A/V Output - totally wonky

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Level 1

8 points

A/V Output - totally wonky

OS 10.12.6, 2013 MacPro, X 10.3.4. Using 3 monitors on 2013 MacPro. Primary is 2K Asus via Thunderbolt adapter. 1st secondary is 1080 Samsung television monitor, 2nd secondary is 1080 Vizio. FCPX preferences for A/V Output show both my secondary monitors' names. My goal is to output A/V on the Vizio.

There are many combinations of settings possible; the monitor selected in FCPX A/V prefs, the display ports on the Mac, the Primary monitor selection as determined by the menu bar placement in System Prefs/Display Prefs, etc. Let me say that I believe I've tried every combination to get the output onto the Vizio, and the only one that works is to: 1) set primary monitor menu bar in Sys Prefs to the Vizio 2) drag FCPX interface out of the Vizio back onto the Asus 3) FCPX prefs set A/V out to the Samsung. When A/V is enabled, the Vizio screen changes to FCPX video output.

Recap that: so my primary desktop becomes the wall mounted 50" Vizio (with all the associated hassles of it not being the monitor directly in front of me) and FCPX AV out is being set to the THIRD monitor (Samsung) which is NOT where the video actually appears. Huh??

The "working crux" of the issue seems to be that FCPX only wants to output AV to the monitor that's the primary system monitor, which is a hassle when it's a big wall mounted TV.

Anyone dealt with this & have a workaround/fix?

Posted on Feb 8, 2018 4:20 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 8, 2018 6:32 AM in response to Editingfx

I can’t try this at the moment but I think that you can set things the you want by carefully selecting displays in System Preferences->Displays.

Let us call screen 1, 2 and 3

and say you want 1 as the main FCP X interface, 2 for second display and 3 for AV output

Start FCP X on just one screen (doesn’t matter which for now)

Step 1: select 2 as the main display by dragging the menu bar (Fcp X should switch to this display)

Step 2: select 1 as the main display (again Fcp x should move)

Step 3: select show in secondary display->Viewers (or whatever you want there)

It should now be screen 2

Step 4: choose screen 3 for av out

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Answer 2

Editingfx Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2018 6:37 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Interesting! Your post was almost exactly what happened, but did give the desired end result!

When I did Step 3, Browser on secondary appeared on screen 3. But then I turned on AV out, and that appeared on screen 3, replacing Browser. So I turned on Browser in Secondary (again), and that appeared this time on screen 2. So not in the exact order you described, but I end up with things as desired, with primary display remaining where it belongs.

Thank you!

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Answer 3

Feb 8, 2018 7:41 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I forgot to add that the idea to select 2 first was an attempt to “tell” macOS that (once 1 is selected afterwards) this would be the “second”. But AFAICT from your experience this was not having the desired effect.

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Answer 4

Editingfx Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2018 6:42 AM in response to Editingfx

So the key to your fix was dragging the primary display over to screen 2 & back. Why should that have mattered, if you end up in the original configuration?

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Answer 5

Feb 8, 2018 7:38 AM in response to Editingfx

By your description it appears that my step of making screen 2 the main one at first is completely unnecessary.

My revised version is thus:

Select 1 as main

Select 3 as AV output

Turn on show viewers on second display

If this works then it is very simple after all...

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A/V Output - totally wonky

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