Is it possible to get display scaling in Sonoma?

The issue is that the OP is being offered

• Non-Retina 3840x2160 mode
• Non-Retina 1920x1080 mode

but not

• Retina "like 1920x1080" mode, where the Mac draws in fine detail on a 3840x2160 canvas

I would have thought that a Mac mini (2018) would have been able to support the latter. If you assume that it is the internal canvas resolution that has to be within the hardware limit, a 3840x2160 canvas would appear to be within a 2018 Mac mini's limit for either Thunderbolt / USB-C or HDMI output.

Mac mini (2018) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

Something like this is what the OP was hoping to see. Note the difference between the "Resolution:" line and the "UI Looks like:" line.

Granted, this is on a M1 Max Mac Studio running Sequoia, but I saw the same display under Ventura.

There are two things that I would suggest that the OP double-check:

• Whether the OP is selecting the preferred 1920x1080 option. if one is displaying all resolutions, as a list, and there are two 1920x1080 options, it is likely that one of them is a desirable Retina one, while the other is plain old 1920x1080. (If there is a "(low resolution)" in the name, it is definitely plain old 1920x1080.)
• Whether the OP is refreshing the System Information screen (File > Refresh Information or Command-R) as necessary. If System Information is open, and you change Displays Settings, the System Information screen does not automatically refresh itself to reflect the change. You've got to ask it to do a refresh.

MartinR wrote:

It's possible that I do not completely understand the difference between a monitor vs. my Sony Bravia TV ... but it seems to me that the only real difference is that the TV has a tuner and a monitor doesn't .

TV sets are often tuned for high "punch" (contrast, brightness) at the expense of color accuracy.

HDMI computer monitors often use RGB color encoding. HDMI TV sets often use YCbCr color encoding. In the past, Macs would sometimes make bad assumptions about the color encoding scheme for a HDMI TV set – and colors would then come out wrong.

But I'm not sure how those differences would explain these symptoms.

macOS had scaling options prior to Sonoma. Here's what it looked like in System Preferences > Displays:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/c3f832fb-b596-45c0-9cc3-f1f68146e5e0

This no longer exists in Sonoma, not even the "Scaled" button. I'd like to be able to set something like the "Larger Text" option while using 4K resolution.

I believe that your 2018 Mac mini can run Sequoia – so what happens if you upgrade to it?

This might be a bit "out of the frying pan and into the fire", so you could install Sequoia on a spare external drive if you just wanted to see what would happen with committing to the upgrade.

Sorry, I'm missing the point. The default resolution is always whatever it is. Anything else is scaled. As far as the difference you see, you are showing a Sony TV, the other shows an LG Ultrafine monitor, so what is reported would be different.

MartinR wrote:

I had selected "display all resolutions as a list." There is only one 1920x1080 option and it is called "1920x1080 (default)• ." If you think a screenshot would help, let me know.

I'll take your word for it.

How are you connecting the Mac mini to the TV set? HDMI to HDMI would be the obvious way, but now I am wondering if you might get a better selection of Display Settings with a USB-C (DisplayPort) to HDMI cable. (Especially if the 4K TV set is the only display connected via USB-C.)

Your Mac mini can drive one 5K monitor over Thunderbolt – at the cost of reducing the maximum number of displays you can have from three to two. It's hard to imagine not using an Apple 27" 5K Studio Display in the Retina "like 2560x1440" mode. So just maybe, there is some sort of allocation of internal resources for that machine that favors a USB-C to HDMI adapter over a HDMI to HDMI cable.

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Or maybe it is something about the TV being a TV. Or the Mini being so old that it supports 4K, but only in a "native 4K resolution" way. If you could find someone else – with a 2018 Mac mini – who had a 4K monitor connected via HDMI to HDMI or USB-C to HDMI, it might be useful to compare notes.

MartinR wrote:

I have been using a good quality HDMI 2.0 (18Gbps, YUV 4:4:4) cable to connect the mini to the TV.

I'm going to try my USB-C to DVI adapter + DVI-HDMI cable just to see if there is any difference.

I checked the specs for the Bravia & did a little calculating. The screen appears to be 90.95 ppi, which is not HiDPI (retina) ... and that may be the reason I get only one option for 1920x1080.

Your TV definitely does not have Retina-level PPI. That could be it.

That assumes that the Mac has some way of knowing, or guessing at, the physical size of your TV screen. I am assuming that the Displays {Preferences/Settings} options for all Apple displays take physical size into account. My working assumption for non-Apple displays had been that the Mac simply did not know the size – and thus offered choices based on an educated guess that it should offer Retina modes for displays with a resolution of 3840x2160 (UHD 4K resolution) or higher.

I wonder if using a third party utility like BetterDisplay (free) or SwitchResX (shareware with a free 10-day trial) may offer other display resolutions. It is probably worth a try.

I have to ask: how are you using a 49" screen with your mac, in terms of your seating relative to the screen?

There is a good reason the dpi is low, it's because of the sheer size and of the distance one typically would view it, which is typically much bigger than what we usually are away from a computer monitor.

TVs are not necessarily just displays with a tuner. Televisions are optimized for video content for TV shows & movies, not for regular computing devices.

Some TVs may automatically perform the video scaling, while others may provide customization options on how scaling of input is performed, if at all. Some TVs even if they offer a scaling option, may apply it to all inputs instead of specific inputs.

Even the better TV manufacturers are no longer focused on user features, but rather focused on how to provide more advertisements and ways to getting your personal information. At best they are focusing on streaming content through the TV's own apps in order to capitalize on ads & info.

I've never thought of my TV as a display with a tuner. It is nice that I can connect my computer to a TV, but that is all I would expect from a TV in this regards.

MartinR wrote:

Hi Luis,

This is a home theater setup with the mini as the media server - mostly streaming video from assorted sources (DigitalConcertHall, Disney+, iTunes/Apple TV, BBC, other concert venues, YouTube, etc. Skype & Facetime. Video captures using Screenflow. Home media from videocams that I edit in iMovie, Resolve or FCP. (I do the captures & editing on a different Mac, not on the mini.) The mini is what we use for viewing only.

The Sony Bravia TV is a 49" panel that we usually view from 6'-9' distance. I use an Apple wireless keyboard & trackpad to control things. 1080 works fine for this - I can see the onscreen menus & text well enough to control Firefox/Safari, Facetime, Skype, Music, TV & QuickTime. But at 4K the UI is too small to see from that distance. Even up close it's tiny and hard to see.

Thank you.

This is probably fine as it is, but if you are still interested in trying an "HiDPI" resolution, you could still try the BetterDisplay application. I don't have a similar tv, so I cannot test, but at best you get what you asked for, at worst, you will be as you are now.