Multiple Views - which monitors to buy?

[CaptainMike 0]

Hi, There!I'm thinking of expanding my view since 1 monitor is not that fun any more. I want to have a better control over my flight. Today, I'm using a Dell 2405 screen(24" TFT) as my primary display and I'm thinking of buying 2 more monitors. At the beginning I dont want to use more than 1 computer(..I may do that in the future) so the best way(as I see it) is to use a matrox TripleHead2Go.Now to my qestion what size should the other two monitors be?Should I go with(together with a TrackIR 4 Pro): 1) Buy Two 2407 - 24" -> 3x24" - Is there anyone who has this configuration today, if, what do u think of it? 2) Buy Two ViewSonic VP2030B - 20" -> 2405 in the middle and the 20" on the side.I'm having a very hard time of choosing the right set.. So, I'll hope that there is someone out there who could me an advice....Happy Flying!!!/Best RegardsMikael

[JSACKS 0]

Mikael:I have done some research on MATROX Triplehead2Go as I want to go that route too. First, all monitors should ideally be the same physical size, e.g. 3 monitors of 19" apiece. Second, the resolution of each monitor should ideally be 1280x1024; that is the "native" resolution of your typical 19" monitor.If you are using the DELL 2405 (which I also have and love!), it will not work with Triplehead because the native resolution of the 2405 is 1920x1200 (do you run FS9 in that mode? I do.) It is impossible to run three 24" monitors with Triplehead because the resolution would exceed the capabilities of the Matrox by a gigantic margin. And you would need a 5Ghz PC to do so anyway. If you settle for a lower resolution on the 2405, FS will look disgusting and disappoint you.The thing is, if you get a big nVidia card with 512 RAM, it will have two DVI outlets and you will use one of them for Triplehead; the second DVI outlet might conceivably drive another monitor or maybe even a second batch of three monitors, I am not totally sure of this. So, ideally, again, get three monitors of the same size. Not bigger than 19" apiece because Triplehead has a maximum resolution of 3840x1024 spread across all three monitor screens. If you get three 20" LCDs that run at 1600x1200, they will not work.This is the problem with a huge LCD like our 2405 panel. It is very beautiful, but useless for Triplehead.Incidentally, I changed my video card yesterday from ATi Radeon X850 XT PE to nVidia 7900 GTO because MATROX works with nVidia cards and not ATi cards. Important point !I think the above should be correct but the LCD and Matrox experts can jump in and say if I have misled you in any way. Hope this helps.JS

[CaptainMike 0]

JS:Thanks for you're reply. I was first thinking of lowering the resolution and add two 20" monitor which has the same height as the 2405(..it might be too big for 3x2405/2407,or?..)so it will work with matrox but , as you say, it will probably look awful(Today, I'm running at 1920x1200).Today, I've got two Geforce 7900 GTX 512 cards running in sli.. I may split them up and put these in seperate computers. The main screen("2405") to computer 1 and the other two to computer 2. But, I would be nice to have this "work out of the box", since I'm not only flightsimming it would be nice to drive GTR 2 also... without to modify the configuration when you are switching between these two.....Well, It's seems that I cant have both :)/Best Regards Mikael

[CaptainMike 0]

I just saw that matrox have widescreen support("3840x760") ->1280x768.. I wonder how FS looks at this resolution...Best regards/Mikael

[CaptainMike 0]

I'm back again with some new info:==================================I was searching on the net and found this:http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-powertrioelite.shtmlThis is very interesting since they are using a 24" in the center and two 21" on the side.. Just what I was searching for.. Hmm.. How do this work?As I see you need two graphich cards.. The first card is used exclusive for the 24" display since it will operate at a high resoultion("1920x1200") and the connect the other two monitors to graphic card 2..Then buy the "Zenview Manager" software for 75$ ... then it should work..http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-manager.shtmlHave I missed something? It sounds very interesting.......Best regards/Mikael

[JSACKS 0]

If you want to have a 3-D view with triple monitors, then each monitor should be the same size (in inches) and have the exact same resolution. If you do not do this, then it will probably look weird.At AVSIM 06 convention I tried a Matrox Triplehead2go with 3x19" SAMSUNG monitors and it looked absolutely fantastic. But the Flight1 people emphasized that the monitors should be the same size with the same resolution. JS

[Guest Joe Foster]

Captain Mike,Further to what JS has written, you can run FS on three 24" monitors with the Triple Head. However, you will be limited to 3840 X 1024 resolution, the equivalent of 3 19" monitors.At the recent AVSIM convention MS sent up FSX in a three 24" monitor configuration using the Triple Head. It was certainly a very wide view, but not as clear as the 3 19" monitor setup to which JS was referring.According to Flight1 (Matrox wasn't at the convention) to use the Triple head the monitors MUST be the same size.At some point I would think drivers will be written for wide screen monitors, but until that day comes, the Triple is optimized for standard 19" monitors.JF

[Guest Tomlin]

Good info here. BTW, for those people using the big wide screen monitors, Im sure it's great for using VC's in but dont 2D panels look too stretched????

[Guest Joe Foster]

Good question. The short answer is yes. The 2D panels stretch across all three screens, even on standard monitors. However, they can be resized. The pop-up panel I tried, the default GPS, was also stretched, although not over all three screens. It was easily resizable as well.I do not know if resizing needs to be done each time a panel is opened or with each FS session. I guess that could be done once in the cfg file, but I do not know for sure.One more thing, and to re-emphasize what JSACKS said earlier, the triple monitor setup must be seen to be appreciated. I witnessed a night time approach in the northeast and the wrap around effect was extraordinary.JF

[bic 44]

>Good info here. >>BTW, for those people using the big wide screen monitors, Im>sure it's great for using VC's in but dont 2D panels look too>stretched????Yep and I found it strange to have the center of the screen (runway or view) right on the plastic frames of the monitor. I tried PSS 777 and it didn't look right either. When I went back to 1024x768, PSS 777 started doing some strange things with outside view. Every few minutes I would see a window appear and then disappear. After 8 hours of a nonstop flight, the system locked up tight.Moreoever, best not to change any settings either on desktop or FS and just undock windows to other monitors.

[JSACKS 0]

I have a DELL 2405 LCD and although it's a widescreen format, the only cockpit with a nitceable distortion of the gauges is the default Cessna. And even then, it's not a big deal and remains quite viewable and entirely usable. I run a resolution of 1920x1200 on that monitor.There's been a lot of previous discussion about widescreen format and the look of things but I think the consensus is that there is not a significant distortion. I run loads of different freeware add-on and payware panels in 2D on the 2405 and they generally look fantastic and "in shape."JS

[CaptainMike 0]

Laterly, I've running my FSX with 1280x1024 and I think it's OK. But It might be to stretched to have 3x2405/7 and have to sit far way to enjoy the flight.. I dont know, maybe I'll get 2 more.... /M