I'm setting up an HTPC. My goal is to watch Live TV on a television and use a computer monitor to SIMULTANEOUSLY (very key) operate pc functionality(excel, word, internet explorer, etc.) . Currently I have an ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 pro card and its supplied software. This doesn't work at all. The software has crashed twice requiring unistalling and reinstalling. I have had numerous calls with their tech support to no avail. I then tried Beyond TV. After numerous emails with them, it looks like they also can't support dual mode functionality. Specifically, their guide overlays don't show up on the TV, only on the PC. Basically the same result I had with the ATI software without the software crash. Is it possible to operate simultaneous TV/PC with any hardware/software configuration? Some other posts in this forum (i.e. Dual Monitor Video Playback Problem, Connecting VAIO Laptop to Receiver, Single/Twin Monitor Switching) suggest maybe a different video card with dual-head?? (not sure what that means) but maybe I already have that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have dual 19" Viewsonic LCDs VX900s with an ATI All in wonder driving one monitor with DVI output and setup as the primary and a Matrox G450 video card driving the other monitor with DVI output and my desktop extended to cover both. I watch tv, read my email, watch dvds, etc using both monitors. I have also on occasion hooked up a TV as a 3rd monitor using the ATI card S-Video out. I am using 128 mb ATI All-In-Wonder 8500 with the current certified drivers, WDM driver and control panel software from ATI. The only problem I have is the control panel software crashing sometimes. I am running WinXP Pro SP1 on a MSI board Intel 3.02GHZ with HP. So the answer is yes. You can run as many monitors as you want based on how many video cards you fit in your PC and what they have for outputs.
Hi Sgezy, In my setup I have the following. Graphics Card: Gainward GeForce FX 5600 256MB DDR 5ns,AGP, "Ultra/780TV-DVI",Tv-Out. This Card has two ports for Monitors and another connection S-Video for the TV. This setup allows for two screens to be on at the same time and programs can be dragged onto the tv screen etc... You can watch a movie and also surf. My main setup is a dual monitor system for surfing and general PC work. I use the nvidea software to change the setup to 1 monitor and 1 tv to watch dvd's on the tv and keep an eye on the monitor for pc tasks in process other monitors can be added once you have the graphics cards for them.
