DVD not playing on second monitor in Dual monitor setup?

[SYDANG]

I currently have two 17in LCDs set up for some reason when I play a DVD using Windows media player or the DVD player that came with my drive, the movie won't show up on my second monitor, i can hear sound perfectly.

Also, when I start dragging the movie towards my first monitor the picture starts to show.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

Well, you didn't mention your video card, but I'm guessing it's one that doesn't support "video overlay" on its secondary output. You may be able to change this in the driver settings -- but otherwise, no dice. You'll only be able to use hardware-accelerated DVD playback on your primary monitor.

 

[SYDANG]

it's a radeon 9500 non pro modded to 9700 pro

I can use my TV tuner card on my other one though...is it not the same?

 

[Matthias99]

Well, they're different physical cards, for one thing.

It's not that your computer is incapable of displaying video on the secondary display, it's that the hardware MPEG2 decoder on your video card is only usable on the primary display. You may be able to switch your DVD player over to a software decoder mode (which will eat up more CPU time, but is usable on the secondary display). You might also want to take a look through the ATI control panels; there may be a way to enable overlay on the second display.

 

[Auric]

Instead of extending the first to the second, clone it and enable overlay theater mode or try the options in the DVD player.

 

[Matthias99]

Yes, that would work as well (cloning the display), but sort of defeats the whole point of having a second monitor.

 

[Auric]

For dual desktop use yeah, but for movie viewing it can remain windowed in the background or minimized on the primary while full-screen on the secondary.

 

[SYDANG]

Well, currently i'm playing City of Heroes and it support dual monitors, usually I watch TV or something on the other monitor, and i was hoping to watch a DVD, do you know if there is anything I can DL to enable the Overlay?