Hi, very new to all this and was wondering if editing is possible using Premiere Pro and dual monitors. It seems to me that the more work space the better. If this is possible how is it done and what hardware is needed (besides 2 monitors). Thanks for any help.

Other than the obvious (two monitors and a dual monitor graphics card) i don't think you need anythign else. I dont have a dual monitor system but I understand they work like this. If you have a single monitor set to 1024x768 then your twomonitor system will give you a single Windows desktop of 2048x768. So your two monitors are simply windows (pun intended) onto your windows desktop. As such, I can't imagine any issues with any s/w, let alone Premiere. Certainly cool for gaming too!


Another option that might be worth considering ( and cheaper too I imagine) is not to run two monitors but to get a graphics card with a TV-Out for video overlay.

That way, you can have your monitor connected up and also your TV (or TV monitor). The video overlay (i.e. preview in Premiere) will be sent to the TV and you will get an exact reproduction of your result. i.e. You'll see exactly what your efforts will look like on a TV rather than on a monitor. very handy. Especially for titles because if your scroll rate is not quite right or you start on the wrong scan line the text titles (movie credits) appear to wobble as they scroll.

I take this from reading online and not from personal experience. Haven't done much titling yet and although I have a TV out on my graphics card (GeForce 3 ti200) the docs read like it's an either/or for windows display rather than a video overlay option so haven't investigated connecting up a TV yet. Seems I can connect either a TV or my monitor whcih doesn't seem quite right. Hmm might raise anothe thread on this to see if I can configure my card to video overlay....

Alan

Alan,

Thank you for the responce. I went all out and ordered a Matrox Parhelia card with dual monitor capability and TV out also. Haven't got a clue yet as to how to configure. It should arrive by the weekend and I will experiment then. Right now I'm just trying to learn Premiere Pro.
Thanks again for your comments.

Mark

The Parhelia is a great card. And three outputs is of course very useful.

As with any dual head card you can set your desktop properties so that the 2nd monitor acts as a "clone" or "extended desktop" depending on your requirements.

mfdchief530,

I too, am new to all this. I do video and audio editing using vegas4.0/premiere pro and cool edit pro respectively. I bought a Radeon 7500 somethin, and hooked up another monitor. Worked great, and was the Lexus of PC setups at the time. The only issues I've encountered were DVDit will not load the files to your projects. It gives a "wrong codec" error, and a few other applications either crashed or simply wouldn't work. If you're just makin VCDs, SVCDs, or pushin back to tape, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. If you're makin DVDs, make sure you're authoring software is compatable with the card, and go get the latest video drivers. Premiere Pro may have some type of authoring built in....I'm not sure. I haven't dug that deep yet.

Just my thoughts.

Bottom line though, Premiere pro is perfect for dual monitors.

One thing about running to TV, TV is very High resolution and it is very hard to see the fine print or small lines, bad for eyes and is sometimes very dim depending on if the monitor needs more ram then the TV.

Got the new Parhelia card installed and configured for 2 monitors at this time. What a difference having the extra work space. Spent about 12 hours with my son learning Premiere Pro ( he is better than me)
The system is very stable but does freeze up once in a while on boot up. I figured out that if I shut off my second monitor during boot up it is better. Anyone had that problem :

i do the output to my TV, and it works really well, until i get the money for another monitor. Also, i heart flat panel monitors suck really bad for editing.... myth or truth? Im not currently working on a flat, as sometimes when you get them (past expirience) there are little green dots or red dots that are really noticeable, and you dont want those for editing...

__________________
Frank Sinatra - \"Thats Life, Biatch\"

Well, for my part, I'm in th eprocess of speccing out a new box for editing and have pretty much come to the following colcusion...

I'm going to keep the new 19" CRT monitor and have that on my new box runnning at (its current res) 1600x1200 rather than buy two new LCD flat panels and gave 2x1280x1024 screens.

Not that much extra real-estate there and i can save myself about £500 by re-using my current monitor, which I'm quite happy with.

So, in short, unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'm not convinced that two moinitors is worth an extra £500 to me.

Hiya.

If you want to edit or do graphics (or even play games) on a TFT monitor you'll have to spend big bucks to get the same quality/response time (and no dead pixels) that youd get from a far cheaper CRT monitor. At the moment I would stick with CRT until TFT technology gets better and cheaper.

Tonga