[bigbub]

Why does XBMC behave so strangely in dual display setups?

I have a Nvidia graphics adapter (see below), and both a PC monitor + LCD TV hooked up, and the nView software seems to do a lot to support applications in dual view mode:
1. Apps started up via icon on the 2nd display will run there, including in full-screen mode
2. Apps "remember" where they were last moved to, so upon restart (from anywhere) they'll automatically start on that display
3. Can even do custom app settings which allow certain apps to "always" start on a particular monitor, plus some other options
4. Supports window system menu and title bar dual display option popups

With all of the above, I don't see the point of using UltraMon, MultiMon, or XboxLaunch... I have their features built in already! I have my LCD TV configured at a higher resolution, and in 16:9 format, while my main monitor is lower rez, but 4:3 format.

However, despite all of the above, XBMC 8.10 seems to defy any sort of dual display customization. Features #2 & 3 don't work at all with (only) XBMC, and feature #1 works, but is tough to use to start XBMC (as my TV is a distance away from my PC... hard to see from here!). After it starts, though, it works like a dream!

What is it about XBMC that makes it behave as such? Any workarounds? I'd really love to get this working!

Not sure if I have to wait for feature request #4769 to be implemented (in ver. 9.04)? I wouldn't think so, but...

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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OS: Win XP 32-bit SP 3
graphics adapter: Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT driver 178.24
XBMC version: 8.10

[bigbub]

I just tried out the beta version of 9.04 and it doesn't seem to make any difference. When will the dual display support happen, and how will I configure XBMC to take advantage of this?

[jkrellner]

I, too, have been trying to get a dual screen setup working the way I want (I actually want the same things displayed on both screens, but at different resolutions.

Your original post says it acts "strangely" but does not say what you want it to do exactly? So long as you don't want what I want (which I do not think can be done at this point), it can probably be done.

[kees1869]

Dual screen setups still seem a bit iffy, I too want different resolutions for each screen (not the same thing on each display though), but XBMC always resets my main pc's resolution to the resolution of my tv. (this is all in fullscreen mode).

In windowed mode I get a bit of a garbled screen on my tv (resolution of my main pc's screen stays put though this way!), I think it's because XBMC uses my main pc's display resolution (1900x1200) as a basis for the screen calculations of my tv (1900x1080). XBMC's interface seems to large to fit and it looks like the missing bottom part is continued at the top (which causes the screen to get garbled).

I think though these are limitations of the SDL library and most of these issue's will get fixed when SDL 1.3 is finished/released and integrated in XBMC.