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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Video across 2 LCD's in WinXP
packeteers   2009-11-22 02:56
I stretch a video viewer across 2 screens
in Window XP only one side shows anything.

i45.tinypic.com/mr3ja8.jpg

I already know XP is limited in it's ability
to display 1080i Video, so is this another
reason why I need to upgrade to Vista/7?

I have a 7300 GT card DVI+VGA
would the 8500 GT card DVI+DVI
fix this problem on it's own?
Christian Studer   2009-11-22 09:16
This happens if the video player uses video overlays, a different video card won't fix the problem.

On Windows 7/Vista this works fine for me with Windows Media Player, either the player no longer uses video overlays, or they're no longer supported at all, I'm not sure about this.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
packeteers   2009-11-22 14:22
thanks for that reply. I'm not familiar with "video overlays". is that a setting I could turn on or off in views such as GOM VLC or KMPlayer? or is it somewhere in WindowsXP.

I ordered a new 9500gt anyway, and it will be here Wednesday. I needed it regardless so my two LCDs could run full tilt both using DVI instead of just one DVI and one VGA.

So I'll update this thread if the new card made any difference while playing video across two screens.

I bought an older low voltage card, since it's a 4 year old machine that could not handle much more power. once the work I'm doing with 2 screens pays off, I'll just buy a new Win7 rig.

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-ZT-95TEH3P-HSL-GeForce-128-bit-550MHz/dp/B001E43T86
packeteers   2009-11-22 14:39
In VLC media player v1.0.1 I found this;

Tools, Preferences, Video;
Accelerated video output (Overlay)

I tried with it active and inactive,
and still have the same problem.

I have not found any "overlay" setting in
the other views I use including Windows.
Christian Studer   2009-11-23 09:02
Disabling overlays in the video player should fix the problem, but some video codecs (those are used to play a specific type of video file, for example WMV or AVI) may require overlays, for exmaple this is frequently the case with DVD (MPEG2) codecs as far as I know.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
packeteers   2009-11-25 05:08
I got my new fanless 9500gt card, and am happy both LCD's are running off DVI connections.
I now understand better why I was unable to view the same one Video across both LCDs.

I arm mounted my 2 LCD's in portrait mode, so the image is first rotated 90°.
When that happens, I required to use DualView instead of more common Spanning.
(my Taskbar is on the left LCD, not the right)
If I kept both LCDs in landscape and Spanned them, I would be able to
watch the same Video between them.
(the Taskbar would then span both LCDs)

since a lot of threads here endorse 182.50 drivers, I need to use more recent
NVidia 191.07 drivers to get that Rotate Display portrait/landscape capability.

Thanks for putting up with me, and all your suggestions - I learn a lot along the way.

some trivia: I prefer two 26" LCD's mounted portrait (left and right), then both landscape(top and bottom), as it requires a bit less neck & eye movement to review all the information on both screens while I daytrade, and I prefer the LCD's both mounted lower and pivoted inward toward each other, sort of like how you would look at facing pages in a text book. mounting one LCD above another would require much stronger and more expensive mounting hardware to handle a much higher center of gravity. I have cats who like to brush up against these warm LCDs and their hardware, so I can't risk mounting a 20lb LCD two feet above my desk.
ecarlson   2009-11-26 11:47
FYI: Dual View (aka, standard Windows Extended desktop mode) is more common than Span mode.

Span mode is a trick to fool Windows into thinking you have one big monitor instead of letting Windows see both monitors and therefore be able to handle the multiple monitor support itself.

- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Video across 2 LCD's in WinXP

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