play game on lcd and view web page on tv at same time

[trenz]

I have a BFG Geforce 7800GT OC. I would like to know if it is possible to play a video game on my primary monitor and view a web page on my tv. I enjoy gaming but I get frustrated easily, so I resort to walkthrus. I often have to exit the game if I can't alt/tab back to windows so I can view a walkthru. I could also just copy the walkthru into wordpad if I needed to.

I have seen info on having different desktops or cloning but nothing referred to gaming while viewing something else.
Is this possible?

Thanks

[foxyshadis]

Some games lock the mouse to their window, so you might have to alt-tab out of them (but the window wouldn't go behind anything, as long as it's not set to minimize on blur), but otherwise there's no problem running dual monitors while gaming. I do it all the time with my laptop.

[Sirber]

Depending on the game, second screen (or TV) will stay open. Just put your stuff in and launch the game. Watch out, the mouse can get out of the game and you will return to windows.

[trenz]

I was able to get the web page to show on the tv but it was hard to read. I pasted the walkthru I was using into wordpad and got that to show. It was readable, not real clear but good enough. When I started the game (Unreal II - The Awakening) it pushed the walkthru half off the tv.

I have the primary lcd at native resolution of 1280x1024. The tv is set at 800x600. This is the lowest I could set it.
The game is set at 1024x768. I don't want to go any lower than this. I am thinking I might need the game set at 800x600 also.

I am assuming my resolutions have something to do with my problem. I was figuring it would not work so I restored my computer back to before I messed with all my display settings. I am willing to try again if you guys have any ideas.

Thanks

[foxyshadis]

Well, if the tv is standard def it resizes everything to 352x480 anyway. (or 352x240) That'll definitely be hard to read, and I don't think it'll get any easier unless you get an old cheap crt. Try just enlarging the text until it's legible, even if there isn't much on the screen at once.

And if it's to the right, and your game changes the resolution, pushing around is a problem with the way windows handles multiple monitors. Try making it be the left screen, you won't get things moving around.

[Video Dude]

Its seems like it would be easier if you just printed the walk thru and hung the paper next to your monitor then trying to read it off a tv.

[trenz]

Its seems like it would be easier if you just printed the walk thru and hung the paper next to your monitor then trying to read it off a tv.
I do like to learn how to do new things but you may be right

[HardwareGeek]

Hi trenz!When I started the game ... it pushed the walkthru half off the tv. Can you maximize the windows, so that it does not push things off the two displays?The tv is set at 800x600. This is the lowest I could set it.
The game is set at 1024x768. I don't want to go any lower than this. I am thinking I might need the game set at 800x600 also.You might want to try setting your TV to 1024 x 768 (in display properties or your display adapter applet) and see if it works better. My Sony works at either 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, & I prefer the 10 x 7.

Good luck!

[mod]

Video Dude is right, use printer :D

[Soulhunter]

Well, if the tv is standard def it resizes everything to 352x480 anyway. (or 352x240)
Are you sure? Ok, the vertical resolution is fixed, 480/240 for NTSC and 576/288 for PAL, but the "virtual" horizontal should be much higher than 352 in most cases, heh!? On my cheap thomson tv I get ~4 horizontal dots (yeah, dots, they are round) per 8 horizontal source pixels at 1024x768 (made a macro of the tv screen to count the dots, lol), which means its "virtual" horizontal resolution should be ~500 pixels! More expensive tvs with better tubes should have a even higher resolution... well, also depends how they are connected to the source, via RGB-Scart or S-Video you should get a much higher "virtual" resolution than via sucky composite! There was a thread about this over there at AVForums iirc... >.>


Bye

[foxyshadis]

That's a good point, I'm used to dealing two crappy TVs with such crappy physical resolution, that it doesn't matter what it's fed, any text still comes out horrible. But it could be a lot different with newer TVs actually made for DVD sizes.