dj_ivocha on 12/6/2015 at 17:29
I'm on Windows 7 with ATI 5870 and a 22" 1680x1050 monitor. I also have a 42" 1920x1080 TV, which I've connected to my PC via HDMI. The TV and monitor face in the opposite direction, as seen in the artfully made drawing below, so I can't comfortably use both at the same time:
Inline Image:
http://abload.de/img/artjjj3o.pngRight now I've set them up as Extended Desktop, with the task bar only showing on the monitor. This way both are at their native resolution and I don't get any picture degradation. The problem is that whenever I want to watch some movie or YouTube video on the TV, I have to drag the player's/browser's window to the right beyond the monitor's borders, then look over my shoulder at the TV, where said window comes from the left, in order to position it correctly and/or maximize it. Then, after I've sat down on the couch and am watching the TV, I have to get up and go to my PC in order to open another movie/video/etc.
I bought (
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Infrared-Mini-Wireless-USB-PC-Laptop-Remote-Control-Media-Center-Controller-Free-Shipping/32272833407.html) this* PC remote, so as long as the player or browser is already on the TV's half of the extended desktop, I can control it comfortably from the couch without having to get up.
Still, the ideal situation would be to use duplicate instead of extend, so both the monitor and the TV show the same picture. But since they have different native resolutions, I can't do that without having to compromise in some way, for example have the resolution set to 1680x1050 and then use the TV's controls to stretch the image so it fills the whole TV (which wouldn't do nice things to any subtitles I might use, not to mention losing picture quality).
So, do you guys have any suggestion/idea about what I can do? Getting a new monitor with 1920x1080 would be the easiest solution, but that's years in the future.
* - that remote is surprisingly well made for just 4 bucks. Apart from 4 reconfigurable hotkey buttons, which I haven't figured out how to use yet, there's no way to configure it to your needs, but other than that it does what it's supposed to do without rattling/breaking/bending.
Zerker on 13/6/2015 at 11:11
Probably the simplest solution right now is just to go into setting and switch between "Display only on 1" and "Display only on 2". Maybe you can find a program or script to do this quickly. This is more or less how I use my two displays in Windows, since my Windows install is only for gaming. If I have an old 4:3 game, or something that runs well in portrait, I put it on my 4:3 monitor. Otherwise, it goes on my main monitor.
