Multiple Displays

az1324 · 06-06-2001, 08:45 PM

How do I add a video card to a motherboard with built-in video and use two tv-outs to run different things on different monitors?

I want to put in some headrest monitors and have them show only visualizations/animations/music videos/movies and not the winamp control screen or GPS. Anyone have this setup?

There might have been a post on this before but i can't find it.

pcman · 06-06-2001, 11:46 PM

umm
from what ive found most onboard video cards dont like running mutiple displays

try it with a vid card that you have and see

cheers
pcman

magnetik · 06-07-2001, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pcman:
<STRONG>umm
from what ive found most onboard video cards dont like running mutiple displays

try it with a vid card that you have and see

cheers
pcman</STRONG>

Yer thats is true. Typically if an onboard video card detects another video card on boot-up the internal video card will disable itself by default.....

az1324 · 06-07-2001, 03:36 AM

so would i have to get two pci cards or what?

BLACKOUT · 06-07-2001, 04:50 AM

No there are some video cards that support more then one monitor, I'm not sure about any names or anything, I have seen them before though.
Infact having 2 video cards would be a problem I think (cause conflicks), but perhaps not
--BLK

Koen · 06-07-2001, 04:51 AM

Windows 2000 enables you to extend your desktop over multiple monitors. You can eg. develop a website on one monitor and view the results on the other display.
I think that Windows 98 SE also supports this feature (not 100% sure).

2 PCI cards should work. Saw a demonstation of it.

Aaron Cake · 06-07-2001, 08:59 AM

Windows 98 supports multiple displays, but don't count on using the motherboard's onboard video. Odds are you will have to disable it and install two real video cards. Most of the cheap S3 PCI cards will support two in one system. Or, you could get something like the dual Matrox card that simply puts two cards in one.

Meatballman · 06-07-2001, 12:15 PM

I've seen some on-board ATI chipsets do video while another card is in the pc, but they aren't too common.

Phat Justice · 06-07-2001, 01:30 PM

Nvidia has dual output cards. Usually one is a LVDS output, but theres an adapter to make it fit a 15-pin VGA cable, or an NTSC cable. My geforce2 mx on my desktop has dual output, but the video card company didn't solder on the digital port. Oh well.

az1324 · 06-07-2001, 07:37 PM

Cool. Now does anyone know about software solutions to the following:

When I play MP3's or have GPS on I want either a screen saver or a visualization to be on one of the monitors. Then when I play a movie or a music video I want to have the same thing on both screens OR the option of having it on both screens. So is there a mirroring program that can be assigned a shortcut key?

Also, is there a dual output TV card with two tv outs?

Thanks.

az1324 · 06-08-2001, 03:27 PM

Ok so I figured I could just use the multiple input feature of my front monitor and then use the remote to switch the sources when i wanted the same thing on all monitors. Probably more effective than a software solution or maybe depends on video card.

Also...here's an electronics question for all ya ee wizards out there more advanced than me:
How can I setup a circuit that will feed my monitor a static image immediately after powered and allow ntsc input to pass through either after a certain amount of time or when a signal is received from ... say the parallel port of the computer that has finished loading windows?

This would be sweeeet so I don't have to look at boot screens ever again

.

az1324 · 06-08-2001, 04:07 PM

Ok I ordered another monitor for home today cause it was such a good deal. I now need two video cards at home as well as in the car. So I thought I'd just add one more quesiton while we're on the topic. I don't do any gaming, so I need a video card for the second monitor that will be good enough for video and photo. What specs would fit my needs and still be inexpensive? Also, I don't have anymore free PCI slots at home. Can I use an ISA video card? I know it's limited to 16-bit, right? But is this enough for my purposes?

Thanks in advance.

wizardPC · 06-09-2001, 03:02 AM

I have run an extended desktop (ie, multiple monitors) on the last 3 motherboards I have owned. all 3 had onboard video which worked fine as the secondary monitor, all 3 used the same ATI AIW as the primary monitor, and all 3 were run with WIN98.

The problems you are going to have will consist of the following:
1. you can only have 1 primary display card. DVD software generally only allows you to veiw DVD's on the primary display
2. your primary display is where windows is going to default its icons (meaning that the START bar and all icons will be placed on the primary display every time you boot up) This can be bad if you have set the rear display to be primary, because you wont be able to see any of the controls from the driver's seat.

On a happy note, its easy to make all of your (NTSC) displays see the same thing--just use an RCA splitter. If you are using multiple VGA screens, then you obviously have enough money to pay someone to figure it out for you, because damn those things are expensive

az1324 · 06-09-2001, 03:28 AM

Oh really? Even when you move the icons and everything to the other display the start menu moves back over to the primary? I thought windows remembered the positions and reloaded them on startup. Hmmm. It probably won't be a problem as long as it doesn't do that for program windows.

And yes they are NTSC.

wizardPC · 06-09-2001, 03:45 AM

sometimes it remembered, sometimes it didnt. I got so fed up with it I just said screw it and quit trying. Maybe it was my computer or the ATI software or something

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