Dual Monitor Set-Up

I want to run Dual Monitors again...

I ran them once with two 19in monitors with no problems..

I now want to use one 19in and the 21in widescreen I am using now...

I tried it and it really messed with my display settings..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Semper

Thanks for asking this question of the forum.
I am somewhat a luddite and want to do the same. I run a 20" LCD monitor in my office for general use and want to also run a 40" LCD T.V. for gaming, movies and some surfing in the living room when the boss (the female one) will allow.
I have looked on line for splitter type cables, but was worried that it would cause perfomance issues. Some of the products had bad reviews.
S&F to get some looks.

splitter cables don't work as expected, as they are really just splitting the image for 2 displays, sometimes sharing the same properties, when you buy a videocard with multiple displays the problem is solved by going to the Display Properties in Windowz and setting each screen with its own unique properties, meaning resolution and refresh rate.

First you have to make sure windowz detects all displays, the you just enable them.

i have 2 monitors , each plugged to a different port on my videocard, and a TV hooked to the S-Video output.

OP, having dual video output on varying monitors will depend on the type of video card you have. nVidia makes video cards that will support varied resolutions on multiple outputs, but not all of them will. You will need to search specifically for a card that supports that demand.

Example

In the example, note the "Multi-Display Technology" as your basis for search.

LC,

Additionally, note the "Dual DVI Support" for your higher end LCD.


Most of the XFX GeForce cards in the 8xxx and 9xxx series will support this as long as they are Dual DVI cards. If you are not comfy with GeForce technology, there are also some Radeon cards that will work as well. Just read up on the Dual DVI settings to make sure that they accomodate your need for multi display settings.

reply to post by TheOneEyedProphet

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Actually, all I want is for one display or the other to be active, as there is a wall separating the two.
When I built the house, I made sure there would be access through the wall to do something like this. Even if I didn't quite how to accomplish the task.
Anyway, is a simple splitter do-able in this situation because there is only the one VGA port in the computer?
Would I have to access the display menu everytime I wanted to switch?

reply to post by wheresthetruth

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Thanks for your reply.
Like most people, I am looking for the least expensive route to a solution. If a new card isn't necessary, I'd rather pay $25 for a splitter than a new video driver.

OK

I have the ATI Radeo HD 2400 Pro..

It has One DVI post and one Analog..

I want to plug my 21in monitor into the DVI and my 19in into the analog...

So all I need to do is set each monitors properties separate?

Semper

Semper,

like everything, dual monitors in Vista is more challenging.

I need to load vista on a drive again and put in my desktop.

Till then, try the advice of wheresthetruth.

In theory, "In Theory", you should be able to plug in both monitors and independently adjust both monitors.
One issue "may" be that the second monitor you are adding is only capable of a lower resolution than your other monitor.
To test that theory, move your monitor resolution down to a nice safe "1024X768" and shut down the computer.
Turn on the computer, when it's done booting, go to a clear spot on the desktop and right click.
A drop down menu appears, choose the last option-"Personalize".
A new box appears, the last option is "Display Settings"-double click it.
A new box appears"display settings" showing monitors 1 and 2.
"1" should be your current monitor.
"2" should be your new monitor. Set the resolution and refresh rates idependently of 1.
Apply and ok your way out.
You should now have both monitors working, if not try a reboot,

Let me know how this works for you.

Now the ATS "Dual Monitor" Dancers: