Dual Display Question

[AMDZen]

I've had an HTPC type computer in my room for a while, here are the relevant specs:

Abit NF7-S v2.0
Athlon XP Mobile
MSI 9800 Pro

The video card has one DVI port, one VGA port and an S-Video port which comes with a 4-prong adapter, which has s-video in, s-video out and RCA in and out. In the past, I had the card hooked up to my monitor via VGA, its a CRT monitor - and to my old CRT TV via the S-video. I would watch movies on it through s-video.

Then I bought a new TV - its a Samsung LN-S3251D LCD TV which has a built in VGA port to be used as a monitor. So I bought a longer VGA cable and a DVI-VGA adapter so that I could have the PC hooked up to my TV as well as my monitor. Well I initially plugged the new TV in and tried to mess around but couldn't really get the TV working. It is a widescreen TV so the res has to be 1024x768 1280x768 or 1366x768 (as I understand it).

Any way I got the TV working eventually but when I did the picture on the monitor was messed up. At first I thought it was my adapter so I switched so only my TV was hooked up strait VGA-VGA. I got it working now but the picture on my monitor doesn't have anything on it - it just shows most of my background but when I launch things I can only see them on my TV. I assume my video card can handle two displays, and I've tried setting it up in various ways. I'm using the ATi Control Center - the new one with the .NET platform - it installs two drivers, so I always assumed it would support two displays.

I think some of my settings are wrong so if someone can help me, I'd much appreciate it. I had them both working, but as I said one of the displays will always only show the background, no task bar or no apps when I launch. I'd like them to mirror each other, is that an option? Or was I just being hopeful? Also, could it be that because one is CRT and thus 4:3 and the other is WS and thus 16:9 that they are incompatible? If I replaced my CRT monitor with a WS LCD would it help? Thanks for any input

 

[NuroMancer]

OK,
first you can mirror them, the way to do it is through the ATI CCC.

BUT, if you mirror them, one or the other will look like ******. Because if you mirror them, one will not be at the monitor/tv default resolution.

So it will either output 4:3 on the moniter and tv OR it will output 16:9 or 16:10 on the TV and the monitor, thus making the moniter look like ******.

What you are seeing right now on your moniter is a second desktop, if you want you can make your moniter the primary moniter at say 1280X1024 and then put the tv at it's default widescreen resolution. Then you just move the video across to the other moniter.

SHIZAM.

 

[AMDZen]

How do u move the video across to the other desktop?

The rest of what you were saying I was kind of expecting. So if I got a 16:9 monitor to replace the CRT, could I mirror them and have them look good?

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: AMDZen
How do u move the video across to the other desktop?

The rest of what you were saying I was kind of expecting. So if I got a 16:9 monitor to replace the CRT, could I mirror them and have them look good?

Can someone answer this question for me? How would I switch to the other "desktop" then? As I explained in my first post, All I can see on the other display is my background image, how do I get the taskbar, icons, etc to move over to the other display? Or what exactly do I need to do?

 

[slpaulson]

If your desktop is spanning the two monitors, you can click and drag any windows or icons over.

To get a taskbar you can get a program called Ultramon.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: AMDZen
How do u move the video across to the other desktop?

The rest of what you were saying I was kind of expecting. So if I got a 16:9 monitor to replace the CRT, could I mirror them and have them look good?

they have to have the same resolution, so no it wouldn't look good

 

[NuroMancer]

Display --> where you will see two "moniters" click on the second greyed out one, now look below for where it says, extend my desktop onto this monitor. Click that checkbox hit ok

Second moniter should turn on with just a background. now depending on the orintation setup on the previous screen you should just have to click and drag it to the right and onto the other monitor.

QUESTION 2!
(I had too much sugar for breakfast...)
If you replaced the crt monitor with a wide aspect ratio monitor it would look better, not great.

Why you ask.

Well, the default resoultion on a 19" wide monitor is 1440X900 (I Think I remember that correctly) and the res of the tv is 1024X whatever? Well one isn't going to running at optimal resolution. So while it will look better, it won't be perfect.

I run

20.1" 24" 20.1"
2001 2405 2001
All widescreen

Then I run a tv off another connection, but as a seperate moniter. Works great. Now to just get a silencer for my Vid, and I'm golden.

Anymore questions?
Edited for spelling.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: NuroMancer
Display --> where you will see two "moniters" click on the second greyed out one, now look below for where it says, extend my desktop onto this monitor. Click that checkbox hit ok

Second moniter should turn on with just a background. now depending on the orintation setup on the previous screen you should just have to click and drag it to the right and onto the other monitor.

QUESTION 2!
(I had too much sugar for breakfast...)
If you replaced the crt monitor with a wide aspect ratio monitor it would look better, not great.

Why you ask.

Well, the default resoultion on a 19" wide monitor is 1440X900 (I Think I remember that correctly) and the res of the tv is 1024X whatever? Well one isn't going to running at optimal resolution. So while it will look better, it won't be perfect.

I run

20.1" 24" 20.1"
2001 2405 2001
All widescreen

Then I run a tv off another connection, but as a seperate moniter. Works great. Now to just get a silencer for my Vid, and I'm golden.

Anymore questions?
Edited for spelling.

Thanks for your input. I had already checked the box for "extend my desktop to monitor" option, I'm just not sure what to do with it after that. Above one poster says that I will have to drag something onto the other desktop, so I assume you would just drag a window off the screen and it will just show up.

But I would want to have a taskbar on both screens so I think I need to try the Ultramon program spoken of above. Having both monitors (TV and monitor) hooked up won't do me any good without having a taskbar on both displays. Does anyone know of a program like Ultramon that is free rather then shareware?

 

[NuroMancer]

I don't,
I personally am very happy with Ultra Mon

But yes, you just Click and Drag.

 

[ND40oz]

If you mirror them, you'll want your displays to be the same resolution. Even if you get a 16:10 monitor, it will most likely have a resolution of 1400:900, 1680:1050 or 1920:1280. This will cause your mirrored display to just sit in the center of the monitor and not use the whole display area.