Resolution on 2nd monitor and DPI size.

[Julian]

Greetings!

Just wanted to ask those people who use the surface with a 2nd monitor, and how are you working out resolutions and DPI settings.

The default resolution for the SP3 is 2160x1440, and for me to work comfortably, I have setup the DPI at 175, or the DPI slider to lager (which I assume is also 175%?).

However, the issue comes when I setup or add a 2nd screen via the display port. My 2nd monitor resolution is 1920 x 1200, not a small monitor either, however, because of the DPI settings, everything LOOKS HUGE!

When I look at the slider bar under "Change the size of all items", there is a box which states "Let me choose one scaling....", which leads me to believe that each monitor could have its own DPI settings? however, I have found no way to make any of these changes or apply the settings I want.

The other issue I have, its that when I change the DPI settings to accommodate the 2nd monitor, I keep having to log out to properly apply the DPI settings.

So, how is everyone working with their 2nd monitor? how are you setting the resolution and DPI settings? Any advice?

Thank you all so much for your help! Also, my first post here, and very happy to be a proud owner of a SP3 and a member of the community.

Regards,

Julian.

 

[plop28]

Unfortunately, it's how it works at the moment. You have to log out to have the right DPI setting.

And yes, work with two monitor with different dpi scaling is horrible.

I work only on attached monitor when i dock my SP

 

[Julian]

I found an interesting article mention on another post here at the forums, which states that windows picks the dpi settings based on what the monitor default resolution is, as long as you don't have "Let me choose one scaling...." box checked. (http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2013/07/15/windows-8-1-dpi-scaling-enhancements/)

Testing to see if that works better or not for me, although some icons and programs still look very weird and just simply huge!!!

Thanks again.

 

[plop28]

Yeah i remember this page.. When i dock mine, desktop seems ok but icon are gigantic

 

[surfdock]

Try this workaround: http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/sp3-multi-mon-dpi-scaling-tweak.10806/

Hopefully multi-mon dpi will be much improved in a Windows 10 "insider" build coming soon

 

[jumper4000]

Has this been resolved in Windows 10. It's the most annoying problem with Surface right now.

 

[Julian]

Try this workaround: http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/sp3-multi-mon-dpi-scaling-tweak.10806/

Hopefully multi-mon dpi will be much improved in a Windows 10 "insider" build coming soon

surfdoc,

While I think the solution you mentioned would work for some, it may pose issues for others. I have looked into adding the Intel OEM drivers to the SP3, and found the process to be not very smooth and in some cases down right problematic.

The second issue here is also that you are removing the right/native resolution from the SP3 device, and you get now some black areas around the device. (although with Intel OEM you might get the option to use the entire screen, etc).

Thanks!

 

[CV81]

Is the DPI part of why the entire extended monitor looks grainy on a extended display 1920x1200 1080p screen?

 

[Julian]

Is the DPI part of why the entire extended monitor looks grainy on a extended display 1920x1200 1080p screen?

Yes. On most screens, a display of 1920x1200 would be housed on a 22-26 inch screen, in which a 100% dpi setting would look great. However, the SP3 has an insane resolution of 2160x1440 on a 12 inch display (its amazing for videos, etc, not complaining!), which forces you to use anything from 150% to 200% dpi.

 

[surfdock]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_HDTV_viewing_distance#Human_visual_system_limitation

surfdoc,

While I think the solution you mentioned would work for some, it may pose issues for others. I have looked into adding the Intel OEM drivers to the SP3, and found the process to be not very smooth and in some cases down right problematic.

The second issue here is also that you are removing the right/native resolution from the SP3 device, and you get now some black areas around the device. (although with Intel OEM you might get the option to use the entire screen, etc).

Thanks!

Julian, thanks for the feedback.

What issues did this pose for you? I can file tickets directly with Intel if there are any problems. You only need to install the 3621 driver to get the custom resolution utility to add the resolution. Once it is added, you can go back to using the stock Surface driver provided by Microsoft and the new resolution will still be available.

Using the specific steps provided in the guide, there are no black bars or anything. Look at the photo - the full screen is being used. There is no overscan/underscan problem.

The native resolution is not being removed. As pointed out in the guide, in tablet/laptop mode the native resolution is chosen automatically. It is only in docked mode with external monitors where it switches to 1/4 the native resolution and that is not an issue because the screen is farther away than typical tablet/laptop use when used alongside desktop monitors (think dots per arc-second instead of dots per inch). Typical laptop/tablet use has the screen 20" or closer. For desktop its more like 30". That extra 10" is a big difference, and the visual system has a much harder time distinguishing individual pixels at that distance. If you use the HDTV ideal viewing distance formula, then I think it comes out to ~16" at native resolution and ~32" at 1/4 resolution. Not convinced? Try a blind test. Get someone else to select the lower or higher resolution and sit a few feet away and see if you can tell the difference. Initially, I thought this approach would be terrible, but after some blind testing I found it was much more usable this way. My wife and I have been using this config daily for almost 2 months now with no issues.

If you're having problems with this approach, please provide specifics so I can help and provide feedback to get this working even better for Windows 10.