ATI Catalyst dual monitors

[dfisher052]

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but has anyone had any success in getting ATI catalyst to show a full screen picture in a second monitor. I used to be able to do it when I had an Nvidia GS 7600 card in an XP machine, but now that I have gone to windows 7 that feature is no longer supported. I was led to believe that the ATI catalyst would do that, but now that I have invested in an XFX ATI Radeon HD 4650 card I still can't get it to do that. I use it for video editing. I need to be able to see a full screen image on a second CRT monitor coming out of the S-video port on the ATI card. With the Nvidia as soon as I opened my editor it would automatically show in full screen on monitor 2 the image that was in either the editors input or output window. My 2 choices are either extended display or clone, neither of which will even show anything in monitor 2. I do know that it is connected because in extended when I move the mouse beyond monitor 1 it shows up in monitor 2. Someone did suggest opening Windows Media player in monitor 2, but that does not work for what I need. Anyone?

[Baldrick]

Have you checked the ati catalyst theatre mode settings/Setup video playback on the second display? It should work like that if you play a video it automatically plays in fullscreen on your second monitor.

What video editor do you use? Isn't it something in you can adjust in the editor also?

[jagabo]

Dig around for "Theater mode".

[dfisher052]

I did just as you suggested yesterday (several times) & nothing showed up in the second monitor. The only time anything has appeared in the 2nd monitor was in clone, but that is just a clone of the desktop & like I said before in extended I can see the mouse arrow in the second monitor. So I know the second monitor is working. I am connected directy out of the video card S-video out into S-video in on the CRT monitor. I'm using Womble MPEG Video Wizard. Like I said, it worked perfectly with the old system, but will not work now. There is nothing in the Womble that lets you set up a separate monitor.

[jagabo]

What about when you play a video with a media player -- like WMP?

[usually_quiet]

I'm the one who suggested trying an ATI card in theater mode https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/332033-Need-new-video-card?p=2058121#post2058121

I originally used Media Player Classic Home Cinema for the test. I had to drag the window over to the second monitor (a VGA connected CRT monitor), and configure it to display at full screen.

The latest version of Catalyst Media Center, released near the end of March 2011, no longer uses the Theater mode to provide an extended desktop, but still has is an extended desktop setting. I tested again as best I can, but I have no way to test using S-Video, since my integrated video card and CRT monitor both lack the required connection.

My video card is set up to use an extended desktop. My LCD monitor is set to 1080p (1920x1080) with 32-bit color and the CRT monitor is set to 640x480 with 16-bit color. Both are using a refresh rate of 60Hz. Dragging any other window over to the second monitor and resizing to fullscreen seems to work. If the window lacks the usual fullscreen button, and won't allow manual resizing then it doesn't get resized automatically. It remains at its original resolution after it is placed on the second monitor. It is also possible to drag a window over to the second monitor but position it out of sight. Position the window you plan to move at the top of the primary monitor before dragging it. When a window resized to fullscreen in the second monitor, and is later dragged back to the first monitor, is not shown at fullscreen in the first monitor. It appears to revert to the same dimensions it had before it was dragged over to the second monitor. If dragged over to the second monitor again, it has to be expanded to fullscreen again manually to be shown at fullscreen.

I have Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD 4.0.4.114, and I dragged the combined editing window over to the CRT monitor and resized the output window to full screen, then dragged the rest back to the LCD. The output window is stayed in the CRT montor at full screen. I don't know why I can do this and you can't.

[dfisher052]

usually... I will try your suggestion in the Womble (at work right now). Also, as you noted, the updated catalyst software is different for dual monitors & nowhere as user friendly. I will roll back if I can. (which I understand is a chore).

jagabo... When I play anything with any video player (VLC, etc.) it never shows up on monitor 2. And it always did with old system...so much for progress.

[usually_quiet]

If I were you, I'd keep the latest Catalyst Control Center and learn how to use it. I used it for my test today, so it should work just as well for what you want to do as the old CCC.

I installed it after I installed Windows 7's service pack and updated the drivers for my video card. The old CCC no longer worked after these changes.

[dfisher052]

usually... I did try your suggestion in Womble & I was able to drag the output window to monitor 2, but that would be very inconvenient every time I want to edit. Granted, that is one solution to the problem, but not the one I'm looking for. I still need the output window in monitor 1 also. I'm really sorry that I decided to upgrade when what I had was working. I'm getting disgusted with these software people that make changes that make their product less useful. Thanks for your help.

[usually_quiet]

usually... I did try your suggestion in Womble & I was able to drag the output window to monitor 2, but that would be very inconvenient every time I want to edit. Granted, that is one solution to the problem, but not the one I'm looking for. I still need the output window in monitor 1 also. I'm really sorry that I decided to upgrade when what I had was working. I'm getting disgusted with these software people that make changes that make their product less useful. Thanks for your help.

As I recall, you said your old card had a bad capacitor, and needed to be replaced for that reason. I didn't think continuing to use it was an option

ATI has the best solution available that I'm aware of, using current hardware, which natively allows a single card to output video to more than one monitor in fullscreen mode. Unless there is a screen capture program that you can run in the second monitor to view a section of the first monitor, I don't think there is a way to do what you want.

[dfisher052]

Yes my old Nvidia GS7600 card (with S-video out) did have a capacitor that was starting to show the top popping, but it was still working. I actually didn't discover it till I opened my computer and saw it. That's when I decided it was time to replace it, I had just put in a new motherboard, CPU (quad core AMD) and more ram and installed Windows 7. That's also when I discovered that the GS7600 no longer worked with the second monitor & why I decided to go with the ATI card. I have been playing around & have discovered that I can open a video in VLC, drag it over to monitor 2 & double click on it to full screen. But I still haven't resolved the editing problem the way I would like it to work like it did before...still a work in progress. If I ever get it resolved I'll post here in case someone else could benefit by it.

[jagabo]

Does Win7 still support theater mode? With all the new graphics stuff I wonder if it was dropped?

[dfisher052]

I don't know...it hasn't worked for me.

[jagabo]

I found this:

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=117672

I'm running Catalyst 9.8 with Crossfire enabled 4830s with Windows 7 x64 with clone mode and theater mode works. I am currently having a little trouble getting it to work with VLC, but it works just fine with WMPC.
You will need to choose Overlay Mixer, and while the video is being played it will default to Windows 7 Basic color scheme, but works great otherwise.

So Win7 appears to support it with some versions of ATI drivers.

[usually_quiet]

Theater Mode is not part of Catalyst Control Center versions released for Windows 7 or Vista. NVidia's Full Screen Video is also unavailable in Windows 7 or Vista. Reportedly, the overlay function that made these display modes work is not supported by these two operating systems.

As jagabo already reported, Google revealed that some people claim to have found ways to use older versions of Catalyst Control Center to get Theater Mode working with some applications, when using specific settings. I'm a bit dubious that this will work for everyone.

I also found there is a Windows 7 compatible paid program,"UltraMon" http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/, that supposedly can mirror a single application or a portion of the desktop on a secondary monitor at full screen. Mirroring is handled via software, not the video card's drivers. I can't can't tell for sure if it can truly replace Theater mode, but UltraMon has a 30 day free trial if the OP wants to experiment with it.

[jagabo]

I removed the NVIDIA graphics card from one of my computers and went back to the onboard HD 4200 graphics (I was planning on doing this anyway). The current AMD/ATI drivers for 32 bit XP still support theater mode.

[dfisher052]

Well, I pulled the ATI card and am going to return it. Not only was it not working as I had wanted , but the video was not as stable as either the onboard video on the new motherboard or the GS7600 with the bad capacitor. A friend of mine just upgraded to a new video card and gave me his Nvidia GS8600, which does exactly the same thing as the ATI card did with smoother video.
Now the question is... does anyone have any experience with Ultramon? And will it give us a dual monitor setup that worked like theater mode did? Like automatic full screen mode on monitor 2 without having to keep dragging a video to it. Especially when doing video editing. That was a great feature because when editing whether playing input or output it would always automatically show full screen in the second monitor, and that was a CRT that was taking an s-video feed out of the Nvidia GS7600.

[themaster1]

Ultramon work great here with a GT220 and XP you can set a specific resolution for a given monitor, different frequencies and other options, good software in my eyes

[dfisher052]

I probably should have asked how does it work with Windows 7. In my case theater mode & dual monitor problems did not exist in XP, it was when switching to 7 that those features no longer worked the same as they did in XP...especially automatic full screen. Not being able to do some of the things I mentioned above are what's causing my aggravation.

[usually_quiet]

I probably should have asked how does it work with Windows 7. In my case theater mode & dual monitor problems did not exist in XP, it was when switching to 7 that those features no longer worked the same as they did in XP...especially automatic full screen. Not being able to do some of the things I mentioned above are what's causing my aggravation.

UltraMon has a 30 day free trial. Try it and evaluate its performance for yourself.

[themaster1]

I couldn't have put better myself, try & report here .... you lazy

[dfisher052]

you lazy what?

[dfisher052]

I did download it & have been playing with it for a few hours... So far I've been able to open a video in monitor 1, double click it & it will open full screen in monitor 2. And this was after trying just about every combination available. My results: the picture is full screen but very choppy. This is in the mirroring mode, which as far as I can tell is the only way you can get a picture on monitor 2. Mirroring is set to "one or more monitors". I can get a smoother picture if I increase the zoom factor all the way, but then the picture in monitor 2 is way too large. If anyone who has worked on this has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime I'm still working on it.

[jagabo]

Why do you need to see the video on a separate monitor? Are you just looking for the larger size? Do you need the video proc amp to adjust the picture? If you just need to see more detail maybe you could settle for a screen magnifier?

[dfisher052]

If you look at some of my entries above you'll see that I need the second monitor for video editing. When editing there is usually an other person sitting a distance from monitor 1 that is showing the editor. That person is usually the one calling the shots that they want included in the edit. With the previous setup in XP the second monitor would always show automatically, in full screen, what ever screen was activated by the editor, which by the way only shows 2 small screens, whether it was the input or output so that person would see the raw footage on the input and the footage as added on the output. I don't need it magnified, I just need it to show up full screen on monitor 2 with out having to keep dragging footage to it, which in this case would be very awkward, time consuming & disruptive.

[usually_quiet]

Maybe the MirrorMon plugin will help http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/addons.asp#Applications

[dfisher052]

Tried MirrorMon with no change in results. Still very blocky video. Again, tried many different settings. Like I said in the very beginning I think I'm beating a dead horse... I'm usually pretty good at trouble shooting, but I must say this one has really got me stumped. I'm beginning to think that there is no solution until Microsoft puts this feature back in like it was in XP. And we all know that isn't going to happen.
Thanks all for your help...I'm still open for any solutions that any has tried that really works as I've described in previous posts.

[usually_quiet]

I found another program with mirroring features similar to Ultramon, Actual Multiple Monitors: http://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/

I can't guaranty it works any better, but it too has a 30 day free trial.

[usually_quiet]

I tried Actual Multiple Monitors last night. I was able to get the mirroring function working reasonably well. Based on what I saw, it won't replace ATI's Theater Mode or NVidia's Full Screen Video for HTPC users who want to feed video to a remote TV and also watch using their monitor. However, if Actual Multiple Monitors is unsatisfactory for client participation in the editing process, then I think you will need to go back to Windows XP to be happy.

I set up 2 mirroring profiles for the output window, one using "Window" as "Source Type" and the other using "Part of the Desktop" as "Source Type". Using "Window" placed the entire MPEG Video Wizard DVD "Output" window, including its borders, inside another window, for a smaller picture. "Part of the Desktop" offered a larger view of the video, but the MPEG Video Wizard DVD "Output" window should not be moved or resized when using that setting, because only a fixed area of the desktop is mirrored.

My second monitor is a 1280x1024 CRT monitor, set to display at 640x480 resolution. The picture is overly dark and can't be made brighter. (It is worn out and slated for recycling.) For that reason I evaluated the "Part of the Desktop" mirror window on both monitors. Outlines were jaggy and the picture was full of interlacing lines. However, that is only because of the the poor video rendering in MPEG Video Wizard DVD's own "Output" window. Motion was not as smooth as the original, but not terrible. The picture was only slightly more blocky than the original MPEG Video Wizard DVD "Output" window.

[dfisher052]

usually...Thanks for all of your efforts. I agree about having to switch back to XP, but that is not going to happen. If I had a second machine I would probably do that and dedicate it to just editing, but I can't. I guess I'm just going to have to live with what I've got and figure out what workarounds will get me close to what I need...and hope that at some point Microsoft or some developer comes up with a workable solution. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this same problem.