Hello all,

I currently have a project running on a WinCC V17 advanced runtime, now the client wants to expand the project by also adding multiple monitors to have a complete plant overview.

My idea is to change the Advanced Runtime with the Professional Runtime and then do a conversion of the project from Advanced to Professional (since I know that Professional supports 4K and multi monitor).

But my question is:

WinCC unified supports multi monitor and 4K or is it necessary to use WinCC Professional?

If Unified supports 4k and multi monitor do you recommend to use Unified instead of Professional or, for now, is better to remain with Professional?

Thanks for the answers.

Hello Voltron,

In versions higher than V16 it is possible to have the Multimonitor functionality in a WinCC Unified Runtime.

It does support 4k with the resolution indicated in the technical specifications:

SIMATIC Unified PC

Depending on the type of application and architecture you are looking for I would advise you between Professional or Unified.

Maybe seeing that your original project is an Advanced Runtime I would recommend you to go to Unified.

It's a simple architecture, basically there is a S7-1200 that controls 3 presses and a PC with WinCC Runtime Advanced V17 that the client uses to control the presses (I attach the main page of the runtime).

Now the client wants to expand the plant by adding 4-5 new PLC S7-1200 that control different new machinery of the plant.

My idea was to mantain the WinCC Runtime Advanced and (with all the PLCs in the same network) comunicate with all the PLC.

But then the client told me that he want to have a complete overview over the plant so he wants to have multiple monitors with the complete layout of the plant.

I was opting for an upgrade to WinCC Professional but then I asked myself it the multi monitor system could also be done with WinCC Unified. That's why I posted here.

Are you sure that WinCC Unified supports multi monitor system and 4K? Because I cannot find anything about it.

The only thing I found is this page from Siemens that explain how to do the multi monitor system on WinCC Professional.

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/de/en/view/109744837

Hello again Voltron,

I had recommended Unified because it is the direct replacement for WinCC Advanced.

In Unified as I understand it you can use two monitors in any of these ways:

1. Extend the browser over the two monitors.

In the browser, you can extend the browser over the two monitors by setting the resolution in the project.

2. Two instances of the browser

In the browser of your choice, you can create two browser instances and display different screens in each instance for different monitors. The two browser instance method is the easiest because you are only developing for a single screen but it uses two licenses.

If someone else on the forum can verify this information.

Anyway if you want to be 100% sure use WinCC Professional:

How do you use multiple monitors simultaneously with the WinCC (TIA Portal) Runtime Professional?