Multiple Monitor questions on hardware and software

[Ken Springer]

A friend of mine want to set up a multiple monitor system in a new
visitor center and asked for my help. This is not something I've ever
had a reason to experiment with.

Basically, she want's visitors to enter a "movie area" and have a video
w/ sound or PowerPoint or XXXX automatically start to play on a monitor
to the left. Then progress to the center monitor, the to the right and
last monitor. After that, I'm not sure what she wishes to do. She's
still fleshing out her thoughts and ideas.

So, I'm elected to do some research. LOL

She needs to keep costs to a minimum. It's not certain what OS she will
be using. XP, Vista, and Win7 are all possibilities, depending on what
is available internally to her, compared to what may have to be purchased.

The multiple monitor idea may be reduced to a wall projector, again due
to cost and internal availability.

Hardware and software wise, what do I Google for as far as the subject
and search terms?

If anyone has any suggestions and/or recommendations for hardware,
software, or anything else, please toss them out.

Feel free to ask questions too.

[David H. Lipman]

Post by Ken Springer
A friend of mine want to set up a multiple monitor system in a new
visitor center and asked for my help. This is not something I've ever
had a reason to experiment with.
Basically, she want's visitors to enter a "movie area" and have a video
w/ sound or PowerPoint or XXXX automatically start to play on a monitor
to the left. Then progress to the center monitor, the to the right and
last monitor. After that, I'm not sure what she wishes to do. She's
still fleshing out her thoughts and ideas.
So, I'm elected to do some research. LOL
She needs to keep costs to a minimum. It's not certain what OS she will
be using. XP, Vista, and Win7 are all possibilities, depending on what
is available internally to her, compared to what may have to be purchased.
The multiple monitor idea may be reduced to a wall projector, again due
to cost and internal availability.
Hardware and software wise, what do I Google for as far as the subject
and search terms?
If anyone has any suggestions and/or recommendations for hardware,
software, or anything else, please toss them out.
Feel free to ask questions too.

It sounds doable. Get a video card that drives two or more monitors. That
is it has two are more VGA or DVI outputs. This can be done with one card
with muliple ports, a card using a video splitter cable and some cards that
may take two card slots.

4-port Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

2-port video card (shows card and both VGA and DVI Y-connectors)
http://www.geek2seek.com/lenovo-nvidia-geforce-310-dms59-pcie16-512mb-2port-vga-dvi-graphics-card-57y4167.aspx?gclid=CJmnwbKN3LMCFc1lOgodfywA_Q

I have had numerous situations of managing systems with two monitors. Most
were Dell platforms. Many desktops that have a video card that drives two
monitors using a Y-connector. Others were Dell Latitude notebooks using
docking stations driving two monitors (one DVI and one VGA). In one
instance using a Dell Latitude D630 and a full sized Latitude D series
docking station, I installed a PCI video card in the docking station that
allowed that notebook to drive three monitors. That guy used the three
monitors to the max. One monitor with MS Outlook, one with Excel and the
third was his desktop. Also taking advantage of rotating the screen 90
degrees for Portait Video Mode.

I also had a chance to implement (and I can't remember the name or vendor)
a device that had one VGA input and three VGA outputs; Left, Mdiddle and
Right. This allowed one virtually large screen spread over the three
monitors or three virtual screens. It was software driven and was too
difficult to get to work as expected so its was dropped in the circular
file.

At home I have a docking station connected to my JVC TV in my living room.
I use the LCD screen of my Latitude for the desktop and show content on the
JVC TV which amounts to a 25" (1024x768) monitor.

[Ken Springer]

On 11/19/12 3:48 PM, David H. Lipman wrote:

<snip>

Post by David H. Lipman
It sounds doable. Get a video card that drives two or more monitors. That
is it has two are more VGA or DVI outputs. This can be done with one card
with muliple ports, a card using a video splitter cable and some cards that
may take two card slots.
4-port Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
2-port video card (shows card and both VGA and DVI Y-connectors)
http://www.geek2seek.com/lenovo-nvidia-geforce-310-dms59-pcie16-512mb-2port-vga-dvi-graphics-card-57y4167.aspx?gclid=CJmnwbKN3LMCFc1lOgodfywA_Q

Thanks, Dave. With the links I found further info on using multiple
monitors, but what I've found so far, only talks about moving your
normal windows to the monitor you wish. So that, I think I now have a
handle on, and to me doesn't seem all that difficult to understand.

Now, I need to try to find out how to play a video, for instance. Have
the video start in one monitor, then move to a different monitor
automatically.

Any idea how that can be done?

[David H. Lipman]

Post by Ken Springer
<snip>

Post by David H. Lipman
It sounds doable. Get a video card that drives two or more monitors. That
is it has two are more VGA or DVI outputs. This can be done with one card
with muliple ports, a card using a video splitter cable and some cards that
may take two card slots.
4-port Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
2-port video card (shows card and both VGA and DVI Y-connectors)
http://www.geek2seek.com/lenovo-nvidia-geforce-310-dms59-pcie16-512mb-2port-vga-dvi-graphics-card-57y4167.aspx?gclid=CJmnwbKN3LMCFc1lOgodfywA_Q

Thanks, Dave. With the links I found further info on using multiple monitors, but what
I've found so far, only talks about moving your normal windows to the monitor you wish.
So that, I think I now have a handle on, and to me doesn't seem all that difficult to
understand.
Now, I need to try to find out how to play a video, for instance. Have the video start
in one monitor, then move to a different monitor automatically.
Any idea how that can be done?

Why would you want it to start in say Monitor 1 and move to Monitor 2 ?

Drag the video player to Monitor 2 and it always play on Monitor 2.

[Ken Springer]

Post by David H. Lipman

Post by Ken Springer
<snip>

Post by David H. Lipman
It sounds doable. Get a video card that drives two or more monitors. That
is it has two are more VGA or DVI outputs. This can be done with one card
with muliple ports, a card using a video splitter cable and some cards that
may take two card slots.
4-port Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
2-port video card (shows card and both VGA and DVI Y-connectors)
http://www.geek2seek.com/lenovo-nvidia-geforce-310-dms59-pcie16-512mb-2port-vga-dvi-graphics-card-57y4167.aspx?gclid=CJmnwbKN3LMCFc1lOgodfywA_Q

Thanks, Dave. With the links I found further info on using multiple monitors, but what
I've found so far, only talks about moving your normal windows to the monitor you wish.
So that, I think I now have a handle on, and to me doesn't seem all that difficult to
understand.
Now, I need to try to find out how to play a video, for instance. Have the video start
in one monitor, then move to a different monitor automatically.
Any idea how that can be done?

Why would you want it to start in say Monitor 1 and move to Monitor 2 ?

The presentation is about mining operations. Monitor 1 would be about
getting the material out of the ground. Then move to the 2nd monitor,
which would be about transporting the material to the processing plant.
The 3rd would be about the processing itself.

Spatially, if you think of just 4 walls to a room, you walk through the
door that's located in the middle of one wall. Monitor 1 is on the left
wall, and plays its portion. Monitor 2 is on the wall directly in front
of you, and when Monitor 1 is finished, it plays its portion. Monitor 3
is on the right wall, when Monitor 2 is finished, Monitor 3 plays it's
portion. I think the idea is to try to present a better "feel" of
distance traveled.

Post by David H. Lipman
Drag the video player to Monitor 2 and it always play on Monitor 2.

That understood by me now, after checking links out last night.

I wonder if it would be possible to automate playing of 3 different
videos, sequentially, in the 3 monitors. Doing it with scripts and/or
batch files is beyond our abilities, though.

I stumbled on to a comment about the VLC Media Player, and it's ability
to do something similar. I posted my question there last night, but
some views and no replies as of yet. I'm not a viewer of videos,
movies, YouTube, etc. on the computer, I'd rather sit in the recliner
and watch the TV! LOL So I have minimal knowledge of video software
and its capabilities.

[David H. Lipman]

Post by Ken Springer

Post by David H. Lipman
Why would you want it to start in say Monitor 1 and move to Monitor 2 ?

The presentation is about mining operations. Monitor 1 would be about
getting the material out of the ground. Then move to the 2nd monitor,
which would be about transporting the material to the processing plant.
The 3rd would be about the processing itself.
Spatially, if you think of just 4 walls to a room, you walk through the
door that's located in the middle of one wall. Monitor 1 is on the left
wall, and plays its portion. Monitor 2 is on the wall directly in front
of you, and when Monitor 1 is finished, it plays its portion. Monitor 3
is on the right wall, when Monitor 2 is finished, Monitor 3 plays it's
portion. I think the idea is to try to present a better "feel" of
distance traveled.

Post by David H. Lipman
Drag the video player to Monitor 2 and it always play on Monitor 2.

That understood by me now, after checking links out last night.
I wonder if it would be possible to automate playing of 3 different
videos, sequentially, in the 3 monitors. Doing it with scripts and/or
batch files is beyond our abilities, though.
I stumbled on to a comment about the VLC Media Player, and it's ability
to do something similar. I posted my question there last night, but
some views and no replies as of yet. I'm not a viewer of videos,
movies, YouTube, etc. on the computer, I'd rather sit in the recliner
and watch the TV! LOL So I have minimal knowledge of video software
and its capabilities.

I think you are on the right track with VLC.

[Ken Springer]

Post by David H. Lipman

Post by Ken Springer

Post by David H. Lipman
Why would you want it to start in say Monitor 1 and move to Monitor 2 ?

The presentation is about mining operations. Monitor 1 would be about
getting the material out of the ground. Then move to the 2nd monitor,
which would be about transporting the material to the processing plant.
The 3rd would be about the processing itself.
Spatially, if you think of just 4 walls to a room, you walk through the
door that's located in the middle of one wall. Monitor 1 is on the left
wall, and plays its portion. Monitor 2 is on the wall directly in front
of you, and when Monitor 1 is finished, it plays its portion. Monitor 3
is on the right wall, when Monitor 2 is finished, Monitor 3 plays it's
portion. I think the idea is to try to present a better "feel" of
distance traveled.

Post by David H. Lipman
Drag the video player to Monitor 2 and it always play on Monitor 2.

That understood by me now, after checking links out last night.
I wonder if it would be possible to automate playing of 3 different
videos, sequentially, in the 3 monitors. Doing it with scripts and/or
batch files is beyond our abilities, though.
I stumbled on to a comment about the VLC Media Player, and it's ability
to do something similar. I posted my question there last night, but
some views and no replies as of yet. I'm not a viewer of videos,
movies, YouTube, etc. on the computer, I'd rather sit in the recliner
and watch the TV! LOL So I have minimal knowledge of video software
and its capabilities.

I think you are on the right track with VLC.

I got one reply in the VLC forum since writing my post, and the poster
doubted it could be done. :-(

Eyefinity has been mentioned twice to me, so I'll have to check it out.
I wish there was a way to try the ideas out without having to purchase
it. <grin>

[Ken Springer]

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover
all the possible bases without irritating those that don't like
cross-posting.
--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

[Gene E. Bloch]

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover all
the possible bases without irritating those that don't like cross-posting.

And irritating those who don't like multi-posting :-)

BTW, it looks like your original sig delimiter has two spaces (instead
of one space) after the dashes, which might explain why the sig wasn't
suppressed below.

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

[Ken Springer]

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover all
the possible bases without irritating those that don't like cross-posting.

And irritating those who don't like multi-posting :-)
BTW, it looks like your original sig delimiter has two spaces (instead
of one space) after the dashes, which might explain why the sig wasn't
suppressed below.

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

Nope, only one space after the dashes. The delimiter is inserted by
Thunderbird, I don't set it up as part of the signature.

This is the first time I remember seeing this happen. There is a blank
line in my sig, I wonder if that confused things at your end. These are
the little things that make me wonder "Why?"

FYI, Thunderbird and Firefox just updated themselves, let's see if
something different happens.

[Gene E. Bloch]

Post by Ken Springer

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover all
the possible bases without irritating those that don't like cross-posting.

And irritating those who don't like multi-posting :-)
BTW, it looks like your original sig delimiter has two spaces (instead
of one space) after the dashes, which might explain why the sig wasn't
suppressed below.

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

Nope, only one space after the dashes. The delimiter is inserted by
Thunderbird, I don't set it up as part of the signature.
This is the first time I remember seeing this happen. There is a blank line
in my sig, I wonder if that confused things at your end. These are the
little things that make me wonder "Why?"
FYI, Thunderbird and Firefox just updated themselves, let's see if something
different happens.

Blank lines have never caused a problem before.

The two spaces is an error on my part. I wondered why your sig didn't
disappear, so I highlighted the -- line and saw four characters. Well,
the fourth character wasn't a space, it's just the way my newsreader
highlights the newline. I apologize for that. For my misjudgment, that
is, not for my newsreader's behavior :-)

I hereby join you in wondering "Why?".

[Gene E. Bloch]

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Post by Ken Springer

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover all
the possible bases without irritating those that don't like
cross-posting.

And irritating those who don't like multi-posting :-)
BTW, it looks like your original sig delimiter has two spaces (instead
of one space) after the dashes, which might explain why the sig wasn't
suppressed below.

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

Nope, only one space after the dashes. The delimiter is inserted by
Thunderbird, I don't set it up as part of the signature.
This is the first time I remember seeing this happen. There is a blank
line in my sig, I wonder if that confused things at your end. These are
the little things that make me wonder "Why?"
FYI, Thunderbird and Firefox just updated themselves, let's see if
something different happens.

Blank lines have never caused a problem before.
The two spaces is an error on my part. I wondered why your sig didn't
disappear, so I highlighted the -- line and saw four characters. Well, the
fourth character wasn't a space, it's just the way my newsreader highlights
the newline. I apologize for that. For my misjudgment, that is, not for my
newsreader's behavior :-)
I hereby join you in wondering "Why?".

I have an idea. I looked in my other newsreader (Dialog) and noticed
that you have two sigs on that post.

Well, MesNews treated the second sig correctly, but not the first.
OTOH, Dialog treated both correctly.

Hypotheses:

1. MesNews worked backwards from the end of the file until it found a
sig delimiter and looked no further.

2. Dialog looked forwards from the front of the file until it found a
sig delimiter and looked no further.

Wowee!

I might go back to Dialog after a few weeks of MesNews. MesNews
refreshes headers automatically and has a nicer spell checker, but it
loses track of threads.

Dialog can use a macro to refresh headers, but AFAICT, it won't do it
well with the way I have things set up. I could change the setup, but
that would be logical...

[Ken Springer]

Post by Gene E. Bloch
I have an idea. I looked in my other newsreader (Dialog) and noticed
that you have two sigs on that post.

Yea, I screwed up on that one. I keep forgetting that a couple of
versions back Thunderbird added a Followup button for newsgroups only.
Prior to that, you simply clicked the Reply button. I still forget that
all too often, so end up with returned mail rather than a post. So, I
get it right and click Followup, or Edit as New Message, then cut and
paste the original reply text. But this time, I forgot to take out the
extra sig.

My bad, but it does bring up an interesting situation for newsreaders to
handle.

Post by Gene E. Bloch
Well, MesNews treated the second sig correctly, but not the first.
OTOH, Dialog treated both correctly.
1. MesNews worked backwards from the end of the file until it found a
sig delimiter and looked no further.
2. Dialog looked forwards from the front of the file until it found a
sig delimiter and looked no further.

I don't use either, so can't confirm or deny you hypotheses. <grin>
But they certainly sound logical.

[Gene E. Bloch]

Post by Ken Springer
I don't use either, so can't confirm or deny you hypotheses. <grin>
But they certainly sound logical.

Sounding logical is the best I can hope for :-)

[Ken Springer]

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Post by Ken Springer

Post by Gene E. Bloch

Answered in; microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

<grin> Read it, thanks David. I posted in XP, Vista, and Win7 to cover all
the possible bases without irritating those that don't like cross-posting.

And irritating those who don't like multi-posting :-)
BTW, it looks like your original sig delimiter has two spaces (instead
of one space) after the dashes, which might explain why the sig wasn't
suppressed below.

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 16.0.1
Thunderbird 16.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2

Nope, only one space after the dashes. The delimiter is inserted by
Thunderbird, I don't set it up as part of the signature.
This is the first time I remember seeing this happen. There is a blank line
in my sig, I wonder if that confused things at your end. These are the
little things that make me wonder "Why?"
FYI, Thunderbird and Firefox just updated themselves, let's see if something
different happens.

Blank lines have never caused a problem before.
The two spaces is an error on my part. I wondered why your sig didn't
disappear, so I highlighted the -- line and saw four characters. Well,
the fourth character wasn't a space, it's just the way my newsreader
highlights the newline. I apologize for that.

Absolutely no need for the apology, Gene.

Post by Gene E. Bloch
For my misjudgment, that
is, not for my newsreader's behavior :-)

LOL

Post by Gene E. Bloch
I hereby join you in wondering "Why?".