Dual monitor video

[FrodgE]

hey there gals & guys

I'm currently looking to buy a dual monitor video card (one output for a digital projector and the other to control it) for my church. Currently I'm looking at trying to find an ATI Radeon VE. So far from what I've read it has a pretty good interface, better than nVidia and Matrox. I think a card with s-video output is the way to go at the moment.

I want a card that can have one output as a standard monitor and the other output as s-video for the projector. The outputs need to be totally independant of one another. I also need to obtain a good presentation package for projectors that supports a dual monitor config.

Any comments / suggestions are greatly appreicated !

Thanks

[JRY]

am using a Matrox Millennium G450 with two 17inch monitors.
nice..am happy with the set up
but am thinking of upgrading to the Radeon 7500 cause dun think that the matrox supports open GL
anyway the ATI cards are definately great:afro:

[Morgan_Lander]

The 8500 is a very nice card. I love mine, and will probably get another one to finalize my other rig;)

[Wiggo]

Not sure if XP supports this idea (but someone else may tell us) but I personally know that 98 and later do but if that 1st (and usually unusable) PCI slot is clear and 3D acceleration isn't required plus ya happy with the video card ya currently have then ya could consider a cheap PCI vid card to run a second monitor just for web surfin', office apps, extended desktop and such. :smokin:
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[FrodgE]

Hmmmm, so just two dodgy old vid cards (one with tv out) then ??

Guess you need special software to control them too huh ?

[Wiggo]

Well Win98/SE will do it itself with no extra software needed. ;)
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[JRY]

both the Matrox millennium and Ati 8500 have multi monitor support
do u dun need 2 use a pci graphics card

[FrodgE]

All I want is the cheapest possible solution (no 3D required) that will give me independant tv-out and a standard 'ol monitor. Don't care what it is. I've heard recently that the tv-out from the nVidia cards is pretty crusty. Maybe I should look at something else...

So Wiggo, win 98 has built in support for dual vid cards eh ? I guess later OS's also have that support then.

:afro:

[Wiggo]

I know that NT4 didn't but I havn't heard of it bein' tried on 2k or XP yet. :smokin:
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[Kheldar]

win98 supports 9 monitors
win2k/XP supports 10 monitors

Not all video cards support dual (or more) monitors - check out HCL at MS to find which ones work (TNT's do)

I've had the Matrox G400 at work for a couple of years works very well

[FrodgE]

The Matrox cards are great but they're also pricey :( ie, out of budget.

Is the tv out on the radeon cards anygood or is it also pretty bad ? I forgot to mention, I'm now thinking of ditching the s-video idea and just using straight composite tv out.

Might have a play around and see what I can come up with, thanx guys !

[DaisyMae]

The 8500 is a very nice card. I love mine, and will probably get another one to finalize my other rig;)

Hello Everyone:

I purchased ATI RADEON VE 32 Meg and did so because it would support Dual Monitors. At the time I was not ready to install the second monitor so I did not pay real close attention however AFTER the fact I believe the card I received is NOT capable of supporting Dual Monitors... THERE is NO place to plug the additional port onto the main board! So I am starting over... BUT one problem I took the ATI Video Card out of another system to put it on the one that I wanted to use for dual monitor use. And the card would not fire up and post! Both Motherboards are ABIT Boards it works on the ABIT KR7A-RAID but not the ABIT KT7E board... Any ideas or suggestions would be most helpful.

Many thanks in advance...

Daisy

[Wiggo]

Normally you'll only get one card to post but once into Windows go into the advanced display settings which should allow you to pick up the second one. Also check that Windows sees the second card to and has no probs with it. :smokin:
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[DaisyMae]

Thanks Wiggo... I checked and both cards are reconized by the O/S. I think the answer lies in the fact that the S3ViRGE/VX Video card by Number 9 Technologies is out of date and no way that I
know of to get a driver for it.

So I am researching the ABIT Siluro GeForce4Ti4200 card. Main
issue is that whatever I buy HAS to be supported by the ABIT KT7E Motherboard.

I am not sure that is the one I need or not. It seems to be more for Gaming... which I do not do at all. I am strickly Business Apps.

Thanks

Daisy

[Wiggo]

If gaming is not what you're looking at then check out the brand name GF2MX400's or GF4MX440/460's with the dual monitor option as they would probably be all ya need. ;)
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