Kodi Community Forum

Hi All,
Just recently come across XBMC and I absolutely adore it.
Ok here is what I have done:

iMac connected to Plasma via mini DVI to HDMI cable.

No matter whether I choose to mirror both monitors (in mac settings) or to have two separate windows, XBMC does not give me the option to choose the display properties for both screens. The only option I get under System - Display is to Window or Full Screen (monitor#1) and that's it.

What I am trying to acheive is, when I switch XBMC on, on the iMac, it will show on my plasma but then simply blank the mac screen.

Any ideas?

Oh running latest version under OSX Lion

Hey,

The way I did this was basically set my external monitor as primary (so the menu bar for all apps shows up on the external monitor). I did this mainly because mirroring didn't work so well in terms of resolution (couldn't get the resolution to the maximum the monitor supports when the MacBook display is mirrored).

So that's one option you can try. Otherwise I think the iMac will always show whatever you're watching on the TV, since I assume you are now mirroring the display.

Hope this helps.

OK Happy to make the plasma the primary monitor, no problem but then how can I tell XBMC to blank the mac (Assume it will be the secondary now) when XBMC does not show me the option for a 2nd monitor under the System - Display settings?

It blanks it automatically anyway when you enter XBMC.

Hmmm Will have to check that to see if it does it or not.
Will try later when I am back home.
I assume this is only the case if I make it separate monitors and make the TV the primary?

Yeah, basically for me the setup now is like having a dual monitor, with the external one being primary. I don't know if there are other ways to reach what you want, but this worked for me - I have a Macbook Pro on Lion, so I would expect it to work on your iMac as well.

This is how to do it on a MacPro. I am not sure if there are video card limitations with the iMac but try this. In System Pref>Displays click on Arrangement. You can have the iMac as the main and the TV as Secondary if you want. In XMBC>System>Video Output>Display Mode. select either FullScreen#1 for main monitor or FullScreen #2 for secondary monitor. Then two lines down is Blank other displays, select this. Now when XBMC is launched it will go full screen on the one you have selected in Display Mode and the other will go dark.

Thanks guys. Can't try all this till later on, so will report back then.
:-)