vlc-playing DVD won't display on external monitor

[Robert P. J. Day]

Quoting Chris <chris1.noreply at googlemail.com>:

> 2008/10/24 Robert P. J. Day <rpjday at crashcourse.ca>:
>>  someone else suggested that the DVD image was bypassing the
>> framebuffer, which i didn't follow.  can someone clarify the
>> technical issues behind why i need to deactivate the attached
>> LCD display on the laptop to get DVD output on the external
>> display?  i'm convinced it works, and now i know how to do it.
>> i'd just like it to not be quite so much magic.  thanks.
>
> I'm not sure about this but I suspect the video display may be using a
> video overlay surface:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_overlay
>
> Typically you can only have one overlay surface per graphics device,
> not per screen. As I said I'm not sure if that's what's happening for
> you but it's a likely possibility.

   ah, right, i remember your earlier response.  i will now go
read it.  :-)

rday