Laptop and Projector

[neilmc]

Hi, Ive seen this problem before but can't for the life of me remember how to fix it. Playing a DVD through a laptop onto a projector (exact same image on laptop and projector), the DVD appears on the Laptop but all i get on the whiteboard is a black empty space, i can see it playing on the laptop perfectly, what do I need to do to get it to work on both?

 

Cheers

[FN-GM]

I have seen this before, not sure what it was as i didnt fix it.

 

I would try updating Video drivers

[rush_tech]

What are you using to play the DVD? You could try VLC media player

[enjay]

Isn't it to do with the laptop and projector having different screen resolutions?

[neilmc]

Fn and F5 (or whatever key on the laptop) to get it onto just the projector?

 

Still didnt work.

 

Maybe it is the resolution ill try that one

[dgsmith]

I can't remember what we did last time I saw this (I think we got it working, though quite some time ago, I can't remember(!)). I recently installed a video card (pci-e) into a desktop computer to allow it to output onto 2 displays (didn't want a splitter - too many wires), and we have come across this same problem in this scenerio too (the video from PowerDVD only wants to output via the 1 vga port, and black space on the screen connected to the other); exactly the same as the laptop screen/projector situation.

 

Resolutions the same, drivers latest from internet and everything else ok. Haven't tried VLC media player though - may be worth seeing if it is a specific problem to powerdvd.

[Dom_]

Does it have a rubbish graphics card? I've had the same issue on older laptops where it will only play on one screen.

 

I've tried everything I can think of before, but it seems to be certain laptop/projector combinations too, as the supply teacher assured me it ALWAYS works. (In fact, she went ape sh!t in front of the class, then followed me up to the office and went ape sh!t to my boss!)

[bladedanny]

Again, I've seen this on many laptops, Its when the graphics card isn't powerfull enough to display video to both the laptop and external display. If fn + f5/f7 or what ever the key for that laptop is doesn't work, could you possibly change which is the main screen? Is that even possible?

 

Hope this helps.

[LeMarchand]

It's something to do with the (poor) capabilities of the graphics card/chip. Easiest fix is to use Gibbo's suggestion, but I have seen talk round these parts of altering the overlay settings. Also seen a suggestion that it's a copy protection thing, but I'm not convinced.

 

I've seen it happen with different players: VLC, WMP, PowerDVD etc so it's not player-specific.

Edited September 16, 2009 by LeMarchand
Typo

[glennda]

I have had it before on old (rubbish) laptops, it display's it okay if you just use the projector, but if you use the screen on the laptop aswell it just displays it on the laptop screen, but normally, if say the video was embedded in a powerpoint, it just left a black square on the projector screen where the video was ment to be!

[ozzy]

Don't you knock the hardware acceleration up in troubleshoot in the display properties.

Display>Advanced>Troubleshoot

[ajs]

What VGA card is in the laptop?

 

I've seen this more with ATI and Intel cards than any other and from what I understand, it has something to do with the default way the driver talks to the hardware (IIRC it talks directly to the hardware to get good video acceleration rather than talking to Windows and thus it doesn't work properly with a projector attached).

 

If it's an ATI card then altering the "Theater Mode" to "Display the same on all displays" in the advanced section of the Catalyst Control Center has always fixed it for me.

 

With Intel cards, I've had to set the main display to be the projector (listed as "monitor" in the options) which makes the driver switch to thinking the projector is the main display so the problem gets reversed (not found a way yet to get some Intel cards to display the video on both screens yet). That's usually access by right-clicking on the desktop -> Graphics Options -> Output To -> Monitor + Notebook (not Notebook + Monitor which is the default in my experience).

 

Not come across the problem with NVIDIA cards so can't offer any suggestions with those I'm afraid although I imagine it'll be similar to the ATI solution.

 

I'm sure there's an ATI knowledge base article about it somewhere but true to form, I can't find it.

[neilmc]

cheers for your help guys, ill give your surgestions a try.

[TechSupp]

We have had this problem on some of the older Sony Vio laptops. Fix it by just going in to the display properties and switch the external display to the primary display and visa versa with the laptop display and Bob's your uncle (or not as the case may be!), video on whiteboard and blackimage on laptop. Not a problem as you only need the video on the whiteboard as you can see the rest of the screen area on the laptop.

[3s-gtech]

It's an overlay issue, graphics acceleration for the video only works on the primary display, so nothing shows on secondary. Turn off overlays - in VLC this is under video settings, in Windows Media Player it's under Tools/Options/Performanced/Advanced button.

[pottski]

We set the display to 'projector only' for DVD's, though i might give the above suggestion a go at some point.

[tomdawson]

Start > Run > 'dxdiag' > Display tab > disable DirectDraw Acceleration - that should sort you out

[dgsmith]

We have the problem with an Nvidia 8400GS card. Not a fantastic card I know, but I wouldn't say it should struggle with something like this - it isn't onboard and has 256MB of dedicated graphics memory.

[crc-ict]

It'll be the overlay settings - that'll solve the problem for sure

[neon]

had this problem this morning, going to control panel ---- display---- advanved then troubleshoot and turn the video accelleration down from full to none sorted it. I have also had it when the teacher started the dvd playing before putting the projector on?

 

Steve

[Frangar]

It doesnt always work...and seems wrong...but try decreasing the hardware acceleration....this sometimes also helps when trying to display video embedded in Powerpoint.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

Doh!...soz neon.....the moral of this story is to wait for all the posts to load before replying...I blame my slow mobile connection!!

Edited September 24, 2009 by Frangar