ATI Eyefinity = cheap video wall/multiplexer??

[WalkingDead]

I have two video walls at work. The one with 4x NEC Plasma 40" has a crappy multiplexer that barely work for 2D. The other one has 3x Samsung 42" LCD in portrait and never has multiplexer for it.

I only care about video playback and not too much on 3D. I need to be able to do full screen video playback across all the monitors as one giant display. All the displays only have DVI input. So, the 3rd display probably need a DP to DVI converter.

Those of you that has the Eyefinity setup, could you tell me if that's do-able?

So, if I need more than 3x monitors output w/ Eyefinity, do I need two cards? in CrossFire?

thanks,

 

[MarcVenice]

If your videomaterial is the right resolution, Eyefinity will indeed stretch it out over all 3 or 4 screens, no problemo.

Since they only have dvi, you will need an ACTIVE converter. Here's a list: http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx but you have to find an active one. Dell sells one too, and so does Sapphire, which afaik are sure to work.

If you need more then 3 monitors, you need a card with more then 1 displayport. The HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 has six, duh http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-503-_-Product

There's also this card: http://www.powercolor.com/Global/NewsInfo.asp?id=1185 with 5 displayports. Not sure if it is for sale yet, but it should be cheaper then the HD 5870 Eyefinity 6

 

[Lonyo]

Is it possible when using two cards to get non-3D Eyefinity? (e.g. dual HD5670's = 4 outputs = 4 displays in an single desktop mode, but obviously no gaming Eyefinity).
If that worked, it might be a cheaper solution (motherboard excepting).

 

[jtvang125]

Is it possible when using two cards to get non-3D Eyefinity? (e.g. dual HD5670's = 4 outputs = 4 displays in an single desktop mode, but obviously no gaming Eyefinity).
If that worked, it might be a cheaper solution (motherboard excepting).

Yes, it will work. You'll need a MB with 2 PCI-E x16 slots. You can stretch the video out to all 3 monitors but I noticed on mine that video is a bit choppy (2 x HD4850) and the bezels really distract the viewing experience.

 

[WalkingDead]

Thanks all for the inputs. The PowerColor 5-port Radeon 5770 card looks great!

I just got a Radeon 5750 and I will test it out with 2x Dell 24" w/ DVI and a HP 24" with Displayport.

Damn the Accell active Dp to DVI adapter is almost as much as the Radeon 5750 and no one have it in stock. It seems like Accell makes all of the active Dp-DVI adapter on the market. The Apple one is probably the same inside with just the fancy white casing.

Thinking about using 2x cheap Eyefinity capable low-end $50-$80 Radeon cards like the 5550, 5670, 5750.

I am using Intel 975X motherboard with three 16x PCI-express 1.0 slots. The power supply is a high-end FSP 600w model. So power will not be an issue. The machines are running either Windows 7 Pro x64 or x32.

 

[lurk3r]

Don't bother with eyefinity, you should be able to accomplish what you are after by just running 2 video cards not configured for crossfire or sli. If its just playing movies the $50 cards should work adequately. The active dongle to get the 3rd monitor working without an eyefinity port will cost around $100, and its overkill for what you are after.

 

[faxon]

sounds like dual 5670s is in order. if you're playing video on it a ton you want something fast enough to do hardware deinterlacing and all the other nice features that run on the shaders of these new cards. if you're planning on doing any light 3D this should also offer performance similar to a 5750 which isnt half bad, and you wont have to deal with those stupid $100 active adapters unless you wanna run more than 4 monitors.

 

[Attic]

For the OP isn't a key requirment that windows see his displays as as single large display? So he can play a move across a virtual single display made up of 3? Using standard multi display setups, AFAIK, it's not possible to achieve this.

I thought eyefinity was unique in it's ability to have windows see a single large display consisting of 3 displays (or more). So in eyefinity you could have a webpage or a video display and play across your entire 3 displays, but without eyefinity you would only be seeing a video or webpage on at most one of your displays in your setup.

 

[NoQuarter]

For the OP isn't a key requirment that windows see his displays as as single large display? So he can play a move across a virtual single display made up of 3? Using standard multi display setups, AFAIK, it's not possible to achieve this.

I thought eyefinity was unique in it's ability to have windows see a single large display consisting of 3 displays (or more). So in eyefinity you could have a webpage or a video display and play across your entire 3 displays, but without eyefinity you would only be seeing a video or webpage on at most one of your displays in your setup.

You can still have windows stretch across multiple monitors in extended desktop non-eyefinity setups. Issue with that is going to be, you can't do full screen video that way afaik (has to be windowed or maximized window) and video playback depends on what output rendering method you chose, some output modes will restrict it to one monitor (you can drag the window halfway onto another monitor but that half will be black), and other output modes will display the video even if the window is split across multiple monitors.

At least that's with single video card extended desktop mode. Using multiple video cards for extended desktop may make it harder to play back video.

 

[WalkingDead]

The Windows Media Player in Windows 7 actually did a decent job of stretching the playback screen across multiple screen. But it will not go full screen on all three monitors.

So, Eyefinity supports the Radeon 4800 series? I am bring in my 4850 today and see if that will work with the 5750.

 

[Bill Brasky]

The Windows Media Player in Windows 7 actually did a decent job of stretching the playback screen across multiple screen. But it will not go full screen on all three monitors.

So, Eyefinity supports the Radeon 4800 series? I am bring in my 4850 today and see if that will work with the 5750.

I thought Eyefinity was exclusive to the 5xxx series, but I may be mistaken.

 

[ZimZum]

I thought Eyefinity was exclusive to the 5xxx series, but I may be mistaken.

It is.

 

[NoQuarter]

The Windows Media Player in Windows 7 actually did a decent job of stretching the playback screen across multiple screen. But it will not go full screen on all three monitors.

So, Eyefinity supports the Radeon 4800 series? I am bring in my 4850 today and see if that will work with the 5750.

Eyefinity only works on 5400 or higher. The solution that I know works is this:
Eyefinity for 3 monitors on the Radeon 5750 you have, with 1 active display adapter ($100)
Eyefinity for 4 monitors on a Radeon 5870 E6 edition ($500) with 2 active display adapters ($200)

Now a solution that may exist but I can't test because I don't have dual Nvidia GPU's:
Use 2 of any nVidia cards and set the multi-monitor mode to 'Span'. I have no idea if this option works across multiple graphics cards and I don't even know if nVidia still has the Span option.

And another solution I have no idea if works:
Use 2 of any video cards, download SoftTH and Media Player Classic, set the render output to DX9 and run it through SoftTH.

 

[WalkingDead]

My setup for the 3x portrait LCD now is 3x Nvidia 6800 card w/ each holding up to one of the monitors. It works fine as one span desktop but when playback video. It will only maximize on one of the screen.

My other setup w/ 4x NEC plasma, has two Nvidia Geforce 7900GS w/ two monitors connect to each card. Same problem.

On the 3x LCD setup, I am planning on change out the 3x Nvidia Geforce card and replace it with two Nvidia Quadro 1400 cards and see if that will help. There are some driver functions that Nvidia enable on the Quadro line via nView.

After that I will try the ATI Radeon 5750.

The 3x portrait setup will be use for showing off graduate student media projects (5-10min each) on the building lobby.

 

[WalkingDead]

Oh, the Windows Media Center also doesn't work with the multi-monitor setup. It freaks out when it tried to go full screen.

 

[NoQuarter]

Oh since you're already on multi-gpu you could try out Media Player Classic set to DX9 with SoftTH if you want. But Media Center won't work with that software I think there are Quadro's with 4+ outputs that would work though if a Quadro is an option.

 

[lurk3r]

Eyefinity only works on 5400 or higher. The solution that I know works is this:
Eyefinity for 3 monitors on the Radeon 5750 you have, with 1 active display adapter ($100)
Eyefinity for 4 monitors on a Radeon 5870 E6 edition ($500) with 2 active display adapters ($200)

Now a solution that may exist but I can't test because I don't have dual Nvidia GPU's:
Use 2 of any nVidia cards and set the multi-monitor mode to 'Span'. I have no idea if this option works across multiple graphics cards and I don't even know if nVidia still has the Span option.

And another solution I have no idea if works:
Use 2 of any video cards, download SoftTH and Media Player Classic, set the render output to DX9 and run it through SoftTH.

I do have an 8800gt and a 7900Gt I could test on 2 monitors if you think that would help, hmm I may even be able to swing it without removing my 5850 since I got the 3 sli EVGA x58 board ... oh missing the connectors for 4 video cards on my psu, 2 cards still may be fun, we'll see if I have the time this weekend.

My setup for the 3x portrait LCD now is 3x Nvidia 6800 card w/ each holding up to one of the monitors. It works fine as one span desktop but when playback video. It will only maximize on one of the screen.

My other setup w/ 4x NEC plasma, has two Nvidia Geforce 7900GS w/ two monitors connect to each card. Same problem.

On the 3x LCD setup, I am planning on change out the 3x Nvidia Geforce card and replace it with two Nvidia Quadro 1400 cards and see if that will help. There are some driver functions that Nvidia enable on the Quadro line via nView.

After that I will try the ATI Radeon 5750.

The 3x portrait setup will be use for showing off graduate student media projects (5-10min each) on the building lobby.

guess that makes my test kinda pointless, may try anyway since Windows 7 may add the support.

 

[WalkingDead]

I can't get any of the Nvidia card to work. SoftTH in Media Player Classic didn't work. All it does was fullscreen the middle monitor and blank out the two side monitors, shown screen artifices then crashed after a while.

Next tried the ATI Eyefinity feature from the Radeon 5750 with 3x 24" LCD monitor, one has Displayport. Eyefinity works wonderfully!! Just what I needed. I followed the video instruction from Hardforum and grouped the 3 monitors together as one huge display. Under windows' display property it really shown as on display. Media Player Classic, VLC and Windows Media Player all go full screen with no issues. Even Window Media Center could go full screen across all three.

Next try to get another Radeon 5000 series card and see if Eyefinity would work with two cards.

I will stop by Fry's and see they have the Accell active DP-DVI adapter there.

 

[NoQuarter]

I can't get any of the Nvidia card to work. SoftTH in Media Player Classic didn't work. All it does was fullscreen the middle monitor and blank out the two side monitors, shown screen artifices then crashed after a while.

Next tried the ATI Eyefinity feature from the Radeon 5750 with 3x 24" LCD monitor, one has Displayport. Eyefinity works wonderfully!! Just what I needed. I followed the video instruction from Hardforum and grouped the 3 monitors together as one huge display. Under windows' display property it really shown as on display. Media Player Classic, VLC and Windows Media Player all go full screen with no issues. Even Window Media Center could go full screen across all three.

Next try to get another Radeon 5000 series card and see if Eyefinity would work with two cards.

I will stop by Fry's and see they have the Accell active DP-DVI adapter there.

Cool sorry about the red herrings was just throwing out ideas that might work with what you already had available. I do know for sure Eyefinity won't span multiple GPU's, the only way to get 4+ monitors is to pick up the 5870 E6 or wait for that Powercolor 5770 5 port card

 

[WalkingDead]

Stopped by Fry's and pick up a MSI Radeon 5770 for $149-$20 MIR.

Put it in the machine with the existing HIS Radeon 5750...

Eyefinity will not run with 2 differ Radeon 5700 cards. All three monitors will show up in expand mod but when Eyefinity mod is enabled, 1 of the 3 monitors got disabled.

Next I tried CrossfireX by putting the bridge on both cards. That automatically disabled all the output on the 2nd card. I was having flickering issue with the DisplayPort on the primary card. So, the MSI card may have a bad Displayport connector. The MSI 5770 is going back to Fry's.

Tried to get the Accell active DisplayPort-to-DVI converter but the only Fry's in the Area has it in stock is in Campbell that's 25 miles away.

I need to get the Apple's active DisplayPort to DVI adapter. I get 10% off educator discount from Apple store. That would make it $20 cheaper than the Accell one. Need to find a DisplayPort to min-DisplayPort adapter......Apple and its proprietary cra*p. Oh, the Apple adapter has very bad review on their site. I am crossing my fingers.

For my 4x Video wall, I will wait for PowerColor's Radeon 5770 Eyefinity 5. Add two Apple active DP-DVI adapter and I will be good to go.

Overall, the Eyefinity driver really needs a masking adjustment feature to compensating for the monitor frames. The $$$ video wall multiplexers have that.

 

[arkcom]

Overall, the Eyefinity driver really needs a masking adjustment feature to compensating for the monitor frames. The $$$ video wall multiplexers have that.

Eyefinity already does that.

 

[NoQuarter]

Overall, the Eyefinity driver really needs a masking adjustment feature to compensating for the monitor frames. The $$$ video wall multiplexers have that.

It's called bezel management, it should show up in the options when you right click on the monitor layout GUI in CCC. If it doesn't show up it may need EDID forced or something, maybe using Powerstrip, some TV's aren't really good at reporting their EDID data or something.