Compro ComproDTV User Manual

ComproDTV

User’s Guide

Compro Technology, Inc.

www.comprousa.com

Copyright © 2001-2006. Compro Technology, Inc. No part of this document
may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior
written consent of Compro Technology, Inc.

Compro, VideoMate, Poladyne, Play with Power, and the Compro logo are
trademarks of Compro Technology, Inc. Other names and marks are
trademarks of their respective 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, Inc.
Tel. [phone], Fax [phone]
3/F, No.12, Alley 6, Lane 45, Pao Shin Road
Hsintein City, Taipei, Taiwan.
www.comprousa.com

ii

Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................... 2

Key Features ............................................................................................3

Installation.................................................................................................4

Remote Control Key Definition and Use ....................................6

Card type Remote Control ........................................................................7

Using ComproDTV........................................................................ 8

Control Panel ............................................................................................8

Channel Surfing ........................................................................................ 9

Video on Desktop ................................................................................... 11

Right-Click Mouse Menu......................................................................... 11

Zooming image ....................................................................................... 11

Still Image Capture .................................................................................12

EPG (Electronic Program Guide)............................................................13

Recording ...............................................................................................14

Playback ................................................................................................. 14

Timeshifting ............................................................................................14

ComproDTV Configuration ........................................................ 15

Options ...................................................................................................15

Channel Options .....................................................................................15

Video/Audio Options ...............................................................................21

Recording Options (Only available on Analog TV).................................. 23

Timeshifting Options (Only available on Analog TV) ...............................26

User Interface .........................................................................................27

System Devices Options.........................................................................29

Troubleshooting .........................................................................31

OS requirement ......................................................................................31

Driver Installation ....................................................................................31

No digital broadcast signal......................................................................31

Audio OK / No Video...............................................................................32

Video OK / No Audio...............................................................................32

No audio in the recorded file?.................................................................32

The recorded file from VCR has no sound?............................................ 32

Why can’t I playback the recorded video? ..............................................32

How can I record as a different video format? ........................................33

Why are images scrambled？.................................................................33

Why does the remote control fail? ..........................................................33

Contacting Compro Technical Support ...................................................34

Introduction

ComproDTV is a complete digital entertainment solution for your PC. Watch

and record TV programs on your PC, in full-screen mode or in a window.

Timeshifting lets you watch TV, pause live TV, or review your favorite scenes

without missing a minute of the program. Integrated deinterlacing technology

assures the highest picture quality.

Note

Not all features in this manual are available for all products. Please check the
product package to confirm if this model supports such feature of ComproDTV.

2

Key Features

z Watch and record digital or analog TV programs.

z View all available TV programming.

z Never miss a second with Timeshifting.

z Advanced PIP and POP features to watch TV and playback in the

same time.

z Video Desktop to setup TV watching screen as wallpaper.

z Powerful and easy to use schedule recording functioning.

z Capture video from analog video sources and encode them to digital

MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats.

z 12 and 16 channels surfing.

z Supports S-Video and Composite inputs.

z Deluxe all functioning wireless remote control.

z 4:3, 16:9, full screen and customized ratio screens available.

z Convenient Snapshot feature, series or single shot supports.

z Zoom a zone of video screen.

z Completely customized On-Screen-Display (OSD) function. Your

choices of size, color, and position.

z My favorite channels. Sorting and rearrangement channel orders.

z Languages select support.

z Supports Closed Caption and Teletext.

z Electronic program guide support.

z Always on top and hiding window frame.

z Brightness, hue, contrast, saturation, and sharpness options for

adjustment.

z Auto tune for best picture quality frequencies.

z Parental control to lock out selected channels.

3

Installation

Usually, ComproDTV is automatically installed upon inserting the installation
CD into your CD drive. You can also manually install it by inserting the
installation CD. Open Explorer, double-click on “setup.exe” in the folder named
ComproDTV.

When you run ComproDTV for the first time, you will see the following. Please
choose the right setting in order to run the program correctly.

Video Device

If you are using VideoMate DVB-T PCI Tuner card, the video device should be
“VideoMate BDA Capture.”

Please refer the product installation FAQ to check the device name for your
product.

Audio Device

ComproDTV automatically detects the audio input devices available in your
system. Here, you must select the appropriate audio input devices (your sound
card) for your system.

Note

You must select the proper Video and Audio devices for correct operation.

If you do not see the appropriate Video and Audio devices, the drivers are not
properly installed. Please reinstall these drivers and see the chapter titled,
“Troubleshooting.”

4

TV Live Mixer

You can choose the audio source for watching live TV programs. The default is
set to main volume control.

Recording Mixer (Only available on Analog TV)

When using DVB-T PCI Tuner card, you need to use the internal audio patch
cable to connect to the “AUX-In” or “CD-In” port on your sound card and
choose “AUX-In” or “CD-In” in ComproDTV. (For the detail installation of your
DVB-T card, please refer to your product start up guide in the package.

If you are using VideoMate DVB-T USB Box, the audio will pass by “WAVE”.
You don’t need to choose audio source here.

5

Remote Control Key Definition and Use

Key ComproDTV 2

0-9 Number keys

10 Mute sound

11 Zoom In/Out

12 Start/Stop ComproDVD 2

13 N/A

14 Start/Stop ComproDTV 2

15 Replay

16 Pause or enable timeshifting

17 Advance

18 Previous channel

19 Stop

20 Tab function

21 EPG

22 Open setup dialog box

23

24 Replay or switch TV format

25

26 Advance

27 Volume adjustment

28 Open play list

29 Channel up

30 Channel down

31 Record

Up arrow
or select audio

Down arrow
or snapshot

6

32 TV / S-Video / Composite

33 Channel surfing

34 Closed caption / Teletext

35 Sleep function

Card type Remote Control

Icon ComproDTV 2

DVD Start/Stop ComproDVD 2

TV Start/Stop ComproDTV 2

Power Start/Stop ComproDTV 2

0-9 Number keys

CHAN Switch channels

VOL Volume

RECALL Previous channel

MUTE Mute

CC N/A

Up Arrow Up arrow

MTS Select Audio

TV/VIDEO N/A

Left Arrow Replay

OK Open play list

Right Arrow Advance

REC Record

EPG N/A

Down Arrow Down or snapshot

SURF Channel surf

ZOOM Zoom In/Out

Backward Replay

Play/Pause Timeshifting

Forward Advance

SETUP N/A

Last Previous channel

Stop Stop

Next Next channel

SLEEP Sleep function

7

(S)

(P)

Using ComproDTV

Control Panel

The ComproDTV control 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 ComproDTV control panel functions, and tips
for using ComproDTV. The following figure gives you the function of the button
with (Hot Key.)

Timeshift bar

Channel

Surf(F)

Snapshot

(Space)

Timeshift

Options

(O)

(T)

EPG

(E)

Language
Select (Q)

Signal

Strength

Schedule

(B)

Mute

(M)

Source

(V)

Docking

(D)

Closed

Caption (C)

Help

(H)

Volume (+, -)

Te le t ext

Windows

Alignment (F5) /

All Windows (F6)

(T)

Minimize

(G)

Stop

Full Screen

(Z)

Channel Up (Page

Up) with lists( I )

Channel Down

(Page down)

Last Channel

(N)

Close

(CTRL+X)

Record

(R) with

record

methods

Reduce Window (F2) /

Add Window (F3)

Replay

(Left Arrow)

Play

(Right Arrow)

Pause

(U)

Icon HotKey Description

n/a

Note: Language select is only available while the program supports it.

8

A

L Sleep function

Enable/Disable Always-on-Top function for TV window.(Oregon
circle on the upper-right corner of the TV window)

Advance

Watching

After installation, just press the ComproDTV button on the remote or double click
the ComproDTV icon on the desktop you will be able to watch TV. Same as
operating a normal TV set. Watch TV programs on your PC, in full-screen mode or
in a window. Channel up and down. Close ComproDTV and even shutdown the
computer with the full function remote control keypad.

Channel Surfing

While watching TV, the channel surfing feature displays a 4x4 grid of
channel images to give you an overview of available programming.

PIPs mode

Usually, digital TV station broadcasts multiple programs on one frequency.

Therefore, ComproDTV supports up to four windows watching additional TV

program of same frequency on another window if available. You can press the

Add Window

illustration.

Main window has all features while sub window has limited functions only.

Double-click on the sub window can switch the TV program to the main window.

Alignment Window button will put sub window(s) into main window which

button to open a sub window for that. Please see the following

9

is convenient for you to watch multiple programs on full screen mode.

The buttons on the upper-left corner sub window are Channel

Up, Channel Down, Mute, Windows Alignment, and Close respectively. Sub

window can be resized by mouse dragging lower-left corner to any ratio.

Note

Running additional windows consumes more CPU usage. If CPU usage
reaches 100%, then video lag will occur. Please reduce the number of
windows.

When main window changes the channel to another frequency, sub window(s)
will move to available programs of another frequency. The sub window will
show black if there is no additional program on this frequency.

Sub window has no full screen mode. Please double-click on sub window to
switch program with main window in order to do so.

It is available to hear audio on multiple programs at the same time. You can
mute or un-mute the sound of sub window(s) at any time. However, main
window audio can’t be muted separately from sub window(s).

10

Video on Desktop

While watching TV, you may right-click on the TV screen and select video on

desktop or press the hotkey (F7) to activate Video on Desktop mode. This

mode makes the video source as your desktop screen. It is similar with full

screen but the desktop icons and taskbar will remain on top. The following

picture shows the TV on the desktop.

Right-Click Mouse Menu

If using mouse to right-click on the TV screen, you can see a menu pop up.
There are many useful options for your convenience.

Zooming image

If you would like to see more details on a certain part of a video image, you can
press the mouse right button to drag a zone of the screen. You will see the
zoomed image.

Also you can press the mouse right button and move on the screen to shift the
zoomed area of the image. Just click the mouse left button to resume normal
mode.

11

Still Image Capture

Click on the capture icon on the control panel or hit the "Space Bar" of the
keyboard shortcut to capture an image of the display window. You can see the

screen capture dialog as below.

12

EPG (Electronic Program Guide)

You can press the EPG button to open the EPG dialog box. EPG provides

lots of information about the TV program when available. You can easily add a

program into a recording schedule with it.

13

Recording

ComproDTV is a digital video recorder and save the digital TV program which is

MPEG-II format to your hard disk.

To instantly start recording:

Press the Record button . ComproDTV starts recording the video source

currently showing in the display window. It will save it to a file on your disk.

recording, you can press the button to setup recording time for 30, 60, 90, and

120 minutes for more convenience if you need to leave to other place.

Press the Stop button

automatically and show the file name on the screen.

You can also use the schedule recording by press Schedule button on

control panel of ComproDTV.

to stop recording. ComproDTV will save it

While

Note

The default folder of recorded file is on My Document, you can change to
another folder by entering the Options of ComproDTV.

Digital TV program is a fixed MPEG-II format from TV station. ComproDTV will
directly save them into your harddisk and can’t transfer them to another format.

Playback

Press the Play button to open the Play dialog box.

Timeshifting

Timeshifting temporarily saves the video to your hard disk for a specified

period of time so that you can pause, replay, or skip commercials during live TV,

without interrupting an ongoing recording session.

Press the Timeshifting button and the Time Monitoring bar will appear.

You may also press the Advance (for commercial skip) and Replay (for instant

replay) buttons on the control panel or remote control to navigate through the

program. When you return to your seat, you can resume viewing the program

from the point when you left.

14

ComproDTV Configuration

The following tells you how to set up the details of ComproDTV. You are
welcome to customize them in order to meet your needs.

Options

Press the Options button to open the Options dialog box. You can

change detail settings of ComproDTV here.

Channel Options

Video Source

First, select your TV program source, Cable or Antenna for Analog TV, Digital
TV for DVB-T broadcasting.

Note

Not all products support Analog TV and Digital TV both. It will be grayed out if
your product model doesn’t support it.

15

Digital TV Settings

This option gives you the way to manually set the method of scanning digital
TV programs. Select your choice here or use default channel table to do the
scanning.

Autoscan

The first time you start ComproDTV, Autoscan will automatically scan for
available TV channels for both Cable signal and Antenna signals. You can
rescan the channels at any time by pressing the Autoscan button.

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. However, you can
interrupt the scanning process by pressing the Stop button.

After you are finished scanning for available channels, you may select OK to
return to the display window, or customize the channel list according to your
preferences, as described below.

Note

If you enable the checkbox of “Clear Description field while Autoscan,” (This
feature is only available on Analog TV) then the text in the field will be erased
while Autoscan. The default is disabled.

16

Channel Naming

You can customize the channel names by double-click on the Description
field of the channel you wish to rename.

For digital TV channels, you can do more changes on the channel’s property
by right-click the mouse on the Description field of the channel you wish to
edit.

Set Mem+

During the Autoscan process, ComproDTV automatically detects and enables
channels with a valid signal. By default, every available channel will be
enabled and marked with the green

icon. However, you can shorten the
list of enabled channels to reduce channel-browsing time. Customize your list
by enabling or disabling channels from the channel list by clicking on the green

icon.

Disabled channels will not be shown when you use the channel Up and Down
or channel surfing functions.

Set Lock (Parental Control)

By default, ComproDTV 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 this feature, you should first set a password.

Password

There is no default password. If you like to change it, click on the Password
button. Enter the old password in the field labeled Old Password. Then enter
the new password in the field labeled Password and Confirm.

17

My Favorite Channels List

ComproDTV includes a channels sorting and re-ordering feature. Check the
“Use My Favorites as My Channel Lists” checkbox. You can see the window
below.

Select the channel you wish to add to “my favorite” and press the proper arrow
button. You may double-click on the channel to move it as well. In addition,
adjusts the channel order by using the proper arrow button.

Fine Tuning (Only available on Analog TV)

ComproDTV includes a fine-tuning feature. 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 (Only available on Analog TV)

The default channel table is provided by Microsoft DirectX. If you are missing
channels after autoscan, try to update DirectX from www.WindowsUpdate.com
website of Microsoft.

Make sure you select the correct country in the “Video/Audio” tab. You can still
uncheck this box to use the custom table to see if help.

18

Custom channels

ComproDTV can also set video properties (brightness, contrast, etc) for each
channel. Just press the button on the custom column in Channel tab in
Settings of ComproDTV. The dialog box will pop up as follow.

19

ComproDTV can let you re-order channel number if necessary. After Autoscan
channels, channel number is as same as default channel number. What if your
local TV station uses different channel number, you can click mouse on the
column of the channel to drag up or down to the channel order you like.

Note

The Difference between “Custom Channels” and “My Favorite Channels List”
are:

Using “My Favorite Channels List” will only shows the channels you have
selected and rotate with up and down in the order you have set.

“Using “Custom Channels” you will be able to assign a new channel number to
a frequency and therefore will be able to press the number to select the
channel. Combine both function as you need it can be very convenient.

This manual only provides basic information for the ComproDTV 2. For more
information on using applications, please see the User’s Guides in the
programs, on the CDs, or at our website for the latest manuals.

20

Video/Audio Options

Source (Only available on Analog TV)

Select the video source from among TV, S-Video, or Composite. Not all
products support S-Video, or Composite input.

Country/Region (Only available on Analog TV)

Use the pull-down menu to select the country you are in. This allows
ComproDTV to use the correct set of frequencies for TV tuning.

Video Format (Only available on Analog TV)

Select the proper video format for your area from the drop-down menu. The
options available depend on the standards supported by the TV tuner in your
system.

21

Video Properties Sliders

Use the sliders in this area to adjust:

z Brightness: Adjusts the amount of white in the image.

z Hue: Adjusts whether the image looks red, green, blue, yellow, orange,

etc.

z Contrast: Adjusts the gradation of tone between the image highlights,

mid-tones, and shadows.

z Saturation: Adjusts the color intensity of the image.

z Sharpness: Adjusts the sharpness of the image.

Press the Default button to reset the sliders to their original positions.

Mono/Stereo/SAP

You can select Mono, Stereo or SAP in this dialog box. Stereo and SAP sound
may not be available in your area or for all programs in your area.

For Digital TV, you can choose the language or audio track here when
available.

Use Overlay Surface

ComproDTV uses overlay for rendering video as default. Uncheck this box
results in using VMR 9 feature (include in DirectX 9.0) which has more
advanced features for rendering video. However, not all graphics card supports
this feature. If your graphics cad doesn’t support VMR, you may see black
screen or very high CPU usage while using VMR for display.

Set SAP as Dual Audio Mode Checkbox (Only available on Analog TV)

In some country, you can check this box to record two languages into left and
right sound tracks at the same time. If you see this checkbox, this feature is
available in your area.

Sleep Mode

You can set the timer to shut down the computer. If the check box “Close
application and keep computer on” is checked, then it will close ComproDTV
instead of shutting down the computer.

22

Recording Options (Only available on Analog TV)

Path (Recorded Programs Folder)

Click on the
Check that you have ample disk space to store recorded programs.

Quality

Here you can select the video and audio quality settings of recorded programs.
ComproDTV includes useful quality presets, from VCD to DVD-quality.
However, Custom settings may not be compatible with standard formats. Use it
with caution

You can also use custom settings by following these steps.

button to set the folder where recorded programs are stored.

23

Advanced Settings

Here you can select the details of video and audio quality settings of recorded
programs.

Format: Choose between MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video encoding formats. For
example, select MPEG-1 if you want VCD format or select MPEG-2 if you want
DVD format.

Dimension: Select the recording resolution you like.

Video Bit Rate: Video bit rate is expressed in kilobits per second. The higher

the bit rate, the more processing power and disk space are required to record
and playback video programs.

Audio Bit Rate: Choose the audio bit rate you like here. Audio bit rate is
expressed in kilobits per second.

Frame Rate: NTSC system uses 29.97 FPS (Frame Per Second) while PAL
system uses 25 FPS.

Variable Bit Rates: Checking this box will use variable bit rates to record.
Usually, this will have better video quality. However, CPU loading is higher as
well.

Audio Frequencies: Standard DVD audio frequencies are 48 KHz while other
formats use 44.1 KHz.

Lock current channel while recording: Checking this box will disable the
channel switching. Unchecking this box can change channel while recording.

Note

Switching channel while recording doesn’t mean you can record two channels
simultaneously. Instead, it is to record another channel after the switch.

24

CODEC

CODECs encode to and decode from video files, usually with a compression
scheme, examples include, and DiVX MPEG-4 CODECs.

Note

If you would like to record video in MPEG-4 format, you must supply your own
MPEG-4 CODEC. You can download MPEG-4 CODECs from

http://www.divx.com/

After installing the CODEC software, you will see the MPEG-4 format appear in
the field of recording quality.

Compro does not guarantee compatibility or performance with third-party
CODECs.

Performance

You can choose the encoder performance here. The better you choose, the
picture quality will be better. However, more processing power is required to
record. If CPU usage reaches 100%, the video will become jumpy. Reduce the
performance or choosing lower quality like VCD will help.

File Split Size

Checking this box will enable the automatic splitting of the recording file to the
size at your choice. This is useful for burning recording files to CD or DVD.

Skip

Set the amount of programming skipped, in seconds, when you press the

Replay and Advance buttons during video playback.

Recording Volume

You can adjust recording audio volume here. Moving the bar to the right will
increase recording audio volume.

25

Timeshifting Options (Only available on Analog TV)

Buffered Time

Set the amount of programming that is stored, or “buffered” during Timeshifting.
It also shows the total recording time available. Do not set the Buffered Time
to consume all free disk space.

Path (Buffer file storage location)

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.

Quality

Choose the recording quality used during Timeshifting. Higher quality levels
consume more disk space.
The appropriate quality setting depends on many factors, including the speed
of your PC, the amount of free disk space, and the quality of source material.
For example, when recording broadcast television for later viewing, a medium
quality level is usually sufficient. If you plan to archive or edit the video, a
higher video quality may be more appropriate.

Skip

Set the amount of programming time skipped when you press the Advance
and Replay buttons during Timeshifting.

26

User Interface

Path (Snapshot file storage location)

Choose the folder where the snapshot pictures are 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.

File Type (Snapshot file type)

Choose the snapshot file type. There are BMP and JPEG format available.

If you choose JPEG format, you can also adjust the JPEG Compression
Quality on the bar on the right side.

Channel Surfing

Choose the number of channel surfing. There are 12 and 16 options available.

27

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 will retain this ratio
when you resize it. If you select a Custom, ratio, you can modify the ratio by
clicking and dragging the lower-right corner of the ComproDTV display
window.

Monitor Ratio

Select your monitor’s ratio of screen width to screen height. The default ratio is
your monitor’s resolution. You can also choose the proper ratio for your need.

Video Trim

When you see the static strip on the top or bottom of screen, you can crop
those lines by adjusting the bar.

The static strip is called the "green line." You won't see this line on normal
televisions because they do not show you the entire picture. Standard TV sets
trim the edges of the TV picture. ComproDTV, on the other hand, can show
you the entire picture, including the "green line."

OSD (On-Screen Display)

When you select the checkbox next to enable OSD, 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.

Also you can customize your own text color, position, and size.

OSD can show two fields of Channel Info. One is Channel number. The other
is Description. Check the boxes of your choice.

Default

If you press the default button, all User Interface tab parameters will be set to
the application program default value.

Language

You are welcome to select the language you like for the user interface of
ComproDTV here.

28

System Devices Options

Video Device

If you are using VideoMate DVB-T PCI Tuner card, the video device should be
“VideoMate BDA Capture.”

If you are using VideoMate DVB-T USB Box, the video device should be
“VideoMate DVB U2200.”

Please refer the product installation FAQ to check the device name for your
product.

Audio Device

ComproDTV automatically detects the audio input devices available in your
system. Here, you must select the appropriate audio input devices (your sound
card) for your system.

Note

You must select the proper Video and Audio devices for correct operation.

If you do not see the appropriate Video and Audio devices, the drivers are not
properly installed. Please reinstall these drivers and see the chapter titled,
“Troubleshooting.”

29

TV Live Mixer

You can choose the audio source for watching live TV programs. The default is
set to main volume.

Recording Mixer (Only available on Analog TV)

When using VideoMate TV tuner card with an external audio patch cable,
connect to the “Line-In” port on your sound card and choose “Line-In” in
ComproDTV.

If you are using the internal audio patch cable to connect to the “AUX-In” or
“CD-In” port on your sound card and choose “AUX-In” or “CD-In” in
ComproDTV.

TV Live Mixer

You can choose the audio source for watching live TV programs. The default is
set to main volume.

FAQ

Link to our website http://www.comprousa.com/support for Frequently Ask
Questions and latest software update.

E-Mail Info

Hit this button will trigger the Outlook Express (or your system default mail
application) to send an email include your system information to
[email protected].

This information is crucial for us to determine your problem. Please make sure
it’s included in Compro support request form and provide as much of the
requested information as possible. Please write the details in order to
determine the problem. And also provide the product serial number (19 digits
numbers) on the PCI card by using the form from below.

http://www.comprousa.com/support/form.htm

30

Troubleshooting

OS requirement

ComproDTV 2.5 has to work on Windows XP / Windows 2000 or above OS.
It’s recommended to www.WindowsUpdate.com website for the Service Pack
update of Microsoft.

Driver Installation

The most common cause of problems with the TV Tuner is incorrect
installation of the TV capture and TV tuner drivers. If you have problems
watching, recording, or timeshifting live TV, please check the status of the
drivers with Device Manager. Please see more information on the product
manual.

No digital broadcast signal

In order to receive digital terrestrial TV
broadcasts, an antenna is crucial. Digital
terrestrial TV broadcast uses about the
same wave frequencies as analog TV (UHF).
It’s recommended to have a fishbone-like
antenna (see figure) on the roof for
reception.

Make sure you position the antenna in the

direction of the TV broadcast base. Adjust the position for the best reception.

Digital terrestrial TV’s determined by government policy. The broadcast bases
will be increased in order to cover the entire country. Please check the related
government website for more information about the strength of digital
terrestrial TV broadcast in your area.

You can check how good the signal is in your location by performing a simple
test. Please plug in the antenna into an analog TV set. Then check if this TV
set can receive a good TV signal. If the picture is not clear, the digital terrestrial
TV broadcast signal is about the same. The difference is when the program
data is not sufficient, you may see a blank screen or the video will be
scrambled.

Note

Digital TV broadcast is different than normal analog TV. You will see no picture
instead of noisy or blurred picture when the signal is too weak. Make sure you
have a good antenna and strong digital TV signal in your location. Or you will
have no TV picture at all.

In order to receive DVB-T MPEG-2 file format, you have to install the Ulead
PhotoExplore on the installation CD for decoding.

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Audio OK / No Video

Digital TV broadcast is different than normal analog TV. You will see no picture
instead of noisy or blurred picture when the signal is too weak. Make sure you
have a good antenna and strong digital TV signal in your location. Or you will
have no TV picture at all.

In order to receive DVB-T MPEG-2 file format, you have to install the
ComproDVD 2 and Ulead PhotoExplorer 8 on the installation CD for decoding.

Video OK / No Audio

If you can view the TV picture but get no audio, you should check the following:

For digital broadcast, please check that the WAVE sound is not muted or
volume too low in the Windows Volume Control dialog. (Double-click on the
speaker icon in the system tray.)

For analog video, the sound has to be connected between the Audio-Out of the
TV tuner and Audio-In (like Line-In, AUX-In or CD-Player) of your sound card
and that you selected the audio source to “AUX or CD Player.”. Please see
more information on the product manual.

Also check the sound is not muted or volume too low in the Windows Volume
Control dialog. (Double-click on the speaker icon in the system tray.)

Sometimes updating the sound card driver from vendor or TV card’s driver and
application may help as well.

No audio in the recorded file?

Check the recording volume levels in the ComproDTV Recording tab in the
Settings dialog. Also check the information on the above.

The recorded file from VCR has no
sound?

Please plug VCR Composite cable (yellow)
into TV card yellow connector. Composite
Audio needs to connect to the Audio-In port of
TV card. You have to buy a converter (see the
right) to transfer Composite Audio cable (red
one and white one) into stereo.

Why can’t I playback the recorded video?

The usual reason for this problem is conflict with some CODEC software, such
as Nimo or K-Lite. This kind of software forces applications to use their
CODEC for play back. Therefore, the recorded file cannot be played since an
incompatible CODEC is being used for playback. Uninstalling the CODEC
software will help. Also reinstalling DirectX usually solves the problem. (See
our website for how to reinstall DirectX)

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How can I record as a different video format?

Digital program is a fixed MPEG-II format file already. ComproDTV can’t
change it and will save it into hard disk directly. Only Analog TV, Composite or
S-Video input video can be software encode to your choice of video format.
You can do that in the Record tab in Settings of ComproDTV.

Why are images scrambled？

Please update the video and sound card drivers from vendors’ web sites. Make
sure the driver for motherboard chipset is also up to date. The default drivers
supplied with the Windows operating system are usually too old to operate
correctly. If you still have problems, please install the latest ComproDTV and
driver from our website.

Why does the remote control fail?

Not all products support remote function. Please check the description on the
product box.

The remote control sensor, which is plugged into the TV card, may be loose.
Please unplug it and plug it in again. USB product’s sensor is built on it. Please
refer the product installation guide for the correct usage.

You should also check the batteries of the remote control. Do not use
rechargeable batteries.

Verify that the IR icon (ComproRemote) is in the system tray on the
lower-right corner of the screen. If you don't have ComproRemote on the
system tray, start the following program:

C:\Program Files\ Common Files\VideoMate\ComproRemoteDTV.exe

Then you should see the icon on the system tray. The IR icon should turn
bright when you press buttons on the remote.

If you see no response, please move your mouse cursor on the IR icon. If you
see it shows “No Device,” your drivers may not be not properly installed.
Please remove ComproDTV using "Add/Remove programs" in the Control
Panel and reinstall it.

Some devices may emit the IR signals. Please check if there are any
microwaves or lights that may be doing this. And make sure as few cables as
possible are crossing the IR receiver.

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Contacting Compro Technical Support

Before you submit an email for support, please check support FAQs on our
web site. http://www.comprousa.com

You can download the latest update from our website. Many issues may be
solved on the newer version.

When contacting Compro for technical support, please use the Compro
support request form and provide as much of the requested information as
possible. Please write the details in order to determine the problem. And also
provide the product serial number (19 digits numbers) on the PCI card. Please
use the form from below.

http://www.comprousa.com/support/form.htm

Note

Make sure you include the information of hitting the button of "E-mail Info" in
the Device Settings in Settings of ComproDTV in order to determine the
problem.

In order to solve the problem quickly, it is very important to provide as much
detail as possible.

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