firefly remote on secondary display only?

[t512159]

Is there a way to make the firefly remote control programs in the secondary display only?

That way when i am doing something else on the other display I can still play/pause my videos without having to select them or press the tv button first.

Thx.

[gaines]

I think what you might be asking is if there's a way to be sure that all firefly commands get sent to the BeyondTV or BeyondMedia window no matter what window is in focus. I'm betting they could even evaluate which window out of the two is in front of the other and send the commands there.

[t512159]

Well that would work but i want to be able to control windows media player too. I have them all set to run in the secondary display(TV).

[ewestcot]

I have run into the same issue and also need to resolve it.

I want to be able to work on my PC, while other people in the room watch TV on my second monitor on same PC.

I have gotten all the hardware hooked up; only to find out that when I'm working on the primary display, no one can control the TV on the secondary display.

I have surmised that Firefly uses the Windows mouse as the interface. The mouse can only effect the "active" window in Windows. The active window is the one in which I'm working.

If SnapStream to program BeyondTV to capture keycodes, and if Firefly could send keycodes, then it would be possible. I don't think either is true; and I don't think it is possible.

Has anyone solved this multiple monitor issue yet?

[ewestcot]

Ok, so I have learned that pressing the TV button on the Firefly should bring focus back to BTV. This is very good news.

Now, here's the remaining problem, I am using the FireFly Mini, because I don't want to use 2 different remote controls. The Mini does not have the TV button.

So, am I just s. out of luck?

I'm a computer programmer of 23 years now, but I don't want to have to write code to make my TV work - that just is harder than is acceptable.

[Khris]

Please keep in mind that BTV is PVR software. It's meant to run on the computer as a PVR to record and watch TV. It wasn't meant to allow the computer to be used for other tasks.

I realize that not everyone can afford to have a standalone HTPC, however that is what BTV was designed to be used with. (With the price of computers today, it's really not that expensive to invest in a dedicated HTPC machine......especially taking into consideration the benefits that come with it).

[gaines]

Originally Posted by Khris

Please keep in mind that BTV is PVR software. It's meant to run on the computer as a PVR to record and watch TV. It wasn't meant to allow the computer to be used for other tasks.

I realize that not everyone can afford to have a standalone HTPC, however that is what BTV was designed to be used with. (With the price of computers today, it's really not that expensive to invest in a dedicated HTPC machine......especially taking into consideration the benefits that come with it).

I don't really see your point. The HTPC experience is what you make of it. Who's to say a HTPC can't have multiple displays. I think it'd be sweet to keep a music interface on a LCD panel and the movie/tv interface on the main screen since I often want to play music without having to turn on my projector (currently I have an LCD showing the same thing as the main display.

I guess my point is that your idea of what a HTPC should be really has no bearing on what features someone else might be looking to implement. As a community, we should try to do anything we can to support helping people implement the way they want.

[ewestcot]

Thanks to both for your responses. I do understand that the intention of BTV was probably not for someone to do two things at once; and I don't want to argue that point.

Of course, the latter point is important to. I have found that a fast cpu, oodles of RAM, and oodles of disk really help BTV, and improve the BTV experience. As a result, my preference is to use a power machine, which I built, and so I have the motivation to take full advantage of it.

I think I'm all set now; but, I wanted to say "thanks" for the input.

[Eric3a]

I use BTV on my second monitor (the TV) and leave the primary for computer stuff.
The ATI Catalyst drivers make that simple and I use Girder for remote control of all programs on the second screen. not much to it. As the second screen is just an "extension" of the monitor there is no focus problem.
I don't know if/how to do that with Firefly software only but I don't see why It'd be any different than what I am doing.
Eric

[ClayPigeon]

I have a similar issue, but different….

I also have 2 monitors and an NVIDIA Graphics card. The TV is to watch shows, and the computer monitor is to access other features of Windows. Beyond TV works great by itself. Once I full screen Beyond TV on the TV monitor, it works fine. Even after a reboot, it goes full screen on the TV and not the computer monitor just like it should.

Beyond Media is just the opposite. Not only will Media never go to full screen on the TV, it makes sure that Beyond TV doesn’t either! When I start Media, it always jumps to the Computer screen. When I call Beyond TV from the Media interface, it jumps to the computer screen to.

I’m using the most recent versions of both programs. (TV 4.4) (Media 1.12).

I know it CAN work (TV is just fine). Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!