The VideoLAN Forums

Hi Guys

I have been using VLC for ages on both my PC and laptop without any problems, i wanted to watch a film on my widescreen tv. As in normal tv so i connected up the tv and now i can see my windows desktop. But when i playback a file, the playback in not there on the tv, the vlc screen is just black, the picture appears on the laptop monitor but not on the tv screen and i can still see the windows desktop. The audio works fine all round.

Please help as i am stumped with this.


I am using the latest version of VLC and I have win2k on the computer.

Preferences, Video, Output Modules, DirectX

In DirectX Video output you should see Name of desired display device. Push the button marked Refresh List (your TV must be hooked up and working) then from the pull down select your display, then press Save and close the player.

Or you can use overlay output (default) and set your video card's drivers to expand the overlay video on the external device.

ok so i have got the tv working and gone into the directx setting and the only options are 'default and display' thats it?

i have the latest directx i just made sure of that.

and still the video plays on the laptop screen, and i can see my desktop on the tv but no video?

The laptop is a latuide cpx, with the ATI mobility chipset(which i have also got the latested drivers for)

As for the overlay thing i have looked but can not find a setting to change the overlay output on the tv in the video card settings?

thanks for the help

ok so i have got the tv working and gone into the directx setting and the only options are 'default and display' thats it?

i have the latest directx i just made sure of that.

and still the video plays on the laptop screen, and i can see my desktop on the tv but no video?

The laptop is a latuide cpx, with the ATI mobility chipset(which i have also got the latested drivers for)

As for the overlay thing i have looked but can not find a setting to change the overlay output on the tv in the video card settings?

thanks for the help

If all you have is default and display in the selections pull down:

1. You didn't press Refresh List first.

2. The TV is not plugged in and working (IE turned on)

3. The ATI software is not set up correctly and the TV is not being recognized.

On my ATI system it is set to auto select. When nothing external is connected and I press Refresh List in VLC, the primary display is listed as \\.\DISPLAY 1 depending on what I have connected this changes to \\.\DISPLAY 2 and \\.\DISPLAY 3 I can also check the functionality with the ATI software.

As was mentioned earlier you can also choose to extend your Desktop onto and external Display. But this is within Windows not within VLC.

I tested all of them in my system with the same problem, but didnt help,
if yours too, try to find the last driver of yor vga and video options and upgrade the driver, it will be ok!