Is there any codecs out there that let me play movies on my projector without unhooking the main monitor? I have read of others with this problem and have yet to see an answer to this. If I use media player, I can watch on my main monitor. But I only get sound and a black screen when I view on a secondary monitor or tv. I have finished my second DYI Pro projector and am having a blast with it. If only I could solve this final problem. I have tried various media players, and the only one that works so far is MyTheatre, but it is only good for recorded sat video. It won't play home movies or anything like that. Any reponse would be greatly appreciated.

Have you made your projector the main monitor?

Yeah , I tried that and it works to a certain extent. The primary monitor is the one the video will show on and the secondary has a black screen either way I try it. So I have to switch back and forth, but would like to view on both screens at the same time. Thanks for replying.

Is it a laptop or desktop that you're connecting to the PC?
What make and model number?

I have no problem with this, i've had every possible setup video running on both, running on one or the other etc, and it all works for me). Not sure how, i've had that problem in the past though.

It's a Dell XPS Generation2. I've tried everything I can think of , and I am fairly proficient with windows XP. Oh well, it's not that big a deal, I just figured I'd put this out there and see if there was a possible solution.

From the User Guide for your laptop, it states:


I'm not sure about Dells, but I used to do Tech Support for HP laptops and to switch to an external monitor/projector, one would need to press <Fn><F4> - once to switch to the external monitor/projector. By pressing <Fn><F4> a second time, the display would switch so that both the laptop and the external monitor/projector would show the same image. By pressing <Fn><F4> a third time, the display would switch back to laptop, only.

Try pressing <Fn><F8> on your Dell multiple times and see if that does what you're wanting to do.

Here's a link to your laptop's User Guide.

[It's a desktop, not a laptop. It has three video outputs, s-video - DVI - VGA. Thanks for all the replies. If Ifigure it out, I'll post the answer.

Well... that's why I asked...

Sorry bout that.

I think it's a video setting in media player.
Try

tools>Options>Performance>Advanced.
Turn off overlays.

I don't have dual monitors but I seem to remember something in this area fixes your problem.

I run dual monitors, cant wait for my new build I'll have 4

What video card mfg - ATI? Nvidia? What model etc. hard to give advice unless we know if we need to talk apples or oranges.

in short you need to make sure your video card actually suports having 2 displays at the same time as some just dont.

edit for enrish

I should say that you need to set the external monitor as primary, due to various restrictions in the drivers and or hardware. Don't quote me on this but I think it is a restriction in DirectX.

seems this would be for a notebook, he said its a desktop


like this?
read me

yet more
yep more
CLUE!!
its mac forum but its a start
looky here

Well, you guys sure do know your stuff. I turned off the overlay and it works great. Thanks a bunch for the info! Now, its off to enjoy my projector...

WOOHOOO!!!