Watching a movie on a 2nd screen and working simultaneously...

[Singin Hobo]

I've got a TV hooked up w/ a mini-display-to-HDMI adapter and I'd like to be able to run iTunes exclusively, full screen, on the second screen.

I've been able to switch shows and movies to full screen mode via QuickTime and watch them like that, but I can't keep my other apps in Full Screen mode if I do that.

Is there a way to watch shows, full screen, on a second screen AND freely use your computer as usual? I probably can't download any new software (I'm in a hotel on an island).

I'm on a March-2011 15" Macbook Pro, running the latest Lion and the latest everything else.

 

[smuxyz]

You can watch movies with VLC. You just have to uncheck the "Black screen in fullscreen mode" thing in VLC under Preferences > Video.

Move the movie to the second screen and you're able to watch the movie in full screen on the second monitor while you use your laptop.

 

[r0k]

You can watch movies with VLC. You just have to uncheck the "Black screen in fullscreen mode" thing in VLC under Preferences > Video.

Move the movie to the second screen and you're able to watch the movie in full screen on the second monitor while you use your laptop.

I asked about this in the Apple store the other day. I was there to take a look at the new Retina MBP and I asked the Genius about Lion putting up a texture on the second screen when an app goes full screen. He seemed to think this was natural behavior and said I could get around this by putting the full screen app on the external (or second) screen and I'd be able to continue using my laptop on the primary screen. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but based on how it was explained to me at the Apple store, I would expect it to work.

 

[AdrianK]

He seemed to think this was natural behavior and said I could get around this by putting the full screen app on the external (or second) screen and I'd be able to continue using my laptop on the primary screen.

Lion's fullscreen feature will make the app fullscreen on your primary display and blank out every other display.

As smuxyz said, if you want to watch a movie fullscreen you need to use the app's fullscreen method not the OS-wide fullscreen option.

IIRC the fullscreen system is being modified in Mountain Lion.

 

[r0k]

Lion's fullscreen feature will make the app fullscreen on your primary display and blank out every other display.

As smuxyz said, if you want to watch a movie fullscreen you need to use the app's fullscreen method not the OS-wide fullscreen option.

IIRC the fullscreen system is being modified in Mountain Lion.

I only have one monitor on my ML test box so I can't verify that it's "fixed" but I will try to find the time to see if making an app full screen on the secondary monitor still allows you to do work on the primary monitor. For all I know, the Genius wasn't really talking about full screen and really meant dragging the window to fill the second screen which would be... lame. I can imagine the kids watching Avatar with a stupid menu bar on the 55 inch while I'm doing email on the 17 inch.

 

[rpmor]

MplayerX allows you to do that. there's an option where it says "use secondary screen for fullscreen" or something similar. you can tick this off and then decide which screen you want it on by maximising it within the desired screen.

 

[-tWv-]

Another workaround if you are using quicktime is to set the external display's background to solid black, move the quicktime window with the movie to the second display, and then choose "View"-->"fit to screen."

This looks identical to fullscreen mode and allows you to continue using your mac without a problem.