Questions regarding PiP / PbP on ultrawides

[cpugeek21]

Ok this is going to be a long question so bear with me. For some background information, I have decided to get myself an ultrawide and I can't make up my mind.

 

It would be used both for gaming and productivity, which is why I'm getting a little greedy and looking for gaming oriented features (high refresh rate etc.) such as AW3418DW / X34P, which are commonly recommended monitors. On the other hand, I am also looking for PiP / PbP which are features that usually come in productivity-oriented monitors. This is because I see myself using the monitor to open up 2 different inputs (laptop + desktop) at once and working on them at the same time (not sure how viable that is in practice, just seems like a cool feature to have).

 

Since refresh rate is important to me, PiP / PbP would be the first thing I would sacrifice. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to get the best of both worlds. So, my questions are as follows.

 

1) are there any third party solutions for PiP / PbP (either hardware / software)? The closest I have seen seems to be DisplayFusionPro, but I did a quick search and it does not seem to be one of the listed features.

 

2) people who actually do have PiP / PbP on their monitors and also do work on a secondary system often (eg. Laptop), how often do you use the PiP / PbP feature? Is it useful for you?

 

3) How realistic is such a setup in the first place? Am I overthinking this? Should I just use my secondary portrait monitor and rotate it whenever I want to use the laptop, and then use a third-party KVM software like synergy to control the 2 systems? I was initially even thinking of putting an extra landscape monitor on the side of the ultrawide, but I think landscape + ultrawide + portrait would be far too overkill, and such a setup isn't realistic in the first place, and not good for my neck.

 

Of course, I would also be open to recommendations for other monitors that have these features I'm looking for as long as it's around the price range of the 2 monitors I listed, and are of the same build quality.

 

Thanks everyone!

[themctipers]

I can respond to #2:

I use a Phillips BDM4065UC monitor (4k 40", can do 4 way PiP)

I never use the feature since it cuts off a good chunk of my monitor for my secondary device, since it uses 1:1 mapping for PiP. The monitor is mainly only for my desktop, but when I need to use my laptop with it, I just manually switch over, ignoring PiP. I would rather have the full 4k resolution for one device than have both devices at once. 

My files are either on my desktop or my laptop for an ongoing project, not between both devices. 

[cpugeek21]

1 hour ago, themctipers said:

I can respond to #2:

I use a Phillips BDM4065UC monitor (4k 40", can do 4 way PiP)

I never use the feature since it cuts off a good chunk of my monitor for my secondary device, since it uses 1:1 mapping for PiP. The monitor is mainly only for my desktop, but when I need to use my laptop with it, I just manually switch over, ignoring PiP. I would rather have the full 4k resolution for one device than have both devices at once. 

My files are either on my desktop or my laptop for an ongoing project, not between both devices. 

Oh, even 40" diagonal 2 way PiP doesn't look good aspect-ratio wise? 

[themctipers]

4 hours ago, cpugeek21 said:

Oh, even 40" diagonal 2 way PiP doesn't look good aspect-ratio wise? 

This is how it looks like on my monitor. I suspect it'll only get worse with a smaller physical screen. 

 

the artifacting on the bottom left is only because of my laptop running it at 4k and then the monitor downscaling to 1080p, also looks a bit weird because I'm using scaling. 

this is what side by side would look like. I think both are 1080p windows, artifacts are from my laptop and desktop running it at 4k and my monitor downscaling it to 1080p.

these are the options I have. It'll change from monitor from monitor most likely. 

 

 

edit: this is 16:9, not 21:9.

[cpugeek21]

5 minutes ago, themctipers said:

This is how it looks like on my monitor. I suspect it'll only get worse with a smaller physical screen. 

 

the artifacting on the bottom left is only because of my laptop running it at 4k and then the monitor downscaling to 1080p, also looks a bit weird because I'm using scaling. 

this is what side by side would look like. I think both are 1080p windows, artifacts are from my laptop and desktop running it at 4k and my monitor downscaling it to 1080p.

these are the options I have. It'll change from monitor from monitor most likely. 

Wow, thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to show me how it looks like, there just isn't enough information on this technology on the internet. 

 

Doesn't make my decision any easier though. What refresh rate is this monitor? Can you see the difference between 60hz and 100+hz? I've always had a 60hz monitor, so anything beyond that is unchartered territory for me. Coupled along with the fact that ultrawides are expensive, and monitors are basically the last thing to upgrade in any pc setup, I really have to do my due dilligence here. 

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, cpugeek21 said:

Wow, thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to show me how it looks like, there just isn't enough information on this technology on the internet. 

 

Doesn't make my decision any easier though. What refresh rate is this monitor? Can you see the difference between 60hz and 100+hz? I've always had a 60hz monitor, so anything beyond that is unchartered territory for me. Coupled along with the fact that ultrawides are expensive, and monitors are basically the last thing to upgrade in any pc setup, I really have to do my due dilligence here. 

60hz

I can but it does not interest me much, more of a screen size and resolution person than refresh rate   also, once you start to use 120/144hz monitors, going back to 60 is like going from a SSD to a HDD.

 

Why do you want to use PiP? It sounds like a cool concept until you actually try to use it.. 

[cpugeek21]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

60hz

I can but it does not interest me much, more of a screen size and resolution person than refresh rate   also, once you start to use 120/144hz monitors, going back to 60 is like going from a SSD to a HDD.

 

Why do you want to use PiP? It sounds like a cool concept until you actually try to use it.. 

Yeah, the idea entertains me alot but thinking about it, I think it will just interest me for a little while, but end up not using it in the end. I'm looking at 34 inch 3440 x 1440 (alienware vs dell i.e gaming vs general usage), so the resolution and screen size is equivalent and doesn't make the difference to me. I think you have mostly made up my decision for me. I do love myself a nice SSD over HDD.

 

Just a few last quick questions though, regarding the photos.

For the first one, you are just running it normally right? No PiP or anything?

For the second one, are you running PiP off 2 different inputs? Just a quick heads up, assuming your monitor is 21 x 9, I think PiP is actually downscaling both inputs to 21:9, not 16:9 as you mentioned.

[themctipers]

5 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Yeah, the idea entertains me alot but thinking about it, I think it will just interest me for a little while, but end up not using it in the end. I'm looking at 34 inch 3440 x 1440 (alienware vs dell i.e gaming vs general usage), so the resolution and screen size is equivalent and doesn't make the difference to me. I think you have mostly made up my decision for me. I do love myself a nice SSD over HDD.

 

Just a few last quick questions though, regarding the photos.

For the first one, you are just running it normally right? No PiP or anything?

For the second one, are you running PiP off 2 different inputs? Just a quick heads up, assuming your monitor is 21 x 9, I think PiP is actually downscaling both inputs to 21:9, not 16:9 as you mentioned.

my monitor is 16:9, 3840x2160. not 21:9 whatsoever. 

the first one is pip (the 3/4ths screen being my desktop, the 1/4th being my laptop). 

the second one is also pip, both being 3840x2160 inputs, being downscaled to I assume 1080p (3840/2 is 1920, so why would it not be 1080..)

[cpugeek21]

4 minutes ago, themctipers said:

my monitor is 16:9, 3840x2160. not 21:9 whatsoever. 

the first one is pip (the 3/4ths screen being my desktop, the 1/4th being my laptop). 

the second one is also pip, both being 3840x2160 inputs, being downscaled to I assume 1080p (3840/2 is 1920, so why would it not be 1080..)

When you say 3/4, how is it being split? Is the bottom right the 1/4? Or is it split vertically into 4 quarters? I can't see any outline of a split at all.

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, cpugeek21 said:

When you say 3/4, how is it being split? Is the bottom right the 1/4? Or is it split vertically into 4 quarters? I can't see any outline of a split at all.

the bottom right is the 1/4th, and that is from my laptop. Any other potion of the screen is from my desktop. 

[themctipers]

pip

pip 2 way

pip 3 way

pip 4 way

[cpugeek21]

Just now, themctipers said:

pip

pip 2 way

pip 3 way

pip 4 way

I see...once again, thanks so much for your time and going out of your way to explain these things to me, really appreciate it!

[xinsight]

On 2/18/2019 at 7:41 PM, themctipers said:

the bottom right is the 1/4th, and that is from my laptop. Any other potion of the screen is from my desktop. 

Love your posts. 

I like/ love the PIP PBP because it allows me to monitor stuff happening on different input in background, while going back and forth. Esp when multi taking between machines. or add say some devices. 

 

@themctipers

I just found this as well and it might help the PBP Scaling issue you were facing. 

Achieving Full Screen PBP in 4K, One Person's Journey - DEV Community