One Screen
To get a full screen playback in Media Composer three of our fingers are necessary: shift + cmd + f, this is the shortcut to toggle in full screen. If your are more of a computer mouse person you can go to Special > Full Screen Playback.
After that, your work can be watched on full screen; good also to impress the client. All the J, K, L actions work as usual and by pressing esc you can switch between your timeline preview and the preview of your rushes.
Finally, to come back to a postage stamp size just press shift + cmd + f again.
Two Screens
If you do have a second screen plugged to your computer it is possible to use it as a ‘preview monitor’. The advantage here is that you still can execute all your talent on the timeline, on the main screen, while watching the result of it on the second screen, in its full screen magnificence. To do so, go to:
- Settings > Full Screen Playback;
If you have a second screen and you want it as a monitor screen, Full Screen Playback in the Settings window is the option to select. - position the dialog box that appeared in the screen you wish to use as a preview screen;
- press the big button Select Monitor. Above this button, it shows the coordinates of the newly setup monitor screen compared to the top left corner of the main screen. Logically you should see the size values of your second screen.
You can not miss it: the Select Monitor button is the one that tells the system which screen you want to use as a full screen playback. - Click Ok to close the dialog box window.
To see it working, switch to full screen mode, shift + cmd + f, and you will see your edit or rush in full screen on your second screen.
Remark: if one of Media Composer windows (like a bin window) happened to be on the second screen it will simply disappear beneath the full screened video. To then access the hidden window click on the video, which switches off the full screen mode. On the other end, if you try to drop a window in the second screen, while in full screen mode, the full screen mode switches off itself.
Second Remark: It works out of the box with Macintosh systems but, according to some forum reading, not necessarily with Windows. For the Windows users check out “Installing and Configuring Dual Monitors for Full Screen Playback on a Windows System” in your Avid Media Composer Help.
The End