LifeView FlyDVB-T User Manual

FlyDVB-T

User Manual

Animation Technologies Inc.

www.lifeview.com

Ver: 1.9

document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without prior written permission of Animation Technologies Inc.

Animation Technologies Inc. makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Animation Technologies Inc. reserves the right to revise this manual and to make changes in its content without obligation to notify any person or organization of such revision or change. In no event shall Animation Technologies Inc. be liable to you or any third party for any consequential, incidental, direct, indirect, special, punitive, or other damages (including without limitation, damages for loss of profits, interruptions, loss of information, pecuniary loss, etc.), even if Animation Technologies Inc. has been advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error in this manual or product.

Updates to this documentation can be obtained from our website: http://www.lifeview.com.

Windows® is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand names used in this document are registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CE Statement: This equipment has been tested and complies with EN 55022, EN 55024, EN 61000-3-2, EN 61000-3-3, EN 61000-4-2, EN 61000-4-3, EN 61000-4-4, EN 61000-4-5, 61000-4-6, EN 61000-4-8, EN 61000-4-11 standards.

Contents

1. Getting Started .................................................................1

1.1 Introduction...................................................................................................1

1.2 Features .......................................................................................................1

1.3 Package Contents ........................................................................................1

1.4 System Requirements ..................................................................................2

2. Input & Output Connections ...........................................3

2.1 FlyDVB-T Connections.................................................................................3

3. Installation ........................................................................4

3.1 DirectX..........................................................................................................4

3.2 Installing the FlyDVB-T.................................................................................5

3.3 Driver Installation for Windows 2000 / Windows XP.....................................6

3.4 Installation of LifeView DTV..........................................................................7

4. LifeView DTV ....................................................................8

4.1 DTV Interface Overview................................................................................8

4.2 Scanning for TV Channels (Digital)...............................................................9

4.3 Choosing your source.................................................................................11

4.4 Channel list.................................................................................................12

4.5 Volume controls..........................................................................................12

4.6 Signal Strength Meter.................................................................................12

4.7 Teletext.......................................................................................................13

4.8 EPG............................................................................................................14

5. Settings...........................................................................15

5.1 DVB Settings..............................................................................................15

5.2 Analog Video Settings (AV-In/S-Video) ......................................................17

6. PIP (Picture-In-Picture) and TWIN Mode......................21

7. Recording .......................................................................23

7.1 The Recording Button.................................................................................23

7.2 The TimeShift Button..................................................................................24

7.3 Schedule Recording ...................................................................................25

7.4 Snapshots...................................................................................................26

7.5 Play Mode...................................................................................................26

8. The Remote Control and Keyboard Shortcuts............27

8.1 Remote Control ..........................................................................................27

8.2 Keyboard Shortcuts....................................................................................28

9. Technical Support.......................................................... 29

9.1 Contact Us..................................................................................................29

Getting Started

1. Getting Started

1.1 Introduction

Thank you for choosing the FlyDVB-T TV tuner and video capture card. This product turns your PC into a powerful desktop multimedia system quickly and easily. Capture video and still images and experience real-time MPEG-1/2/4 recording. Watch both digital TV and analog video at the same time, on the same screen, thanks to LifeView’s exclusive MST technology! The FlyDVB-T provides you with a high quality TV viewing experience with true stereo sound!

1.2 Features

• Antenna ready DVB-T Silicon Tuner

• S-Video/composite video inputs

• PIP (Picture in Picture)

• Real-time recording from Digital TV and Analog inputs

• LifeView’s exclusive MST lets you watch both Digital TV and input analog video

simultaneously

• Watch TV in a resizable window or full-screen

• TimeShifting functions

• Capture still images

• Listen to DVB radio

• Compatible with Windows

2000 and XP

1.3 Package Contents

When removing the contents of the package, please inspect all items to ensure no damage was sustained during shipping. The following items should be included in the package:

• FlyDVB-T card

• PAL/NTSC connection adapter

• A/V-Cable

• Remote control

• IR sensor cable

• Installation CD-ROM

• Quick Installation Guide

• Portable antenna (optional)

Getting Started

1.4 System Requirements

To successfully use the FlyDVB-T solution, please ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon 2.0 GHz or faster, 2.4GHz or faster recommended

• 256 MB RAM (minimum), 512 MB RAM recommended

• Microsoft Windows 2000/XP

• 100 MB available hard disk space for installation, additional space required for

recording or TimeShifting

• CD-ROM or DVD drive

• VGA chipset with full DirectX 9.0 support

• DirectX 9.0c or higher installed

• AC97 compatible sound card for audio

• Speakers for audio output

• Available IRQ

• Available PCI slot

• TV antenna or cable for digital TV

Input & Output Connections

2. Input & Output Connections

2.1 FlyDVB-T Connections

The FlyDVB-T card supports S-Video, and composite video input. See the diagram below for connection details.

1. S-Video: S-Video input for external devices like VCRs or camcorders

2. Composite Video: Composite video input for external devices like VCRs or

camcorders

3. Audio (R): Connects to the right audio channel of an external audio device

4. Audio (L): Connects to the left audio channel of an external audio device

5. DVB-T: Connects to your home or room antenna for Digital Terrestrial TV

6. AV Cable: Connect the AV Cable to the 9-pin connector of the FlyDVB-T

7. Remote: Connects to the IR remote cable

8. A/V Box Connector: Connects to optional A/V input box (optional)

Installation

3. Installation

The following sections provide step-by-step instructions on installing and configuring the card, accessories and software.

3.1 DirectX

Before installing your the FlyDVB-T, it is necessary to install DirectX 9.0c or higher. Insert the installation CD and an installation menu should load automatically.

If the Autostart program does not appear automatically when you insert your LifeView Installation CD, start it manually by running the InstallCD.exe file located on the LifeView Installation CD, or by clicking the Start button, choosing Run…, and typing in D:\InstallCD.exe. (if D: is your CD-ROM drive)

Click on DirectX 9.0 and follow the prompts to install DirectX. After the installation is completed, shut down the computer.

Installation

3.2 Installing the FlyDVB-T

1. Switch off your PC and all connected peripheral devices such as your printer and

monitor. Leave the AC power cable connected for the time being, so that your computer is still grounded.

2. Touch the metal chassis at the rear of the PC to ground and to discharge static.

Now unplug the cord from the AC power socket.

3. Remove the cover from the case of your PC.

4. Look for a free PCI expansion slot. When selecting the PCI slot, note that DVB-T

cards should not be plugged into PCI slot 1 in conjunction with an AGP graphics card because PCI slot 1 is very frequently assigned to the same interrupts as the AGP slot. This would give both cards the same interrupt, which can lead to crashes during operation! (This is usually the PCI slot closest to the AGP slot, but always check your mainboard manual).

5. Carefully remove the card from its packaging and pick it up by the edges with one

hand while your other hand is touching a metal part of the PC. This will ensure that your body is completely discharged via your computer without damaging the TV card.

6. Align the holder at the rear of the TV card in the expansion slot in such a way that

the card’s connectors are directly in line with the slot’s socket.

7. Push the TV card firmly into the slot, ensuring good contact.

8. Fasten the TV card with an appropriate screw.

9. Reinstall the cover of your PC case.

10. Connect the antenna cable (which you would normally connect to the antenna

input terminal on your television) to the TV antenna terminal on the TV card. Reconnect the AC power cable as well as all other cables. Make sure that your speakers are set to low volume.

Installation

3.3 Driver Installation for Windows 2000 / Windows XP

Windows 2000 / XP will automatically detect the FlyDVB-T card and brings up the Found New Hardware Wizard window.

If you have not already done so, place the Installation CD into your CD-ROM drive.

Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next.

Now select Search for the best driver in these locations, make sure “Search removable media is checked, and click Next.

Windows will now find the drivers on the Installation CD and install them automatically. After installing the driver, Windows will inform you that it has done so successfully. Click Finish.

Installation

3.4 Installation of LifeView DTV

Install the LifeView DTV software by clicking on LifeView DTV. Just follow the prompts to install the software.

LifeView DTV

4. LifeView DTV

4.1 DTV Interface Overview

1. Change Skin 14. Record Start

2. Switch to composite video in 15. Stop

3. Switch to S-Video in 16. Skip to beginning

4. Switch to DVB TV 17. Skip to end

5. Start/Stop PIP mode 18. Mute on/off

6. Start/Stop Twin mode 19. Volume bar

7. Open Scan settings 20. Show/hide channel list

8. Switch to Play mode 21. Snapshot button

9. Swap main and second window

(in PIP mode)

22. Signal Strength Meter

10. Teletext 23. Toggle fullscreen/windowed viewing mode

11. Open EPG window 24. Fast Forward

12. Rewind 25. Channel list

13. TimeShift Start/Play/Pause

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 23 20 22

LifeView DTV

4.2 Scanning for TV Channels (Digital)

Before you can watch digital TV, you have to scan for available channels in your area.

On the Menu Bar, click on Tool, then click on Scan. You can also click on the Scan button on the left side of the screen.

Receiving Setup:

This shows the current reception standards the DTV application is set to. Services Information:

This shows information about the currently selected channel when available. During a scan, this will show information on the status of the scan

Channel Scan:

There are two ways to scan for available channels, Auto Scan and Transponder Scan.

1. Auto Scan:

Select Auto Scan, then select your country from the drop-down box and click Scan.

2. Transponder Scan:

If you want to manually enter a frequency, select Transponder Scan, type in the Frequency in kHz and click Scan.

LifeView DTV

Found channels will be displayed in a window, and here you can customize your channel list.

You can sort your channel list by Channel

Name, Frequency, Network Provider, Transponder ID, and Audio type by

clicking on the button at the top of each column. Clicking on the Audio type of a channel allows you to change the audio stream received when viewing that channel.

You can uncheck a channel so it does not appear in your channel list, or you can select it and click Delete to remove the channel entirely. You can also import channel lists into your current list by clicking Import, you can load another channel list by clicking Load, and you can save your channel list by clicking Save As… To save your changes, click OK. To cancel your changes, click Cancel.

Updates for the region frequencies will be available regularly on the LifeView website (www.lifeview.com).

LifeView DTV

4.3 Choosing your source

Your FlyDVB-T is not limited to digital TV reception – you can also view analog sources.

On the left side of the interface, you will find buttons that let you access different sources.

Switches to an external device connected to the composite video input

Switches to an external device connected to the S-Video input

Switches to Digital Terrestrial TV (selected by default)

Turns on and off PIP Mode, which lets you watch both digital TV and an analog input at the same time in separate windows

Turns on and off Twin Mode, which lets you watch digital TV and an analog input at the same time side by side

Brings up the Scan Settings dialog

Enters Play Mode, and lets you view snapshots you have taken and watch video you have captured

Swaps video between the main window and second window (in PIP or Twin mode)

Opens Teletext window (when available)

Opens EPG window

LifeView DTV

4.4 Channel list

On the right side of the interface is the channel list. Here you will see available On the right side of the interface is the channel list. Here you will see available channels for DVB if you are in DVB mode. Simply click on a channel to switch to it, or press the K or L arrow keys to switch channels. In DVB mode, you can select DVB Radio by clicking on the dropdown box and choosing Radio. Right-clicking on a channel will give you the option to sort the list by Name, Frequency, Network Provider, or Transponder ID

Note: DTV CA lists conditional access channels. These channels are not free-to-view, and cannot be viewed in the DTV application.

However, some TV stations misidentify their free-to-view channels as conditional access channels, and will channels be listed under the DTV CA list; these channels can still be viewed in the DTV application.

4.5 Volume controls

At the bottom of the interface is the volume bar. Click on the bar to set the volume to that level, or press the I or J arrow keys to decrease or increase the volume. Click on the speaker icon to mute the audio.

4.6 Signal Strength Meter

The signal strength meter indicates how strong the signal is for the current channel. Green lights indicate good reception, yellow lights indicate fair reception, and red lights indicate poor reception.

LifeView DTV

4.7 Teletext

Simply clicking the Tx button opens the Teletext window. Not all TV stations provide Teletext service. Everyday, however, competent editorial offices provide a selection of quickly and easily accessible information, which you can access for free, since it is constantly transferred along with the TV picture via the so-called vertical blanking interval of the picture signal. Surfing through the pages is conveniently easy thanks to the preloaded text tables. Use the arrow buttons (on the software interface, the PC keyboard or the remote control) to navigate from one page to another or enter a page number directly. You can also click a page reference directly to call up its content, practically with no delay.

For further information about using Teletext, click on Help at the top right of your screen to read the Help file.

LifeView DTV

4.8 EPG

Digital TV stations often broadcast Electonic Program Guide, or EPG information. This information includes information about upcoming programs and their playing times, and can be used to see what shows will be playing later in the day and record them.

Click the EPG button to open the EPG window:

Click on Update to update the EPG information. Date, start time, duration and program name will appear in the table. Selecting an entry will show extended information about the program(if available).

Clicking on Rec. will schedule a recording of that program automatically using the EPG information – you can use this to easily schedule recordings of your favorite programs.

Settings

5. Settings

To access the Setting window, on the menu bar, click on Tools -> Setting.

Depending on your current source, there will be different settings available to you.

5.1 DVB Settings

When you have DVB-T as your source, you will see the following options:

5.1.1 Directory Settings

Working Directory

Here you can change the directory used for saved files. Either type in the path, or click “Browse”, go to the folder you want, and click OK.

Capture Size Setting

When checked, this will split recorded files into parts at the size entered as the File split size. This is useful if you want to save long recordings in more manageable files. For example, setting the file split size to 650 MB would make the files easy to burn to CDs. Snapshot picture format lets you choose whether you want to save snapshots as BMP or JPG files.

Always on top

You can also choose to always have the DTV window on top of other applications by checking “Always on top”.

VGA hardware acceleration

This enables VGA hardware acceleration. Please note that not all graphics cards support this feature.

Full Screen Setting This allows you to choose whether to display video in its original aspect ratio or stretched to fit your screen when watching TV in full screen mode.

Setting

5.1.2 Schedule Recording

Here you find programs scheduled to be recorded.

Please refer to Chapter 7.3 for a description how to use Scheduled Recording.

Settings

5.2 Analog Video Settings (AV-In/S-Video)

If your current source is AV-in or S-Video, you will see the following options:

5.2.1 Display Settings

• Output Size: Here you can specify the display size of the analog source.

• Data Format: Here you can choose the data format to display video in.

• Color: Customize here the Color of the display characteristics like Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation and Sharpness.

• Clicking on “Default” will put the settings back to the factory default.

5.2.2 Record Settings

Record Settings let you adjust how you record files from the AV-in and S-Video sources.

Record - MPEG:

Here you can define whether you want to record at Good, Better or Best quality according to predefined settings. When you choose Customized, you can make a custom setting to record with.

You can choose between the following formats:

• NTSC or PAL MPEG-1

• NTSC or PAL VCD

• NTSC or PAL MPEG-2

• NTSC or PAL SVCD

• NTSC or PAL DVD

Setting

The Profiles… - Button is also available when Customized is selected, and it opens the following screen:

Here you can Create a new profile, Modify an existing one, Duplicate a profile, and Remove one or all of the existing profiles.

Create Profile General:

Here, enter a name for the profile, and a comment to help identify it. Select MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 to use with the profile.

System:

Depending on the Mode selected in “General”, select what Bitstream mode you want to use with the profile.

Settings

Video:

Here, choose the video format, the output size, and the Bit Rate you wish to use.

When you click on Advanced, another window will open where you can select the Frame Rate, the Encoder level and whether the recording should be Inverted, Deinterlaced and/or Off Line.

Audio: Here you can choose the Bit Rate, Sample Rate, and how many Channels to use for recorded audio. (1=mono, 2=stereo)

Record – SYSTEM

By selecting SYSTEM in the Record Setting window, you can access the codecs already installed in your system. Depending on the codec, you can access the properties of the codec, and modify their settings by clicking on the Property button. (not available with all codecs)

Setting

5.2.3 Directory Settings

Working Directory

Here you can change the directory used for saved files. Either type in the path, or click “Browse”, go to the folder you want, and click OK.

Capture Size Setting

Always on top

You can also choose to always have the DTV window on top of other applications by checking “Always on top”.

VGA hardware acceleration

This enables VGA hardware acceleration. Please note that not all graphics cards support this feature.

Full Screen Setting This allows you to choose whether to display video in its original aspect ratio or stretched to fit your screen when watching TV in full screen mode.

5.2.4 Schedule Recording

Here you find programs scheduled to be recorded.

Please refer to

Chapter 7.3 for a description how

to use the Scheduled Recording.

PIP (Picture-In-Picture) and TWIN Mode

6. PIP (Picture-In-Picture) and TWIN Mode

The PIP/TWIN functions can be accessed from the toolbar on the left. When you click on the PIP Button, you will see a second live stream at the bottom

right. When you are in PIP-Mode, you can switch between DVB-T for your digital source, and between S-Video, and AV in for your analog source.

You can move the window anywhere on the desktop, and you can resize it by dragging it on its edges.

PIP (Picture-In-Picture) and TWIN Mode

Clicking on Twin will show the two video streams side by side in identical windows. In this mode, the windows will be locked, and cannot be individually resized or moved.

Clicking on the Swap button will swap the main and second windows, so digital TV will be in the second window and your analog source will be in the main window.

To end PIP mode, click on the PIP button again to return to normal viewing. You cannot TimeShift or record when in PIP mode.

Recording

7. Recording

7.1 The Recording Button

By clicking the record button, you can record video displayed in the main window. When recording video, then you will see • REC above the play controls.

In DVB-T mode, you record the pure MPEG-2 Audio and Video signal. In analog mode (S-Video or AV-In) you record the signal in the format that you have specified in Record Settings. (Chapter 5.2.2) In all modes, recorded files will be saved to the working directory, which can be specified in Directory Settings. (Chapter 5.1.1 and Chapter 5.2.3) You can watch the movies you have recorded by entering Play Mode. (Chapter 7.5) When recording from DVB, you can view/listen to another source (AV in/S-Video) while your program continues recording in the background. Also, when recording from AV in/S-Video, you can watch DVB TV.

When you are done recording, click the Stop button.

Recording

7.2 The TimeShift Button

With the TimeShift function, you can pause live TV, leave, and come back and watch your program right where you left it. You can then also fast forward past commercials, or rewind to see a particular scene again.

To begin TimeShifting, simply click the TimeShift button.

The TimeShift button will then turn into a Pause/Play button, letting you pause the video. Clicking it again will begin playback right where you left it.

You will see a green bar at the bottom of the screen, with a slider that shows your current position. You can rewind or fast forward by using the buttons at the left and right side of the bar, or by dragging the slider left and right. You can also click on the Skip to Beginning button to go to the beginning of the TimeShifted file, and click on Skip to End to move back to what is currently showing. When you want to stop TimeShifting, click on the Stop button. You cannot change channels or video sources while TimeShifting.

+ 150 hidden pages

LifeView FlyDVB-T User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual