Automatically start MP fullscreen on secondary display (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter dhannema
- Start date
Germany
Just mentioning the same as in many other posts: Only primary screen is supported in MP due to lack of DirectX acceleration on secondary screen. So your CPU has to do all the rendering usually your graphics card does. The result is a very high CPU usage. MediaPortal is not the only application suffering from this, by the way. Google around a bit if you want to see that some other HTPC apps that also use the way like MP renders GUI and video also behave exactly the same.
The tool in this thread can't help there, it just moves MP to the secondary screen and can lead to some unwanted and unexpected behaviour. Thus it is not officially supported.
The tool in this thread can't help there, it just moves MP to the secondary screen and can lead to some unwanted and unexpected behaviour. Thus it is not officially supported.
Regarding the problems with secondary display and high CPU load:
I haven’t tried this tool yet, but I do run MP on a secondary display. I use a similar method as the tool does, but I use Girder 2.9 to manipulate the MP window. Girder opens the “device dialog†and chooses secondary display and sets the right resolution. I do _not_ however put MP into full screen as that will make MP take 99% of the CPU power. Instead I have Girder make the window slightly bigger than my secondary screen, and then I position it in such a way that the title bar and outer edges are “outside†the screen, therefore invisible. All of this is done with a single button on my remote.
The only problem I have with this method is that MP sometimes becomes invisible or partially invisible, but still running. I think this is because bad timing in my Girder script or perhaps it has to do with the fact that secondary displays are not supported by DirectX.
I as interpret this problem with high CPU loads is that DirectX in a full screen window on a secondary monitor _or_ on primary display but without focus (ie minimized) is the cause. I sometimes play around with MS Flight simulator, and when minimizing FS from full screen, the high CPU load will occur. In a normal window it’s all ok.
I haven’t tried this tool yet, but I do run MP on a secondary display. I use a similar method as the tool does, but I use Girder 2.9 to manipulate the MP window. Girder opens the “device dialog†and chooses secondary display and sets the right resolution. I do _not_ however put MP into full screen as that will make MP take 99% of the CPU power. Instead I have Girder make the window slightly bigger than my secondary screen, and then I position it in such a way that the title bar and outer edges are “outside†the screen, therefore invisible. All of this is done with a single button on my remote.
The only problem I have with this method is that MP sometimes becomes invisible or partially invisible, but still running. I think this is because bad timing in my Girder script or perhaps it has to do with the fact that secondary displays are not supported by DirectX.
I as interpret this problem with high CPU loads is that DirectX in a full screen window on a secondary monitor _or_ on primary display but without focus (ie minimized) is the cause. I sometimes play around with MS Flight simulator, and when minimizing FS from full screen, the high CPU load will occur. In a normal window it’s all ok.
mrman said:I do _not_ however put MP into full screen as that will make MP take 99% of the CPU power. Instead I have Girder make the window slightly bigger than my secondary screen, and then I position it in such a way that the title bar and outer edges are “outside†the screen, therefore invisible. All of this is done with a single button on my remote.
Please remember that this disables the DirectX Exclusive mode and will propably cause tearing in video playback...
Thanks tourettes for pointing that out. I can confirm that I do have som tearing.
Sometimes I also get some strange behaviour when running MP on secondary screen, so you do this on your own risk.
Sometimes I also get some strange behaviour when running MP on secondary screen, so you do this on your own risk.
- Thread starter
- #46
mPod said:
Personally, I don't have a CPU problem and I don't see tearing.
I've gathered some statistics in the various screens when I use the '!'-key to show the fps.
When playing MP3: (800x603), 8% CPU usage, 100-160 fps.
When playing MPG: (800x603), 8% CPU usage, VMR9 25.00, fps: 25.00, dropped: 0
When playing DVD: (800x603), 10% CPU usage, VMR9 25.00, fps: 24.65, dropped: 0
When playing XVID: (800x603), 10% CPU usage, VMR9 25.00, fps: 24.87, dropped: 0
When playing TV without timeshifting: (800x603), 16% CPU usage, VMR9 25.00
When playing TV with timeshifting: (800x603), 21% CPU usage, VMR9 25.00, fps: 24.7, dropped: 0
Personally, I think these results are great and what I also see is that the fps number gradually increases a bit towards 25.00, but I didn't wait that long for it to reach there.
What I do see, is that when the MP program is not activated, the performance drops to about 9 fps when in menu-mode. Therefore when running you should always have your MP window in focus.
This does not happen when playing a video fullscreen; framerate then stays at 25 fps.
My setup:
- MP 0.2.0.0 RC3 with xbox 360 skin v0.5
- Pentium IV 2.6 Ghz, 800 Mhz bus, Multithreading
- 1 GB memory
- Sapphire ATI 9600 Pro 128 MB video card
- Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150MCE
Weird problem.. anyone got any ideas?
I used this mp_start program so i could have media portal running on my secondary display (TV) and hopefully leave the pc screen free. I had a few little problems, but they were already mentioned in this thread so no longer little problems.
The problem i've noticed is that when i'm not running mediaportal, but since i ran the mp_start program.
When I run Mediaplayer (not mediaportal) i get the mediaplayer window on my primary display, but I also get a fullscreen mediaplayer on my secondary display.
I used to open Mediaplayer, drag it over to the tv and alt-enter. but now i get 2 mediaplayers appearing?!?
I've rebooted, still does it. Checked startup folder, and run key in the registry, but can't find why its doing it.
I suppose what I need to know is does the mp_start just run a windows api and change the current window settings or does it change the registry settings, mediaplayer start or display settings
entries in some way? or is something else going on with a mediaportal setting thats messed up my mediaplayer settings.
Anyone else had this, or got any ideas?
Cheers
I used this mp_start program so i could have media portal running on my secondary display (TV) and hopefully leave the pc screen free. I had a few little problems, but they were already mentioned in this thread so no longer little problems.
The problem i've noticed is that when i'm not running mediaportal, but since i ran the mp_start program.
When I run Mediaplayer (not mediaportal) i get the mediaplayer window on my primary display, but I also get a fullscreen mediaplayer on my secondary display.
I used to open Mediaplayer, drag it over to the tv and alt-enter. but now i get 2 mediaplayers appearing?!?
I've rebooted, still does it. Checked startup folder, and run key in the registry, but can't find why its doing it.
I suppose what I need to know is does the mp_start just run a windows api and change the current window settings or does it change the registry settings, mediaplayer start or display settings
entries in some way? or is something else going on with a mediaportal setting thats messed up my mediaplayer settings.
Anyone else had this, or got any ideas?
Cheers
Ahhhhhh Sorted
Found the solution to my problem, and it was nothing to do with mp_start or mediaportal... please forgive me and i hope people were not insulted.
It was myself being a complete and utter muppet, there is a full screen video mirroring option as part of the nvidia drivers... i must have turned it on accidently..
sorry i didn't mean to acuse anyone or their code, I must have been playing with that trying to get mediaportal to work full screen on the TV..
again sorry.
Found the solution to my problem, and it was nothing to do with mp_start or mediaportal... please forgive me and i hope people were not insulted.
It was myself being a complete and utter muppet, there is a full screen video mirroring option as part of the nvidia drivers... i must have turned it on accidently..
sorry i didn't mean to acuse anyone or their code, I must have been playing with that trying to get mediaportal to work full screen on the TV..
again sorry.