William Julien 2004-06-08 11:30
Have a Radeon with a DILA at 1360x1024 on the RGB as #1 and a 19" LCD at 1280x1024 on the DVI as #2. I must use PowerStrip for the custom DILA resolution and it has a feature "enable dual monitors" which I set. It allows a hot key to switch between the two. I use Window's slide show as my screen saver.
1. Screen saver question: When the screen saver starts it randomly send about half of the images to each monitor. This leaves the other one blank. I only need the screen saver for #2. Is there a way to control which monitor that the screen saver is addressing and can you run the screen saver on #2 while using ZoomPlayer on #1?
2. When I switch to #2 (or vice versa) it send the task bar and active programs (although it sometimes will leave one) to #1 leaving only the desktop behind. I can move the mouse cursor past the edge of the screen and it shows up on the other monitor. Is there a way to have ZoomPlayer running on #1 and have the task bar (or dual task bars) and all other programs running on #2? Think I would need to get directx hardware acceleration on both windows 9or at least to ZP on #1).
Will UltraMon do these things and not interfere with PowerStrip's custom (1360x1024) resolution?
William
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William Julien 2004-06-09 14:44
Decided to give a try. First set system restore point (life saver) and installed. Cut off PowerStrip "use multi monitor" command. Setup UltraMon options, 2 hotkey's (center mouse on primary and center mouse on secondary), separate wallpaper for each, faux task bar on secondary (#1) and got the screen saver to work only on primary (#2). Everthing was looking like "time get the creid card out". However when playing a DVD with ZoomPlayer or WinDVD on the #1 secondary I would get a B&W picture (it worked fine on #2 primary). So I tried to switch the primary to #1 and the start (real) task bar stayed put on #2. The shortcut keys indicated that #1 was now the primary but there was no start or task bar icons (they were still on #2). DVD still played fine on #2 but B&W (is DirectX missing from the secondary and not transferred over?) on #1. I then switched off the secondary monitor and the stat task bar went to #1 underneath the faux task bar. The DVD was still B&W. I then used system restore to go back before UltraMon and all works like before.
Why does a DVD play in B&W on the secondary monitor and why does switching the secondary to primary not move the task bar or the color to the DVD picture?
I can switch monitors fine using PowerStrip (as before). Only wallpaper left on the other screen though and screen saver does not work as I want.
William
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Christian Studer 2004-06-09 21:38
UltraMon doesn't change the position of the taskbars when changing the primary monitor. The main problem with this would be that UltraMon can't reliably move the Windows taskbar.
I don't know why changing the primary monitor would cause problems for DVD playback, dualhead video cards usually only support a single video overlay, but it can be on either monitor. Updating the video card drivers might be worth a try if you don't have the latest drivers.
BTW, you shouldn't need to disable PowerStrip in order to use UltraMon, I'm not aware of any compatibility issues.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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William Julien 2004-06-10 05:11
Christian,
I just downloaded and install the latest ATI driver's. I will give it a try tonight and post my findings.
Thanks,
William
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William Julien 2004-06-11 02:15
Still the same, can't get color playbak on #1. How does PowerStrip (with multi monitor) move the overlay from #2 to #1 but UltraMon can't? Is this somthing that is being worked on?
William
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Christian Studer 2004-06-11 04:25
Changing the primary monitor via UltraMon is basically the same as changing it via Windows Display Properties > Settings.
Maybe PowerStrip does the equivalent of setting the primary monitor via the ATI Displays tab under advanced display properties.
Currently I have no plans to add support for this in UltraMon.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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William Julien 2004-06-11 13:32
Christian,
Is there a way to use UltraMon where PowerStrip can control the switching part and still use all the other great UltraMon features? If not I wish you would reconsider adding this feature to an update. It seem strange that I'm the only one who uses a multi monitor HTPC setup and/or needs the overlay screen switched. Please at least consider or look into the time involved in adding this.
Thanks,
William
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Christian Studer 2004-06-12 00:34
You can still use PowerStrip to change the primary monitor, the only issue I noticed is that the UltraMon taskbar gets moved to the new primary monitor as well, due to PowerStrip also disabling the secondary monitor when changing the primary.
BTW, you might want to give PowerDVD a try, I tested with version 4 on Windows XP, and DVD playback worked fine on both monitors after changing the primary with UltraMon. Video card was an Nvidia Quadro NVS 280 with the 56.64 drivers.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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William Julien 2004-06-12 06:41
In the Overlay tab of ATI setting there is a clone mode options button. When you press it it says "These Overlay settings are available in dual-controller clone mode, and not single display or extended desk top configuration". Is there a way to enable this so I can have an overlay screen on my 1360x1024 DILA and 1280x1024 LCD?
William
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Christian Studer 2004-06-12 07:29
See the multi-monitor modes section of my ATI 3-monitor system review for information on enabling clone mode.
I'm not sure if this will work though, clone mode usually requires the same resolution on both monitors.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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