Hello,I am building a cockpit full scale 1:1 2 persons. Now I have 3x 27" monitor on triplehead2go but because I have a iron construction for the overhead panel i cannot see about 8" of the middle monitor because it blocks my view....no runway....too bad. Looking for a good solution for that. 3x projectors are not option because of space and construction problems.1) would 3x hdtv work on Matrox triplehead to go on 3x 1920x1080 ?2) will there be any difference in quality compared to a monitor ?3) What size and number of screen would be suitable ? 3x 37" 3x 43" 3x 55" I will be sitting with my eyes about 3feet(1meter) away from the screens. (2 person cockpit, so each person will see:3 screen: captain left of middle screen fo: right of middle screen runway: middle of middle screen.2 screen: captain middle of left screen fo: middle of right screen runway: big in middle (more big then with 3x 27" because everything will become bigger)4) will 2x 55" be better then 3x 37" ? because of reality feeling ? (3x 55" wont fit...)5) I know for nvidia surround or 3d vision surround gaming I need two GTX580. If I am correct there are still problems with nvidia surround and FSX?6) 3D will possible not really work satisfactory : with 2 or 3 screens (different angles, and a captain and f/o both with glasses right ? I think I have to forget about that....too much possible issues. agree? Also 1080P x 3 D will be big issue because you need 120Hz and special checkboard mode on tv.7) any other advise ? will try to post some pics tommorowThanks for thinking with me...Remco

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My solution to the great potential of a setup such as yours, would be to use four smaller LCD monitors- 2 on either side of the centre "windscreen" post.Two 17" 4:3 ratio LCDs will span 29 inches on either side of the post, producing 60 inches plus for total width with no visual obstruction. These smaller monitors run with good visual clarity at a simple 1024x768 resolution. That is not only helpful to ease the load on the computer BUT small monitors like these are GIVEAWAYS nowadays!You would drive these four with three video cards. The view angles would be altered in FS9 Panel Cfg or in Camera for FSX so that they display APPROX. (Left to Right) -101º to -56º,-50º to -5º, W/S Post, +5º to +50º, +56º to +101º.The purpose of these view angle changes is get the FS views to either side of the centre post rather than one in dead centre AND to allow for the monitor bezel widths which separate the views. In these numbers I have allowed for centre post separation of 10º and for 6º bezel separation between monitors. Your actual numbers may vary slightly.Be aware that the monitors should be touching each other for the full height of the bezels and this may require small shims under the bases. Also that multi monitors should be arranged in an arc so that each is square to the viewer's eyes. You will have to compromise here since you will have two people whose eyes will be about 24 " apart.You will need lots of computer power to drive 4 monitors & views but I suspect current machines should be capable. Expect to have frame rates considerably less than with only one monitor. BUT there is some frame rate/visual magic if you get the monitor view angles set up correctly for your monitor bezel separation. In which case you can largely ignore Frame Rate!The pic shows triple monitors running nicely in FS9 on an ancient 8 year old system.Go for it!!!!!AR

Postscript: to my earlier reply- After some drawing board sketching, I'm not entirely sure my proposed, 4 monitor, quad views configuration would be satisfactory. It would split View Forward onto two monitors whereas in real life there are actually two ALMOST identical views forward - one seen from each of the two seats. Without some detailed experimentation, I suspect that simply repeating View Forward on the two inner monitors might be satisfactory if not entirely "real world" accurate.Some actual "hands on" experimentation needed for a definitive answer.Microsoft didn't design Flight Sim with two side by side pilots in mind!AR

From what I have seen FSX can work reasonably with two pilots but projectors would be a must to get the FOV that would work. I use 3x42" monitors which are great for me in a single seat as they wrap around a good amount giving me ~ 160 degrees if I want to render that wide. With track IR I generally dont have the FOV set so wide though. My 42" LG lcds's are ~95cm away. The clarity is fine for that distance and size of pixel. I don't know if once you get to 55" if the resolution at the close proximity would be an issue. If it was not a problem then I would think 2x55" with the bezels obscured by your airframe would be ideal. They would cover a good area whilst only using 2/3rds the pixels of 3 monitors. TH2go may even run 2 monitors at 1920x1080 each although I am sure it will not run 3 at that resolution. I dont think I would be willing to run three large monitors through th2go at 1680x1050, it would lead to too much blurries for me. Your problem, as you have pointed out is that you would need to have a fairly narrow FOV for both pilots have a similar view but in reality we tend to set our monitors for a greater FOV than you do normally see so that we dont feel like we are looking through a telescope. Good luck!

I took the image you had and based on the center monitor being 27" I overlaid what 2 55" panels would be like - without the bezels, the rectangles are just the screen areas. They are quite large! maybe something in between?Edit, on second thoughts maybe not so bad as you would have them a bit lower to see more runway and the width is not too bad. It looked like a wast as the overhead panel would obscure so much but it's not too bad if they were lowered.

The problem in using monitors is that the optics work without distortion ONLY if your eyes are square to the monitor midpoint.(Try putting your airplane at the end of a runway- then move sideways to see the scene as would a visitor sitting beside you. Lots of distortion- enough that a visitor might think simmers are a bit peculiar!)Visualize a diagonal line from one monitor corner to the other. Then move your head sideways- as the apparent width of the monitor diminishes, the diag line gets steeper until it approaches vertical as the monitor screen finally disappears. Yet nothing changed on screen- only the position of the viewer changed.A bigger/wider monitor certainly helps- that's why projectors tend to solve the problem by creating a very large image relative to the physical distance apart of pilot and copilot.But bigger monitors require higher resolutions to avoid graininess and that in turn burns up more computer horsepower.What prevents you moving the OH steel frame backwards a bit so as to permit triple monitors in front of the frame?My choice to drive triple monitors would be an extra video card to drive the third mon. Then you can set up three distinct views-LFwd, Fwd, RFwd for a 135º field of view plus another 11 or 12º when you correct the outer view angles to take into account the bezel separation of the views.AR

thanks for all the responses....what prevents me movingthe frame ? well my girlfriend actually....Also then the overheadpanel will be about 1 meter out of reach because of that if I would put the monotor IN FRONT of the frame (angle down)I prefer to have only one full screen window (3x27" on TH2GO) of my main pc so I can archive high FPS with all eyecandy on. I did some test in the past and framerates dropped dramatically when having two screen connected 3D to 2 outputs.I think that the following solution is perfect for me:

what do you guys think ? yes I need 2 more pc's but the result seems spectacular ? I just spoke this evening to a timberman? (correct word) and we can build something like the video WITHOUT the stupid middlebarCurrently I have my 3x27" running all on 1920 x1080. I know it can be a problem because my friend was unable to archieve same resolution.Nicepicture JasonHarris!Someone else wrote me that 2 is really a bad idea: he wrote"Never 2 will be better than three. With two, your visuals make a strange effect, and the runaway will be always hide in the middle wherever you move your display. Different sizes for each are not good option, this make you visual with different sizes if you keep the resolution or different in pixel display if you change the resolution to keep the image size."At the moment I prefer the solution as in the youtube video. What do you guys think about that for my problem ?

I agree that two is never better than three and that the bezel obscuring the view would always ###### me off. The only time I would think about it being different is when you had something like yours when the monitor bezels would themselves be obscured by the cockpit. Remember that you are not sitting in the middle of the two monitors facing the bezels, you are offset to the side. Whatever makes you happy though. One thing to note with 3 smaller screens you will be looking right at the bezels if the middle monitor is not wide enough. From the youtube video you posted you can see that he will be looking forward to the bezels in the pilots position. The only thing saving him is that he can look off to the right a bit and the cockpit frame is not in the way as yours is. If you do that then you will have the bezels in front of you and the middle monitor with a large obstruction. Not sure how that will pan out?