Plex & screen sharing

[pieter1983]

1st post, and it's a tricky one!

So I have this home theater setup, a Mac mini (newest model) running Snow Leopard, hooked up through HDMI to my TV. Basically that's my media server, it runs Plex and I also use it to download media.

I also have a macbook which I use to control the Mac mini (through screen sharing) - also running Snow Leopard.

What I would like to be able to do is to have Plex running on my TV, and in the meantime be able to connect to my Mac mini's desktop from my macbook and for example open my torrent client, without showing this on the TV. That should just keep playing whatever movie/show/etc that was playing already.

I though I might be able to work something out using Spaces, but so far no luck. Has anyone tried this and succeeded?

 

[pieter1983]

*bump*

isn't there anyone out here who can help me?

 

[Mal]

So I'm guessing right now you have them mirroring. You need to turn that off if so (that's the default, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, assume it's on). On your keyboard, hit Cmd-F1. That should allow you to see a different image on each screen.

Within Plex, if it is not showing on the correct screen, hit the \ button to pull it out of full screen, drag it to the left or right until it shows up on the other monitor, then hit \ again to go back to full screen.

On the main monitor now you should be able to pull up anything you want. Bear in mind if you use the remote, it will only control Plex while Plex has focus, so if you're trying to do something in your torrent client, you won't be able to control Plex until you switch back, but it should keep playing.

jW

 

[pieter1983]

Thanks, but that's not really what I'm looking for I guess. I actually only have 1 screen connected to my mac mini - the TV screen. I'm using my macbook to control the mac mini through screen sharing. Is there a way to make my mac mini think that it is in fact connected to 2 screens, the TV on the one hand and the macbook on the other (through screen sharing)?

 

[Mal]

Oh, sorry. Didn't catch that part of it. I don't think there's any way to do what you're asking, but I'll leave that for possibly more informed people.

jW