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Well im using my TV as a second monitor and basically i cant watch any movies on my TV while running games like WoW on my Monitor, The media screen always goes black. Everyone i know who has 2 or more monitors running off the same system has this problem, Pretty sure its windows doing it as it thinks i cant see it as ive got a fullscreen program running so it tries so save CPU/RAM load by removing the video, As i still get the sound.
Just wondering if anyone on TF has found a solution
Dunno for sure as im not rich enough to be able to afford a tv and monitor to play off my pc at the same time but I would hazard a guess that it will have something to do with DirectX.
If you play a mmorpg and tab out of that game then the game will freeze your control until you return to it followed by a frantic catch up as it replays the packets you missed.
As its taking control of the graphics into a different mode you probably wont get it to work unless you have a dual core processor that can properly hyperthread and seperate the processes completely.
I reckon if you were using XP64 you will be able to do this but with stuff like games using Dx then thats going to be your only solution atm.
However Cinty's solution sounds worth a try although I still think you will get one or the other freezing depending on your active window.
virtual pcs/desktops?
Split your prope desktop over the two screens, then have your movies playing in whatever browser it's using on the tv, and have your games/whatever playing in a windowed virtual desktop on the other monitor?
Think your right about it being DirectX harv, Pretty sure its DirectDraw using Offscreen mode instead of Overlay to display the video, No idea how to set it to Overlay though
Next time ive got something to watch while im playing WoW ill try running WoW window'd, If that doesnt work or isnt suitable ill have a look into using a Virtual Desktop for either video or game Ill come back and say which method, if any, worked the best incase anyone else has this problem
i have the same problem but as yet i dont have a solution... though i looked for about 5 mins & walked away without ever trying again. so it wasnt exactly a deep search for the answer lol
Games run in 'full screen mode' so both screens get taken up by the game, although the game is only big enough to display on the one monitor so the other just stays black or turns off. windowed games is the only solution im aware of.
HOWEVER. prior to this i did have a sort of fix this is how it works
1. Load your game
2. Alt Tab out of your game
3. Double Click the film you want to watch
4. REALLY QUICKLY alt tab back into your game,
This should cause the film to load WHILST your in fullscreen game mode, Works for me a charm! after this you can alt tab as much as you want and it will always remain fine.
Games run in 'full screen mode' so both screens get taken up by the game, although the game is only big enough to display on the one monitor so the other just stays black or turns off. windowed games is the only solution im aware of.
Any app that is running is displayed fine and i can see the media player but the video goes black. Games run in Full Mode yes, But They are set to run on a single display unit. The only time the other screen will go back is if im running on Span or Clone.
The problem has actually stopped now, Not sure exactly what i did. Updated to newest nvidia beta drivers, Downloaded the Full new version of DirectX ( 70mb version ), Messed with my nVidia Display settings etc... And now Divx, VLC and WMP all display fine.
Dual Monitor Problem
Ill come back and say which method, if any, worked the best incase anyone else has this problem 
Linear Mode
