Question / Help Project video from window onto second monitor for editing

[fierygt]

New here, so forgive me if this has been answered a thousand times. But maybe not, and I have a long winded question so bear with me. In the olden days both nvidia and ati had a setting in their drivers to project a video that was running from a windowed screen on the main monitor to a second monitor in full screen. Nvidia called it "video mirroring" and Ati called their setting "theater mode". I "think" it had to do with how 'overlay' was used in windows but I can't recall specifics on that. Basically, I would like to replicate this using this software, but can't seem to figure it out. I can get to show up on a second monitor, but it is a zoomed in/rescaled mess. I guess my question is, is there anyway for OBS to project a windowed video onto a second monitor, in it's native resolution, without having to resize it and lose resolution, in the same way the old video cards used to do it? When I try to explain this, most people can't seem to understand what I mean, probably because of how long ago it was when video cards had this fearure, so I am not sure if it will help or not, but I have a picture for reference. The software I am using there is videoredo.

I would have thought this would be a big demand from people who edit video, to have a full screen preview image running on a second monitor, but it seems to not really be a huge thing, or I am just researching it wrong. Any help would be great, because I am a slave to older video cards just to get this to work how I like. And by older, I am talking I am using a radeon HD 3870x2, because on ATI's side, the last video cards with drivers that have the "theater mode" capability, were the radeon hd 4xxx series and below. Thanks!

 

[koala]

In OBS, right-click the preview->"Fullscreen Projector (Preview)" and choose the monitor where you the preview wants to be. This way, whatever is currently on the OBS preview window is cast on that monitor. You can also right-click any scene and any source and enable the projector for a single scene or a single source instead of the preview.

The resolution used is whatever resolution is on the canvas (for preview and scene) or what is set within the source (for source projector). This is scaled to the resolution of the monitor. If the canvas (or source) size is the same as the preview monitor resolution, no scaling takes place.

 

[fierygt]

Thanks, but I think my issue starts with the OBS preview window. When I try to add a source, the best I can do to get an output on the second monitor is 'display capture' which essentially just clones the first monitor and not just the video. So I end up having the actual program controls projected onto the second monitor too. I have tried cropping it and zooming in and all that, but that is the point at which I lose resolution. Is there another way to add a source and have it only project a video from that source to it's native resolution in the 2nd monitor, without having to crop and zoom? I tried the game capture option, which will let me specifically pick the videoredo window, but I just get a black screen and no output at all on the 2nd monitor.

 

[rockbottom]

If your PC meets the requirements, take a look at the NDI Tools.

You could use the Scan Converter to capture your Region Of Interest (in this case your preview window of your NLE) & then use the Studio Monitor to watch on the second monitor.

FWIW, Vegas Pro & other NLE's have the ability to preview on a second monitor built in, all I have to do is push a botton right above my preview window.

 

[rockbottom]

It's works good too!

 

[koala]

You cut out a part of the display and zoom this to full screen on the projector. This is just like a digital zoom in a camera: it's not adding detail.
There is no way to magically get the full monitor resolution for a desired window, unless this window is maximized and running fullscreen itself. In this case it is rendering the full resolution and can be captured and output with its full resolution. But grabbing the contents of some tiny window and zooming it to fullscreen will always be upscaling and not have the details of the native monitor resolution.

 

[rockbottom]

No kidding.

I just gave you a way to at least get it to a second monitor. If you want full resolution, step up to a real NLE that has that feature!

 

[rockbottom]

Sorry K, I was in the middle of a capture. The picture I posted earlier was just an example for the OP, to show that NDI could do what he asked. View his preview window from Video Redo without seeing all the controls too & no matter how you slice it, there's going to be cropping/resizing to get it done.

I've never used that app but I did try to find documentation about the video preview & didn't see anything on their website that suggested a second preview is even possible.

To get a really good picture with the Scan Converter the OP could resize his preview & the ROI to whatever he desires.

Here's 720p (maximized to 1080p) compared to the 1080p Full Resolution preview from Vegas being sent to my home theater (far right). Not much difference if you ask me & I took this screenshot while the video was playing from the timeline.

 

[fierygt]

Thanks for the replies. I will give NDI a try and see what it can do. Though as I said, videoredo is not as important as the drivers I am using to make "theater mode" work. It's not videoredo that is projecting it to the second monitor, as much as it is the theater mode feature of the older ati drivers. Which, as far as I can tell, just projects a windowed video onto the second monitor in it's full resolution, and no cropping/resizing is necessary. If I use media player classic, it will project video onto the second monitor too, in the same way. I know it has something to do with how overlay worked back in the day, but I am not software savvy enough to understand the technical details on that. Here is an old video (not mine) that kind of shows what it does, and they are using winamp, but again, winamp in the example isn't as important as the driver feature of 'theater mode' I am hoping to replicate.

ATI Theatre Mode

Using Catalyst Software Version 8.8 (20/8/2008)New Codecs added: (xp codec pack 2.4.1)Player:Winamp media playerFile sizes: 700mbTest: switching between vide...

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