What kind of video card and what version of windows? Sometimes you can download custom drivers and/or overclocking software (you don't have to overclocked) that allow you to force a progressive format instead of an interlaced format.
Guru3d.com Hosts some of those drivers and software.
Check what the native resolution of your display is. Set computer to that resolution (for that port)
It sounds reasonable enough, but that's the point of this thread: The native resolution of the display is 1024x1080, but the computer simply will not set the resolution to this.
What cable are you using for computer to tv? use a dvi-hdmi cable if at all possible. VGA port on TVs tend to be bandwidth limited. Also, check if your video driver has compensation for square pixels.
Don't know shit about MacOS so can't help you on the specifics settings.
The Mac Mini has a mini DVI to DVI adapter, which connects to a DVI-HDMI cable. Sound is output through an optical. In OSX I do not know if it is even possible to see or adjust low level driver settings.
When I get some free time, I'll put some version of Windows on the machine in a dual-boot configuration via Boot Camp, and see what's possible there.
I am assuming you also have a normal monitor hookup at the same time? what does the video driver say? But seeing how it is MacOS, you might be handcuffed, enclosed in a steel cage and bricked in.
There is no simultaneous normal monitor hookup; the tv is the only monitor. However, the same situation occurs if I connect the MacBook Pro to the tv (where the tv becomes the secondary monitor). AFAIK there are no video driver diagnostics, but I'll look into that.
BTW this is Apple we're talking about, so that steel cage actually has foam padding around the bars
I think I have partially solved this. My tv has a "picture format" mode, which was set to Automatic. I set this to "Wide screen" so that it no longer attempts to dynamically fit the picture to the screen. Once this is set, if I go to the Mac display properties and disable Overscan the Mac desktop shows completely in the screen, with a black border around it. This works for either 1080i or 720p resolution, where 1080i has more screen real estate whereas 720p has much sharper text.
This solution, I think, is "Good Enough(TM)".