Which laptop with True (not clone) HDMI out for V8

MH_Stevens wrote on 2/22/2008, 3:20 PM
Seems the big HP laptop I got to run Vegas can't handle an true external monitor. The HDMI out is a clone of the laptop screen so you can not run Vegas and see the image full size on the big LCD screen. So I am asking who knows of a laptop that has a true HDMI or DVI out that can be used for Vegas editing without loosing the Vegas workspace?

Thanks

Comments

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/22/2008, 4:46 PM
MH - it sounds like you're not extending your desktop to that display. I used an HDMI output on my HP laptop for almost a year with no problem as a true secondary display.

You just need to make sure your settings are correct.

Easiest way to do it should be to just right-click on the desktop in a blank area, hit properties, and then hit the settings tab ( in XP ) and click on the gray "display" in the little window there and then click the "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor". If that doesn't work, then you should go to that "advanced" button and start looking into the graphics cards settings.

Dave
John_Cline wrote on 2/22/2008, 4:47 PM
What graphics chipset is in your HP laptop? If it's nVidia, you should be able to set the display to be "Clone" or "DualView" which is independent outputs. But perhaps you've already tried that.
farss wrote on 2/22/2008, 6:28 PM
I don't think clone or dualview is what you need to correctly run the Secondary Display Device. To run that correctly you need to be able to create 2 desktops and manage them indiviually even though you can extend the desktop over both. When I run dual monitors I can run one at 1280x1040 on a 17" and the other at 1920x1200 on a 24". Vegas drives the secondary display device using an overlay and the GPU smarts to manage de-interlacing and color management so the Secondary Display Device becomes the same as the old External Monitor. This I believe most laptops do no have the capability to do, the ones that do will have two DVI outputs, one a clone of the LCD and the other a separate output that can be configured as above. We have a Dell M6300 and it cannot drive two monitors like you need for Vegas.

If I'm right you probably need to look at the "lugables" rather than a laptop. Probably Alienware or Sager.

Bob.
Coursedesign wrote on 2/22/2008, 8:03 PM
Any MacBook Pro will allow you the choice of mirroring or treating the two displays as separate, up to 1920x1200.

They're good Vegas machines too, as many here have testified.

MH_Stevens wrote on 2/22/2008, 8:38 PM
Migh check out macbooks. But you need buy the expensive "boot camp" to run windows programs?
jrazz wrote on 2/22/2008, 8:56 PM
I am under the understanding that bootcamp is free. Parallels will cost you a little money (it allows both OS's to run simultaneously).

j razz
MH_Stevens wrote on 2/22/2008, 9:52 PM
Bob: Are you / can you recommend Sager? They have a 17" WUXGA quad with RAID0 and GeForce 8800M GTX . Tempting.
farss wrote on 2/22/2008, 10:16 PM
No local support so no. Certainly been recommended by a few here though. Look pretty power hungry and heavy, so would anything with those specs.

You should dig deeper into your current laptop. The Macbooks are using the same nVidia chips as far as I know. Something doesn't quite add up.

Bob.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/22/2008, 11:38 PM
MH_Stevens

Please send me a screen shot of the way you have your laptop display settings configured, and I'll tell you what you need to do, but I'll 99% promise you, if your laptop has an HDMI out, you can drive a second screen on it that is not a clone of your first and can run at a resolution independant of your built in LCD.

Dave
MH_Stevens wrote on 2/23/2008, 9:11 AM
I now have my external monitor as extended and not cloned. Vegas Options/preview device/ recognises and identifies both displays BUT when I click on the external monitor icon in the preview window nothing happens. The external monitor still just shows the wallpaper.
Malcolm D wrote on 2/23/2008, 9:48 AM
Vegas Options/preview device should be set to Windows Secondary Display at the top. Display Adapter should show the secondary screen settings. In this mode you do not click Preview on External Monitor button. This is only for AJA/OHCI options.
farss wrote on 2/23/2008, 3:13 PM
"In this mode you do not click Preview on External Monitor button. This is only for AJA/OHCI options. "

Strange then that the External Preview (under Preview Device) can be assigned to the Windows Secondary Display! This works very well with my machines with only 1 monitor. I click the External Preview Icon in the Preview window to get a full screen playback, press Esc to go back to the T/L.

Not that I really have a clue what I've done. At times I've managed to hose other apps and had to re-install them to get them back onto the desktop when I removed the second monitor. If someone can really get a full grip on this and publish a Guide for Dummies (like me) they'd be doing us all a service. I suspect I'm not alone either.

Bob.
MH_Stevens wrote on 2/23/2008, 4:54 PM
Bob: I can, on this laptop, do the "one monitor" thing you described. Still can't get the second monitor to show the preview. Are we sure Vegas supports HDMI? Unfortunately my laptop does not have DVI out so I can not try that. I can DRAG the preview screen over to the second monitor. Is this how it should be or does that signify my settings are wrong?
Malcolm D wrote on 2/23/2008, 5:01 PM
I made a mistake as I don't NEED to click the Preview on External Monitor button as I already have a full res. display in the Vegas preview window on my secondary display.
If I do click on it with Windows Secondary Display all that happens is that the Vegas buttons and data disappear which might be more asthetically pleasing when playing.
I then have to click on that screen before pressing Esc to restore the Vegas window.
It seems to me that you would be happy to get the preview window on to the secondary display in either form?
I am not using a laptop but my nVidia settings are :-
nView Display Mode : Dualview
Video Overlay settings : Zoom control Video Overlay
Full Screen Video : Zoom control Video Mirror
Full Screen Device : Auto-select

I hope this helps as I have been looking at getting a Laptop to go with my EX1 and if you can't solve this it will influence what I get.
I mainly want a smaller unit to offload my cards and view the files but it would be nice to run Vegas as well. If this is a problem maybe it would be better to go with a large unit with 1920 x 1200 screen.
Malcolm
farss wrote on 2/23/2008, 6:58 PM
As I understand it the important thing in the difference between the Preview Window and the Preview Device is how they are managed and I think this is what Michael is after.

The Preview Window is a 'dumb' window inside Vegas. It displays according to how the actual PC monitor is setup, it offers no colour profiles, deinterlacing etc.
The Preview Device be it a firewire D>A converter, SDI or the Windows Secondary Display does, it can be calibrated either by adjusting the physical monitor in the case of a CRT/LCD on the firewire / SDI port or via the driver from the Preview Device tab in Preferences.

How you get to that happy state of affairs I'm not 100% certain as I don't have a dual display system at hand right now. Just thought it important though to highlight what the goal is.

Bob.
MH_Stevens wrote on 2/23/2008, 9:07 PM
Bob is totally right. There is a big difference between a big size Vegas preview window and a true secondary monitor, and that is what I am after.

I'm also leaning towards what Malcolm said and giving up on editing on a laptop and getting a cheapo just for downloading in the field. Is there a player that will play the raw mpg4 files just to do dailies? That's all I need in the field.
farss wrote on 2/23/2008, 9:14 PM
Clip browser?

One thing I'd really like the clip browser to do is let us add in/out points. I believe that was doable with the full XDCAM BD disk thing, why did Sony drop it?

So far the only essence marker I've seen is RecStart. Probably some Zen thing that there's no RecStop marker.

Bob.
NickHope wrote on 2/23/2008, 10:12 PM
MH this is a bit of a shot in the dark because I haven't got a full grasp of this myself but if you go to Nvidia's site and get the very latest forceware (or whatever the software is called for your machine), it will probably install an nView Desktop Manager as well as the Nvidia Control Panel.

In nView Desktop Manager there are a number of features beyond what is provided by Windows or by the Nvidia Control Panel, such as independent wallpapers on your various displays. It may be that something here helps.

My impression when the secondary display monitoring feature was introduced with Vegas 6(?) was that is was specifically over DVI, which is how I'm running it on my desktop, but the nView Desktop Manager might be worth trying before you give up. Apologies if you've already done this.
Malcolm D wrote on 2/23/2008, 10:18 PM
The MP4's try to open in Quicktime which chokes.
I have not succeeded in getting Clip Browser to play full screen but if you have the time to convert the files to MXF then MXF Desktop from Snell & Wilcox enables WMP to play them.
See this topic over at DVI Info 'Snell & Wilcox - MXF Unwrapper'
You apply online to Snell & Wilcox. It is free.
There is an option on installation to upgrade WMP to play MXF.
Possible added security in that you have an MP4 and MXF of every file on your laptop before erasing the card.
Malcolm

Update : I just figured out how to full screen Clip Browser.
Click Maximise button on Viewer window after selecting the clip.
Not quite the expected behaviour for a Maximise button.
An interesting variation on this is to extend the overall Clip Browser window to your secondary monitor and move the Viewer to the secondary monitor within the main window. When you go full screen it now does so on the secondary monitor allowing you to select other clips without exiting the Full Screen mode.