How do I get my Mac Pro to see the second monitor through a video splitter and/or switcher?
In a recording studio we have a Mac Pro with two video display monitors in the control room and we want to be able to show the content of the second monitor to the person in the recording room on a big display monitor there. However, when we interpose a switcher or splitter between the computer and the second monitor so that we can (with a switcher) switch the second monitor signal from the control room monitor to the record room monitor or (with a splitter) split the signal to go to both monitors, we have no luck. On startup the computer does not see the monitor through the switcher, so it doesn't recognize its existence. If we start the computer up without the switcher in the signal chain, it sees the second monitor just fine, and (weirdly enough) we can then change the cabling to interpose the switch, which then works to switch back and forth between second monitors (control room and record room), but that cable swapping's a royal PITA. We want a simple solution that will allow us to start up the computer, see the second monitor in the control room, then choose to show it to the person in the record room with a simple flip of the switch (or even better, split the signal so it's available both places). The splitter we've tried most recently is this one: http://tinyurl.com/curen39 I'd appreciate any advice from people who have tried this configuration or something similar with success. We have a full ProTools HD Accel 3 system installed, so there's no room to install a second video card. Thanks.
Mac Pro 8-Core 2.4 GHz, OS 10.6.8
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)