I recently built a Media PC for my livingroom.  Essentially, it is a
normal PC, running Windows XP, with an All-In-Wonder VE PCI video card
that I have hooked up to the TV.  I then run Snapstream's BeyondTV on
the computer to get build-your-own TiVo functionality.  I have a
wireless keyboard and mouse that I use to directly control the Media
PC.

I have also set up Windows Remote Desktop on my laptop (that also runs
Windows XP).  This allows me to transfer the Media PC's display to my
laptop's screen, over the network.  Unfortunately, Remote Desktop also
closes (logs out) the display on the TV screen.  This means that I
cannot use the TV display (to watch TV, for example) while I do other
tasks on the remote laptop display.

I want a dual display.

More specifically, I want one display to appear on the TV that is
connected to my video card, and the other display to appear on my
laptop's screen via a network connection.

Would installing a second video card on the Media PC help?  Is there
some commercial software that would provide this second, virtual
network display?

---

Clarification of Question by dogbite-ga on 14 Jun 2004 09:20 PDT

It seems that I will need to buy a second video card for this task. 
Does anybody know if I will need to have a physical display connected
to that second video card?  How will I be able to transport the 2nd
display over the network to my laptop?

Hello, dogbite-ga!
Question: The display that you wish to control.. is it the same
display (image) that is on the tv?

Have you tried TightVNC? http://www.tightvnc.com . It is a free remote
control program like PCAnywhere, and very easy to set up. I use it to
control 150 computers (upon request) in my organization. The result of
this is that you will set up the VNC server service on the machine you
wish to control, and VNC viewer on the laptop. Over a LAN, your
connection will be close to real time.

OTOH, if you're interested in two different images from the same
computer (one for TV and one for control), you'll need to have a
second video card installed to provide the OS with the clue to
separate the TV image from the control (Windows Desktop) image. You
can still use TightVNC with this setup, though. BTW, if the options
are set properly, you can have as many simultaneous observers of the
Media PC as your bandwidth can reasonably handle.

This information is from personal experience.

Hi crythias-ga,

  I want two separate images.  This way I could browse the file
system, use a web browser, or whatever on my laptop screen while I
displayed BeyondTV on the television screen.

  I have not tried TightVNC though -- I will look into that.

  And, to make sure I understand, I need to:

    1) buy a second video card and install it
    2) install TightVNC
    3) use the laptop to view the image put out by the second video card.  

  Will it matter if there is no physical monitor connected to the
second card?  Won't the computer complain about "display not found"?

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply, dogbite!
Now, wait a second... if you merely wish to browse the filesystem,
that's as simple as (from the laptop) opening or mapping to
\\mediapc\c$ (I wouldn't recommend necessarily sharing ALL of your c:
drive on your MediaPC. Rather, right-click on specific folders on your
MediaPC to share.

If you want to browse the Internet from your laptop, you should be
sharing your internet connection, perhaps wirelessly with a router.

So far you haven't exactly given a good example of why you want to
touch the MediaPC for interactive use. That's not to say you don't
have a good reason. My suggestion above was on the order of the way
some people have multiple monitors for PowerPoint presentations. One
display is "control/update" the other is "display slideshow".

It's likely to be OK if you don't have the second monitor, but I think
you almost already do have "two monitors" - TV display and monitor for
MediaPC, right? You may find you lose your cursor if you expand your
desktop across both monitors, so don't do that if you don't have 2.

I was just giving generic examples of computer functionality.  While
watching TV I might want to do things like rip CDs into MP3s, install
new software, or edit a document.  And even for generic tasks like
browsing the web, the MediaPC, which is much faster than my laptop, is
often prefable to use.

As for a second monitor -- the only display device that I have
connected to the Media PC is the television.  So if I installed a 2nd
video card, there would not be a physical device connected to it.  I'm
concerned that won't work.

I don't know if this is an option, but powerful PCs can be in the $350
or less range, so perhaps dedicating one PC to doing the ripping and
one to do media would be preferable. High performance tasks may
interrupt TV feed or cause interrupts in CD Ripping. The only reason
I'm even bringing this up is that if you're thinking of spending
around $100 for a video card (OK, ok, probably not that much)... The
PC can sit on your LAN without a monitor and do what you want. Still,
whatever you use won't be as near nice as actually having a better
laptop that can handle the job(s) on its own (or a monitor on the PC),
but you already know that.

I appreciate your suggestions, but I simply want to set up my Media PC
with a dual display, as I've described.  I do not want to buy another
computer, and I do not want to buy a new laptop.  I want to be able to
use my laptop to control a second screen on the Media PC, via the
network.

Here's what I've found through direct working experience. I apologize
for getting off track.
Caveats: I've got Windows 2000 with two video cards. One monitor. (Not TV)

With the second video card installed, you'll need to make sure that
the second video card is your primary display, both in BIOS and in
Windows. This is because VNC relies on the dims of the Primary
display. This should end up not being a problem after setup, but may
be a bit to get past in the beginning.

You need, within Windows Display Properties, to make sure "Extend the
desktop to this monitor" is checked.

Once you start Beyond TV or Real or WMP, you'll probably want to click
and drag it to the 2nd screen and make it full screen. You won't be
able to control it with VNC, but if you can remember the kbd shortcuts
to do this, you'll be fine.

The new video card should be set as primary display because VNC relies
on the primary display to do all the back end stuff you want to do.

Please note that I am basing all of this on stuff (2 video cards) that
I am currently using. No, it doesn't appear that a second monitor is
needed.
-=-=-
I mentioned something above that was important and confirmed with this
FAQ from ATI http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7500/aiwve/faq.html:
Q5: Can the ALL-IN-WONDERŽ VE card support more than one display at the same time?
   
A5: Yes, ALL-IN-WONDERŽ VE allows a number of possible display
configurations. The VGA connector can be used to drive a CRT monitor.
At the same time, the video output can drive a television or VCR.
-=-=-=-
and further down:
ALL-IN-WONDERŽ VE is required to be the primary graphics adapter in PC
-=-=-=-
Since this appears to be the case, you might start by checking that
you have the ability to enable the CRT monitor right now before you
check for a second video card. Apparently the two-card method
mentioned won't work if the VE wants to be the primary adapter. (That
does NOT mean that you can't set VGA as primary monitor and use VNC).

Thank you for your continued patience.

Hi crythias-ga,

  So you're saying that the setup won't work with my current video
card?  This is because both the VNC and the All-In-Wonder VE need to
be on the primary display?

Thanks.

hi dogbite-ga,

Actually, I'm saying that you may not need the second video card to do
this thing. 1) install TightVNC as a service and have it run on
startup.

2) Right-click on the desktop, choose properties, click the "Settings" tab.
You should see two displays (one of them is dim). Click the dim/grayed
display and click [x]Extend my desktop onto this monitor (this should
be the VGA connection, something like Default Monitor on All-in-Wonder
(VGA)) You should also check the box Use this as my primary display.
(beware, you're not going to be able to do much without VNC or another
monitor installed at this point). Also, if you don't see the #2
monitor listed at the properties, settings tab, then there is
something else that the VE needs to be told that's in your driver in
order for the two monitors to be displayed. The FAQ says you can have
two displays, they should be listed right now.

If you get hung up and you're on a blank screen, don't panic! you
should be able to get your mouse to show up on your current screen
(left or right depending on the arrangement of monitors you chose.) By
default, #2 is to the right of #1. If you see the mouse pointer on
your blank screen, right click and properties anywhere. You probably
can't see the window, but you can move it: Alt-[spacebar], then press
"M". use your arrow keys to move the properties window to your blank
screen.

The next step is merely to move your video display program to the TV
and make it full screen. As I've personally encountered, VNC only runs
on the primary window (which should now be set on your VGA connection
without a monitor). You can install the VNC program on your laptop and
click the viewer icon to view your mediapc.

Hi,

I think you can install the Microsoft Media Encoder in your MediaPC.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&DisplayLang=en
and using the media to watch the TV.
Second, Install the Remote software http://www.realvnc.com to control
your MediaPC over the network.

The terminal server services in XP will allow you to remote desktop into it.
But like you said, it would blank out the local console.
Windows 2003 does not do this. It will, when remote connecting, launch
a new login session on the media pc leaving the local console as is.
That may be what you're looking for.

If not, Remote Administrator http://www.radmin.com/, which will allow
you to "throw back" the local display of the media pc to whereever
your connecting from.