7900GS in Dell e1705 not showing video in window on 2 screens

I have several Dell e1705s. Most have the GeForce Go 7800 video card, my
newest has the 7900GS. My problem with the 7900 is that, while in clone
mode, I need to display video in a window on BOTH my laptop screen and an
external monitor at the same time, and cannot. The 7800 allows this and the
7900 does not. The 7800's control panel gives 3 fullscreen options: to
display the video full screen on: 1) the laptop screen, 2) the external
screen, or 3) neither. The 7900's control panel does NOT offer option 3.
As it is now, in clone mode, when I do not opt for fullscreen anywhere, the
video appears in it's media player window on the laptop screen, but on the
external monitor, the media player window is black.

This happens with ALL video file types. Nvidia has a note (#28,
http://tinyurl.com/245y3d ) in their FAQ that "some video types use
overlay..." Personally I think this is a bunch of bunk. Running in
fullscreen mode on either monitor is not an option for me. I could run a
video in a window on both monitors on the 7800 (and many machines in the
past). This is a big step backward.

Does anyone have a workaround or solution for this? I cannot believe that
the 7900 cannot do what I need; I think that the "new" control panel is
missing a few butttons...

Steve

WOW. I figured it out. It turns out that the new control panel is simply
missing a button. The old control panel allowed one to select "disable" in
the fullscreen options, and the new one does not. See this screengrab I
just took...

http://www.honda600coupe.com/random/...trol_panel.gif

I found an application that among other things allows one to switch back to
the "classic" control panel, which gives the option we need! The app is
called "NVTray" and you can find it here...

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/nvtweak/

This is all with no help from either Dell or NVidia's tech support,
unfortunately. They only know what their computer screens tell them...

Good luck,
Steve


"Steve M" <nomail@for.me> wrote in message
news_Q0i.295$DI4.132@newsfe12.lga...
>I have several Dell e1705s. Most have the GeForce Go 7800 video card, my
>newest has the 7900GS. My problem with the 7900 is that, while in clone
>mode, I need to display video in a window on BOTH my laptop screen and an
>external monitor at the same time, and cannot. The 7800 allows this and
>the 7900 does not. The 7800's control panel gives 3 fullscreen options:
>to display the video full screen on: 1) the laptop screen, 2) the external
>screen, or 3) neither. The 7900's control panel does NOT offer option 3.
>As it is now, in clone mode, when I do not opt for fullscreen anywhere, the
>video appears in it's media player window on the laptop screen, but on the
>external monitor, the media player window is black.
>
> This happens with ALL video file types. Nvidia has a note (#28,
> http://tinyurl.com/245y3d ) in their FAQ that "some video types use
> overlay..." Personally I think this is a bunch of bunk. Running in
> fullscreen mode on either monitor is not an option for me. I could run a
> video in a window on both monitors on the 7800 (and many machines in the
> past). This is a big step backward.
>
> Does anyone have a workaround or solution for this? I cannot believe that
> the 7900 cannot do what I need; I think that the "new" control panel is
> missing a few butttons...
>
> Steve
>