[vinistois]

Hi,

I have an application for a HTPC that supports 3 monitors (all digital hdmi/dvi doesnt matter).

The monitors are all 1080p. The intention is not to use them at the same time. One is an LCD, one is a projector, and one is an LCD in the next room.

The idea is to allow quickly changing monitors from XBMC, so that a playing movie can be sent to the other monitors without much hassle.

Many of the Zacate boards feature dual digital output. Will this play nice with a 3rd output added via a pcie video card? I plan on using an hd 5450, will this pose any conflicts with the Zacate's on-board video?

[wicky]

first off, none of the boards, even the ones with VGA + DVI + HDMI can utilize all 3 at the same time, so you would only be able to use VGA + DVI, DVI + HDMI, or HDMI + VGA - just to clarify for anyone who might be thinking it's possible on native hardware.

As for adding in a secondary graphics controller, there should be no issues as long as you use an ATI card. ATI and Nvidia build support into their chipsets to allow you to run the onboard graphics in addition to a discrete card, though typically your add in card has to be the "master" and control the primary display, though these days things have gotten much smarter so I doubt it matters anymore.

The HD 6130 is actually based on the Cedar architecture, containing 80 shader processors so really it's not unlike a stripped down HD 5450. I don't think you'll have any trouble with this, the hardest part will prolly be setting up XBMC and switching between monitors.

[misterpink]

This seems like a lot of unnecessary fussing about.

Why not just get a cheap hdmi splitter like this one:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...1&format=2

And have the displays fed all the time. You won't need to program xbmc to switch displays, just power on the display you want to watch.

Am I missing something?

[misterpink]

.

[vinistois]

I realize I can use an HDMI splitter, but I am trying to minimize adding any more 'boxes' to the setup. I have also heard of several issues with splitters not working correctly, leaving the image too small or too big on the monitors if everything is not perfect. I think they would work great if you are using identical monitors, but since each monitor is a different brand and type, I would expect some issues.

The other reason is I already have the 5450, and I won't need it anymore since I am also upgrading my own system to a zacate platform.

Thanks for the inputs, I will definitely try it, and report back. From my experience, switching monitors while inside xbmc works quite well, I wish every dx application had that kind of capability. (try playing a recent game on a secondary monitor...)