Dumb tech question - dual monitors: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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July 27, 2011 11:30 a.m. petegossett SuperDork

OK, I've setup dual monitors before, but this is a bit different. My wife wants to download movies & watch them on our TV - which is in a different room than the PC.

I had to upgrade the video card on our Dell to get one with an HDMI output, going to the Dell site it showed a Radeon HD 4650 for $150. After a bit of Googling, I found the same card for $50-shipped and ordered it. The install was a bit of a PITA, which(again, after a bit of Googling) seemed to be relatively common, but I was able to get a driver that works, and open the control panel for the card to adjust the settings.

Here's my problem - when I connect the TV, the card recognizes it as a second monitor fine, but it always wants to split my desktop. What I really need is for the TV to be a duplicate of my existing monitor, but I didn't see any settings in the configuration to set it up that way.

What am I missing?
July 27, 2011 11:35 a.m. madmallard Reader

usually, the mirro-type options are in the ATI control panels, notsomuch the windows software. check the catalyst controls and see if it jumps out at you
July 27, 2011 12:14 p.m. GameboyRMH SuperDork

Yeah the mirroring option, at least in WinXP, is controlled by the video driver. You typically access them by going to Display options --> Settings tab --> Advanced and looking for the special tab that controls the video driver.
July 27, 2011 12:17 p.m. dean1484 SuperDork

What OS are you running?
July 27, 2011 12:26 p.m. N Sperlo HalfDork

Xbox and probably PlayStation can stream movies remotely from a computer. I stream music while I play games for hours upon hours. Very easy to do if it is an option.

As for the splitting issue, when you full screen a program it really shouldn't matter. It will only fill one side. Sound should be fine too.
July 27, 2011 1:09 p.m. turboswede SuperDork

Run the ATI (AMD) Hydravision software and configure the video display settings.
July 27, 2011 1:11 p.m. petegossett SuperDork

Win 7/32-bit.

The problem is the PC & TV are on opposite sides of the wall, so splitting the screen is a pain, and the wireless mouse & keyboard don't work well at that distance.

I'll look for mirroring. I think I saw it in the Catalyst Control, but assumed it was an actual mirror image.
July 27, 2011 1:12 p.m. N Sperlo HalfDork

The catalyst will just get stolen for the platinum.
July 27, 2011 1:13 p.m. ultraclyde HalfDork

I'm running a similar setup, also with ATI hardware. +1 on the answer being in the ATI software (called Catalyst on my on-board setup) Good luck figuring out the software, it's kind of a PITA to deal with.

pro tip: if you just can't freaking get the whole damn image to show on the TV no matter what settings you futz with in the software, check the layout/ zoom/ screensize settings on the TV itself. took me 3 hours to figure that one out...
July 27, 2011 1:14 p.m. GameboyRMH SuperDork

In Win7 the mirroring is controlled in the display control panel thingy (don't remember exactly what it's called).
July 27, 2011 1:23 p.m. aircooled SuperDork

In Win7 you should be able to right click on the desktop and select Graphic Options then Output To for Display Cloning or Mirroring options.
July 27, 2011 3:59 p.m. donalson SuperDork

for win7 hit win+p pops up a nice little screen that you point the option... in this case "duplicate"
July 27, 2011 5:00 p.m. petegossett SuperDork

Sweet thanks!!!