Multiple Monitors

bw wrote on 1/21/2002, 7:03 AM
OK now I have two monitors, what is the best way to set up VV.
I think with the monitors in vertical mode. This way you can expand the preview and media pool etc and give the "top" monitor fully to tracks. I managed to get the "video preview" screen detached from the main programme but seems to be a hit and miss thing?
Brian

Comments

wvg wrote on 1/21/2002, 8:04 AM
I tried the two monitor option and was disapointed.

Mainly because the preview window can't be enlarged beyond the project size and since I mostly make VCD's we're only talking 352x240. So what's the point? All you get is the preview on a seperate monitor, it isn't a bit larger and it IS slower so the benefit of real time previewing becomes jerky at least on my old 2nd IDE video card. Now if you run the ouput through your firewire and camera (I haven't) that may be better.

I have a different solution that works for me when I'm doing a project with lots of tracks. I recently purchased a ViewSonic flat LCD VG175 view panel that measures 17.4 on the diagonal. They don't even call it a monitor anymore LOL! It has ultra high brightness and contrast and it tilts. So leaving the preview window in its default location and rotating the monitor to 90 degrees, I gain enough space to just squeeze in an even dozen tracks all visible at once.

Examples: Landscape Mode 8 tracks 352x240 preview tilting to portrait mode 12 tracks 352x240
gcoulthard wrote on 1/21/2002, 12:23 PM
I use the ATI Radeon 8500 graphics card with two identical (placed side-by-side) Sony 19-inch monitors. I love it! I expand the Vegas Video window to cover both monitors for an expanded view of the timeline.

I also view the Preview window on one monitor and limit the app window to the other. This allows me to place my mixer window, resource monitor, and other status windows on the second monitor with the preview. Most of my stuff is 720x480 work and I use the ATI custom resolution of 2048x768x32bit with a 90Hz refresh rate. Looks great!

Hope this helps.
Glen


Cheesehole wrote on 1/21/2002, 12:46 PM
just got this card, so here's some info...

i also use the ati radeon 8500 with Vegas and it is okay, but buggy. if you play games and you get it working well then it's a good buy.

some of the features don't work well at all, like the ability to save 'schemes' which is supposed to let you switch between modes (dual, single, various resolutions). doesn't work for me.

anyway, i use it at 1280x1024x32 85Hz per monitor. i keep the Vegas app window on my primary, and put the preview window, fx windows, or other applications on the other monitor. for example, if i'm putting together a slide-show, i can keep ACDSee on the right monitor, and drag pics from it onto the timeline on the left monitor.

all the one-card dual monitor solutions kind of suck under Win2k, because you can't have independant resolutions or refresh rates for each monitor. and sometimes dialogs appear on the 'seam' between the two monitors, and the taskbar goes across both monitors which puts things far out of reach and is generally annoying. the drivers make an attempt to alleviate some of these problems, but it's definitely not the same as having two independant display cards. maybe it isn't as bad under WinXP.

i have a bad problem with Windows Media Player which results in no video, or blurry video when playing videos within the player. if i turn the ATI directX acceleration off (via the Troubleshooting panel in display properties), the problem goes away, so it is definitely a bug in their directX driver.

i would recommend the ATI Radeon 8500 if their drivers weren't so awful. if you don't play games, check out the Matrox dual head cards. they've been doing dual head for a long time, and i've heard their drivers have improved a lot.

if you do play games, and you can stomach troubleshooting buggy drivers (i got mine functioning good enough to make me happy), then go for the Radeon 8500, and be sure to order the dongle that converts the DVI output to an analog plug so you can have dual displays. it's $15 USD on ATI's site including S&H which is quite reasonable considering they could get away with charging a lot more. i didn't see them cheaper elsewhere.

i'd recommend going with two display adapters since they offer the best functionality in Win2k, but it's very painful to get two that are 'friendly'. plus one always has to be PCI and that degrades vegas's performance when you put the preview window over to the second display.

- ben (cheesehole)

P.S. if you are having trouble detaching windows, be sure to click and drag on the vertical line on the left side of each window. i wouldn't call it 'hit and miss', you just have to click the right spot.