watching movies on projectors

[MManjra]

i was wondering if any one can help me, we have a number of toshiba satelite laptops that can play dvd's. the problem i am having is that i can watch the dvd's on the laptop screen but when it is connected to a projector via a vga cable i can see everything except whats playing on the dvd. i have tried it with windvd, powerdvd and windows media player but no luck. this seems to be happening on only the toshiba laptops. i remeber having this problem but cant rememba how i solved it am sure its somthing simple. can someone help thanx..

[russdev]

disable overlay in graphics properties of your card...

 

Russ

[Geoff]

This is caused by a disfunction in the mpeg acceleration of the graphics chipset used in the Toshibas. Basically it can't accelerate DVD playback in hardware and display it on dual screens.

 

To fix it you need to press Function key + f8 (?) I think It switches the display configuration. You basically need to switch it so its only outputting to the external vga connection.

 

I noticed the Dell's we have got in the last year or so do not have this issue. If its something you need to do regularly you might want to switch laptops around with another teacher.

[MkII]

There's an overlay setting in Windows Media Player too - tools > options > performance > advanced button > uncheck 'use overlays' under video acceleration.

 

Works for me

[KeithFermor]

Generally there is a simple answer: DON'T play the DVD before you display to the projector, switch the display function so that your laptop screen is off and the projector is on, ONLY THEN use the projector image and your mouse to start your DVD player! Try it... it works for me.

[browolf]

i've fixed this sort of problem on other laptops but updating the graphics driver. newer drivers often have better screen cloning capabilities.