can this be done?

[aaron12345]

Someone has donated a second projector for our worship center but none of the other infrastucture needed to run it. My first thought was "well i'm going to need a second computer to run this projector but we don't really have the fundage or the volunteer power to have another person sitting in the booth." So now I'm wondering if I can put another video card in our current presentation computer? The current computer is a Compaq that is about a year old. I'm not sure of the specs at the time. I do know that the onboard video card has been disabled and a dual head video card is being used at the time. Perhaps I could just re-enable the onboard video card? Any suggestions? advice?

[techie2k4]

Hi, how about utilizing a vga splitter and having the extra projector for perhaps... oh, i-dunno projecting in the rear of the center (perhaps for your worship leader(s) view! Just a random thought...

[kbob]

1st-what techie2k4 said-at least in terms of the splitter. that'll work, whether you use it for a confidence monitor for the band/choir, or as an additional projector for people not served well by the current projector.

2-the on-board video probably cannot be re-enable without loosing the current card, if both operate on the agp bus.

[Johnnycat]

Something else is that you might be able to daisy-chain them by taking the output of one projector to the input of the other, but a VGA distribution amp would be the better choice.

just an annoying thought (one of those moods again - almost sorry)

you could set it up beside your existing projector one day and have it shining on the screen just a few pixels off. Tell everyone 'we now have 3-D projection, but the glasses were lost in transit, and they wont be here till next week'. Then take it down and never say anything. This of course would work better if you wait till next year as April 1st is on Sunday in /07.

[aaron12345]

Well the distribution amp and the daisy chain idea are good ideas but i can't figure out how that solution would provide us with a different image than the one that we already display....

We're lucky in that even though our worship center was built in the 60's every seat in the house has a stellar view of the stage and the screen.

I do like the 3d April fools idea. But our current projector is mounted to the 30' tall ceiling. I could probably manipulate the images in photoshop to give it that "3d image viewed without the glasses" look. That would be funny.

[raeinstein1972]

I don't know of anyone getting different output from the same computer. Obviously everyone above thought (as I did) that you just wanted a second screen.

[1stAGSt.JamesMo]

Hey,
For a third output from your computer, you need a video card that will support it and software that will allow you to control two distinct outputs. Check out www.PresentationManager.info for software. For hardware, this site lists several video cards that offer quad display support. I was not able to find any for only three. I have no personnel experience with any of the video cards. We have been using PM to control one output for several years now and I have been very pleased.

Hope that helps, Terry

Edit: Links on hardware page were all dead. Try here or here or here instead. If that doesn't work for you, you could always pair up two cards.