Media Player For Laptop

[cdycus]

I need a media player for my Win 7 PC that will allow me to keep playlist and navigating controls on laptop screen while showing video in full screen on HDMI external monitor. Anyone help? Thank you

[stax76]

Those are the popular ones: MPC-BE, PotPlayer and VLC.

[cdycus]

Thank you. I've tried all three of the above, but can't figure out how to accomplish my goal.

[stax76]

There is probably a player that support it, I think few weeks ago there was a similar request at doom9.

With my player I cannot help as I'm not adding a lot of features and keep it very small and "simple", sure would be trivial to implement as extension for somebody knowing C# and libmpv.

[Cornucopia]

Treat your HDMI output as your 2nd monitor of dual monitor setup, then follow some of the tricks in this page for VLC (I'm using v3.06 on Windows).: https://superuser.com/questions/87436/how-do-i-get-vlc-to-play-on-the-second-monitor-on-windows. I used the simplest & most starred answer and it worked perfectly on my dual-monitor setup...controls on screen 1, clean fullscreen on screen 2.

Scott

[jagabo]

VLC has the ability to have controls and video in different windows. Tools -> Preferences -> Interface -> Integrate Video In Interface (off). It also has the ability to specify which display to play the video to: Tools -> Preferences -> Video -> Fullscreen Video Device. But the latter control wasn't working for me on a computer with dual monitors.

[teodz1984]

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/play-video-across-multiple-monitors-windows

[dannyboy48888]

VLC in library mode can play on a external window as I accidentally do it from time to time

[cdycus]

The only one that I found that really worked well was #13 here: https://superuser.com/questions/87436/how-do-i-get-vlc-to-play-on-the-second-monitor-on-windows. Thanks all for your help.

[usually_quiet]

From https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/393473-Play-Video-On-Two-Screens#post2553183

Does anyone know of a media player for Windows that when installed on a laptop can have the video and player controls on laptop screen and video only fullscreen on external HDMI monitor? Thank you.

In theory, VLC can do this but, in practice, I found its implementation of multiple video output windows to be very buggy and unreliable. Sometimes 10 video windows would display and other times none would display and I only heard audio during playback.

The other problem with doing this using any media player software is that either Windows or my Realtek audio only supports using one audio playback device at a time (i.e speakers only, Monitor 1 only, Monitor 2 only, or S/PDIF only).

[flashandpan007]

Play video on second monitor/tv/projector, ... works with anyone of these. What controls do you need?

My advice, get a remote of any kind, bluetooth keyboard or whatever, there are so many guys out there who use their laptop/HTPC for years without controls being displayed on a small display.

If you like Kodi, I know not a player, but a media center. There is a remote in app store, which works like a charm. My personal choice is MPC-BE

https://www.amazon.de/Logitech-kabellose-beleuchtete-Wohnzimmer-Tastatur-Touchpad/dp/B00IAHAYTW/

[usually_quiet]

Play video on second monitor/tv/projector, ... works with anyone of these. What controls do you need?

My advice, get a remote of any kind, bluetooth keyboard or whatever, there are so many guys out there who use their laptop/HTPC for years without controls being displayed on a small display.

If you like Kodi, I know not a player, but a media center. There is a remote in app store, which works like a charm. My personal choice is MPC-BE

https://www.amazon.de/Logitech-kabellose-beleuchtete-Wohnzimmer-Tastatur-Touchpad/dp/B00IAHAYTW/

cdycus has added to his requirements. See https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/393473-Play-Video-On-Two-Screens#post2553183

cdycus now wants 2 video display windows playing the same video file simultaneously in sync (one on the laptop, and one (fullscreen) on the remote monitor), plus a single set of controls available only on the laptop screen that affects both video display windows at the same time. Are you saying that MPC-BE can do all of that?

[Edit]For what it's worth, VLC can easily be configured to have a control panel without a video display window on one monitor and a full-screen video window with no controls on a second monitor but that isn't enough.

[flashandpan007]

I didn‘t know that there is a second thread, why creating two threads for one issue. I don‘t get it.

No, it isn‘t good to display a video on two different screens because in this case these are not displaying the same, these are displaying two very similar things, because there are controls on one screen.

Just use clone or better only the external one and control it as already posted.

[cdycus]

Sorry about adding to post- didn't know that was a no no. Anyway, I have given up trying to do this (added requirements) with software players. I've tried them all. Now, I'm looking for a standalone box with an LCD screen and HDMI out.

[usually_quiet]

Sorry about adding to post- didn't know that was a no no. Anyway, I have given up trying to do this (added requirements) with software players. I've tried them all. Now, I'm looking for a standalone box with an LCD screen and HDMI out.

If I understand you correctly, you want a hardware media player with an LCD screen that displays the video being played and will also display video on a second screen (TV) connected to it via HDMI. If so, I don't think I have ever seen anything like that.

The only thing I have seen that comes close is a portable Blu-ray & DVD player that plays some types of media files too. However, when this portable player is connected to a TV, its own screen and speakers are automatically disabled because most people would not want them to work while the player is sitting near their TV.

No stand-alone media player that I have ever seen includes an LCD screen. All of them that I know of simply connect to a TV via HDMI and are controlled using the remote included with the player or in the case of Android devices, there is the option to use a wireless keyboard with a built-in touchpad instead of a remote control.

[cdycus]

You and I have reached the same conclusion: no such device exists.

[flashandpan007]

What exactly do you want on the small screen to be displayed?

My VU+ Ultimo 4K has a small LCD in the front that can display live tv, but I only used it one time and that was when I tested the feature.

[usually_quiet]

You and I have reached the same conclusion: no such device exists.

I did more window shopping on Amazon today. I found another portable DVD and Blu-ray player that also plays media files from USB but this one does not turn off its screen and speakers when the HDMI port is in use according to the manufacturer's reply to one of the questions: https://www.amazon.com/Blu-Ray-Portable-Player-Support-Playback/dp/B07MZS7776/

Although it is less versatile than a software media player running on a PC, it plays most common media files (MOV/AVI/MP4/VOB/FLV/MKV/TRP/TS/MPG/MPEG /DAT/ASF/WMV). It doesn't list the video formats that it plays or restrictions on those but it appears to play h.264/AVC and MPEG-2, based on the file types listed. However, it is unlikely to play h.265/HEVC on account of not being a UHD Blu-ray player.

I don't think I'm likely to find anything much closer to meeting your requirements than this, although it is not inexpensive. I doubt that there is a satellite receiver/TV box like the VU+ Ultimo 4K that's made for the US market.

[cdycus]

You and I have reached the same conclusion: no such device exists.

I did more window shopping on Amazon today. I found another portable DVD and Blu-ray player that also plays media files from USB but this one does not turn off its screen and speakers when the HDMI port is in use according to the manufacturer's reply to one of the questions: https://www.amazon.com/Blu-Ray-Portable-Player-Support-Playback/dp/B07MZS7776/

Although it is less versatile than a software media player running on a PC, it plays most common media files (MOV/AVI/MP4/VOB/FLV/MKV/TRP/TS/MPG/MPEG /DAT/ASF/WMV). It doesn't list the video formats that it plays or restrictions on those but it appears to play h.264/AVC and MPEG-2, based on the file types listed. However, it is unlikely to play h.265/HEVC on account of not being a UHD Blu-ray player.

I don't think I'm likely to find anything much closer to meeting your requirements than this, although it is not inexpensive. I doubt that there is a satellite receiver/TV box like the VU+ Ultimo 4K that's made for the US market.

Wow! This may be just what I need, IF, when connecting an HDMI cable, it does not kill the sound to the earphone jack?? I need to be able to feed sound from the earphone jack to my mixing board as well as HDMI to my external monitor.

[cdycus]

What exactly do you want on the small screen to be displayed?

My VU+ Ultimo 4K has a small LCD in the front that can display live tv, but I only used it one time and that was when I tested the feature.

What I'm wanting on the small screen is the same as what appears on the external HDMI monitor.

[usually_quiet]

Wow! This may be just what I need, IF, when connecting an HDMI cable, it does not kill the sound to the earphone jack?? I need to be able to feed sound from the earphone jack to my mixing board as well as HDMI to my external monitor.

You can ask the seller using the "Customer questions & answers" section on the Amazon web page. They seem very willing to answer questions.

I hope this can meet your needs. Full disclosure: I have never heard of this company before and I don't know if they make quality portable players or not.

Just remember that there will be more restrictions placed on what any hardware media player will play when compared to what good media player software running on a computer will play. Sometimes the restrictions are detailed in the product manual. Unfortunately, there are no manuals for me to look at available on NAVISKAUTO's website.

[cdycus]

Wow! This may be just what I need, IF, when connecting an HDMI cable, it does not kill the sound to the earphone jack?? I need to be able to feed sound from the earphone jack to my mixing board as well as HDMI to my external monitor.

You can ask the seller using the "Customer questions & answers" section on the Amazon web page. They seem very willing to answer questions.

I hope this can meet your needs. Full disclosure: I have never heard of this company before and I don't know if they make quality portable players or not.

Just remember that there will be more restrictions placed on what any hardware media player will play when compared to what good media player software running on a computer will play. Sometimes the restrictions are detailed in the product manual. Unfortunately, there are no manuals for me to look at available on NAVISKAUTO's website.

Thank you. I have one on order from Amazon, so if doesn't work, easy to return.

[flashandpan007]

Sorry for late reply, but you can also use MPC-BE Webinterface for that.
Display 1 -> TV:
Configure MPC-BE to start in Fullscreen -> Double click on mediafile in Windows Explorer starts the video in fullscreen for TV
Options -> Webinterface -> check the first box of which port to use, which is by default 13579

Display 2 -> Notebook:
Open Firefox (my all time favourite browser) or any other crappy browser and paste http://localhost:13579/
Then click either on
2nd link "The media player interface made by chobits" which has all kind of buttons to control MPC-BE
or
3rd link "MPC-BE in the browser" which supports clicking on play, pause, stopp, ...

Hope you enjoy it

[mattmiller1]

Is not VLC media player the best option in this cases?

[cdycus]

Is not VLC media player the best option in this cases?

May be, but I've never figured out how to do it. Can you explain procedure?

[flashandpan007]

Is not VLC media player the best option in this cases?

Depends of needed quality, native refresh rate usage, VLC does not. MPC-BE does support that stuff.

[picture.anna]

The only one that I found that really worked well was #13 here: https://superuser.com/questions/87436/how-do-i-get-vlc-to-play-on-the-second-monitor-on-windows. Thanks all for your help.

Thank you, that was really helpful. I also struggled with this problem, your answer really helped me out.