# Mac mavens: Mini HDMI-\>HDMI cable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511 "2007-01-03T04:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511/1 "2007-01-03T04:12:00Z")
I am a little ashamed to be asking about this as I should darn well know how to do this, but I am stuck, and relatively new to Macs (first one) so I will swallow my pride and confess my lack of computer omniscience or at least patience! Here goes: I am trying to use my new Samsung 19" HDTV as a second monitor with my iMac Dual Core 20". Not for close work, but to throw up video and screenshots for others in the room to see. The IMac has a mini HDMI plug and the Samsung has a regular HDMI. The “Genius Bar” was no help, they said “Yeah, the cable is over there”, but all they had was crappy mini HDMI -\> VGA/composite. Yuck. Fry’s, nothing, Google hasn’t helped. Surely there is suchathing? I was assured the computer had enough video memory to support the second monitor when I bought it at the Apple Store™, as it was always in my plan for the thing. I have been playing with the sliders and it seems like it will achieve the resolutions I need to run both monitors without problem. I hope I have provided enough info, and mega doper thanks in advance for anyone with a link to suchathing! ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511/2 "2007-01-03T04:20:05Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] I am a little ashamed to be asking about this as I should darn well know how to do this, but I am stuck, and relatively new to Macs (first one) so I will swallow my pride and confess my lack of computer omniscience or at least patience! Here goes: I am trying to use my new Samsung 19" HDTV as a second monitor with my iMac Dual Core 20". Not for close work, but to throw up video and screenshots for others in the room to see. The IMac has a mini HDMI plug and the Samsung has a regular HDMI. The “Genius Bar” was no help, they said “Yeah, the cable is over there”, but all they had was crappy mini HDMI -\> VGA/composite. Yuck. Fry’s, nothing, Google hasn’t helped. Surely there is suchathing? I was assured the computer had enough video memory to support the second monitor when I bought it at the Apple Store™, as it was always in my plan for the thing. I have been playing with the sliders and it seems like it will achieve the resolutions I need to run both monitors without problem. I hope I have provided enough info, and mega doper thanks in advance for anyone with a link to suchathing! [/QUOTE] I think there’s a little confusion here. The port on your iMac is a mini-DVI port, which is non-standard. You want the mini-DVI to DVI dongle to give the iMac a standard DVI port. Then, you use a DVI to HDMI adapter. HDMI and DVI aren’t exactly the same thing. DVI is for video, HDMI is a DVI signal and an audio signal that travels over the same cable. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511/3 "2007-01-03T04:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cleophus] I think there’s a little confusion here. The port on your iMac is a mini-DVI port, which is non-standard. You want the mini-DVI to DVI dongle to give the iMac a standard DVI port. Then, you use a DVI to HDMI adapter. HDMI and DVI aren’t exactly the same thing. DVI is for video, HDMI is a DVI signal and an audio signal that travels over the same cable. [/QUOTE] So does that mean that DVI is a subset of HDMI? That seems like it would work. Where would I get such a dongle? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511/4 "2007-01-03T04:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] So does that mean that DVI is a subset of HDMI? That seems like it would work. Where would I get such a dongle? Thanks! [/QUOTE] More or less. The HDMI spec is designed to be backwards compatible with DVI. Amazon has a selection of cables and adapters, search on “dvi hdmi”. Stay away from the Monster cables, they’re way overpriced and don’t do anything special when compared with a more reasonably priced cable. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-mavens-mini-hdmi-hdmi-cable/386511/5 "2007-01-03T04:36:56Z")
Actually it is [this TV](http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNS1952WXXAA.asp?page=Specifications). It seems to have a DVI in. Apple has the product. Sorry if I let my omniscience slip there for a moment. I feel as if I let Cecil down. Thanks Cleophus. Yeah, I know about “Monster Markup” cables. I wuz born with a voltmeter in my hand.