Sleeping with 2 screens

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Mekvriek Author

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Sleeping with 2 screens

(sorry if my English isn't perfect; I'm Dutch)

Hello all,

Who can help me with the following please:

I use an old Macbook pro (with a broken keyboard) as a media player, next to my television and amplifier.

This Macbook is connected to a projector (for movies) or recently a TV (for clips, photo's etc.) by a HDMI cable. I'm planning to buy a HDMI splitter, but at the moment i switch cables.

When connected to the projector, an Iphone app (Rowmote pro) always allowed me via it's keyboard to + and - (till total dim) the Macbook monitor, which always went up when connecting. But when i connect the tv with hdmi, this function is greyed out. There's also a "monitor sleep" key but this dims both the Mac as the Tv at the same time. I don't understand the different behavior compared to the projector attached.

Is there a way to always automatically dim the macbook's own monitor when a second one is connected? I even would prefer it alway to stay off.

Or at least an easier way then by system preferences, with the 2 windows, which is not very practicle in my situation (screensharing or phone).

Thank you for your help.

Posted on Oct 11, 2014 12:59 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 11, 2014 1:28 PM in response to Mekvriek

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131>

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Answer 2

Mekvriek Author

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Oct 11, 2014 4:12 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Thanks, but i'm not saying i want to use it closed. I think i better don't because it might get too warm. Or am i wrong?

By times the fan is blowing loud already.

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Answer 3

Oct 11, 2014 9:04 PM in response to Mekvriek

Some video players (e.g. QuickTime Player 7, VLC, EyeTV) have preference settings that blank the other screen when playing full-screen.

You may need to change the "Displays have separate Spaces" in "Mission Control" system preference.

HDMI splitters often cause problems with OS X. OS X requests display info and can get confused if more than one device responds.

The computer won't overheat in clamshell mode, but the fans can be noisy.

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Answer 4

Mekvriek Author

Level 1

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Oct 12, 2014 12:13 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

About the programs: thanks for the advice. Mainly i use Itunes or Plex in these situations, and sometimes VLC. In case of VLC it might help, but in other cases it's no solution.

To close the clamshell might be the best solution, but the reason why i'm careful with that is the very unpredictable sleeping behavior: sometimes it just keeps running and in some cases even the fan is running loud. Not often, but it can happen.

I'll make a new topic on that issue. Not the first, but other solutions form other topics did not resolve my problem.

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