[chucker]

I have a Core 1 Duo MacBook Pro and an Acer AT3705-MGW LCD TV. I also have a DVI cable left over from my Dell screen.

The TV has a wide array of inputs, including DVI and HDMI, and as you probably know, the MBP directly has an DVI output to its side. So I can take two cables, one line audio and one DVI, and directly connect the MBP to the TV. This works almost perfectly, but there are some minor issues:
1) the DVI cable is so short that the MBP has to be much closer to the TV (let's say about 3 feet) than the audience should be (say, 10 feet). This means that to control the MBP (and therefore, what's on screen), I either have to use some remote control (e.g., the Apple Remote, or a wireless keyboard or mouse, or another computer entirely), or walk to the MBP back and forth.
2) the audio cable is more than long enough, and audio quality isn't much of an issue either, but having two separate cables is annoying.
3) the TV is 1080p, but through this mode, I only get 1080i (among several p resolutions). This appears to be a firmware limitation of the TV, though.

Now, an HDMI cable would, it appears, fix all three issues in one go. I could buy it to be long enough, it would always include the audio signal, and it appears the firmware problem doesn't apply to that input either.

Except, of course, that the MBP doesn't have an HDMI output. Now, it probably wouldn't be hard to find a DVI to HDMI adapter with either a long DVI cable or a long HDMI cable (or even a long DVI to HDMI cable with no adapter).

But what about sound? Is there such a thing as an adapter or short cable (say, 1 or 2 feet) from audio (analog will do, though optical would of course even be nicer) and video (DVI) to HDMI? Has anyone done anything remotely like this? Is there another decent solution that I'm not thinking of?

[Gargoyle]

I drive my Samsung using a VGA cable and a miniDVI to VGA adaptor. The TV is driven at it's native res of 1366 x 768 and I use a separate audio cable to my sounds system. It's a little messy but I don't use it often (Just for watching Heroes with VLC at the mo).

However, I do plan on getting a dedicated media computer, probably a Mac Mini, but I might also make my own linux based system. I would like to use a better permanent solution.

It seems that most DVI + Audio to HDMI converters seem to be external boxes, and I would rarther stick with 2 cables than have another box and another power brick!

Also, does HDMI drive the TV at it's native res (like vga) or does it convert the signal to a HD res (720p for example)?

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle It seems that most DVI + Audio to HDMI converters seem to be external boxes, and I would rarther stick with 2 cables than have another box and another power brick!

Yeah. Meh. Guess I'll just get a longer DVI cable and some HDMI adapter.

Also, does HDMI drive the TV at it's native res (like vga) or does it convert the signal to a HD res (720p for example)?

The DVI input allows up to 1080i; the HDMI input up to 1080p. So, no conversion; the MacBook Pro directly lets me set what resolution I want.