Dual display clone video file issues

[JonathanHaddock]

Hi,

My colleague was on a support incident today trying to get a movie file to show on a projector. The setup was:

* Laptop (Intel graphics, Windows XP Pro)
* Projector

Upon connecting the projector and outputting a clone of the user's desktop he began to play the video in Windows Media Player. On the user's laptop screen the movie showed, on the projected output the movie appeared as a blank black area.

Trying Video Lan's VLC player also made no change and the problem seems to be when outputting to both notebook panel and projector. Switching to output only to the laptop's external VGA device cured the problem.

There must be an easier way, I seem to remember it's a protection method or something?

Any help appreciated,
Jonathan

Jonathan Haddock
Assistant Network Manager
Barton Court Grammar School

 

[vacunita]

It is a protection. Video will usually only play in the Primary Display.

AFAIK there is no way to get it to play on both displays at the same time. However you can set the VGA output as primary and then it will show through the projector but not in the laptop's screen.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[BadBigBen]

Problem is that you did not mention what GFX card you are using...

see:

nVidia

http://www.techsupportforum.com/har...18427-fullscreen-playback-second-monitor.html

ATI

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/399257

ergo: it's an Overlay problem... needs to be activated on the second screen...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[JonathanHaddock]

@BigBadBen
Yes I did: * Laptop (Intel graphics, Windows XP Pro)

@vacunita
Thought as much, found a similar suggestion elsewhere but BigBadBen suggests an overlay problem. I'll grab one of the offending laptops and see if I can activate overlay. Failing that I'll have to go with the primary display suggestion.

Jonathan Haddock
Assistant Network Manager
Barton Court Grammar School

 

[BadBigBen]

Jonathan - Sorry, I missed that... but it would also help to know what chipset it is (i.e. 965, 945, g35 etc...) and driver version, that way it could be narrowed down...

ps: you are not alone...

http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/community/en-us/forums/thread/30231145.aspx

suggestion would be to update to the latest drivers and bios for starters...

also interesting:

http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/swsup/graphics_faq.htm

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."