COMPRO COMPROPVR, Manual

Page 1: ...ComproPVR User s Guide Version 1 1 Compro Technology Inc www comprousa com ...

Page 2: ...pective owners COMPRO makes no warranties with respect to this documentation and disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability quality or fitness for any particular purpose The information in this document is subject to change without notice COMPRO reserves the right to make revisions to this publication without obligation to notify any person or entity of any such changes Compro Technology ...

Page 3: ...ns 15 Recording Options 18 MPEG settings VideoMate Live only 21 Timeshifting Options 23 System Devices Options 25 4 Using ComproPVR 29 Recording 29 Scheduled Recording 30 Using Scheduled Recording 31 Timeshifting 37 Using Timeshifting 38 Playback 38 Still Image Capture 38 Channel Surfing 39 Closed Captioning USA only 40 Teletext PAL TV systems only 40 Browse the Compro Support Web Page 40 5 Compro...

Page 4: ...0006 46 Audio OK No Video 49 Video OK No Audio 49 No audio on the recorded file 50 Poor live picture quality while recording 50 Recorded file cannot be played 51 Recorded file lags while playing back 51 ComproPVR shuts down when starting to record 51 My system cannot Power Up 51 Contacting Compro Technical Support 52 ...

Page 5: ...ntegrated deinterlacing technology assures the highest picture quality All this with the industry s first universal remote control You can watch and record your favorite shows or capture video from a video device such as a video camera for later editing with your own video editing software ComproPVR gives you complete control of TV viewing by letting you watch record or timeshift live TV programmi...

Page 6: ...Key Features Supports full Compro product line including VideoMate Cinema VideoMate TV PVR VideoMate TV VideoMate TV Gold VideoMate TV Gold Plus VideoMate Live USB 2 0 and VideoMate For You USB 2 0 Easy installation Watch record and timeshift live TV Scheduled recording 16 channel surf mode Focus on ease of use by providing user interfaces that resemble those you are already familiar with includin...

Page 7: ...indow Watch TV programs in a scalable display window or in full screen mode Installation Usually ComproPVR is automatically installed upon inserting the installation CD into your CD drive Follow the instructions of the software installer You can also manually install it by inserting the installation CD Open Explorer double click on the setup exe in the folder named ComproPVR ComproPVR will be inst...

Page 8: ...e installation program Restart the computer when prompted Note A version of ComproPVR must be installed on your computer to install the updates Remove the Software You can remove ComproPVR through Add Remove Programs in Control Panel Find the ComproPVR entry in and click on the Remove button ComproPVR will be removed from your computer ...

Page 9: ...s you control the ComproPVR application with a familiar user friendly interface The next two pages describe how to use the remote control to operate ComproPVR Note The Compro remote control cannot be reprogrammed to control other appliances such as your VCR or satellite decoder box ...

Page 10: ...ComproPVR User s Guide 6 ...

Page 11: ...nel Jump to last channel 19 Stop MPEG file playback or stop timeshifting mode Not used 20 Tab function in play list Tab function in play list 21 Open the on line help file Open on line help file 22 Open setup dialog box Open properties setup dialog box 23 Up Arrow Up Arrow 24 Replay Not used 25 Down Arrow Down Arrow 26 Advance Not used 27 Volume Adjustment Volume Adjustment 28 Open play list Open ...

Page 12: ...ser s Guide 8 Note Not all Compro remote controls have the same keypad Buttons noted by an asterisk may not be available on your remote control keypad The FM function is only supported with VideoMate TV Gold Plus ...

Page 13: ...panel resembles the controls on a VCR Keep in mind that not all options are available at all times and may be grayed out or inaccessible depending on your hardware setup and TV services available The following pages describe the ComproPVR control panel functions and tips for using ComproPVR ...

Page 14: ...e Up or Mouse Scroll Up Channel Up Jump up to next available channel N Last Channel Jump back to last selected channel R Record Start stop recording TV to a file None Online Help System Open HTML help file V Video Source Switch TV S Video or Composite T Activate Timeshifting mode F Surfing Browse thumbnail images of available channels C Enable Closed Captioning None Schedule Open window for schedu...

Page 15: ...ack of recorded program O Stop Stop current action e g recording playback Timeshifting Left Arrow Replay Right Arrow Advance Space bar Pause Suspend current action e g playback live TV and recording Increase Decrease or Shift Mouse Scroll UP and Down Volume Control Increase or decrease sound intensity None Show Hide number pad Number Pad Type in the channel number n a L Sleep function n a Ctrl Mou...

Page 16: ... dialog box is composed of tabbed pages each with its own group of feature specific settings Channel Options The Channel options page lets you customize and configure your TV channel list ComproPVR can automatically scan your cable or antenna signal for available channels You can label and identify the enabled channels as well as include or exclude channels from the channel surfing list ...

Page 17: ... your country settings 2 You can interrupt the scanning process by pressing the Stop button 3 When Autoscan is finished detected channels are automatically enabled and marked with the green check mark Channels where a valid signal could not be detected are disabled and marked with a blank After you are finished scanning for available channels you may select OK to return to the display window or cu...

Page 18: ...ault ComproPVR lets you access all available channels A Parental Control feature allows you to restrict the viewing of certain channels altogether or during limited times You can lock a channel by clicking in the column labeled Lock next to the channel number you wish to restrict You will then see a red check mark in the box next to the channel You can unlock it by clicking the check mark To use t...

Page 19: ...e Select the channel you wish to fine tune and press the button labeled Fine Tune You may then adjust the slider and then press the button labeled Exit Fine tuning is normally unnecessary Use Default Channel Table The channel table contains data used to tune TV channels This should be selected i e enabled unless you are otherwise instructed Video Audio Options The Video Audio options tab lets you ...

Page 20: ...TV settings before using ComproPVR for the first time or if you are experiencing difficulties such as No video Source Select the video source from among TV S video or Composite Also you can click the button on the control panel to switch video sources ...

Page 21: ...cifies 625 lines at 25 frames per second Additionally each TV system uses slightly different frequencies Therefore it is important to choose the correct settings Aspect Ratio Select the display screen aspect ratio the ratio of screen width to screen height The default ratio is 4 3 You may also choose the 16 9 wide screen or custom ratios If you select a standard ratio i e 4 3 or 16 9 the screen wi...

Page 22: ... and SAP sound may not be available in your area or for all programs in your area Turn on OSD When you select the checkbox next to Turn on OSD On Screen Display channel information such as channel numbers channel names and audio quality will be displayed as you switch channels When this box is unchecked no information will be displayed Sleep Mode You can enable sleep mode and set the time delay be...

Page 23: ...tions Recorded Programs Folder Path Click on the button to set the folder where recorded programs are stored Check that you have ample disk space to store recorded programs Recording Quality Here you can select the video and audio quality settings of recorded programs ComproPVR includes useful quality presets from VCD to DVD quality ...

Page 24: ...bit rate the more processing power and disk space are required to record and playback video programs Current settings are shown on the right side of dialog box They will tell you the available recording time using the current settings Note Using higher quality settings can cause significantly greater disk utilization without commensurately higher quality results If you have limited free disk space...

Page 25: ... the hardware scaling function during recording It is recommended to turn this on Adjust Volume You can adjust recording audio volume here Moving the bar to the right will increase recording audio volume MPEG settings VideoMate Live only This tab appears only if you are using VideoMate Live USB 2 0 Here you can change settings related to video recording You can see the hard disk space available fo...

Page 26: ...Recording Quality Here you can select the video and audio quality settings of recorded programs ComproPVR includes useful quality presets from VCD to DVD quality You can also use custom settings by following these steps Dimension Select the recording resolution from VCD to DVD quality Video Bit rate Video bit rate is expressed in Megabits per second The higher the bit rate the more processing ...

Page 27: ...k and CPU utilization without commensurately increasing picture quality If you have limited free disk space you should try different quality levels or bit rates to find the optimal combination of video quality and disk space utilization for your needs Skip Set the amount of programming skipped in seconds when you press the Replay and Advance buttons during video playback Timeshifting Options Here ...

Page 28: ... the total recording time available Do not set the Buffered Time to consume all free disk space Buffer file storage location Path Choose the folder where the Timeshifting buffer file is stored Choose a folder in a disk partition with ample free disk space See the video format table for estimates of the amount of disk space needed ...

Page 29: ...ent If you plan to archive or edit the video a higher video quality may be more appropriate Video Smoothing Enable Video Smoothing which makes the video quality smoother during timeshifting Noise Removal Enable Noise Removal which makes images more clear and clean Video Smoothing and Noise Removal require significant system resources If you experience poor picture quality during timeshifting try d...

Page 30: ... you are using VideoMate TV PCI Tuner card the video device should be VideoMate TV Capture If you are using VideoMate Live the video device should be VideoMate Live Source If you are using VideoMate For You the video device should be DSF_VXIS7011 Note You must select the proper Video and Audio devices for correct operation ...

Page 31: ...that your sound card works normally LIVE You can choose the audio source for watching live TV programs When using VideoMate Live or VideoMate For You you should choose Wave to be your audio source If you are using VideoMate TV Gold Plus use the internal audio patch cable to connect to the AUX In port on your sound card and choose AUX In in ComproPVR When using VideoMate Cinema or VideoMate TV tune...

Page 32: ... Support team support comprousa com When you contact the Compro Support team about a problem please write enough details to help us determine the problem Please also provide the product serial number 15 or 19 digits numbers on the AV Tuner Box or PCI TV tuner card You can submit your problem in the support form provide by our website http comprousa com support form htm Notes Check the troubleshoot...

Page 33: ... When you stop recording ComproPVR prompts you to name the file containing the recorded video Enter the name and press OK To playback the recorded file press the Play button and select the file you wish to view Disk usage The actual disk space used primarily depends on the quality settings for recording A higher quality setting e g DVD quality requires significantly more disk space than a lower qu...

Page 34: ...VD 352 288 1 8 224 1 GB hr PAL VCD 352 288 1 1 224 600 MB hr PAL SVCD 480 576 2 2 224 1 GB hr PAL PC MPEG 2 720 288 4 0 224 2 GB hr PAL 1 4 PC MPEG 2 352 288 1 8 224 1 GB hr Note You can adjust recording quality settings and thus disk usage in the Recording Options menu Choosing a higher quality level doesn t necessarily result in better video quality for example SVCD format is usually sufficient ...

Page 35: ...5 or Stand by ACPI S3 states Note In order to enable scheduled recording from the Shutdown state the Power Up power switch circuit connections must be properly connected Power Up Scheduling is only available with VideoMate TV Gold and Gold Plus Using Scheduled Recording Press the icon to open the Schedule Recording dialog box Scheduled Program Lists Create Create a new scheduled recording event Mo...

Page 36: ...chedule Preview You can choose the recorded schedule and press Play button to preview the file Press Stop to stop the preview Press Forward to fast forward the preview Press Backward to rewind the preview Scheduled Recording Settings You can see the following after clicking Create ...

Page 37: ...cally create the Event Name and file name The Format button lets you select the file name format Channel Number Check this box to add channel numbers to the names of the recording files Start Date Check this box to add the start date to the names of the recording files Start Time Check this box to add the start time to the names of the recording files ...

Page 38: ...computer before 3 54 in order to let Power Up start the computer There are three possible actions after recording is complete Shut down the system After recording shut down the system System stand by After recording put computer in stand by mode Keep system power on After recording do not shutdown system Enable automatic logon When using Power Up Scheduling ComproPVR will start Windows If Windows ...

Page 39: ...ss you need to logon to a different Windows Domain during the Power Up process Press the OK button to proceed Notes Enabling the automatic logon function is only necessary when you need to type user name and password to logon to Windows The Windows Domain name is not the Internet domain name that you may be familiar with e g Yahoo com Windows Domains usually only exist in business networks For mos...

Page 40: ...are asleep Quality Settings Quality settings Select the video quality at which you wish to record Refer to the Video File Formats Table page 30 to better understand the relationship between video quality and disk usage Date Time Settings Once Select this to record this program once Repeat Select this to record this program repeatedly You can select any kind of combination in a week to record the p...

Page 41: ...your hard disk for a specified period of time When you return to your seat you can resume viewing the program from the point when you left Note Timeshifting can use significant disk space and cannot automatically skip commercials Additional Discussion In timeshifting you are recording to and playing back from the same video file or buffer You can playback from various locations in that buffer Simi...

Page 42: ...ercial skip and Replay for instant replay buttons on the control panel or remote control to navigate through the program Playback ComproPVR can play recorded video files Press the Play button to open the Play dialog box Highlight the file name in the program list double click or press Play to start playback During playback the display area of the control panel provides information about currently ...

Page 43: ...annel Down and Channel Up buttons to scroll up and down through the available enabled channels The keyboard shortcuts Page Up and Page Dn and the Compro remote control can also be used Jump directly to the desired channel by using the number pad on your keyboard or remote control The Last Channel recall button jumps back to the previously selected TV channel If the On Screen Display function is en...

Page 44: ...hannels Options dialog Doing so also prevents access to those channels with the channel UP and DOWN buttons Closed Captioning USA only The closed captioning feature is used to display overlaid text captions This feature is only available with programming that provides Closed Captioning Press the Closed Caption button to enable or disable closed captioning If supported the overlaid text captions wi...

Page 45: ...ideoMate Gold Plus Key Features Supports VideoMate TV Gold Plus PCI Tuner Card Listen to and record live FM programs Focus on ease of use by providing user interfaces that resemble those you are already familiar with including wireless remote control Capture audio from any station and encode them to WAV WMA or MP3 formats Control Panel The ComproFM control panel resembles the controls on a radio K...

Page 46: ...art recording FM audio program to system F1 Online Help System Open HTML help file Ctrl A Always on top K Random access button Ctrl S Stereo Mono switch S Properties Open FM radio properties window M Mute Press to mute or restore sound I About window Shows ComproFM radio version and copyright information E Open a browser window and go to the Compro web site Space Bar Play Begin playback of recorde...

Page 47: ...ecrease sound intensity Recording ComproFM is also a digital audio recorder ComproFM can record FM programming and save it to your hard disk ComproFM supports several encoding methods letting you choose between high quality and economical use of disk space To instantly start recording 1 Press the Record button ComproFM starts recording the audio currently showing in the display window It will save...

Page 48: ...uality setting e g CD quality requires significantly more disk space than a lower quality setting such as MP3 quality ComproFM On Line Help For more details about ComproFM please see the ComproFM User s Guide on your Compro software CD or see the ComproFM on line help Alternatively you may download the Guide from our website http www comprousa com download Browse the Compro Web Site Pressing the b...

Page 49: ...watching recording or timeshifting live TV please check the status of the WDM drivers or TV Tuner card drivers with Device Manager VideoMate Cinema When using VideoMate Cinema you should see four WDM drivers on the Sound video and game controllers section of Windows Device Manager They are nVidia WDM A V Crossbar nVidia WDM TV Audio Crossbar nVidia WDM TV Tuner nVidia WDM Video Capture universal ...

Page 50: ...nd reinstalling the VideoMate TV drivers or WDM drivers can help Use the Add Remove Programs in Control Panel applet to uninstall the old drivers if you see the icon Then reinstalling the drivers should fix this problem Error Code 0x1000006 This error code generally indicates a WDM driver installation problem Please uninstall and reinstall the drivers as described above If the problem persists aft...

Page 51: ...void this problem VideoMate Cinema Please open the Device Manager and choose View Resource by type Click on the besides Interrupt request IRQ You should see the following Make sure no other device is using the same IRQ number as the graphics card If some devices are using the same IRQ removing the conflicting devices can help For example unplug USB devices such as USB printer USB disks etc ...

Page 52: ... card is using an independent IRQ by checking Windows Device Manager After you can successfully use ComproPVR install the other devices one at a time Restart your system and test ComproPVR after installing each card VideoMate TV Tuner card To determine if there is an IRQ conflict please open the Device Manager and choose View Resource by type Click on the mark next to Interrupt request IRQ You sho...

Page 53: ...s Device Manager After you can successfully use ComproPVR install the other PCI devices one at a time Restart your system and test ComproPVR after installing each card Note Networking sound and SCSI cards need IRQs If they use the same IRQ you may encounter a similar problem Audio OK No Video The main reason for this problem usually is the result of an IRQ conflict Please see Error Code 0x1000006 ...

Page 54: ...vice in ComproPVR Settings If you are using an external audio patch cable verify that it is connected between the Audio Out of TV tuner card and Line In of your sound card and that you selected the audio source to be Line In If using the internal audio patch cable check that it is connected between the internal Audio Out of the TV tuner card and AUX In of your sound card and that you selected the ...

Page 55: ...g resolution such as VCD or SVCD formats ComproPVR shuts down when starting to record This could be the result of an IRQ conflict Please check Error Code 0x1000006 above to solve it This may also happen when your system is unstable such as when overclocking Please reset your system to the default settings Other times the cause is interference from other applications Please close them to solve the ...

Page 56: ...ur power supply doesn t provide the standard 5V standby power Therefore changing your power supply might help Contacting Compro Technical Support Before you submit an email for support please check our FAQs at http www comprousa com support When contacting Compro for technical support please use the Compro support request form and provide as much of the requested information as possible Please wri...