Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Background -
I bought QU a few weeks ago, but continued using my older Studio Edition until I had time to delve into QU. Before continuing here's where QU lives & plays (not without problems).  ;)
LAPTOP #1 - Dell Studio 1747 Core i7 (Q720 1.6GHz) 8GB RAM + Dell U2311H dual monitor (Ultramon)
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
Internal HD - Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 16MB Cache
External HD - 2TB WD in a BlacX docking station with eSata connect

NOTE the dual monitor part.

The problem.
The image edit screen doesn't display properly. The edit control panel is in the upper left corner of the overall edit window and only a small slice of its right side is visible. Totally unusable.

After searching this forum it became apparent that dual monitors and QU don't always play nicely together. To test the theory, I turned off the dual monitor controller (Ultramon) and turned off the 2nd (my main image processing) monitor. After doing this I restarted QU and the image edit page displayed properly. Cause of problem identified - but the solution??

The question(s).
Any suggestions? Anyone using a similar configuration - especially the Ultramon part - and, if so, what???
I'm hoping that since the time frame of the QU forum threads I found that things have gotten better and that I just didn't search long enough to find the holy grail. Help?

This is the 3rd different program where dual monitors cause glitches in my setup. The last was Photomatix and they fixed it in their next bug release. In their case, as in the first, they don't routinely check dual monitor functionality thoroughly. ???

I've really only used Qimage with dual monitors with the slide show feature and that works fine with either an extended desktop or a cloned desktop. Ihave tried it with some of th eother screens and as far as can remember all worked ok. I simply used the Windows 7 display controls, no extra software needed.
So it is the display software causing a problem; is that set properly especially the screen resolutions?
Terry

I'll double check possible settings options and get back. In the meantime, of the 100+ programs (my system monitor keeps nagging me to remove some) only QU is having problems. The other 100+-1 must be doing something right. You say that "....it is the display software...." and may be right in a strict sense - maybe. The fact that QU did what was expected when I shut down my 2nd monitor doesn't necessarily incriminate Ultramon - it simply says that the QU & Ultramon don't play well together and that maybe QU has dual monitor issues. Which, if either, is "to blame" is another matter entirely, but another view might be that if 100+ other programs seem to work correctly maybe something else is wrong. Programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture NX and others that use dual screen in a manner similar to QU are not just hacks so I know that what I expected when launching QU Image Edit isn't impossible. Why do they work as they should?? I'll keep an open mind and not place the blame anywhere just yet - just askin'. I'll also try using just the Win 7 dual monitor option - no Ultramon.

Not a total show stopper but it is what caused me to go back to SE after buying QU. I needed to get work done and not fight with software. Hopefully I'll get it resolved - but not at the expense of making changes to accommodate one program at the expense of losing my normal workflow for all of the rest. I'll work it out one way or another; just hoped maybe there was a simple solution that caused me not to have wasted the cost of replacing SE with QU.

I've been using this Ultramon dual-monitor setup - albeit different PC's & monitors - for years and so it's not like stumbling across an problem due to lack of familiarity. I know this wasn't suggested by you but wanted to establish that what I'm doing is nothing new here and occasionally in the past a problem has occurred - and like Photomatix it's because of some small oversight at the other end. But there's a first time for everything so we'll see.

Keep well.

Hi Ed_k,
Not being one to theorise too much before coming to a definite conclusion , I tried Qimage Ultimate in dual screen mode - PERFECT!  ;D  8).
I ran QU from my 1280x800 pixel laptop (No. 1 display) and connected to  my 1920 x 1200 pixel monitor (No. 2 display). I set Extended desktop in the W7 display settings and then opened QU.
Next, I double clicked an image to open the editor which was then dragged to the monitor screen. Immediately it filled the screen perfectly at full resolution as if QU was running on the main PC.
I could then open the editor at any time and it always appeared on the Monitor.
Windows 7 display settings are very simple and work well and seems to do all the things that Ultramon does. I see no need for extra software which is very likely to be causing a problem, or not been set up correctly.
 I suggest you try QU again without Ultramon (disabled) and use W7 display settings.
There are many QU users out there with dual screen set-ups, I'm sure they  would soon complain if they had a problem too - not a peep so far!
Terry

I believe v2012.206 just released will solve the problem.  Back in March, I fixed a bug where the editor was opening full screen without regard of any task bar that might be on that monitor, making the task bar obscure part of the editor screen.  Unfortunately, there was a bug in the bug fix.   ::)  So I believe the latest should work without an issue.

Studio was unaffected because, since it is frozen/retired, it never got the initial buggy bug fix.

Regards,
Mike

Obviously not quite perfect,   ::) Mike has issued v206.
Perhaps I was ok because I use auto hide task bars.
As usual, a very quick response, even on a weekend  ;)
Terry

Mike,
While on the subject of Dual Monitors, is there a way to get a full screen slide show on an extended desktop? Useful for projected slide shows.
I can do it with the Windowed slide show or use a cloned desktop.
Terry

I think most people wouldn't see the bug because it was highly dependent on multiple factors: which screen your image editor was assigned to, whether or not that was the primary monitor, the resolution of both monitors, and even whether or not you have your desktop set up in a "backwards" fashion (with the second monitor on the left and the first monitor in the right).  Anyway, should be fixed now.  :)

Mike

Mike,

What else can I say  - You're the man!!!!!

V206 = problem solved.

I do a daily (almost) photo blog, 500+ posts, and have never done one on QImage. Consider that error on my part soon to be corrected. Not a giant readership, about 350 a day, but every little bit helps and I'll be sure to tell what a great program QU is but, also, support that is unsurpassed. Any points you'd like covered other than "you PS & LR users are missing the boat"?

Many thanks.

PS - I am "guilty" of at least one of Mike's "multiple factors" that might cause problems.

My setup is "backwards" with the 2nd monitor on the left (the "main" monitor is a laptop which doesn't cut it for image processing, especially color adjustments/management IMO). I run my image processing software on this "2nd" monitor and use the main (laptop) for house keeping sorts of things and for the image processing software's palettes, etc.

Never really thought about frontwards/backwards - just fits my office work space best that way.  ;)

Hi Ed,
All sorted  :D
Tell us the URL please, we can up your hit count.  ;)
Terry

Thanks Ed.  I appreciate the blog!  Even far less than that amount (of readers) makes a difference.  I appreciate all I can get.  :)

Regards,
Mike

If this is the same EdK that has some Nik tutorials on his blog it is a great website. He has some very interesting things. If it is the same EdK he will be a wonderful asset to this site. Welcome Ed.

Mike

EdK - guilty as charged. Thanks for the compliment.

Unfortunately, the current timing is bad since - after posting daily for months - I'm dealing with a few home issues like my wife's new pup who is running us ragged and have missed a few days as a result. How can 3.5 pounds of fur contain so much energy? 10 weeks of energy trumps a combined 150 years of "wisdom" every day.

I'll be back on the regular schedule by the end of the week and will work up a print related set of posts including Qimage. My Nik Software tutorials' hit count is north of 25,000 since 3/11 when I first started doing them (Nik beta tester). It helps that Nik's documentation has lots of holes - Mike's seems better since the UTube videos.

Feel free to subscribe to the blog at http://edkphoto.wordpress.com/  ;)