Dual Screen

[Archangel]

So i gots me this hdmi cable so i can watch anime and movies on the telly as well but i'm not sure how to handle this dual screen setup

Having to switch between pc and hdmi audio manually is a bitch, and is it more practical to have the TV reproduce the pc screen or just use them both separately?

[Buffalobiian]

I don't see how using the laptop as a primary screen and the tv as a secondary would be "practical".

[Munsu]

Extended desktop is the best way to handle it. And yeah, a bit of a pain in the ass having to switch the audio manually, though I'm not sure if when you have the hdmi disconnected it automatically changes to your other playback method. Cloning the screen has always seemed impractical to me, and with extended desktop you can have different resolutions between your pc/laptop screen and your tv so everything fits as it should.

And Buff, why wouldn't it be practical? That's how I use it. Put the movie on the tv as my secondary monitor, and keep using my laptop for browsing etc. while a movie/tv episode is playing.

[Buffalobiian]

Extended desktop is the best way to handle it. And yeah, a bit of a pain in the ass having to switch the audio manually, though I'm not sure if when you have the hdmi disconnected it automatically changes to your other playback method. Cloning the screen has always seemed impractical to me, and with extended desktop you can have different resolutions between your pc/laptop screen and your tv so everything fits as it should.

And Buff, why wouldn't it be practical? That's how I use it. Put the movie on the tv as my secondary monitor, and keep using my laptop for browsing etc. while a movie/tv episode is playing.

The fact that it's a laptop and the viewing distance is completely different. If you're one of those people who check their emails while you're watching a movie, go for it. I give movies my full attention, so it's not practical for me, and it doesn't help ark's "too lazy to change audio" problem.

I didn't remember the extended desktop resolution feature though, so that would be ncie since he doesn't have to manually change the resolution back and forth as well.

[Munsu]

When I watch movies then yes, I rarely browse on my laptop. But sometimes maybe I need to check something real quickly. But for tv episodes and things like that, they don't require my full attention and it's useful when I need to do work also. Anyways, the cloning of the tv screen has nothing to do with the audio, he'll have to change the playback audio manually regardless.

What you can do though is connect the earphone audio to your tv depending on the tv inputs and that way you don't need to use the hdmi audio. Or just buy yourself some cool speakers and connect them to your laptop/pc.

[Archangel]

I was wondering a couple of things about that setup Munsu

- Is there any way to have both hdmi and normal audio output considering if a file is being played in the main screen or the TV screen?

- Why is it that when i open a file on fullscreen in the TV it doesn't really go fullscreen but instead has a black stroke all around the video? Only way to fix this is by closing the laptop thus turning off the main screen.

Ex: http://i.imgur.com/qK2n6.jpg

- The TV is currently on 60Hz but the max is 75. Should i up it?

[Munsu]

You mean having both audio at the same time? I would think not, but I guess it could be possible depending on the type of sound cards, etc. I really don't know, but I doubt it. Anyways, consider connecting your earphone output to some audio input in your tv or get yourself some speakers and connect them to your laptop/pc and forget about switching to hdmi audio.

As for the black bars, I would imagine that you just haven't put the right resolution on your tv. This is only possible with extended desktop (if you clone the display then you use your laptop/pc screen resolution). You might also need to adjust a bit the height/width a bit depending, but it seems like a resolution thing.

[RyougaZell]

I used to have that black bar problem when I used the TV as a secondary monitor. I had to manually adjust it inside the video card configuration so it would show correctly.

Currently the TV is my sole monitor, so the hdmi setup automatically sets correctly.

I don't think there's a way to have both audio setups at the same time unfortunately.

[Archangel]

I managed to do it by setting the Tv to 720p... which i guess is fine since i mostly just watch shit in that resolution. Though I'll still have to change manually when watching Movies in 1080

[Munsu]

I don't know why you would need to do that... what are you using to setup your display? What's your video card? Are you cloning the display or do you have extended desktop?

[Janice]

If you have an ATI card in your laptop, you may need to adjust the scaling option in the driver control panel. I have to do this with mine because the default setting isn't correct, leaving about an inch of black around the screen.

[darkshadow]

I dunno what kind of weird stuff you guys are doing, but when the desktop is extended there should be no scaling issues. You are either running it in clone or in theater mode.

[Janice]

There can be scaling issues in extended mode.

Just google "black bar around screen hdmi". It's a very common issue.

[Munsu]

I dunno what kind of weird stuff you guys are doing, but when the desktop is extended there should be no scaling issues. You are either running it in clone or in theater mode.

Depends on the tv and on the video card. In one of my pc's I have to adjust the scaling a bit, while on my laptop everything fits nicely from the get go. So it depends.

[darkshadow]

Prolly tv's that don't have 1:1 pixel mapping for hdmi, since hdmi is treated as a tv source, it does overscanning.....get better tv's? ;P

[Archangel]

Another weird bit, i notice that every now and again by laptop screen resets its configurations and becomes bright as fuck again, making me set the proper settings in catalyist control again

[darkshadow]

that's a 3D override, most 3D applications have their own brightness/gamma controls built in, which resets the settings to default.
This shouldn't be a big problem, simply accessing CCC should reapply your custom settings; if it doesn't, the big "reactivite colour controls" button should become clickable.

[Archangel]

Manual shit fucking sucks >_>