Blue Smoke THE BLACK BOX, User Manual

Page 1: ...Blue Smoke ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS THE BLACK BOX USER S GUIDE D E E R F I E L D I L 6 0 0 1 5 8 4 7 9 7 7 0 2 2 0 W W W B L U E S M O K E S Y S T E M S C O M ...

Page 2: ...stalled and configured for you If you have purchased accessories from another vendor you will need to follow the manufacturer s instructions prior to using them with your Black Box The Black Box Break In Period Please allow 24 hours for break in of The Black Box The break in period will allow your Black Box to acclimate to your system and environment Sometimes static charges can build up due to ch...

Page 3: ...ck Box 11 Step 2 Rip music and create your music library on the server 12 Enable BitPerfect Ripper to search the Internet for album information 12 Set the correct output path 13 Rip a CD 13 Listening to Your Music 14 Step 1 Build your music library 14 Using Media Center to build your library 15 Use Media Player to build your library 16 Step 2 Choose the sample rate for playback 17 Choose the sampl...

Page 4: ...P a g e 3 Additional Media Formats Supported by Media Center 28 Backing Up Your Black Box 29 Contact Information 30 ...

Page 5: ...ly hand picked and hand crafted components drivers case design innovative low power approach solid state technology and proprietary DSP based upsampling we have created a system that offers no apologies and delivers spectacular digital playback At Blue Smoke Entertainment we are true music lovers Music is our passion so it is our joy to share this innovative new product with you So let s install y...

Page 6: ... digital cable User Guide this document Windows Operating System DVD installed Wireless keyboard Mouse Controller OTHER REQUIRED SYSTEM COMPONENTS Music Storage e g Network Attached Storage NAS Video Display Digital to Analog Converter DAC Ethernet Cable for connection to home Internet network router ...

Page 7: ...s information in the spaces below you will need this information during setup of The Black Box We have provided our recommended settings our standard settings for Blue Smoke provided units as well Server Name BlueSmokeServer Server Password BlueSmoke1 Music Folder Name Music NAS The Black Box Router Internet bother with placing The Black Box in a home computer network There are several great reaso...

Page 8: ...ble for connection to the router discussed in this section Heat Sinks CD DVD Slot Drive Power On Off Front View Rear View TOSLINK Output Input Ethernet VGA Input SP DIF Output Input Hardware Up sampling Toggle Switch HDMI Proprietary Black Box Digital Output used with the included Black Box digital cable 4 Available USB Ports to be used for Keyboard dongle Touch screen monitor Other Power Supply I...

Page 9: ...ERIPHERAL COMPONENTS a Connect the monitor using the instructions provided by the monitor s manufacturer With most touch screen monitors you will need to connect the monitor to both The Black BoxTM s VGA output for video and an available USB port Note Follow all manufacturer instructions regarding installation of software drivers required for your monitor b Connect the keyboard by inserting the wi...

Page 10: ... DO NOT insert the Ethernet cable into the proprietary Black BoxTM digital output as this could result in system failure STEP 3 CONNECT THE BLACK BOX TO A DAC Connect The Black Box to your digital to analog converter DAC You will use your own digital output cable unless you are using the proprietary Black BoxTM connection see below You have the following output options on the back of The Black Box...

Page 11: ...gies DAC c Connect the Blue cable to an MSB network digital output Primary Cable End in Black Box Grey AES EBU Blue MSB Network Input Black MSB Network Output STEP 4 SET THE HARDWARE UPSAMPLING TOGGLE SWITCH Hardware upsampling is discussed in great detail in the following section However at this point you will need to set the hardware upsampling switch to its recommended position This will depend...

Page 12: ...wer button on the front left panel Once The Black Box is fully booted you will be asked for your password Type audio and then press return The following default information has already been established for your Black Box Once you have logged on you will see the Desktop page of The Black Box Virtually all applications you will use can be found in the bottom trays of this screen BitPerfect Ripper Me...

Page 13: ...verview of the process ENABLE BITPERFECT RIPPER TO SEARCH THE INTERNET FOR ALBUM INFORMATION 1 Open the BitPerfect Ripper software by double clicking on its icon in the bottom left tray 2 Once launched click on Preferences 3 A dialog box opens and asks for your GD3 username and password GD3 is an online service used to obtain album information such as cover art and track information To obtain your...

Page 14: ...ested names BlueSmokeServer Music RIP A CD 1 DO NOT insert the CD quite yet 2 Click Start Batch on the bottom left of the dialog box 3 Insert CD 4 The program first searches the Internet for album information then displays the ripping progress Once finished ripping the CD will automatically eject You can continue to feed new discs into The Black Box until you have fed it all the discs you want rip...

Page 15: ...This is best when used with either a larger monitor such as an HDTV or a touch screen It forgoes many of the standard computer interfaces and provides a more user friendly environment While you can perform many of the same tasks in Media Center as in Media Player some have been removed such as detailed editing of your collection because they would be difficult to perform in this environment If you...

Page 16: ... then click Next 6 When asked Which folders do you want to add choose Shared folders from another computer if you are storing files on a NAS Then click Next Note If you receive a message that Windows Media Center did not detect any shared folders on your network make sure your network settings are correct File Sharing must be On for media This process may take 30 seconds or more as the computer se...

Page 17: ...tions 5 Select Add 6 Navigate to your music folder on the NAS Typically you will click on Network and then your NAS and then your music folder After you have finished adding files it may take several minutes depending upon the size of your music collection for the files to appear in the music library After this initial setup Media Player Media Center will automatically scan your network for any ne...

Page 18: ...digitally The more samples taken per second the more accurate the digital representation of the sound can be CDs have a native sample rate of 44 1 kHz High resolution music files are becoming increasing available they range from 88 2 kHz to 192 kHz What is upsampling Upsampling is the process of increasing the value of the audio sample rate This can be done via hardware upsampling or software upsa...

Page 19: ... first computer based digital audio reproduction system featuring its own proprietary hardware upsampling feature While this feature is common in DACs it is not generally user configurable By moving the upsampling of the audio processing inside The Black Box we can achieve a cleaner higher quality upsample prior to transmitting the digital audio data out of the system On the rear panel of The Blac...

Page 20: ...u will notice how the upsampling affects the audio in your system Listen to music you have ripped at different rates for a few days to determine your preference Once you have familiarized yourself with the sonic variations you can basically set and forget Additionally if you play back high resolution audio at sampling rates above 44 1kHz be assured that when set properly the upsampling of The Blac...

Page 21: ... Selector tool which can be found in the lower right tray on your desktop Sample Rate Selector Tool In the picture above the green box with 44 indicates that the current sample rate is 44 1kHz To change it simply click the button and make your choice from the pop up menu In this case 44 1kHz is the selected sample rate ...

Page 22: ...les Toslink If you are using an optical Toslink connection to your DAC you must click on Toslink Optical Out and choose your sample rate from the resulting menu Note that the Toslink connection is limited to a maximum of 96 kHz Digital Capture The Digital Capture option allows the Black Box to synchronize with an external word clock These settings will be used when Using an external word clock syn...

Page 23: ...with their internal clocks Preferences The Sample Rate Selector Tools allows you to set your preferred default sample rate When you click on Preferences the following dialog box will appear You have the option of either loading your previous settings or choosing your preferred default setting when the Black Box is shut down or restarted ...

Page 24: ...ume follow this two step procedure 1 Open the Sample Rate Selector tool by clicking the icon in the lower right tray Click on BitPerfect Volume Lock and you will see a check indicating your selection This function will stay enabled until you change it To verify click on the Sample Rate Selector again it will be checked if enabled 2 You also need to make the change within Media Player Launch Media ...

Page 25: ...R TO PLAY YOUR MUSIC 1 Launch Windows Media Center by clicking on the icon in the lower left tray 2 On the start screen scroll to Music and then click Music Library 3 You can scroll through your music library automatically by using the left and right arrow buttons 4 Click one of the choices albums artists genres songs playlists composers years or album artists to navigate to the music you want to ...

Page 26: ...Play Song 6 Optional To see what songs will play next click View Queue USE MEDIA PLAYER TO PLAY YOUR MUSIC Launch Media Player by clicking on the icon in the lower left tray 1 Click the Library tab and then browse or search for the item that you want to play ...

Page 27: ... one of the following If the List pane is not visible click the Show List Pane button near the Search box If the List pane already contains other items you can clear the contents by clicking the Clear List Pane button ...

Page 28: ...u can drag individual items such as one or more songs or collections of items such as one or more albums artists genres years or ratings to the List pane 3 Double click an item to begin playing it 4 Depending upon what you double click several items might be played ...

Page 29: ...e utility called Xrecode which is readily available at http www xrecode com Please check our website www bluesmokesystems com for additional information and updates As a courtesy to our customers Blue Smoke Entertainment Systems and Reference Recordings have teamed up to provide a sample of some of their HRx 176 4 kHz 24 bit music files These have already been installed in your music library You m...

Page 30: ...tem using a built in feature called System Restore Should you need it you can use System Restore to restore the entire Black Box system to an earlier point in time This has the effect of returning your system files to a previous state To use System Restore 1 Click the Start button 2 Click All Programs and then Accessories 3 Within System Tools you will find System Restore 4 You can then choose the...

Page 31: ...iophile PC please feel free to contact us You may reach us by email info bluesmokesystems com When communicating to us by email it is imperative that you state the question or concern you are writing about This will help us put you in contact with the person who is best able to assist you ...