Control VLC on Second Monitor from Primary Monitor

[bleahy48]

I work in a small non-profit theater. We use VLC to project videos.

I have always wanted to be able to open a VLC control panel on the main monitor (which is in the booth) and from that be able to control the playback of videos on the secondary monitor which is of course connected to a projector the audience can see. I've never been able to figure out if there is a way to do this?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This is doable in 3.0

[trekfan42]

This is doable in 3.0

Not a very helpful answer...
Care to elaborate?

I work in a small non-profit theater. We use VLC to project videos.

I have always wanted to be able to open a VLC control panel on the main monitor (which is in the booth) and from that be able to control the playback of videos on the secondary monitor which is of course connected to a projector the audience can see. I've never been able to figure out if there is a way to do this?

Personally I'm not using 3.0 as it is causing issues for me in a particular use case. Newtek NDI tools Plugin is completely unstable in 3.0.
But you can achieve this by undocking your playlist and keeping it on your main monitor, then drag your main interface to the secondary display and make it fullscreen, not maximized, fullscreen.
then you can undock the fullscreen controller by pressing the button to the left of the volume bar. Next just drag the controller box to your primary screen. if it fades away, Press "i" and it will reappear and stay.
I wish the Controls could be opened in a standalone window that never disappeared, I'd pay $100 for that feature

Example Picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2tZ-w ... sp=sharing

Dont know if this is the same way he meant to achieve in 3.0..

Another way you can have control of your VLC while its running on a secondary monitor is to use a VLC App. I use one for my Android phone, It gives a ton of control over your video playback including in and out times. you can also browse the files on the computer that VLC is running on and build playlists from the app. I use this one, its amazing and walks you through the setup: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... bileremote

Another tip is to go to preferences and on the General Tab find the checkbox that says pause on last frame. This helps when you have multiple items in the playlist and you dont want it to immediately start playing the next file.
If you use this feature, unfortunately you wont be able to loop videos unless you do A <-> B looping

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I don't understand how the request differs from non embedded video playback, which has been supported as long as VLC has existed.

[bleahy48]

I am the original requestor.

I was never able to find a way to have a control panel on one screen while the video was playing on the other screen.

Maybe there was a way to do it.

My request was to know how to do it and if not possible to have the feature added.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Care to elaborate?

Example Picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2tZ-w ... sp=sharing

Disable "embedding video in interface" preference.
Move the windows to the second screen. Go to fullscreen.

[trekfan42]

Care to elaborate?

Example Picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2tZ-w ... sp=sharing

Disable "embedding video in interface" preference.
Move the windows to the second screen. Go to fullscreen.

I've tried this, It always plays it on your whatever desktop is set as your main in windows. I don't know about other people, but I never want the Video to play fullscreen on the main desktop, I always need it to play on the secondary.
And the Setting in the video settings tab for choosing what display to play on never seems to work...

I ended up downloading the skin maker and built a skin that adds playback control and in and out times, and volume control to the playlist window..
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JYl2iI ... sp=sharing

[trekfan42]

I am the original requestor.

I was never able to find a way to have a control panel on one screen while the video was playing on the other screen.

Maybe there was a way to do it.

My request was to know how to do it and if not possible to have the feature added.

I made this yesterday, I also needed control on one screen so i had to make it...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JYl2iI ... sp=sharing
hope this helps

[trekfan42]

theme links above updated
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JYl2iI ... sp=sharing
Main VLC skin submission page seems to be down

[trekfan42]

Care to elaborate?

Example Picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2tZ-w ... sp=sharing

Disable "embedding video in interface" preference.
Move the windows to the second screen. Go to fullscreen.

I didn't realize you were the head developer...
I appreciate your explaining the feature, I have tried different methods.

I work for a live production company on large corporate events, we mainly use PlaybackPro, However its been laborious with mac updates and the playbackpro devs being slow to fix things, currently all Mp4 files must be converted to the MOV container before playback so VLC has become my personal go to, its SOLID!
that being said, I need an external desktop fullscreen solution with full playback control and playlists on the main desktop...
thats why i ended up making my own skin yesterday...

If VLC had a separate control window that could be undocked like the playlist can be, It would be huge!!!

My only other issue is when playing a video in playlists it immediately wants to go to the next file in que, this leaves me microseconds to hit stop or pause while i also switch to a different source so i dont hear the audio playing from the next video in the list. I have tried two different solutions to this, one was inserting a black picture in between all my clips to give me 10 seconds to switch and pause, another is setting the videos to pause on the last frame, this is great but causes the looping and repeat functions to not work.

I would love if we could have an toggle option in the clip rows in the playlist that either stops the video or continues to the next one.

If there are ways around these 2 things already built into VLC, please let me know!

thanks again for an amazing product!!!

[talkIRC]

any update on this possible feature, I've wanted to use VLC for many years now but like the other people here i need to have controls and playlist on main monitor and video window (fullscreen) on the 2nd monitor.

let me be EXTRA clear about this because it's been stated more then once and only the people asking for it appear to understand: main windows monitor (1) for controlling and playlist, secondary monitor (2) for the fullscreen video window.

Because VLC lacks this one feature i've had to suffer with using BS player (the only player i have found that would allow the proper use of 2 monitors in this fashion) years past it's death (they claim it's a work in progress but let's get real, after 6 years of claiming that it's clear they're just scamming people at this point trying to get money for nothing) so if this feature has been fixed, updated, or changed please explain it clearly and simply so that we can understand it and use it.

[jdycus]

Hello trekfan42, any way to make your playlist window & fonts within larger (old eyes Thank you

[mpwittke]

Regarding your feature request for the playlist, it's there


"Play and Stop" is what you want.

[Xenos71]

Hello,

I just wanted to say how much I need this function too. I need to have the main control window (along with the playlist) on my primary monitor and full screen playback on the second monitor.
I saw in a post above that a user created a skin that does that, so I downloaded it and it actually works. I also downloaded five other skins from the relevant section randomly, and all of them are able to do what is being asked in this thread. The only things you need to do is to uncheck "Integrate video in interface" and set the second monitor for full screen playback. When you open VLC and you are not in full screen mode it works like before, it shows the video in the main window. And then, when you hit "full screen", the video goes full screen to the second monitor, leaving the main window black wih all the controls in the primary monitor.

However, the main problem with all those skins is that the text and in some cases the buttons are so small, that they are almost unusable.
So, basically it seems that anyone who knows how to make a skin has implemented this function that has been requested here since one and a half year ago, but still there is no official release that supports it.

I tried all combinations of parameters with the current version of VLC (on windows 10 x64) but nothing works. I only manage to separate video from the control window (which for some strange reason opens is a small separate window before I hit "full screen") but even though I set my second monitor for fullscreen, it always uses the primary.

Could you please make this work properly? Can't you just open one of those skins in a skin editor to see how it's done and implement it to the official VLC skin?
I know there are other players that can do that, I've found three up to now, but I still want VLC to be my only media player for my every need.
I hope you'll fix this soon.

Thank you very much in advance,
Xenos

[vlcbai]

20200130_1206AM - VLC VideoLan.org

I don’t know if you resolved having the GUI and Video on separate monitors or not:

Here is what works for me:

Assuming you are using:
Windows 7-10
VLC 3.08 (works with 3.06 as far as I know)

Using: Notepad
Create a .txt file: PayVideo.txt
In that text file add:
C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-embedded-video --audio --no-repeat --no-loop --no-random --autoscale --fullscreen --no-osd --playlist-tree --start-time= --stop-time= --video-x=-1920 --video-y=1 --quiet "E:\movie.mpg" vlc://quit

or add:
C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-embedded-video --audio --no-repeat --no-loop --no-random --autoscale --fullscreen --no-osd --playlist-tree --start-time= --stop-time= --video-x=-1920 --video-y=1 --quiet "E:\AddVertsBeforeMovie.mpg" vlc://quit
C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-embedded-video --audio --no-repeat --no-loop --no-random --autoscale --fullscreen --no-osd --playlist-tree --start-time= --stop-time= --video-x=-1920 --video-y=1 --quiet "E:\Movie.mpg" vlc://quit
C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-embedded-video --audio --no-repeat --no-loop --no-random --autoscale --fullscreen --no-osd --playlist-tree --start-time= --stop-time= --video-x=-1920 --video-y=1 --quiet "E:\TrailersAfterMovie.mpg" vlc://quit

Save As: the file to your: Desktop
Change the name of the file to: PayVideo.cmd
when you double click on the file it will: Open Command Prompt, It will open: VLC GUI windows on your main screen, It will open a: Video Windows on your second screen (assuming you have the -1920 or 1920 correct for you screen setup.

I would recommend: Turn off Sounds:
Click: Windows Start ICON, Type: Change System Sounds, Under: Sound Scheme, Click: Down Arrow, Click: No Sounds, Click: OK (That stops all Windows notification sounds during your movie)

During the Movie do not: Hover your mouse over the VLC GUI ICON on the taskbar, for some reason it will make your Movie disappear from the Second Monitor until you move your mouse away.
I would not minimize the GUI either because to get it back you will need to hover over it or ALT+TAB and run the same risk of dropping your video from the second screen.



"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" (location of VLC on your computer, so change this to match your setup

--no-embedded-video (super important: this de-embeds the video from the GUI)
--audio (allows audio to play), (--no-audio (removes audio)
--no-repeat (
--no-loop (I put it just to make sure the video does not loop at the end and start again.)
--no-random (not needed)
--autoscale (not sure if needed or not, I put it in)
--fullscreen (super important, makes your video on the second screen automatically full screen.)
--no-osd (super important, stops all the Volume, Pause etc.. from showing up on your video screen.)
--playlist-tree (Not sure it is needed)
--start-time= (Allows you to pick the start location, ie: skip adds at the beginning of the video)
--stop-time= (Allows you to pick the end location, ie: skip credits at the end of the video.
--video-x=-1920 (super important, this is what moves your video over to the second or third of fourth monitor.
This setup assumes you Monitor or Projector is 1920x1080
Important to have Main and Second Monitors same res: Example: 1920x1080 and 1920x1080,
I have seen some strange behavior with Laptops and an attached monitor when they are diff res:

Move video to monitor to the left of main monitor: -1920 Mon1
--video-x=-1920 moves the video over to the screen to the left of the main monitor
Example: Monitors arranged: Mon 2, Mon1, Mon3 (Mon2-Left of Main, Mon3-Right of Main, Mon1-Main GUI screen.

Move video to monitor to the right of main monitor: 1920: Mon3
--video-x=1920 moves the video over to the screen to the Right of the main monitor
Example: Monitors arranged: Mon 2, Mon1, Mon3 (Mon2-Left of Main, Mon3-Right of Main, Mon1-Main GUI screen.

Move video to monitor two over to the right of the main monitor: Mon3
--video-x=3840 moves the video over to the screen to the Right of the main monitor
Example: Monitors arranged: Mon1, Mon 2, Mon3 (Main Mon, Mon2-1 to the Right of Main, Mon3 - 2 to the Right of Main.
The 3840=1920+1920

--video-y=1 (This setting seems to work for most 1920x1080 displays and projectors, change it if you video is too low or high in the frame of the monitor.

--quiet (Can’t remember what –quiet does)


"E:\movie.mpg" (I create a drive letter or folder to drop my files into, makes it easy to clean out and populate.)
So make this path equal to your setup.

vlc://quit ( This makes sure the VLC quits at the end of the video.)

Hope that all makes sense and works for you if you haven’t found a better way.

Ian.

[Xenos71]

Thank you very much for your help.
I tried it and it works.

Unfortunatelly though, everytime it goes from one video to the next, the screen fades off and on for half a second and it reveals the desktop.
So if I don't want the audience to see that, I have to set a black image as a wallpaper and after I finish I have to change it back...
No need to go to that trouble everytime I want to show something to a class or a seminar, I just use either PotPlayer or SMPlayer that do the job perfectly.
Both players had this function fully implemented years ago.

It's really embarrassing for VLC developers not to be able to make this work as it should, especially when there are many people who create their own skins with this funcion implemented correctly.

Honestly, I can't imagine why they just can't (or won't) fix it...

[jackspm]

You can control vlc via a browser on the same computer or different computer within the same network.

https://wiki.videolan.org/Control_VLC_via_a_browser/

[Xenos71]

Hi vlcbai,

I'm on Windows 10 64bit, and I just realized that when I use your method, VLC cannot prevent my screens from turning off (according to the revelant settings in Power options).
When the screens get black and I hit a key or move the mouse, only the primary monitor turns on again and I can only hear the audio. The secondary monitor remains black and I have to stop playback and start again in order to see the image too...

When I run VLC normally, this doesn't happen, playback goes on as it should and the screens stay on.

I checked the option in VLC for preventing screen saver and it was already enabled. I know that turning off screen has to do with Power theme options, not with the screen saver (which I never use by the way) , but I checked just in case.

Do you (or anyone) have any idea why this is happening and if there is a command that I could add in your script to prevent it?

By the way,

During the Movie do not: Hover your mouse over the VLC GUI ICON on the taskbar, for some reason it will make your Movie disappear from the Second Monitor until you move your mouse away.
I would not minimize the GUI either because to get it back you will need to hover over it or ALT+TAB and run the same risk of dropping your video from the second screen.

those problems do not occur with VLC 3.0.8 on Windows 10 64bit.

Thank you all in advance,
Xenos

[TomMcCray]

If anyone is interested, I was having the same problems; I wanted the controls on one monitor, with the video output on the other monitor, fullscreen.
Used to work, got new computer, updated VLC, etc. etc., couldn't remember what I did before to get it working...

So, FINALLY, the settings that worked for me on an Intel NUC, Win10Pro, dual monitors and VLC version 3.0.11:
Tools\Preferences\Video:
"Enable video" checked (obviously!)
"Fullscreen" checked
"Windows decorations" UNchecked (not sure what this is, don't care)
"Output" = "DirectX (DirectDraw) video output"
"Fullscreen Video Device" = "\\.\DISPLAY1"
"DirectX"\"Accelerated video output (Overlay)" UNchecked
Everything as default (I did the "Reset Preferences" before all this).

It still wouldn't work after all the above; what did it for me permanently was to do the following:
Change "Video"\"Show settings" to "All", and go to:
"Video"\""Output modules"\"DirectDraw", and MANUALLY type in "\\.\DISPLAY1".
Restart VLC (not sure if needed or not).
And BOOM! - works as expected.

[Marianu]

I do have a solution to display the full video on the second display while keeping the VLC controls on the Primary Display.
It always works... but I had a comment about why the other solutions do not work well.

VLC engine is directing its rendered stream to the Video Output modules and it is these modules that need to have the ability to control which display is used.
Yes VLC is the umbrella application but the author of those particular modules need to write this functionality.
If you use the Preferences:ALL view, you will notice that only DirectDraw has a facility to select the display, none of the others have this which is why only DirectDraw is actually working. I am speculating but I do not think those other modules even read in that setting.

Just to be clear on terms;
"Primary Display" a physical device, such as your first monitor or your laptop's screen.
"Secondary Display" a physical device such as the TV/monitor/projector connected to your computer or laptop via a HDMI/DP/VGA/DVI cable.
"Main Display" a windows term indicating the default display device to use when the application does not override it.


Regardless of all that, the solution that does work (in Windows) is to make the following settings adjustments as a prerequisite:
Tools\Preferences\Interface:
--"Integrate video in interface" UNchecked
Tools\Preferences\Video:
--"Enable video" checked
--"Fullscreen" checked
--"Windows decorations" UNchecked
--"Show media title on Video" UNchecked

To control which display shows the video set the Secondary Display to be the Main (Default) Display.
To do this in Windows right click on the desktop and choose "Display Properties"
Select the second monitor and check the box "Make this my main display"

In addition, remove the taskbar from the main display and only show it on the secondary
Also move all desktop icons to the Primary Display.

Open VLC and drag it to your Primary Display.
The controls will now be on the Primary Display,
Play the video and it will now appear on your Second display.
This is what we were trying to achieve.

Some caveats are that if you try to change preferences, it will pop up on the main display so you cannot do this or make changes to windows while the audience is watching your secondary display.

In my situations I am either running the AV board at church (use case #1) or I am broadcasting a presentation (Use case #2)
In both situations I want a play list on my main display so that I can select what to play.

There are some additional settings to make this more functional.
Settings:All :Playlist
"Display Playlist Tree" checked
"Repeat All" checked (This is only if you want it to loop the video which is useful when using the image on a green screen)
"Play and Pause" checked (This is very useful. After the video plays it will pause at the last frame and just stay there
rather than exiting the video and then displaying the desktop)

"Start paused" checked
"Auto Start" UNchecked (This way you can have everything ready and it only plays when you hit play.

My use cases is live stream broadcasting/presentations.
I use a BlackMagic ATEM Pro as my video switcher.
The laptop running VLC feeds into one of the channels and provides a nice moving background image overlaid onto what I green screened.
Also I set this up at my church to allow for easy playback of content.
The video editing team uploads the video into a shared directory and names it with a sequence.
Then it is automatically available in the playlist.
The laptop secondary display feeds into a switcher.
The person running it previews the video / audio first and then queues it up and cuts over to it.


I have done something else in the past which was that I directed VLC to just be a video stream that I fed into Virtual DJ running on the same PC and then I let VDJ control where the video was directed. This worked well and VDJ allows you to use a control surface ($10-$10,000) rather than a keyboard and you can fade between multiple video inputs. It is a very useful software tool.
My Best to you all.

[JustHearToDiss]

I registered to this forum just to say that it would have been much better if VLC never existed.
Too many innocents are lured by the promise of an open source media player but instead waste endless hours trying to make this obtuse piece of garbage work.
Even at slave labor wages, a paid solution is far superior.

As to your question,@bleahy48, the only reliable solution is to use your windows system settings to set your external display as the system's primary display.
Good luck, I'm going to buy some overpriced video playback software.

[DJFulford]

Having wanted to do the same thing, I have now found a solution.

Under Tools, Preferences, Interface .. unclick "Show controls in full screen mode" and "Integrate vidio in interface".
You can select View and playlist to show the playlist.

Select the video you are playing, Pause it, reduce the size of the screen and then drag the screen to the second display.

The controls should stay on the first screen and can be used to run the video.
You can use the controls to make the video to run full screen, to pause and run it, to stop it etc.