doing something else on the computer while playing video to the tv

[mr-scarface]

My laptop is connected to my tv via hdmi. My brother always wants to use my laptop to watch movies or shows on the TV. But at the same time I need my laptop for typing/browsing . I was wondering if it's possible to have him watch his movies/shows while I browse the internet in the background on the laptop. Burning the TV shows/movies isn't really an option cause of the file sizes.

[redwudz]

Depends on the laptop and your internet connection speed. Why not just try it?

But if I try to use Netflix to watch a movie, it does slow down any other internet access on the system. A site like ours here doesn't have a lot of graphic intensive material, so you can surf here without noticing much of a slowdown. But if you were to try to watch a YouTube video at the same time as watching TV over the internet connection, one or the other would likely slow down.

There may also be issues with multitasking with the laptop, though the newer ones with a decent video system and a dual processor CPU could probably do a better job of keeping up and handling both video tasks.

[mr-scarface]

I think you misunderstood. The movies/shows are on the hard drive. My laptop is fast enough to do both, but I want to know HOW i can do both. Do I need to use extended desktop or something?

[jagabo]

If your laptop's graphics chip supports it you can use an extended desktop. A window will only maximize to one display. So you can move the media player to the second display and maximize it. The movie will play while you fiddle on the other display.

[mr-scarface]

Thanks. I will give this a try.