doing something else on the computer while playing video to the tv

[mr-scarface]

My laptop is connected to my tv via hdmi. My brother always wants to use my laptop to watch movies or shows on the TV. But at the same time I need my laptop for typing/browsing . I was wondering if it's possible to have him watch his movies/shows while I browse the internet in the background on the laptop. Burning the TV shows/movies isn't really an option cause of the file sizes.

[Adub]

Yes, it's possible, but it depends on the tech specs of your computer. If you have enough processing power (CPU / GPU) to display the desired video, you should have little problems doing what you want. You simply have your computer running is a multiple desktop environment, send the output of your media player to the TV, and then commence browsing on your regular monitor.

So, in short, what are kind of hardware are you running in that laptop? And what kind of video files will you be playing? SD AVIs or HD MKVs?

[MfA]

Software makes some difference too. Vista has I/O prioritization (ie. mediaplayer gets preferred access to your HD) while XP doesn't.