Secondary Monitor Shortcut

[Justin]

I'm not sure if everyone is aware of this, but Windows 7 and 8 bring a very simple way to enable and set up your Secondary Monitor, especially useful for Karaoke.

Hold the Windows key and press 'P'. They call it the "Projector" dialog, though in most cases it's not really a "projector". It works for any external monitor.

Select the "Extend" option, and voila - your second monitor is turned on! Note that the monitor should be physically connected before you use this shortcut.

Then launch VDJ, and your CDG (Karaoke) screen is automatically full-screened on the Second monitor (which could be a monitor, projector, or Television).

Just thought I'd throw that out there if anyone wasn't aware. Back in the day, you had to open the Display Settings dialog and jump through a bunch of hoops in Windows to get a second screen connected properly (not "mirrored" or "cloned"). WIN+P is an easy way to quickly set up your Karaoke screen.

[Fabio]

I had been doing this very thing before all my gigs...but since you added the "Always start CDG in Full Screen..." I haven't had to do that, I'm not sure if Windows finally "learned" that I always want the second screen in Extended mode instead of Mirrored mode...now whenever I plug a second monitor it always starts in extended mode!

but the WIN-P is always good to know!

-Fabio

[mydjkj.com]

It depends how you connect and turn your equipment on. Usually if everything is plugged in before turned on then windows recognizes that and auto extends.

[Fabio]

Yeah, I think since Windows 7 it just auto extends to the 2nd monitor.  I'm thinking when we first posted this in 2013, some of us were still using XP which was a a great version of Windows, but it didn't auto extend. 

[Justin]

Somewhat on-topic, but in Windows 10 I figured out how to enable a "ghost" monitor. As long as your computer *can* support a second monitor (eg, enough video memory etc), you can enable a non-existent monitor. Why would you want to do that?

With devices like the EasyCast (aka AnyCast), you can mirror the imaginary monitor to any HDMI-enabled TV/monitor within WiFi range.

I experimented with this a while back but the USB port went bad on my EasyCast within a couple of weeks. Soon (after the release of 8.0) I'll pick up a more expensive better made FireStick or ChromeCast or something like that and do further testing. Then of course I'll put up a tutorial, as the process of enabling the invisible monitor is a bit involved, and knowing Microsoft, the procedure will change as soon as I post a write-up about it lol...

I *may* experiment with simply outputting DLNA video, removing the need to enable a "secondary monitor" in the traditional sense; then it could be broadcast to a handful of dongles and you can wire up TVs all over the place without wires...

Now I'm getting ahead of myself but the possibility is there. For the brief time my EasyCast worked, it was nice to just plug it into a TV and not have to route an HDMI cable, taped to the floor with duct tape and boosted with an amplified signal splitter somewhere in the middle to cover the distance...

[chaz]

I have tried extending to multiple tvs using chromecast.. wireless hdmi and other options.. only can extend to 1 signal ... thinking a hdmi splitter but unsure if it would work.. now I use Actiontec wireless boxes.. expensive


Windows 10 up to date

[Justin]

I know you can use an HDMI splitter with the EasyCast at least. So as long as two or more TVs are within wired-range of each other...

As for multiple receivers - I don't remember how to do it (it's been like a year since I had experimented) but one thing I remember is a program called AirParrot. It will let you cast a single window, or the contents of an entire monitor (or the whole combined desktop) to any number of AirPlay-enabled devices.

I don't know if ChromeCast/Firestick support Apple's AirPlay but the EasyCast/AnyCast devices do. I bought AirParrot, it was only $12.99 and made it really easy to cast a "ghost" monitor to the device.

Once I get done with the 8.0 version I'll try out and recommend a couple inexpensive options and do a write-up and/or video tutorial. I still want to experiment with casting DLNA directly, as most devices support that (even SmartTVs generally support direct DLNA casting -- no dongle!).