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[n8tehadventurer]

Hello everyone I hope you are having a wonderful evening.  While testing different things with the mac mini G4 I got yesterday I noticed something strange.  I have an ATI DVI to HDMI adapter that I use with my Quicksilver and my modified G4 Sawtooth, but when I use it on the mac mini something different happens.  I have tried it on 4 different monitors with the same results.  The monitors indicate that the HDMI connection is active, but they all say something about no video signal is present.  I don't remember my monitor connector section of Comp127 that well, but I thought that HDMI and DVI are very similar in regards to the video signal they send.  I understand that HDMI includes pins for audio as well, but those aren't necessary to get a signal via HDMI.  Now using the DVI to VGA connector works fine, and I have been using that, but it limits me on what monitors I can pair the unit with since I only have a couple LCD monitors that have VGA any more.  Most of them that I now own have HDMI and DisplayPort.  So I am kind of curious.  Is it that there's some signal missing that my monitor is looking for on the HDMI connector, or is it a bad connector adapter?  It does work on the G4 800 DP Quicksilver and the G4 450 Sawtooth with the GeForce modified video card, which were both earlier machines and earlier cards, so I'm just curious what I am missing or what is missing in regards to using a dvi to hdmi adapter on the Mac Mini?  Thank you for any information you may have.

[joevt]

Audio is not on separate pins in HDMI. Many PCs and GPUs with a DVI port can output audio on that DVI port.

Do you have an other DVI to HDMI adapters? I don't suppose they should be any different.

Maybe you can use screen sharing on the G4 (VNC? or whatever) to see what it thinks is happening with the output resolution of DVI port? Maybe you can use screen sharing to select a different resolution? Maybe try a version of SwitchRes that is compatible with the G4?

[n8tehadventurer]

Unfortunately I don't think I have any other DVI to HDMI adapters at the moment.  I will have to look through some parts boxes and see if I have some hiding out somewhere.  But if I do have them, they will be the ATI made DVI to HDMI adapters I think.  It's a curious thing that the adapter works with the Quicksilver G4 and the Sawtooth G4.  I recall seeing something regarding audio over DVI but I don't think I have ever seen it implemented.  I will check and see if I have any more adapters and I will try them out and see if it's the same result.

[IIO]

do you have the chance to try a VGA to HDMI adapter?

[n8tehadventurer]

do you have the chance to try a VGA to HDMI adapter?

I haven't seen one of those before.  Are those something that I can get from maybe a Microcenter?  Or do I need to order it online from a specialty store?  The DVI to VGA works great, I was just thinking that the picture quality would be a bit better if I stuck to digital video all the way to the logic board in the monitor rather than digital in the machine to analog for the vga cable, then back to digital on the logic board in the monitor.  It just feels like there would be some signal quality loss there.

[IIO]

I haven't seen one of those before.

the analog signal from the G4 mini is of a pretty good quality and fully supports WUXGA with cheap 1.8 meter cables. (unlike the later intel models)

i havent tried those adapters either, but from what i see you must be careful that the correct direction is supported, many products which are called "VGA to HDMI" are made to connect VGA monitors to HDMI outputs.

in electronic stores or ebay there are plently. avoid the goobay crap, then you should be fine.

yes of course, normally using 2 adapters should also be no problem. though i assume you have adapters with cables...

[refinery]

Audio is not on separate pins in HDMI. Many PCs and GPUs with a DVI port can output audio on that DVI port.

Do you have an other DVI to HDMI adapters? I don't suppose they should be any different.

Maybe you can use screen sharing on the G4 (VNC? or whatever) to see what it thinks is happening with the output resolution of DVI port? Maybe you can use screen sharing to select a different resolution? Maybe try a version of SwitchRes that is compatible with the G4?

+1 on all this. it sounds like the adapter is switching to a resolution or sync rate when connected that is not compatible with your display. any of the above suggestions will help you get to the bottom of it.

HDMI audio via DVI adapter won't work on the G4 mini. That wasn't a thing until a couple years later and requires hardware support.

[n8tehadventurer]

Normally I would agree that it is setting the refresh too high, except I get a completely different message than when it's out of sync.  If the refresh is set to high (on this monitor it tops out at 100Hz) then it says out of range.  However the message I am getting is 'no signal present'  The monitor shows that the connection is active, and recognizes there should be something, but it just doesn't find it or doesn't recognize the signal.  I got 3 more DVI to HDMI adapters and tried them.  The same result.  I tried it on every other monitor in the house now, same result.  I am scratching my head.  What's really weird is the Mirror Door G4 DP 800 which the previous owner swapped out the video card for a Radeon card works perfectly fine, and not the Mac Mini which is using a Radeon as well.  I'm just stymied.  For the time being I will continue to use the DVI to VGA adapter and be happy that I get a picture.  Honestly comparing between the DVI-HDMI on the G4 tower and the DVI-VGA on the Mac Mini I can't really see much of a difference.  Just some minor differences in the sharpness of the edges of icons, and that could be down to a number of things and not the video cables.

[joevt]

There's a thread with some info at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-g4-will-not-output-to-hdmi-via-dvi.2206219/

[n8tehadventurer]

Thank you for the link I will read that and see if it's something to do with my settings.