Dual Monitor Setup For Photoshop Use

HG
Posted By
Howard_Grill
Nov 12, 2003
Views
642
Replies
14
Status
Closed
I want to set up a dual-monitor for use with Photoshop. I have an ATI Radion 9800 PRO graphics card that supports dual monitors and downloaded the Hydravision ATI software that adds extra options for usage of dual monitors beyond the Windows XP platform that I am using.

I have the driver for the main monitor installed and will profile the monitor with a Colorvision Spyder and assign the generated profile to the primary monitor. My question regards the setup of the monitors.

1) Should the second monitor be attached and allowed to function as a Plug ‘n Play monitor or do I load the drivers for the second monitor? Does the system ‘know’ how to associate the correct driver to the correct monitor if a driver for the second monitor is loaded?

2)The driver loads a Samsung profile into the system for the secondary monitor..will that mess things up as I want my Spyder profile to be the profile for the main monitor ( a LaCie)that I will be working on? Is this a situation where you just plug it in and it works?? Do the monitors have separate profiles in Windows. I am not sure that the Samsung profile can be separated from the monitor once the drivers are installed.

3) Does anyone have any experience using the ATI Hydravision software…is it worthwhile and useful?

Thanks.

Howard
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CS
Carol_Steele
Nov 12, 2003
Duplicate post deleted by forum host
JW
John_Woram
Nov 12, 2003
Howard, I just setup a new PC with an ATI 9600 card. I have an IBM L200 connected to the digital output as my primary monitor, and a Samsung 170T as secondary to the analog o/p. Each monitor uses its own drivers, and as far as I can tell, can be configured independently.

As for ATI Hydravision, I looked at ATI’s supported hardware list, and neither the 9600 nor the 9800 is on the list.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 12, 2003
John, where did you get the cable to hook to the digital port? ATI? Or somewhere else? I have a ATI AIW 9700 pro.
HG
Howard_Grill
Nov 12, 2003
John, I also noticed that the 9800 and 9600 was not on the Hydravision support list on the website, so I e-mailed ATI. They responded unequivicolly that the 9800 does support Hydravision..I believe the 9600 does as well so you may want to e-mail them. Doesn’t make sense that they would not have built that support into their newest cards and, again, they confirmed for me that it will work.

Howard
JW
John_Woram
Nov 12, 2003
Dave, two cables — one analog, one digital — were bundled with each monitor. And I *think* I saw digital cables at my local MicroCenter last week. I was looking for something else though (which of course they didn’t have), so I wouldn’t swear to it. Also, Belkin seems to have a variety of digital cables for sale.
JW
John_Woram
Nov 12, 2003
Howard,

Yikes!! What a horror show trying to get through to ATI. One can’t send an e-mail unless the card serial number is known. To know that, you need to disassemble the PC, pull the card, see if it has a S/N on it. Their toll number gives a run-around, then rings another number that doesn’t answer. So finally I gave up and called IBM (toll-free). The support guy stayed on the line for 45 minutes, until he finally penetrated the ATI Customer Care (HA!) center. They tried to blow him off, saying he should call IBM for support. Finally he said, "This IS IBM." So the techie got more friendly, went somewhere to check something, then came back and said the 9600 does indeed support HydraVision.

Note to the Thread Police: Sorry, it’s not really a PS issue, but I suspect other folks with dual monitors might be asking the same question.
I
ID._Awe
Nov 12, 2003
John, the s/n is on the side of the retail box and should also have been put on your invoice when you purchased it.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 13, 2003
thanks for the reply john. i’ll go looking. using my nec in analog mode now and would like to go digital.

john, re the serial #, it’s on a page in the documentation that came with the card too. (if you saved it).
JW
John_Woram
Nov 13, 2003
Dave, and I.D.Awe

Catch-22! My ATI card is an OEM version, came already installed in the PC. So, no paper documentation, no box, no nuttin. Likewise, the s/n is not on any of the accompanying paper work. Anyway, too bad ATI makes it so difficult for a potential customer to reach them. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to activate the card<g>.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 13, 2003
Anyway, too bad ATI makes it so difficult for a potential customer to reach them.

adaptec too. WTF? Why would you be asking technical questions about the card unless you OWNED the card?!!

Oh well, at least I didn’t have to activate the card<g>.

True. True!
EB
eddie_booth
Jan 30, 2004
I have Photoshop 4.0.1 on XP with 2 monitors (matrox550 card, 1g ram, 2.6 p4)

My question is I can move the photoshop window and working picture onto screen 2 but none of the pallets. (Painter 5.5 has similar prob) The only advice I can get is that if its a MS DOS prog then it cannot utilise the two screens.

Because PS4 is a Win 95 program and the fact half of it does display over two screens I’m trying to confirm that this is a problem only corrected by an upgrade to XP compatable software?

please tell me there is a patch or something!
Cheers, Ed.
DM
dave_milbut
Jan 30, 2004
ed – please, for the love of all that’s holy. stop spamming the board and wait for someone to answer you in your own thread!
JS
John_Slate
Jan 30, 2004
Hey Eddie:
TK
Trista_Kobluskie
Aug 11, 2004
Joe,

My dual monitors can display a program across both, but I don’t really like it that way (personal preference).

This advice holds true for XP Pro:

From the Maximized position, Restore Down the program window then resize it with your mouse, dragging it across both monitors. Or, with PS, you can place your palettes on one monitor (just drag them over there), leaving the other one wide open for your image(s).

Trista

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Easy-to-use drag-n-drop Photoshop scene creator with more than 2800 items.

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