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I've got a mac with a firewire port but no HDMI port. I want to connect it to my HDTV. I've done this many times with a PC via HDMI and Svideo, but I'm not sure how to connect my new MacBook Pro to my HDTV. Any ideas?
user4941
Posted 2010-03-14T00:46:32.370
Reputation: 947
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The latest MacBook Pros have a DisplayPort video output (technically a Mini DisplayPort). Matt's answer should help describe how to convert this to HDMI for connecting to an HDTV.
To answer whether or not FireWire can be used to to connect to an HDTV, HDMI is designed to transfer HD video and audio, but FireWire is not really suitable for this. In terms of bandwidth, FireWire can provide (almost) up to 800Mbit/s. But 720p video has approximately 1280 x 720 = 921600 pixels per frame, which requires about 22.1 Mbits (assuming 24 bits per pixel). At a modest 30 frames per second, you need approximately 664 Mbit/s of bandwidth (not including audio) - close to the maximum bandwidth of FireWire 800. The bandwidth of HDMI and DisplayPort can vary, but is at least several GBit/s.
sblair
Posted 2010-03-14T00:46:32.370
Reputation: 12 231
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maybe this video may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvQrQqKRDpM
Depends on how new your Macbook is.
I have a older one with DVI out, so I just bought a DVI to HDMI cable. But the new Macbooks need a conversion, this video covers that conversion.
Good Luck!
Matt Fisher
Posted 2010-03-14T00:46:32.370
Reputation: 89