Display video on a second monitor

Last updated on Jun 23, 2025

Learn how to display video output to a second monitor while editing in Adobe Premiere Pro.

You can choose to display only the video output to a second monitor. This is particularly useful in color grading if you want to see how your colors look in a different color space or see the video playback in full screen.

To display the output of the Program Monitor to a second computer monitor, you need to change the Playback preference setting in Premiere Pro.

  1. Select Premiere Pro > Settings > Playback (macOS) or Edit > Preferences > Playback (Windows).

  2. Select Enable Mercury Transmit to allow video output to a secondary monitor. Then, choose the monitor where you want the video to be displayed.

    • Adobe DV: This is the FireWire option.
    • Adobe Monitor x: These are your attached computer monitors that can receive video preview data through the graphics card.
    • Third-party video hardware: These entries differ depending on what third-party hardware you have connected. AJA Kona 3G, Blackmagic Playback, and Matrox Player are typical examples.
    The Device Name options are highlighted in the Playback pane of the Preferences dialog box.
    To display video on a second monitor, select Enable Mercury Transmit in the Playback preference.

  3. Select Disable video output when in the background to stop video playback on the second monitor when you switch to another application. The monitor will then revert to showing the regular desktop or computer screen.

  4. Select OK.

Now, when you playback a project, the second monitor automatically switches to video playback, allowing you to watch the program video on a separate monitor.