2nd monitor question at DVinfo.net

Harry Settle · July 12th, 2003, 07:47 AM

I am currently doing my editing with a single 15" monitor. I have an NVIDIA Geforce 4200 graphics card, which has a DVI output as well as the standard monitor output.

Can I use this card, somehow, to add a second monitor?

Jeff Donald · July 12th, 2003, 08:09 AM

Are you Mac or PC?

Matt Betea · July 12th, 2003, 09:05 AM

Yes you can. What you'll need is a dvi --> vga adapter. It's a little white block that has a dvi connector on one end and a vga connector on the other. Usually any place like Compusa, Microcenter, etc. sells these. Downside is for what they do and their size they're pricey in my opinion, around $25-$30 dollars. And they're not much cheaper online :/
Hope that helps.

matt

Mike Rehmus · July 12th, 2003, 12:22 PM

I don't believe that particular card is a twin-monitor output, is it?

A brief look at some info on the card suggests it wil support either a digital or analog input monitor. But I don't see where it will support a second monitor.

Matt Betea · July 12th, 2003, 01:10 PM

The 4200 is a Geforce 4 series card. As long as it has the two ports, it'll run dual displays. The older Geforce 3 cards had two ports, but did not support dual displays for some reason. I had a PNY Geforce 4 Ti4200 card for a while, ran two displays well.

Roy Roberts · July 12th, 2003, 06:06 PM

PC User:

Your prices for DVI - VGA adapters sound crazy. we sell them where I work for £5.oo. shame that you arn't in the UK.
I have the same card and use two screens.

One thing that I've learnt through using various duel screen systems, (although this may only be a quirk for me) is that having the monitors differant sizes makes life so much easier. 1 is 17" the other 15".

I found that when they were the same size, my brain could never make up its mind as to which was my main screen.
Thus I was forever filicking my eyes back and forth.

Now my brain knows that the smaller is for secondry stuff and plugins ect. Also (normally) you will only be able to view MPGs and AVIs ect on your main screen.

Adrian Douglas · July 12th, 2003, 11:21 PM

Different size monitors may halp you determine which is your main monitor but you run into problems when you try to expand an application, such as AFter Effects, onto both monitors. As the two monitors run at different resolutions, actually even if thay are the same resolution, you can only use the center section of the monitors. You actually end up with about the same useable screen real estate as the single larger monitor.

Matt Betea · July 13th, 2003, 01:32 AM

Previously I had two 17" monitors, but one wasn't capable of running what the other could, so I used different resolutions. And I would agree with Adrian, having monitors at different resolutions locks you out from moving some windows/palettes to the second monitor. Which I found frustrating and to me defeated the purpose of the second monitor. Apps like AE, Premiere, Nikon Capture left me still cramming the majority of things into the main display.

Fastforward. Now I have two 19" monitors and I run them as one display (2560x1024). It's a dream running this way everything just flows a lot better. I'm not sure how or why you would have trouble determining which monitor is your main display, at least with Nvidia's and Matrox's driver it's pretty straight forward. But then again I've been known to be somewhat of a computer geek :/

matt

Adrian Douglas · July 13th, 2003, 03:42 AM

Dual 19"CRTs are probably the best performance/dollar monitor setup you get these days. Sure a MAC 23" HD Cinema Display is nice as are dual 20" Sony LCDs but these days 19" CRT screens can be had for reasonable costs and you don't need megadollar display cards to drive them.

Jeff Donald · July 13th, 2003, 04:17 AM

I agree with Adrian about 19 inch monitor being your best value. LCD displays have some advantages, but for DV video, CRT's are the easiest to set-up and use.

As a side note, Mac's have no problem using different resolutions for each monitor, with the programs mentioned. Full screens are always utilized.

Roy Roberts · July 13th, 2003, 04:33 AM

Perhaps I should explain in a bit more detail. I didn't mean that you should have differant resolutions on each screen. Just a differant physical size. I often have both monitors at the same res. But when I'm working on webpages I always have the second at 800x600 so that I can develop on one monitor and preview on the other. Also as my main monitor is now a 21" I find that is enough. Also having differant programs running on each monitor is the way that I generally use it, not as I'm sure most users do, utalizing both monitors as one large screen.
I find that when I do this, the 2 edges of the screen that meet plus the gap between helps me to lose the flow when doing what I call the tennis head movement. Maybe I should try a bit harder to get used to it..

July 12th, 2003, 07:47 AM	#1
Harry Settle Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bemidji, MN Posts: 276	2nd monitor question I am currently doing my editing with a single 15" monitor. I have an NVIDIA Geforce 4200 graphics card, which has a DVI output as well as the standard monitor output. Can I use this card, somehow, to add a second monitor? __________________ "DOH"!!!

July 12th, 2003, 08:09 AM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Are you Mac or PC? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 12th, 2003, 12:22 PM	#4
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	I don't believe that particular card is a twin-monitor output, is it? A brief look at some info on the card suggests it wil support either a digital or analog input monitor. But I don't see where it will support a second monitor. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 12th, 2003, 11:21 PM	#7
Adrian Douglas Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Chigasaki, Japan. Posts: 1,660	Different size monitors may halp you determine which is your main monitor but you run into problems when you try to expand an application, such as AFter Effects, onto both monitors. As the two monitors run at different resolutions, actually even if thay are the same resolution, you can only use the center section of the monitors. You actually end up with about the same useable screen real estate as the single larger monitor. __________________ Adrian DVInfo.net Search for quick answers Where to buy? From the best in the business...DVInfo.net sponsors

July 13th, 2003, 03:42 AM	#9
Adrian Douglas Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Chigasaki, Japan. Posts: 1,660	Dual 19"CRTs are probably the best performance/dollar monitor setup you get these days. Sure a MAC 23" HD Cinema Display is nice as are dual 20" Sony LCDs but these days 19" CRT screens can be had for reasonable costs and you don't need megadollar display cards to drive them. __________________ Adrian DVInfo.net Search for quick answers Where to buy? From the best in the business...DVInfo.net sponsors

July 12th, 2003, 09:05 AM	#3
Matt Betea Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: detroit, mi Posts: 187	Yes you can. What you'll need is a dvi --> vga adapter. It's a little white block that has a dvi connector on one end and a vga connector on the other. Usually any place like Compusa, Microcenter, etc. sells these. Downside is for what they do and their size they're pricey in my opinion, around $25-$30 dollars. And they're not much cheaper online :/ Hope that helps. matt

July 12th, 2003, 01:10 PM	#5
Matt Betea Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: detroit, mi Posts: 187	The 4200 is a Geforce 4 series card. As long as it has the two ports, it'll run dual displays. The older Geforce 3 cards had two ports, but did not support dual displays for some reason. I had a PNY Geforce 4 Ti4200 card for a while, ran two displays well.

July 12th, 2003, 06:06 PM	#6
Roy Roberts New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 20	PC User: Your prices for DVI - VGA adapters sound crazy. we sell them where I work for £5.oo. shame that you arn't in the UK. I have the same card and use two screens. One thing that I've learnt through using various duel screen systems, (although this may only be a quirk for me) is that having the monitors differant sizes makes life so much easier. 1 is 17" the other 15". I found that when they were the same size, my brain could never make up its mind as to which was my main screen. Thus I was forever filicking my eyes back and forth. Now my brain knows that the smaller is for secondry stuff and plugins ect. Also (normally) you will only be able to view MPGs and AVIs ect on your main screen.

July 13th, 2003, 01:32 AM	#8
Matt Betea Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: detroit, mi Posts: 187	Previously I had two 17" monitors, but one wasn't capable of running what the other could, so I used different resolutions. And I would agree with Adrian, having monitors at different resolutions locks you out from moving some windows/palettes to the second monitor. Which I found frustrating and to me defeated the purpose of the second monitor. Apps like AE, Premiere, Nikon Capture left me still cramming the majority of things into the main display. Fastforward. Now I have two 19" monitors and I run them as one display (2560x1024). It's a dream running this way everything just flows a lot better. I'm not sure how or why you would have trouble determining which monitor is your main display, at least with Nvidia's and Matrox's driver it's pretty straight forward. But then again I've been known to be somewhat of a computer geek :/ matt

July 13th, 2003, 04:17 AM	#10
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I agree with Adrian about 19 inch monitor being your best value. LCD displays have some advantages, but for DV video, CRT's are the easiest to set-up and use. As a side note, Mac's have no problem using different resolutions for each monitor, with the programs mentioned. Full screens are always utilized. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 13th, 2003, 04:33 AM	#11
Roy Roberts New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 20	Perhaps I should explain in a bit more detail. I didn't mean that you should have differant resolutions on each screen. Just a differant physical size. I often have both monitors at the same res. But when I'm working on webpages I always have the second at 800x600 so that I can develop on one monitor and preview on the other. Also as my main monitor is now a 21" I find that is enough. Also having differant programs running on each monitor is the way that I generally use it, not as I'm sure most users do, utalizing both monitors as one large screen. I find that when I do this, the 2 edges of the screen that meet plus the gap between helps me to lose the flow when doing what I call the tennis head movement. Maybe I should try a bit harder to get used to it..