OC FMC connection

[fvefa]

Hi,
i have GTX 260 video card with 3 outputs. (DVI-HDMI and VGA)
i use HDMI and VGA already. Yesterday tried to connect 3.rd monitor for testing the DVI to VGA converting.(ıf succsess then convert this again for S-Video for Opencockpits FMC)
But it didnt work. Win 7 got the all three monitors but only 2 of them had the screen the 3.rd one was black. I guess thats a video card issue.
My question is, would this 3.rd output work for S-Video connection for Opencockpits FMC or will that be also fail. I can spare for a converter from VGA to S-Video.
Thanks for you helps.
Ferdi

[Kennair]

Ferdi, take a look at the manual for your specific video card, it should detail how many monitors can be connected. I suspect you can only have two outputs active at any one time and the DVI and HDMI likely share an output so you'll need to rationalise to only 2 monitors. Yes you can use a VGA to S-Video converter for the OC FMC and then connect one more monitor to either the DVI or HDMI. If you need more monitors connected to the PC just add another video card.

Ken.

[fvefa]

Ken, motherboard has only one slot for Videocard. I dont have any chance for second card.
My setup is like this. Main screen (outview) goes from HDMI. ND+PFD 's (PMDG undocked windows) goes from VGA.
Now i have one DVI left. I can convert it to VGA then again to S-Video. But from your post i understand that that will not work. Because system will recognize it as 3.rd monitor and wont rationalise it.

Editing : On manual it says only two monitors :( So i cant use OC FMC.

[Kennair]

Ferdi, if you have a spare PCI slot on your motherboard you can put an old PCI video card. I think the nVidia 6200 was the last model prior to PCIE versions. You might pick one up off ebay. This might allow you to add an output for your OC FMC screen.

Ken.

[fvefa]

Hi again Ken,
i have a PCIcard but not suitable for a second video card. Thats what the dealer said.
So now i have three choices;
1- Change my current Nvidia GTX260 with another one which gives me the opportunity to use all 3 monitors together. So i can go with OC FMC with my PMDG. But i don't know if there is such a card on the market. I don't trust the dealer anyway. They don't know what they sell.
2- Spend more money go to Project Magenta. And go with Engravity FMC. Mainly i was interested on Engravity FMC because easy of use and real PnP. But there is no driver for PMDG. But this way is far too expensive.
3- Stay with current GTX260. Add a Matrox T2Head. I have then theoretically 4 outputs. But i don't know if this works????? Can i connect to MAtrox different size of monitors. Such as 19", 17" and FMC ?????? Or is this a stupid question :eek:
Tahnks alot for any kind of helps.

Ferdi

[Boeing 747 Flyer]

Heya there,

Adding a Matrox device doesn't necessarily give you "more monitors".

The Matrox device is seen (in games) by Windows as one big monitor, which obviously you can split into two or three depending on which device you chose.

In short, the Matrox device doesn't give you extra outputs, it just gives you one "bigger" output.

[Kennair]

Hi again Ken,
i have a PCIcard but not suitable for a second video card. Thats what the dealer said.
So now i have three choices;
1- Change my current Nvidia GTX260 with another one which gives me the opportunity to use all 3 monitors together. So i can go with OC FMC with my PMDG. But i don't know if there is such a card on the market. I don't trust the dealer anyway. They don't know what they sell.
2- Spend more money go to Project Magenta. And go with Engravity FMC. Mainly i was interested on Engravity FMC because easy of use and real PnP. But there is no driver for PMDG. But this way is far too expensive.
3- Stay with current GTX260. Add a Matrox T2Head. I have then theoretically 4 outputs. But i don't know if this works????? Can i connect to MAtrox different size of monitors. Such as 19", 17" and FMC ?????? Or is this a stupid question :eek:
Tahnks alot for any kind of helps.

Ferdi

As Boeing 747 Flyer says, the Matrox TH2GO simply tells windows there is a very wide monitor attached and "virtually" joins three monitors to produce a 3840 pixel wide monitor. However, you can then drag any FS panel windows you like to each monitor effectively utilizing them as though they were 3 separate ones. If you then add your FMC to the second video card output you would in effect have 4 monitors to play with. What this might do to your frame rates in FS is another matter requiring testing.

There are no stupid questions ;) Yes you can connect monitors of different sizes to the TH2GO but you can only have one monitor resolution selected. This of course negates the advantage of different size monitors so you may as well stick with a single size. It was only ever designed for use with 3 equal (19") monitors running at a max resolution of 1280x1024 each (although the digital version can run at widescreen resolutions).

If you were going to spend serious money I would suggest it wiser to upgrade your PC to something with 2 PCIE slots first. This should be a standard for any FS PC as you can then run 2 video cards giving 4 discrete outputs. Add a TH2GO to this and you have 6 monitors to play with. If you were to upgrade to other software and an FMC go with Sim-Avionics and the FDS FMC (approx $2000USD all up). Very good value and highly configurable and you can run all the Sim-A panels on the one PC while FS runs on another.

Cheers,

Ken.

[Boeing 747 Flyer]

Just a note though - I had to send my 747CDU from Opencockpits back...

It was because I tried convert DVI -> VGA -> RCA, which didn't work. So beware, the O/C screen is extremely sensitive to the correct input and any wrong ones will probably not work.