Dual Monitors questions

OldTimer wrote on 2/25/2003, 7:18 AM

I only recently heard that it's possible to have 2 monitors connected to your PC & use programs like VV3 which apparently support this. I'm told that you can even drag items from screen to the other. If all of this is true then it would seem that this would be a good way to get more working space for when you are doing your editing.

What does one need by way of hardware/software to achieve this? Does it actually have to be 2 monitors or could you end up with one monitor & one TV attached to your PC & achieve the same results?

Comments

MyST wrote on 2/25/2003, 7:22 AM

Yes, dual monitor is possible, even desirable.
Check out video cards from ATI, nVidia, and Matrox.
My ATI Radeon 7500 is supposed to support monitor+TV (as a dual monitor set-up), but I haven't tried it yet.

M

kkolbo wrote on 2/25/2003, 7:41 AM

The standard set up for some of us is, two RGB monitors and one Video monitor. I personally have had moments when a third RGB would have been nice.

Do not try to spread your desktop on to a TV. The detail is not sharp enough and it will drive you nuts. Use the TV for monitoring your output. That is done by running a connection from your firewire port out to a converter like the Canopus ADVC-100 or a camcorder and then from that to your TV monitor.

To have your desktop across two RGB monitors you need two video cards or one dual head card. Form there you run to two monitors. There are a number of Dual Head cards out there from PNY, Virgo etc... A number of us prefer the Matrox G550. For the price it is hard to beat. It is not a card for 3d games though. It is a great card for an edit station.

K

Bill Ravens wrote on 2/25/2003, 8:49 AM

I'm using a very inexpensive ATi 9000 Pro video card. With this card I have 1 CRT type monitor, 1 LCD (TFT) monitor and 1 NTSC TV monitor. Works great. I put my preview window in the NTSC monitor and bang away.

haze2 wrote on 2/25/2003, 9:25 AM

I run three monitors, two 21's off a dual head card, and a 17 off a PCI card. Win2000 OS. Works great!

Kevmiami wrote on 2/25/2003, 12:21 PM

I recently puchased a GeForce2 4400 Ti, which has 1-Analog, 1-Digital and 1-TV out. I bought a $14 Digital to Analog Adaptor which plugs inbetween the Digital out and the VGA cable - Looks and works great to spread workspace between dul monitors (Using XP-Pro).

J_Mac wrote on 2/25/2003, 4:32 PM

Check out the forum, posts, and info at
www.realtimesoft.com

It led me to install dual monitors on all my families PC's.
Good luck, John