Most developers use two or more monitors. Code editor on one, browser and terminal on the other. When you record a coding session, the question is: which monitor do you capture, and how does VidNo handle the context from the screen you are not recording?

Recording Options

Option 1: Record One Monitor (Recommended)

The simplest approach. Record your primary monitor and arrange your workflow so the most important action happens there.

  • Primary monitor: Code editor (full screen or split with terminal)
  • Secondary monitor: Browser, documentation, Slack, monitoring -- reference material

When you need to show something from the secondary monitor (like browser output or documentation), briefly drag it to the primary monitor. This creates a natural scene boundary that VidNo detects.

Option 2: Record Both Monitors

OBS can capture your entire desktop including both monitors as a single ultra-wide recording:

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# OBS Scene: Full Desktop
# Source: Display Capture (select "Entire Desktop")

This produces a 3840x1080 (or wider) recording. VidNo handles this, but there are trade-offs:

  • Text is smaller relative to the frame, reducing OCR accuracy
  • YouTube viewers see both monitors scaled down, making code harder to read
  • File sizes are roughly double

Option 3: Record Both Monitors Separately

The most data-rich approach but requires more setup:

# OBS: Two Display Capture sources on separate scenes
# Scene 1: Monitor 1 (editor)
# Scene 2: Monitor 2 (browser/terminal)
# Hotkey to switch: Ctrl+1 / Ctrl+2

VidNo can process both recordings together:

vidno process \
  --primary monitor1.mp4 \
  --secondary monitor2.mp4

How VidNo Handles Multi-Monitor Input

When provided with a multi-monitor recording (ultra-wide or dual files), VidNo performs additional analysis:

  1. Monitor boundary detection: For ultra-wide recordings, VidNo identifies the boundary between monitors using the taskbar, gap, or resolution shift.
  2. Focus detection: VidNo tracks which monitor has the active window (cursor position, typing activity) and treats that as the primary view for each scene.
  3. Context extraction: Content visible on the non-primary monitor is still OCR'd and used for script context, even if it is not shown in the final video.
  4. Dynamic cropping: The output video crops to show only the relevant monitor for each scene, with smooth transitions when focus switches.

Best Practices

Layout Consistency

Keep the same windows on the same monitors throughout the recording. Moving your code editor from monitor 1 to monitor 2 mid-session confuses viewers and AI tools alike.

Font Size Matters More

With multi-monitor recording, text size becomes even more critical. If you record both monitors as ultra-wide, each character occupies fewer pixels. Bump font sizes to 20px+ for dual-monitor recordings:

// VS Code settings for multi-monitor recording
{
  "editor.fontSize": 20,
  "terminal.integrated.fontSize": 18,
  "editor.lineHeight": 32
}

Notification Discipline

Notifications from the secondary monitor will not appear in a single-monitor recording -- but if they grab your attention and you look away from the recorded screen, VidNo detects a pause it cannot explain. Turn off notifications on all monitors before recording.

Our Recommendation

Record one monitor. Keep your code editor and terminal there. Use the secondary monitor for reference material that you occasionally drag over. This produces the clearest recordings, the best OCR results, and the most coherent tutorials.

Multi-monitor recording is a power-user feature for specific workflows (monitoring dashboards while deploying, watching test runners while coding). For standard tutorials, single-monitor is better.

For recording setup details, see OBS settings for coding tutorials and screen recording tips.