Reviews for Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adaptor

After reading the helpful reviews, i did alot of research before buying any cables to hook up my macbook to an HP HDTV. Hopefully the following will help others with connection issues:

Investigate the PC input jack of your HDTV for 3 specifications:

1) TYPE OF DVI INPUT JACK. Most newer models have DVI-I or DVI-D input jacks. there is a difference between the two. you can tell which one you have by referring to your manual. if you don't have the manual, look at the jack itself and compare to pictures (link isn't allowed here, but datapro had clear pictures)

2) DUAL or SINGLE LINK. newer model HDTVs likely have the dual link inputs. refer to your manual or look at the jack and compare to pictures.

3) MALE OR FEMALE. ihad assumed that because the apple mini-DVI to DVI cable had a FEMALE DVI connector end, then my TV must have a MALE input jack. not true. my TV has a FEMALE DVI jack. So by default, I needed an adaptor cable for the mini-DVI to DVI cable.

after this, i determined that i had a DUALLINK DVI-I FEMALE input jack. NOTE that the mini-DVI to DVI cable, not pictured online at apple.com, has a FEMALE DUAL LINK DVI-D connector end.

so I bought the apple mini-DVI to DVI cable & a DVI-D to DVI-D male/male connector cable, connected the cables to their respective hardware input jacks, and it all worked.

FYI, i got the DVI-D to DVI-D male/male connector cable instead of a DVI-D to DVI-I male/male connector cable, because i couldn't find the latter. Luckily, because my TV had a FEMALE input jack, it could take a DVI-D male (just the way the input jacks are designed).

Hope this helps.

For all you guys who think it would be nice to have a 40-inch monitor so you could surf the Web from the comfort of your living room couch using your wireless keyboard & mouse, here’s how I did it.

I connected my new iMac to my Samsung LN-S4095D 40-inch LCD HDTV as follows:
I connected a Mini-DVI to DVI adapter (part number M9321G/B at Apple’s retail store - $19.00) to my iMac’s Mini-DVI port at one end, and the other end to a 2 meter (6.6 feet) XTREME HD HDMI to DVI cable (part number TL952LL/A at Apple’s retail store - $19.95). Naturally, the other end of the HDMI cable got plugged into one of the HDMI/DVI In jacks on the back of my Samsung HDTV. Unlike some of the previous comments I’ve read, small text was crystal clear – probably because my HDTV has 1080P resolution. .

I rented the standard (not Hi Def) Michael Clayton movie from iTunes and found the resolution to be very good - DVD quality. I know the cables are transmitting a good signal from my iMac to my HDTV, as for months I’ve been recording HD programs on my iMac by pulling them out of the air with a $19 indoor antenna attached to an EyeTV-Hybrid, then watching them on my iMac. I can now watch those recorded programs on my 40” HDTV. And be assured, the resolution is just as good as if I were watching the HD broadcast live on a my HDTV. The only minor problem I had while watching my first downloaded iTunes movie was that the sound came from my iMac, not my HDTV. I knew this would be happening, as the Mini-DVI to DVI adapter is actually a DVI-D adapter, which doesn’t capture the sound. (The “D” stands for Data.) The next morning I went to Radio Shack and bought a 6-ft Y-Adapter Audio Cable (Part Number 42-2552, price $7.99), connected it to my iMac’s “Headphone Out/optical digital audio out port” at one end, and to my “DVI IN R-Audio-L” jack on the back of my HDTV. I watched Michael Clayton again, and thought I died and was in heaven. Both picture and sound were perfect.

I spend a lot of time researching what was needed to make this all happen. I hope my positing saves you a little time.

This adapter is great and offers excellent picture quality to a High Definition TV when used with a DVI to HDMI cable. However, Apple should eliminate the need for that extra cable, and just create an adapter from Mini DVI to HDMI. There is a large percentage of Apple customers who own High Definition TV's with HDMI inputs, and there should be a direct adapter from the computer to the TV.

I bought this and a generic DVI to HDMI cable to hook my HDTV up to my laptop. I was amazed by how simple it was. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Plug everything together.
2. Instant 1080i output to the TV, it even knew it was a Sony TV.

I am giving this 5 stars to augment all the morons that gave it one.

If you buy this adapter be sure your cable and monitor will plug into the DVI-D plug on it's end. The DVI-D is lacking the holes for the 4 pins near the wide flat connector and the wide flat connector is narrow compared to a standard DVI connector. This connector difference WILL NOT allow a standard 29 pin DVI plug to connect. The adapter should be great if it fits your monitor, I thought I could keep some options open and save $20 by using this connector with a DVI to VGA adapter, NOPE! I even contacted Apple tech support to be sure it would work before I bought and they couldn't give me an answer other than "it should" (and in reality "it didn't"). I give it 1 star because there was no reason Apple should have used the less common DVI-D connector on this, for $20 we should receive a full blown standard DVI connector.

I use this adapter to connect my 2008 MacBook to a "DVI to HDMI Adapter" which then connects to my HDTV. The product works great and I've never had a problem getting it to display everything properly on my TV. However, the connection from the "Mini DVI to DVI Adapter" to my MacBooks Mini DVI port is very poor (it's not a tight connection)...it can easily be knocked or pulled out. I just wish Apple would have made the connection more solid, other than that it works great.

The packaging on this product says, "Mini-DVI to DVI adapter". So, you'd think that means you can connect it to a DVI cable or device, right? Wrong-o, incompatibility breath. The DVI connector (female) consists of a grid of holes and a flat blade opening, but that blade opening is too narrow to accommodate the wider pin blade found on some other DVI items, such as, by golly, the Apple-branded DVI-to-VGA cable!

Another commenter on this page mentioned that DVI has variations, but such subtleties are ***NOWHERE* to be found in the labeling on the package for this cable.

So, one Apple DVI cable (male) cannot connect to another Apple DVI cable (female)!!!! And there is nothing on the packaging that warns you? What the hey, Apple?

What REALLY ticks me off is that I bought this at the Apple Store (Old Orchard, IL) where TWO different Apple people told me that this cable is just what I needed so as to provide the flexibility of either mini-DVI to DVI (with this cable alone) or mini-DVI to VGA (in conjunction with the DVI-to-VGA cable I already had). Grrrrrr!

Now another hour wasted going back to the Apple Store to return this cable.

I rate this one star because of lack of transparency. For the record this is DVI-D which means it can do only digital. That is all fine and good, but should be advertised as such. It is not simple DVI nor is it DVI-I (which would be capable of doing anything and would make sense to use if you are advertising DVI) instead it is DVI-D. What does that mean? Well it means that it will work perfectly if you are connecting it to a monitor or projector that is Digital using DVI-D connections. If you have monitors or projectors that have analog VGA connections and you want to use a converter to DVI you are out of luck.

Apple could have saved you from having to purchase two connectors. Obviously you could purchase both the DVI and the VGA, but you shouldn't have to. If they had made this DVI-I than all would be well with a simple VGA-DVI converter. I don't have a problem with Apple doing this, but I do have a problem with Apple not being transparent about this. Apple put it in your tech specs that it is DVI-D. I shouldn't have to read about this in the comments

The packaging for this product says NOTHING about what type of DVI connector (I, D, or whatever) this thing has. Now I have to kill another hour going to CompUSA. To the folks talking about "People's lack of good sense and poor computer component shopping skills," how the heck are you supposed to know this is DVI-D when all it says is DVI???? Apple, give us a little warning next time, please!!!!!

I give two thumbs down to Apple for making such a ridiculous number of ports and adaptors. I got this cable and dodged the first bullet, which was connecting it to the DVI cable on my monitor. BUT, the mini-dvi end does not work on my MacPro. APPLE has two different kinds of mini-dvi ports!