UPDATED: QUADscreens (4,200 x 1,680) -- fka: triplescreens 41-inch uberHDTV (3,150 x 1,680) - 3 x 20" monitors in portrait

by Dr. Augustine Fou

for your Thanksgiving football watching -- make sure to check page 5 to add an HDTV card to your computer (NOTE THAT UNLKE THE DVD MOVIES, the TV broadcast will only show on one screen -- this is due to the way WindowsXP displays video).

finally found a way to get movies to play in Windows XP Pro across multiple monitors; tried spanning (does not work when monitors are rotated); tried UltraMon, does not work; tried dualhead2go and triplehead2go but does not work when monitors are rotated.

here's how to set up a 41 inch (3,150 x 1,680) LCD panel (higher than standard LCD HDTVs at 1920x1080 or 1366x768) for gaming, watching movies, or just being more productive ;-)

(pictured, Casino Royale trailer, playing in Quicktime Player)

Step 1: Buy components

the components used in the setup pictured are

$169.00 --- FOUR BenQ 20.1 inch LCD panels (1,680x1,050 each)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014146&Tpk=fp202w

in case you don't have the video cards

$32.99 -- ASUS GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121240

in case you don't have the wireless desktop

$44.99 --- Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823109119

in case your motherboard does not have TWO 16x PCI-Express slots, I recommend the following

for the latest AMD processors (socket AM2)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=242682-OP

for the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors (socket LGA775)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322341

I buy all my hardware from Newegg...

Comments

[instructamaker]

All you need now is surround sound for the ultimate movie/game immersion!

[gdawgtuk]

I would say this is only half complete. Take those monitors out of their casing and sit their screens side by side. No big black gaps, just multiple monitors that look like a single unit. Cool idea but it needs more hack, and less gaps.

[getbusy21]

THAT"S PIMPOLICIOUS!

[frosty1433]

it's like watching tv from behind jail bars. imo, you should either modify the monitors so they're all in one custom made cases side-by-side, or just buy an LCD TV of equivalent size, and junk the the tuner.

[scott!]

New egg says the monitors are "deactivaeted", do you know another place I can get them? Also, is $169 the price for one, or all four?

[srhadaham]

I'm pretty sure i know the answer to this but, is there any way to do this on a laptop?

[hg341]

well im not the only one who thinks more is always better i have two 16" crts right now one is off a 256mb card the other is off a 2 mb card

[SerJ]

correct me if im wrong, but i think these days you can just buy a 42-inch tv/pc monitor for just over a $1000? and without the 2 lines in the middle? so whats the point of doing this?

[Kush_Slayer]

because you can do it with said 42-inch tvs instead, and you can have different stuff running on each moniter

[bowmaster]

Because it is nerdy. Girls think nerds are sexy. That's why it is so hard for nerds to get dates. Girls don't want to go out with someone sexier then they are

[scott!]

lol XD

[bowmaster]

Why does XD mean?

[scott!]

You know, like a face, tilt your head to the right (or turn your monitor to the left)

[bowmaster]

My brother told me. It's just so unlike any other smiley used.

[scott!]

Yeah, I know what you mean, I thought it was an abreviayion when I first saw it

[bowmaster]

Me too.

[acfou]

by way of comparison Dell's 30-inch ultrasharp monitor is rated at 2560 x 1600. $1,269 on Dell.com as of 7/11/2007 Apple's 30-inch cinema display is based on the same LCD panel at 2,560 x 1,600 $1,799 on Apple.com as of 7/11/2007

[snowpenguin]

But nowadays you can get a 42" 1080p LCD on sale for $800.00! This essentially becomes useless...

[cornflaker]

Well those comments were from 2007

[Hawaii00000]

I like the fact that you can arrange it so that its kind of in a half circle like the 2nd picture, but I'm not sure about the prise or the lines.

[acfou]

yeah, but most 42 inch TVs are at a dismal 1,366-768 resolution so they cannot be used for anything other than watching TV -- i.e. you will not be able to read text that is blown up to that size. Even if you get a true HDTV (at far greater cost, like more in the $4,000 range) you're still at 1,920 x 1,080 versus 4,200 x 1,680 of the quad screen. It really depends on your use... For TV, of course I would recommend a traditional HDTV to avoid the bezels. But for computer monitor use a 42-inch TV just doesn't cut it.

[RiddleOfSphinx]

Plus, it wouldn't be too hard to make an enclosure for everything without the lines. Would make for a good instructable too ;)...wink wink.

[crankyjew]

are you willing to spend $1000+ on a computer monitor?

[jongscx]

Well, you'd spend $657 (as of 07-04-07) on 3 monitors, plus $200-300 on video cards, plus $100 on an hd tuner. totalling around $1000 anyway A $1000 hd display that has VGA input would have an HD tuner, so it'd work either way...

[Astinsan]

What about multiple HD Projectors to make a vr style system... Like the Virtual planes... or star tours? That would be awesome...

[srhadaham]

yeah my comment is 2 years to late but, that would be one amazing set up!

[multimonitors]

[tudgeanator]

Impressive.

[emuman4evr]

Anyone else notice that everything on neweggs site has suddenly become a deactivated item?

[joe57005]

i've got three screens on mine, but i'm running linux, so i have no fullscreen playback problems, and they're all right-side-up.

[Auger Duval]

I've been biting my tounge for a while. Here is my monster www.xpandtoday.com/supercomputer

[gozchev]

Is there a way to make it more seamless? If you pry or remove the lcd out edge can ya do it?

[gamer]

kick ass!!! i did this with my laptop, but with only 2 monitors, and i watched a movie, but i find it sucked, i did surf the net with it and its a lot better, playing games is awesome too. nice instructable. -gamer

[HICKFARM]

That looks really cool for viewing web pages and for playing video games. Also i already have one of those monitors. :) Although i wouldn't like it for movies, but it is a very good idea.

[Hawkstriker]

KICKA**!!!!!!!

[Warez]

hi all i have some questions, plz.. r u using SLI system ? May i use 2 different video cards, diferent GPUs and Brands ?

[bobparker]

Nice work on instructable. I really appreciate the video to get a sense of how distracting the screens borders are. Seeing is so much better then trying to imagine. If you get a chance, could you post some video of 'day to day' use - mixing work (boring Windows..) and video in the format you typically use?

[acfou]

added step 7, using QUAD now ... no video of use, but I can say productivity reached diminishing returns with 3 screens. The 4th one on the right is typically for all the IM windows; left most one is for RSS feeds (Google Reader) and the middle 2 are the actively used ones for day to day. The QUAD is great for testing minor variations in how 4 different browsers render the exact same web page.

[juanvivanco]

Hi, I need to visualize in 3 TVs Plasmas in portrait. What so I need? Thanks, Juan

[acfou]

Hi Juan as long as the plasma TVs have a VGA input, they can report their own native resolution to your video card(s). These are typically 1366x768 or you may have higher resolution plasmas. These can be attached to 2 video cards (3 of the 4 available ports) and you can do the same as with the 3 LCDs that I used. hope this helps - Augustine