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Dual display W7 MC issue

post #1 of 10
1/4/10 at 3:39pm
Thread Starter 
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

I have a powerful desktop in my basement, which is about 30 feet away from my 50" Panasonic Plasma. I decided to get a 40 foot 26AWG HDMI cable and run it up in the drop ceiling and back down into my Sony AVR which is hooked up to the Plasma. For the dekstop, I run a 20" Samsung computer LCD.

The issue is, when I drag W7 Media Center over to the Plasma, and maximize it, I lose my mouse pointer and control on the samsung LCD, it's crazy. Any ideas or suggestions?

Main desktop monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW running at 1680x1050@60Hz and I have the Panasonic TC-P50S1 running at 1920x1080@60Hz.

Now, if I open Windows Media Player and maximize it on the Plasma, I can use the Samsung LCD just fine.

This bug/issue is a deal breaker for me as I wanted to be able to use the desktop and windows media center at the same time, etc.

TIA,
Justin
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post #2 of 10
1/4/10 at 3:52pm
I have the same issue. I believe it has something to do WMC7. I can move my mouse all about the maximized window that has MC up, but I can't get to the other display. Would love to know how to get around this as well.
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post #3 of 10
1/4/10 at 3:58pm
I think if you hold down alt+ctrl you can move your mouse cursor to the other screen. I think I read that if you hit the windows key you can do it. Just another one of the several reasons that WMC7 is rapidly falling down my list of HTPC apps.

BB
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post #4 of 10
1/4/10 at 4:37pm
I just end up using it windowed mode most of the time. It is a pain though, that is for sure.
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post #5 of 10
1/4/10 at 5:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigbird999 View Post

I think if you hold down alt+ctrl you can move your mouse cursor to the other screen. I think I read that if you hit the windows key you can do it. Just another one of the several reasons that WMC7 is rapidly falling down my list of HTPC apps.

BB

Unfortunately the alt+ctrl didn't work
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post #6 of 10
1/4/10 at 7:09pm
After maximizing Media Center on the plasma, try using a keyboard button to open up a new browser window (My remote has a WWW button that opens up firefox) when I do that, I can get the mouse over to the desktop monitor again without minimizing or resizing Media Center.

I have another issue with W7 MC and my monitor/plasma. My HTPC isn't quite ready for prime time yet (wife is still using cablebox primarily) and when I switch the input on my TV (panny 42x1) from the cablebox (HDMI input 1) to the HTPC (HDMI input 2) sometimes I get a picture, and sometimes I just get a black screen until I restart the PC. Any idea why?

(Gigabyte GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H motherboard - ATI HD 4200 integrated graphics running the 9.12 CCC)
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post #7 of 10
1/4/10 at 7:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickInMA View Post

I have another issue with W7 MC and my monitor/plasma. My HTPC isn't quite ready for prime time yet (wife is still using cablebox primarily) and when I switch the input on my TV (panny 42x1) from the cablebox (HDMI input 1) to the HTPC (HDMI input 2) sometimes I get a picture, and sometimes I just get a black screen until I restart the PC. Any idea why?

(Gigabyte GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H motherboard - ATI HD 4200 integrated graphics running the 9.12 CCC)

Try this - turn on the TV, switch to HDMI2, and power on the HTPC. Once everything is running and you have a good video display, switch to HDMI1 and wait for about a minute. Switch back to HDMI2. Do you have video?

You should also edit your power plan settings and keep your display on all the time.
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post #8 of 10
1/4/10 at 7:40pm
Thread Starter 
I found some more info from MS...

"Todd [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: The mouse issue is specific to MCE....
A: When Media Center is in full screen mode on one monitor in a multi-mon setup it is not possible to move the mouse cursor off of the screen that Media Center is running on. This is the case with all versions of Media Center (including Windows Vista SP1) and is a result of Media Center being a DirectX application."

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...17_ez_wmc.mspx

GREAT! This is TOTALLY pointless.
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post #9 of 10
1/4/10 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
Me again. Check this out! MCEMultiMon from a guy @ the green button came up with a great utility.

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/5...39.aspx#240939
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post #10 of 10
1/4/10 at 8:05pm
Thread Starter 
Me again - I found another program that works better for me on Windows 7. Called The Maxifier. http://www.mods.com.au/Maxifier/

Try the 1.5 version for Windows 7, sweet!
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