Current Macbooks including the new Macbook Air are mini-Displayport
I think I've got that right, but I wish Apple would stop this nonsense of silly, non-standard connectors, and changing them with almost every model they bring out.
Then there was the ADC which Apple brought out rather than use standard DVI, it was DVI plus USB plus power on a non-standard connector, and then promptly dropped again. Previously they had a strange thing which carried VGA plus audio plus ADB on another odd connector which only one model of monitor could ever connect to without an adaptor, and the original Apple 15 pin alternative to VGA.
All of these silly connectors are the biggest problem with trying to connect up Apple equipment, and it's not just displays, when they first started supporting Ethernet, rather than use the AUI or BNC connectors which were standard at that time they used an external transceiver, not with the stansard AUI interface, but their own AAUI, with a different connector.
I can see the need for smaller connectors, but the Industry should decide on a standard one, and then everyone stick with it. [ 05-01-2009, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
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Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-02-2009 02:02 AM
If you have a LOT of cash laying around you could move up to an enterprise level BD authoring solution -running Windows. After all, 100% of Blu-ray movie discs from Hollywood studios are authored on awful, icky Windows-based machines.
Sonic Scenarist, Sony Blu-print and Sony Blu-code are the most commonly used professional solutions for creating Hollywood studio Blu-ray discs. They're all exclusively Windows-based. The also-rans out there are also Windows-based.
Bascially this is one hell of a stupid pooch-screw on the part of Jobs and Co. Pride does go before a fall.
There are rumors about that Blu-ray support will finally be announced for the Mac platform at the next Apple Developers Conference in a month. That's by way of some little tidbit about Blu-ray in the "about" credits on a version "8.2" beta of iTunes. Let's hope that it comes true. If Apple continues to hold out on Blu-ray in favor of leveraging crap-tastic ultra compressed to living hell fake HD from iTunes Adobe will catch up and start throttle kicking Apple's skull like Robert DeNiro stomping some "made man" in Goodfellas.
Professional creative people couldn't be made to give a crap about fashion. They only want the best tools to get the job done. When one platform fails to deliver they will eventually jump to another.
The critical thing is that competition continues. As long as Final Cut Studio remains popular the other rivals like Adobe, Avid, Autodesk, etc. will be forced to continually improve their applications and also force Apple to do the same.
quote: Joe Redifer Also I think it can only do MPEG2, which is ass.
The CS4 version supports AVC / MPEG4. [ 05-02-2009, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: Bobby Henderson ]
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