Toshiba - External Monitor

Thanks Bob, but perhaps I was not clear in my query.

I'm not talking about DVD playback alone. I've tried half a dozen players, in various formats - mpeg1, mpeg2, divx, xvid, quicktime and raw video. The observation is the same. NO simultaneous display on both external and inbuilt monitor as far as video is concerned.

The only exception was that VirtualDub where simultaneous video on both the external and in built LCD screen was possible when playing a xvid file. I'm yet to confirm it with divx file.

Perhaps its a hardware limitation of the laptop (???)

Thanks.

...that required setup each time to run both the LCD monitor and a projector. Normally, a laptop should be able to display both the native monitor and a secondary projector/monitor. Sometimes they won't.. In each case, I needed to access the Display Properties/Settings tab/Advanced button/Graphics card tab, then check the graphics properties of that card, then the Devices listed..If the LCD was already CHECKED to run at the same time as the external monitor/projector, then I would UNCHECK the LCD, click on Apply", then RECHECK the LCD device, then click on Apply. It would normally allow both displays to be shown at the same time.

No guarantees...but it might help your situation.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Thanks Grif. I understand the point you make.

My problem is slightly different. The desktop displays ok on both the monitors; in fact the "displays" ARE shown at the same time till .... I play a video file.

If the player window is not maximised, the native screen shows the desktop AND the video on the player screen. BUT the external monitor shows ONLY the desktop with the player screen blank!

If I maximise the video player screen, The native plays OK, the external blank. That is, till I decide that I dont want the native display and want only the external.

Thanks.

My Toshiba laptop has exactly the same problem described (I think) by Ramusson. When I have an external monitor connected, DVD video will display on the built-in display but not on the external monitor.

If I use desktop "mirroring" (same display on both built-in and external monitors), everything on both looks identical except that the DVD's video doesn't display. All the Media Player (or WinDVD) controls are displayed in both places, and the video displays just fine on the built-in, but is blank on the external screen.

If I instead use the external monitor as an extension of the desktop (non-mirrored), it's still pretty much the same situation. Everything looks fine on both monitors until I move the DVD window onto the external screen. The window itself is displayed, but its content is blank.

I'm running Windows XP SP2, in case that helps anyone.

I'd really, really like to get this resolved. I'm trying to give presentations involving content in DVD format and display them using a projector, but obviously it's not working.

There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that suggests this fix for blank player window on external display.

In Windows Media Player, go to Tools-Options-Performance and adjust hardware acceleration. Then on Performance tab, click Advanced and clear all the check boxes in the Overlay settings.

Maybe a combination of adjustments in the Media Player overlay and acceleration settings and the desktop properties settings for your video card will straighten it out. Good Luck.

Thanks for the response, Sheila.

I tried modifying the settings you suggested, but it had no effect.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that the OS is actively preventing the video from reaching the external monitor. Given that this is not a copy-protected DVD and that it explicitly states that copying is OK and even encouraged, it can't be instructing WMP not to copy it to another screen.

For what it's worth, a co-worker's Mac has zero problems doing exactly what I'm trying to do... pop the DVD into the Mac and it displays on both screens exactly as it should. I can't afford a Mac and so I'm stuck using company equipment, which means Windows XP.

I'm open to any suggestions as to how to get this to work the way I'd expect it to.

1. Do you have the latest drivers for your video adapter? I have seen some Nvidia and ATI adapter drivers that say they fix the problem of blank player window on secondary monitor.

2. Check out Zoom player. It is free to download and I have read lots of claims that it can do exactly what you want:
Video visible in both player windows or video maximized on secondary display with only the controls and other applications showing on primary display.

As a workaround, if you do not have to have the dvd and the player controls visible in both displays at the same time, instead of dragging the dvd player to the secondary monitor/projector, have you tried setting the external monitor as primary and leaving the dvd player there, and dragging the other things you need to the notebook lcd- set as secondary?

Sheila, you wrote:

> 1. Do you have the latest drivers for your
> video adapter?

Yup. That's one of the first things I tried.


> 2. Check out Zoom player. It is free to download

I'll give it a try, thanks. I wanted an alternative to WMP and WinDVD, anyway. Even if it doesn't solve this problem, it may be a good thing to have.


> have you tried setting the external monitor as
> primary and leaving the dvd player there, and
> dragging the other things you need to the
> notebook lcd- set as secondary?

I cannot do this. Windows will not let me set the external monitor as a primary. I only seem to have two options: "clone", or built-in LCD as primary.

Thanks for your help so far - sorry if I'm a bit slow to respond. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate it!

What is the model number of your Toshiba? Does it have onboard Intel graphics or exactly what video adapter?

Sheila,

The machine is a Toshiba Satellite 1410. DxDiag thinks that the video hardware is an "NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go", with Integrated RAMDAC and 16.0 MB.

Hope that helps...

I have a notebook that has video adapter capable of this (32MB ATI Mobility Radeon with S-Video and VGA-out ports), although I had never tried to set up a second monitor on it. I have been so very curious as to why you were having so much trouble doing this, that I took my notebook to work and hooked up an external monitor to VGA out, and started experimenting. It took me 3 hours to figure out the settings needed to get it to work, but I finally did. Good thing I'm my own boss, and business was slow this morning!

Everything was as you described. In clone mode, I could see everything on both monitors, but the video was only viewable on whichever monitor was set as primary. On the monitor set as clone, the player window would be blank. In extended desktop mode, the video was viewable on whichever monitor I had the player on, but that's not much help if you want to stand and use your notebook with the video projecting behind you

What I discovered was this. I made sure I was not in extended desktop mode, by going to Settings, hovering on monitor 2 and making sure it said not active. Then I went to advanced settings for monitor 1, displays, made sure the button was selected to power both displays,and unchecked clone for the 2nd display and checked primary. I now had both monitors as primary, not cloned. Hit apply and expected a window to pop up telling me I had to choose one as primary. Well, it didn't. So I okayed my way out, fired up Windows Media Player, and viola, dvd played on both monitors!!

Sheila, thanks again for your help.

You wrote:

> Everything was as you described. In clone mode, I
> could see everything on both monitors, but the video
> was only viewable on whichever monitor was set as
> primary.

This isn't quite what I described... on my system, the video will NEVER display on the external monitor. In fact, I can find no option whatsoever for making the external monitor the primary monitor under any circumstances.

There doesn't appear to be anything actually entitled "clone mode", although that's how I think of it when both monitors are displaying the same thing (except for the DVD video, of course).

> I made sure I was not in extended desktop mode, by
> going to Settings, hovering on monitor 2 and making
> sure it said not active.

Done.

> Then I went to advanced settings for monitor 1,
> displays, made sure the button was selected to power
> both displays,

No such option on my computer. After selecting monitor #1 and clicking the "Advanced" button, I see five tabs: General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, and Color Management. I assumed you probably meant Monitor, so I looked there. There's no option that even remotely resembles what you're describing (not in any of the other tabs, either). In the Monitor tab, I can bring up Properties for any one of the monitors listed (which lets me enable/disable the device and update the drivers), and I can set the screen refresh rate. That's about it.

> and unchecked clone for the 2nd display and checked
> primary.

I have no "Clone" button, checkbox, or other control anywhere that I can see in the Displays control panel.

As far as setting the primary, here's what I see:

Under Display -> Settings, I see two checkboxes under the resolution slider. These two checkboxes read "Use this device as the primary monitor" and "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor".

With monitor #1 selected, both of these options are checked and grayed out. With monitor #2 selected, the "Extend my Windows desktop" checkbox becomes enabled and unchecked. Checking it, of course, splits the two monitors so that they are no longer identical.

I wonder if Windows displays these dialogs differently due to the video hardware being different (and thus requiring different drivers)...

Does any of this help?

>>>No such option on my computer. After selecting monitor #1 and clicking the ''Advanced'' button, I see five tabs: General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, and Color Management.

Are you sure your drivers are properly installed? Do you have the XP drivers for this that are available on toshiba's website?

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_dtlViewDL.jsp?soid=280635&moid=256535&BV_SessionID=@@@@1030614490.1139916515@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddgmkfjhdhcgfkceghdgngdgnn.0&ct=DL

When you go to display properties/settings/advanced you should have a tab that has NView or NVidia GeForce or something similar on the top, that you can go to to choose dual output, clone, extended etc. and other settings and options.

When you right click on your desktop, do you have an option that says anything about nview?