Go to OPTIONS, PREFERENCES, PREVIEW DEVICE and see if that helps. The second monitor needs to be set-up there.

I might have already done that. When I selected "side-by-side" mode, that was basically extending my desktop. When I moved my mouse pointer to the right off of my main monitor, it appeared on the left of my extended monitor and continued. My main monitor had my Start buttom and Quck launcher and the extended monitor had my clock and tasks bar. Is that you suggested? If so, this didn't make any difference because when I launched Vegas, it only had the 1394 device to choose from.

I will try your suggesting when I get home this evening.

Thank you,

Hello Kelly,

A few days ago, you replied to a question I posted on the Vegas forum about setting up a external monitor. I really need you help, this should be so simple but it is not working. To refreash your memory, I'm using Windows XP-Pro and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 7. My display adapter is a nVidia GeForce 7600 with two DVI connectors. My main (View Sonic) monitor is connected and my other LCD monitor is connected. Inside my nVidia control panel I reset my display settings for a single monitor. To insure all my nVidia changes were cancelled, I disconnected my second monitor and rebooted my computer. Then going into Settings Windows showed 2 monitors. I selected monitor #2 and clicked on "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". When I did this, my mouse pointer would appear on the second monitor, minus any desktop icons to task bar. So Windows knows I have two monitors. But when I start Vegas Movie Studio and right click on the preview window, from the device drop down menu all I see is "None" and "OHCI compliant 1394/DV". I have considered reinstalling Vegas, but I don't think that is the answer. So Windows is seeing 2 monitors and I have told Windows my second monitor is my desktop extention. But for some unknow reason, Vegas will not add a "Secondary" display to the drop down list in the preview preferences menu.

Is there anything else you can suggest?

Thank you,

Vance

Have you gone to Vegas MS's Options menu and selected Preferences -- and under the Preview Device tab set Device to Windows Secondary Display?

If this doesn't work, you haven't got Windows properly configured.

(I'm still hoping to have my book out in the next month or so, so this kind of thing will definitely be included.)

Yes Steve, in my previous posting I said all I see under preview devices is either "None" or "OHCI compatiable IEEE/DV" to choose from.

When I go into Settings and click on Identify, I get a large "1" on my primary monitor and a large "2" on my desktop extended monitor.

Here are my exact settings.

Display Properties menu

Display 1: Plug and Play Monitor on NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
Gray box (Is Checked): Use this device as the primary monitor
Gray box (Is Checked): Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor

Display 1 screen resolution: 1280 by 1024

Display 2: Plug and Play Monitor on NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
White box (Not checked): Use this device as the primary monitor
White box (Is Checked): Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor.

Display 2 screen resolution: 1280 by 768
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your thinking something in Windows is still not configured correct. Any ideas???

Thanks,

Vance

I don't know. All I can say is that it works exactly right for me with that configuration.

Steve,

Let me ask this question: When Vegas is not running and your viewing your normal desktop and your second monitor is on, do you see the extention to your desktop or wallpaper? On my computer my extentsion monitor is displaying what is out of view to the left of my main monitor. I have the MS Bliss background. My main monitor has all my usual icons, quick launcher and task manager..etc. On my extentsion monitor it only show the Bliss background. But my mouse pointer will to to that monitor if I move my mouse left of my main screen. What do you think would happen if I was to install a second PCI-E display adapter and connect my second monitor to that card? I wonder if my BIOS would not know which monitor to display the POST during booting. Once Windows is running, I might be able to do something. Or another idea, what if I was to uninstall my NVIDIA software and use the WinXP generic driver? I'm just trying to think outside of the box.

Anyone else please fell free to offer suggestions to my problem.

Thank you.

Decided to upgrade to Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Suite.

This will have DVD Architech 5.0 and upgrading my software, Sony technical support will have to assist me. As it is now owning version 7, they don't support it and they charge $35 and up for phone support. Upgrading make good since, I installed Vegas on my laptop and connected a external monitor. Configured the settings to extend my desktop.

In Vegas, when I went to device preview preferences and clicked on the preview device tab, I had the same (single) choice. OHCI compliant IEEE/DV to choose from, no Windows secondary device to choose from. So I've tried different computers with different display adapters and drivers. The only item that has not changed is I had Vegas version 7 on both. Perhaps there is a problem with version 7.

Does anyone know if DVD Architech version 5 support a external monitor?

Thanks again,

Vance

I am always in favor of using the generic Windows display drivers whenever possible. Almost every display related problem i've ever had has gone away when i uninstall the manufacturer's software & drivers and use the Windows' version instead. (Same goes for printers, by the way, always use Windows' driver whenever possible and things Just Plain Work.)

You do have some anomalies compared to what i see on my dual monitor system. There is absolutely nothing in the display driver/software i'm using (Windows' version) that controls multiple monitors. However, in Windows' desktop control panel under Settings there's an option on the second monitor to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". This is the only method i ever use to enable multiple monitors. When i do this, the second monitor gets a copy of the desktop wallpaper, but does not have the Start task bar on it. Windows applications know the desktop is this big, but also know it's two separate monitors. Maximizing a program window will only fill one screen, not both.

It sounds to me like your display software is telling Windows there's just one single monitor that happens to be double-wide. A very simple test of this hypothesis would be to maximize a program window and see if it fills one monitor or both. If both, this means that Windows doesn't know there are two separate monitors and therefore doesn't offer that option for Vegas to make use of.

Note that in Vegas' Options / Preferences / Preview device, there's a section with the heading "Display adapter:". Directly under that heading is a pulldown box to choose a display. Does that box offer you more than one choice? Also try clicking on the "Identify Displays" button there and see if each monitor gets a separate number.