Download and Install SwitchResX for Mac OS

3 Parts:

Video: Download and Install SwitchResX for Mac OS

You're watching VisiHow. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to change the default display for your Mac from the 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio. This will allow you to create TrueHD recordings in the 1920x1080 or a 1280x720 resolutions. This works for all of the Mac computers running OS X Yosemite.

Change Mac display to HD at 1080p or 720p using SwitchResX for Mac OS X Yosemite.mp4-canvas109 12984.jpg

1
To start with, we need to download SwitchResX
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SwitchResX is an application for the Mac. It is a free application for the first 10 days, after which we must purchase it.

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2
Let's move our mouse cursor to the dock to open Google Chrome
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3
We click Google Chrome once to open it
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4
We need to go to the http://www.madrau.com web site
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Madrau is the last name of the person who made the application; hence, the site name. We'll see that SwitchResX offers a number of options and quite a bit of information as well. This information is covered in other VisiHow tutorials. We are looking for the "Download" option.

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5
We click on "Download" one time
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We can see that we have the option to view the "History", "Older versions", "Beta versions", and "Older Tools". The older tools can help if we are running an old Mac. However, in this case, a newer system is run; so, we are simply need to click "Download". We should note, as mentioned previously, that SwitchResX is shareware. This mean that we will be able to have "fully functional software for a period of 10 days." After this period, we will simply not be able to save or define preferences until we enter a code from registering. "SwitchResX is 14 Euro.", which is approximately 20 US dollars.
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6
We need to scroll down to "Try It Out!"
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7
We click on the download link
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The link is in the "Here you can download the latest version of SwitchResX." sentence. We are going to click on "download" now. The download will launch, and we will see that SwitchResX will be loading into the system. It is a very small file, so it does not require a lot of time or space.
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8
Once the application has been downloaded, we either click the little arrow, which will allow us to use the "Show in Finder" function, or simply double-click the application
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In this video, the the application is just double-clicked. We will be taken into the application archive. We will need to unzip it to be given the option to install the SwitchResX preferences pane.

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9
We double-click "SwitchResX.prefPane"
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This will open up the option to install the SwitchResX preferences pane. Mac OS will ask us if we want to install the pane for one user or all of the users. In this case, the pane will be installed for one user, so "Install for this user only" is clicked.
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10
Then click the blue "Install" button
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Once we've clicked install, we will see a pop-up window that will let us know that this is the Internet application. If the security settings are the same as the ones from the video, then we will be asked if we want to see the web page from which the application came.
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11
We can view the web page by clicking "Show Web Page"
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12
We can skip viewing the web page by clicking "Cancel"
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13
We can view the web page by clicking "Open"
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This example will choose "Open." This will open the application. We should note that the window that reads, "SwitchResX", is simply the extension of the preferences pane.
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14
We click on the back arrow
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We will be taken to the "System Preference" panel, where we will be able to see an icon for SwitchResX at the bottom.
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15
We can close the "System Preferences" panel by clicking the black "X" in the red circle at the top-left part of the window
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16
We can also close the "Downloads" panel with the same method of clicking the black "X" in the red circle at the top
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We will be able to see that the SwitchResX options are open. There are a number of different things that we will want to learn and know about the program. However, we discuss those in a more in-depth VisiHow tutorial on using SwitchResX.
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This concludes our tutorial on how to download and install SwitchResX for your Mac running OS X Yosemite in order to change the display to nonnative resolutions, such as switching from the 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio to allow the usage of resolutions that are a part of the TrueHD technology, like 1920x1080 or 1280x720. Thank you for using VisiHow! If you have any questions or comments about this or other tutorials, please let us know in the section below. We will be happy to help you.