MPV, no X, 4 monitors

[tkzv]

media-video/mpv correctly plays videos in console without X Window (or Wayland). But when it plays a video file, it places video on the first monitor and disables other monitors. Is there any way to control which monitor is used?

UPDATE: I was wrong, by default it did not use sixel output.

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$ eix -e mpv
[I] media-video/mpv
     Available versions:  0.40.0-r3(0/2)^t 0.41.0(0/2)^t **9999(0/2)*l^t **9999(0/2)*l^t[1] {+X +alsa aqua archive bluray cdda +cli coreaudio debug +drm dvb dvd +egl gamepad +iconv jack javascript jpeg lcms libcaca +libmpv +lua nvenc openal pipewire pulseaudio rubberband sdl selinux sixel sndio soc subrandr test tools +uchardet vaapi vapoursynth vdpau +vulkan wayland xv zimg zlib LUA_SINGLE_TARGET="lua5-1 luajit" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_11 python3_12 python3_13 python3_14"}
     Installed versions:  0.41.0(0/2)^t(18:00:38 16.03.2026)(X alsa cdda cli drm dvb dvd egl iconv jpeg lcms libmpv lua nvenc pipewire pulseaudio sixel tools uchardet vaapi vdpau vulkan wayland xv zlib -aqua -archive -bluray -coreaudio -debug -gamepad -jack -javascript -libcaca -openal -rubberband -sdl -selinux -sndio -soc -test -zimg LUA_SINGLE_TARGET="luajit -lua5-1" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_13 -python3_11 -python3_12 -python3_14")
     Homepage:            https://mpv.io/
     Description:         Media player for the command line

Preliminary answer:

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mpv --vulkan-display-display=help

to see the list of available monitors,

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mpv 1.mp4 --vulkan-display-display=2

to play on the 3rd monitor. However, this doesn't allow to fully access the capabilities of some modern monitors, if I understand correctly.

[Banana]

Maybe the parameter --drm-connector can help?

--drm-connector=[<gpu_number>.]<name>
Select the connector to use (usually this is a monitor.) If <name> is empty or auto, mpv renders the output on the first available connector. Use --drm-connector=help to get list of available connectors. When using multiple graphic cards, use the <gpu_number> argument to disambiguate. (default: empty)

https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/mpv/mpv.1.en.html

[tkzv]

Use --drm-connector=help to get list of available connectors.

Doesn't work for me:

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$ mpv a.flv --drm-connector=0
� Video  --vid=1  (h264 640x352 25 fps)
� Audio  --aid=1  (aac 2ch 44100 Hz 111 kbps)
[vo/gpu-next/drm] No primary DRM device could be picked!
[vo/gpu-next/drm] Failed to find a usable DRM primary node!
AO: [pipewire] 44100Hz stereo 2ch floatp
VO: [gpu-next] 640x352 yuv420p
AV: 00:00:01 / 00:04:24 (1%) A-V:  0.000
Exiting... (Quit)
$ mpv a.flv --drm-connector=1
� Video  --vid=1  (h264 640x352 25 fps)
� Audio  --aid=1  (aac 2ch 44100 Hz 111 kbps)
[vo/gpu-next/drm] No primary DRM device could be picked!
[vo/gpu-next/drm] Failed to find a usable DRM primary node!
AO: [pipewire] 44100Hz stereo 2ch floatp
VO: [gpu-next] 640x352 yuv420p
AV: 00:00:01 / 00:04:24 (0%) A-V:  0.000
Exiting... (Quit)
$ mpv --drm-connector=help
Available connectors for card 0 (/dev/dri/card0):
Cannot retrieve DRM resources: Operation not supported

Specifying other names like DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-1, HDMI-A-1 had no effect either. The video always plays on the first monitor (HDMI-0). xrandr calls connected screens HDMI-0, DP-1, DP-3, DP-5.

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$ ls -lR /dev/dri/
/dev/dri/:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root         80 Mar 16 17:23 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root video  226,   0 Mar 16 17:23 card0
crw-rw-rw-  1 root render 226, 128 Mar 16 17:23 renderD128

/dev/dri/by-path:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  8 Mar 16 17:23 pci-0000:01:00.0-card -> ../card0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Mar 16 17:23 pci-0000:01:00.0-render -> ../renderD128

[flexibeast]

This post implies that the appropriate format for the value of the `--drm-connector` option is more like:

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--drm-connector=0.DP-1

[tkzv]

This post implies that the appropriate format for the value of the `--drm-connector` option is more like:

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--drm-connector=0.DP-1

Doesn't work.

P.S. The latest version of MPV manual doesn't mention GPU number option.

I was told in MPV chat to use

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mpv --vulkan-display-display=help

to identify monitors accessible with Vulkan devices, and something like

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mpv 1.flv --vulkan-display-display=2

to play. And it worked

However, they also said, that DRM is a more preferred way.

[flexibeast]

Glad you got it working - thanks for reporting back with the details! i've just added a "Multiple monitors" section to the "mpv" page on the wiki.