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4 screens on Mac mini?

#1

Hi guys!

Has anyone of you tried/ succeeded connecting 4 external monitors to a current model Mac mini? Of course I’d run vvvv under Win XP on the Mac, my goal is to display one movie spread over the 4 screens.

A solution I’m thinking of is to use a Matrox TripleHead2Go DisplayPort Edition card connected to the Mini DisplayPort output of the Mac, plus a forth screen on the HMDI output. I guess it would also make sense to adapter all outputs to DVI and use DVI screens, so that all 4 screens can be put together in span mode of XP to be used as one big monitor in vvvv.

Anyone tried this already? Or has anyone got a better solution for connecting 4 screens to one PC?

#2

prove me wrong but, i doubt the hdmi on the mac mini is capable of a secondary output. you may try hooking up monitors to both dvi and hdmi outputs and see if the mini extends the desktop. if yes, you’re on. if not … well, it’s just a mac mini innit?

use a pc capable of adapting at least one dual head graphics card, better two of the same type. or one dual head gc and a triple head (utilize the spare output for your control monitor).

#3

funny, was thinking to do a similiar thing with a MacBookPro (nvidia 9600 GT)
and a TripleHead2Go. Does anybody have xperience with those Matrox devices?

#4

the hdmi output of the mac mini can with no problem serve as a secondary output to a monitor. i have this running here, if you connect dvi monitors also the span mode of win xp works perfectly fine.

concerning the idea of connecting two dual head cards, i somehow remember to have read that you may only connect one matrox dual or triple head card per pc. maybe also per graphics card, but that is the same with the mac mini. so i don’t think this would work, but i have not tried yet.

the matrox devices themselves in general work very well, i used them for a number of applications with both mac and pc systems under windows and mac os x operating systems.

#5

i’ve got a new mac mini and have used it succesfully with 2 heads (1 for monitor, 1 for projector).
the hdmi’s capable of single link dvi (<2.75MP @ 60Hz) so 3x1024*768 should be ok
the displaylink can also be dual link dvi (with an expensive connector) but i dont think that Matrox makes anything that uses that anyway.

Are you certain that the Matrox displaylink triplehead can convert into dvi?
being able to convert to dvi/vga is also something that has to be supported by the thing giving the signal.

#6

I just ordered a TripleHead DP Edition including the necessary adapters and will report back as soon as I have tested the setup. No more guessing ;-)

#7

even with the old mac mini it was possible to use 4 monitors - one primary control monitor and a triplehead2go.

however, it proved hardly usable, as the vram was only big enough for a triplehead-resolution of 2400x800, and that even with no hardcore content.

#8

it didn’t work for me this time, as i couldn’t get a signal from the triple head out on the monitors (consumer tv-plasmascreens).

#9

is it
*macmini not working with the triplehead
or
*triplehead not working with the monitors?

all the monitors all of the same type?

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