Did my external monitor issue get forgotten?

[Michael Brown]

Hi Marc,

Okay, so our only difference is your MacPro vs. my MacBook Pro. But our problems are identical. We’re both on the 4.5 HD version (in my case working on SD), we both use a DVI port, neither of our Video Preview drop-downs reveal the existence of an external monitor, right? So we can’t follow Chris Poisson’s last advice at the bottom of the thread because his number 2, 3 and 4 settings do not show up in our drop-downs. That’s our issue. I’ll respond to Chris below as well, especially with the firewire device thing he mentioned.I thought he had me there! Indeed, I’m working on an unusually small project and exceptionally using my internal hard disk for my media, so no firewire device is connected. I thought that might have been it, so I fired up a project using an external hard disk like I usually do, but the result is the same. When I go into the A/V settings > Summary, by the way, here too only the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview – Main appears in the Video Playback drop-down menu. In other words, we need more help!

Thanks folks.

Michael Brown

[Michael Brown]

Hi Chris,

Like I responded to Marc above, I tried opening a project that uses an external disk in order to ignite a firewire device like you suggested, just in case. Alas to no avail. With my PB G4 I didn’t need a firewire device to be able to choose screens from my Video Playback menu. Occasionally I used a dv-camera firewire-piggy-backed to my external disk in order to view on a 3rd screen, usually for the comfort of smooth viewing during capture. But not in this case. You see our dilemma? Marc and I can’t choose from your 2, 3 and 4 options because they just won’t show up. What FCP version are you on? Would you suspect a conflict between 4.5 and the MBP, the DVI connection or OS 10.5.5 or something? Thanks for your help!

Michael Brown

[Bill Dewald]

[Michael Brown] “Would you suspect a conflict between 4.5 and the MBP, the DVI connection or OS 10.5.5 or something?”

4.5 on Leopard could very well be the culprit.

[Chris Poisson]

Oh, well I’m running the latest of everything, but as I recall when I got the MBP I was running v 5.1 and it still all worked. Since I have done a clean install and put in Leopard and upgraded FCP Studio to v 2 and have done all my software updates since, and it runs like a top.

Have a wonderful day.

[Marc Dewey]

Yep, that’s my exact problem alright. I found a temporary work-around, at least for my needs. I just swapped the monitors’ DVI cords, so my 22″ became my secondary and my 17″ the primary (I couldn’t find any way to do this via display options like on PC). Then I dragged the program windows onto the secondary like I wanted for editing, and when I go to preview it works on the small one.
I don’t consider this a solution though, because I really don’t like using my tiny 17″ as a primary monitor. Argh.

Here’s hoping a solution will come our way Michael….

[Michael Brown]

Hi Bill,

Do you know anyone who can confirm this for sure? It does sound a bit like an assumption, and I want to be real sure before upgrading, if I must at all. I’d have no other reason to for the time being, being very happy with 4.5, and just the Playback View issue is a small reason for a big move. I guess HD would take me there eventually, but that’s not on my schedule right now. Thanks in advance.

Michael Brown

[Michael Brown]

You may have seen Bill’s note below, but just in case, if I get an answer to the 4.5 vs. Leopard conflict, it would answer both our problems since we’re both on 4.5. We’ll keep each other posted.

Michael Brown