Split Video onto Two Displays with VLC on Raspberry Pi
In this article, we will discuss how to split a video onto two displays using VLC media player on a Raspberry Pi. This setup is useful for creating a dual-screen video wall or for displaying content on two monitors simultaneously.
Requirements
- Raspberry Pi with Raspbian OS installed
- Two HDMI-compatible displays with a resolution of 1920x1080
- HDMI cable to connect the displays to the Raspberry Pi
- VLC media player installed on the Raspberry Pi
Setting up the Displays
To set up the displays, connect them to the Raspberry Pi using the HDMI cable. Once connected, power on the Raspberry Pi and log in to the Raspbian OS.
Next, open the terminal and enter the following command to check the current display configuration:
$ xrandr
This command will display a list of the available displays and their current resolutions. Take note of the names of the displays (e.g. DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2).
To configure the displays to show the same content, enter the following command in the terminal:
$ xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --mode 1920x1080 --right-of DVI-I-0
Replace DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-0 with the names of your displays. This command will set the resolution of the first display to 1920x1080 and position it to the right of the second display.
Splitting the Video with VLC
Now that the displays are set up, we can move on to splitting the video with VLC. Open the terminal and enter the following command to start VLC:
$ vlc
Once VLC is open, go to the "Media" menu and select "Open File" to open the video you want to split. Once the video is open, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Effects and Filters" to open the "Adjustments and Effects" window.
In the "Adjustments and Effects" window, go to the "Video Effects" tab and select the "Advanced" options. In the "Advanced" options, check the box next to "Transform" and select "Tile" from the dropdown menu. Set the number of rows to 2 and the number of columns to 1.
This will split the video into two parts and display them on the two connected displays. You can adjust the size and position of the video tiles by using the sliders in the "Transform" options.
- Connect two HDMI-compatible displays to the Raspberry Pi using an HDMI cable.
- Check the current display configuration using the xrandr command.
- Configure the displays to show the same content using the xrandr command.
- Split the video using VLC by enabling the "Tile" option in the "Transform" settings and setting the number of rows and columns to 2 and 1, respectively.