(sorry for re-posting this but the original post in the OSX forum got no replies after a week so I thought I'd try here)
Hey everyone, another quick question from someone who doesn't own a Mac yet but is thinking about switching.
Full-screen video mirroring refers to the ability to play back a video file in a window on your desktop but have it appear full-screen (or letterboxed if the aspect ratio differs) on the secondary display. Currently in Windows I use this feature a LOT for presentations, editing video, and watching DVDs/webcasts on the TV while working or surfing on my primary monitor. Note that this isn't the same as just moving the video player over to the secondary screen and making it full-screen. For example, during a presentation I might not be facing the projection screen, so I need to see the video in a window (so I can also see my notes, etc.) on the primary screen too.
One of my frustrations with Windows is that both Nvidia and ATI have seemingly abandoned this feature, and even though its been around and working fine for ages in XP, it isn't available (or working properly) in Vista. Also, for some reason the latest XP drivers from both companies cause a lot of problems with wrong aspect ratios and broken overlays and the like, and downgrading to older drivers isn't always an option. I read that Nvidia has posted on their forums that this feature won't even be available in the GPU starting with the 8xxx series, which is a huge disappointment for me (if its true).
If you could confirm that Macs (specifically a MBP) support this feature, that would be great news. If it isn't supported out-of-the-box, does anyone know of a way to enable it or a similar function?
Thanks!
Hey everyone, another quick question from someone who doesn't own a Mac yet but is thinking about switching.
Full-screen video mirroring refers to the ability to play back a video file in a window on your desktop but have it appear full-screen (or letterboxed if the aspect ratio differs) on the secondary display. Currently in Windows I use this feature a LOT for presentations, editing video, and watching DVDs/webcasts on the TV while working or surfing on my primary monitor. Note that this isn't the same as just moving the video player over to the secondary screen and making it full-screen. For example, during a presentation I might not be facing the projection screen, so I need to see the video in a window (so I can also see my notes, etc.) on the primary screen too.
One of my frustrations with Windows is that both Nvidia and ATI have seemingly abandoned this feature, and even though its been around and working fine for ages in XP, it isn't available (or working properly) in Vista. Also, for some reason the latest XP drivers from both companies cause a lot of problems with wrong aspect ratios and broken overlays and the like, and downgrading to older drivers isn't always an option. I read that Nvidia has posted on their forums that this feature won't even be available in the GPU starting with the 8xxx series, which is a huge disappointment for me (if its true).
If you could confirm that Macs (specifically a MBP) support this feature, that would be great news. If it isn't supported out-of-the-box, does anyone know of a way to enable it or a similar function?
Thanks!
