How to Use a Mac Mini With a TV
With any luck, your Mac Mini will hook up, no muss no fuss, to a high-definition TV using the very same VGA cable you currently use to connect it to a monitor. Once you have hooked up your television, you've done the hard part. You'll be able to play online TV shows, iTunes shows and YouTube videos and turn your Mini into a home theater.
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Instructions
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1
Check the computer input on the back of your high-definition TV, usually labeled PC IN. It is often a female VGA input, made of blue plastic and ringed with metal with 15 holes across three staggered rows.
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2
Turn off the Mac Mini. Disconnect the Mac Mini from its monitor. Leave the Apple-provided DVI to VGA monitor cable in the monitor slot on the Mini.
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3
Place the Mac Mini to the side of the television so the free end of the DVI to VGA cable is within reach of the connection hardware on the back of the TV.
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4
Slide the VGA 15-pin male connector at the free end of the monitor cable into the TV's PC IN slot and tighten the thumbscrews.
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5
Connect an optical mini-plug cable from the Mini's audio output to a digital input on your home theater receiver.
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Use your TV's remote to change the video signal source, often designated by INPUT, to PC. Change your home theater audio source to AUX or whatever matches the input you have selected.
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7
Turn on the Mac Mini. Its desktop will display on your TV screen.
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Tips & Warnings
You can purchase a DVI to HDMI cable and run the HDMI end into an HDMI slot if available on your TV. Check first to see if you have sufficient HDMI inputs; you may already have high-definition cable and high-definition DVD players taking up two of the inputs.
For older analog TVs, use the Apple DVI to Video Adapter to connect your Mac Mini to any S-video or composite-enabled device.
