LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: Schmich on July 12, 2008, 01:55:15 AM

Title: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: Schmich on July 12, 2008, 01:55:15 AM
Heya, this is my first post in this great place =) Been reading and planning things this past week(s) and keeping on learning new things that the system is available to do. There's one thing I haven't been able to find any information on: is it possible for one MD to work on 2 TV's at the same time?

I'm planning to have 2 TVs close to each other. One large TV close to the MD and a smaller one will be placed 3 or so meters away around the corner. This latter one doesn't need good quality so the TV-out (S-video) output on the graphics card would be just fine. So basically, to make it clear (I'm the worst person at explaining stuff), is an MD with a GFX card (lets say a GForce6+ with 2 DVI's and 1 S-video) able to use one of the DVIs for one TV and the S-video to another at the same time?

If this isn't possible, would it be possible if the MD had a second graphics card? eg. the soon to be released Geforce 8 series on the PCI slot that roberto99 posted about (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5748.0)

Thanks
Title: Re: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: rouss on July 13, 2008, 07:25:53 AM
bump
Title: Re: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: totallymaxed on July 13, 2008, 10:55:50 AM
Quote from: Schmich on July 12, 2008, 01:55:15 AM
Heya, this is my first post in this great place =) Been reading and planning things this past week(s) and keeping on learning new things that the system is available to do. There's one thing I haven't been able to find any information on: is it possible for one MD to work on 2 TV's at the same time?

I'm planning to have 2 TVs close to each other. One large TV close to the MD and a smaller one will be placed 3 or so meters away around the corner. This latter one doesn't need good quality so the TV-out (S-video) output on the graphics card would be just fine. So basically, to make it clear (I'm the worst person at explaining stuff), is an MD with a GFX card (lets say a GForce6+ with 2 DVI's and 1 S-video) able to use one of the DVIs for one TV and the S-video to another at the same time?

If this isn't possible, would it be possible if the MD had a second graphics card? eg. the soon to be released Geforce 8 series on the PCI slot that roberto99 posted about (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5748.0)

Thanks

Currently you need one MD per screen... and i dont see that changing in the near future. But this is an open source project so you could gather some like minded people around this idea and implement it ;-)

All the best


Andrew
Title: Re: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: Schmich on July 15, 2008, 03:34:48 AM
Quote from: totallymaxed on July 13, 2008, 10:55:50 AM
Currently you need one MD per screen... and i dont see that changing in the near future. But this is an open source project so you could gather some like minded people around this idea and implement it ;-)
I wish! I guess this idea will have to wait a long while =)
Title: Re: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: Darren404 on July 15, 2008, 07:17:50 AM
I found it was easier to use a 4-port VGA splitter instead of using MDs.  You can get them on ebay for around $30 or just a single VGA splitter for $10.  I live alone and dont have any need to play different media content in different rooms.  this option would also save on your energy bill.

I know you are wanting S-video and are using TVs not monitors, but this is how i solved the problem.

Cheers
Title: Re: Multiple screens on the same MD? Multi-GPU?
Post by: darrenmason on July 16, 2008, 01:14:48 AM
My understanding of the original question was that it was just an additional screen showing the same content on both.

If that is the case then that should not be a problem. I certainly had a laptop MD doing just that with its screen and an external monitor.