Netgear NTV550 Owner's Manual
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player
User Manual
350 East Plumeria Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
February 2011
202-10589-02
v1.0
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
© 2011 NETGEAR, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated
into any language in any form or by any means without the written permission of NETGEAR, Inc.
Technical Support
Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. To register your product, get the latest product updates, or get support online,
visit us at http://support.netgear.com.
Phone (US & Canada only): 1-888-NETGEAR
Phone (Other Countries): See http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/984.
Trademarks
NETGEAR, the NETGEAR logo, ReadyNAS, ProSafe, Smart Wizard, Auto Uplink, X-RAID2, and NeoTV are
trademarks or registered trademarks of NETGEAR, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and Vista are
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or
trademarks of their respective holders.
DTS
Manufactured under license under US Patent numbers: 5,451,942; 5,956,674; 5,974,380; 5,978,762; 6,487,535
and other US and world patents issued and pending. DTS and the Symbol are registered trademarks, and DTS 2.0
+ Digital OUT and the DTS logos are trademarks of DTS, Inc. Product includes software. Copyright DTS, Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
Dolby Digital
Dolby and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Manufactured under license from Dolby
Laboratories.
Copy Protection Technology
This item incorporates copy protection technology that is protected by U.S. patents and other intellectual property
rights of Rovi Corporation. Reverse engineering and disassembly are prohibited.
Statement of Conditions
To improve internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes
to the products described in this document without notice. NETGEAR does not assume any liability that may occur
due to the use, or application of, the product(s) or circuit layout(s) described herein.
2 |
Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Chapter 2 Browsing and Organizing Media
Front and Rear View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Cabling the Ultimate HD Media Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Attaching the Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Navigating with the Remote Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Popup Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Using the Onscreen Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Remote Control Buttons and Shortcuts in the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Media on Your Portable Media Player (USB Device). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Protected Media Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Browsing with Live Folder or the Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Browsing the Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Live Folder Browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Tips for Browsing and Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Browse Folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Finding Media on Your Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Parental Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Chapter 3 Playing Media
Watching Videos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Popup Menus during Video Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Video Media Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Video Aspect Ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
TV Mode and Display Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Subtitles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Audio Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Time Seek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Resuming Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Listening to Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Music Media Bar and Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Gapless Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Viewing Photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Adjusting the Photo Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Photo and Slideshow Media Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Contents | 3
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Photo Aspect Ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Slideshow Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Playing Internet Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Viewing YouTube Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
RadioTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
RadioIO/Shoutcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Internet News Channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Internet Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Using More than One Ultimate HD Media Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Chapter 4 Settings
Settings Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Audio/Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Media Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Media Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Parental Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
System Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Updating the Firmware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Manage Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
System Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Chapter 5 Using Your PC with the NTV550
Controlling the Ultimate HD Media Player from a Windows PC. . . . . . . . .47
Installing the Resource CD Software on a Windows PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Using the Configuration Wizard to Share Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Using the NeoTV Software on Your PC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Remote Control Your Ultimate HD Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
EnablingWin7 File Sharing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
File Sharing with Win7 Password Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
File Sharing without Win7 Password Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Chapter 6 Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Changing TV Mode, No Picture on the TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Power Off and Standby Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Firewall Port Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Accessing Your Digital Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Windows System Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Macintosh OSX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Media Does Not Play (Windows XP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Video Display is Jittery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
4 | Contents
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Unable to Play Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Network Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Ethernet Cabling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Troubleshooting a Wireless Network Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Connecting to a Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Using Ping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Recovering the NTV550 If It Does Not Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Appendix A Supplementary Information
Supported Digital Media File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Restoring Factory Default Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Technical Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Appendix B Notification of Compliance
Index
Contents | 5
1. Getting Started
Bring all your digital media to your TV. Play movies, music, and photo collections from PCs,
Macs, and storage devices on your home network. The NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player
also provides easy access to files stored on your USB drives and SD cards.
• Play your digital movies in full high-definition 1080p and stunning Dolby Digital, or DTS
surround sound.
• The NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player automatically scans your networked and local
devices, and organizes your movies, music, and photos.
• Or you can use live browsing for easy and fast access to your media collection.
• The NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player is compatible with a wide range of media file
formats.
• The remote control has shortcuts for quick selection and ease of use. For instance, you
can directly access your networked and local devices, use on-the-fly language selection,
and display and customize subtitles.
For more information on the topics covered in this manual, visit the Support website at
http://support.netgear.com.
1
Chapter 1. Getting Started | 6
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Front and Rear View
The Ultimate HD Media Player works with most televisions and a wide variety of audio
equipment. Not all compatible cables are included in the package. The following figure shows
front and rear views of the Ultimate HD Media Player:
On/Off
switch
USB
Component AV/Out HDMI S/PDIF Ethernet Reset
Figure 1. Front View and Rear View
SD Card
Power
eSATA
The following list describes the items shown in the previous figure.
• USB (2). Access your media from USB mass storage devices such as hard drives, media
players (including Windows- or Mac-formatted Apple iPods), and flash memory devices.
• SD Card slot. Insert your SD card to access media stored on it.
• On/Off button. Turn the Ultimate HD Media Player on and off.
• Component video. (Cable not included.) These ports support a component video
connection to a television.
• A/V Out. A/V cable, also called composite cable, is included. This is compatible with most
televisions in the United States.
• HDMI. (Cable not included.) If your television has a High-Definition Multimedia Interface
(HDMI) connector, you can use an HDMI cable for both the audio and video signal.
• S/PDIF optical. (Cable not included.)
• eSATA. Connect an external SATA device.
• Ethernet. Use this port to cable the Ultimate HD Media Player to your home router to
access the Internet and media stored on computers on your network. An Ethernet cable
is included.
• Reset. Reset the Ultimate HD Media Player to its factory settings. To reset, press and
hold the button down while the unit is powering up.
• Power. Use only the power cord in the package.
Chapter 1. Getting Started | 7
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Cabling the Ultimate HD Media Player
The installation guide that came in the package explains how to install your product. Cabling
for a typical installation with an Ethernet network connection is shown in the following figure.
AV output
or
HDMI cable (not included)
NTV550
Ethernet cable
Figure 2. Ethernet connection
To connect wirelessly to your home router, you need the NETGEAR Universal Wi-Fi Internet
adapter WNCE2001 (sold separately). If you want to use a Powerline connection, you can
use the NETGEAR Home Theater Internet Connection Kit XAVB1004 (sold separately).
Router
Tips
• The quality of the picture display is related to the video format you use. If your television
supports multiple formats, choose the format that provides the best picture quality. HDMI
offers the best picture quality video. Component video provides the next best quality,
followed by composite video.
• Optimize the television display as necessary.
- If the display is not sharp, or you do not see a picture, aim the NETGEAR remote
control at the Ultimate HD Media Player, and press the TV Mode button. Then cycle
through the TV modes to get the best display.
- It can take 5 to 10 seconds for each TV mode change. In some modes you might not
see a picture on the TV. If you do not see a picture after four mode changes, check
the cable connections, and verify that the TV is on and set to the correct input.
- You might be able to enhance the picture quality by selecting from additional
high-definition video modes in the advanced settings.
- Use the TV Mode button to cycle between PAL (50 Hz, European) and NTSC (60 Hz,
United States) display modes.
8 | Chapter 1. Getting Started
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Attaching the Stand
If you want to place the HD media player in a vertical position, use the stand included in the
package.
1. Orient your HD media player vertically.
2. Insert the tabs of the stand into the slots on the bottom of your H
D media player as shown.
3. Place your HD media player in a suitable area for installation (near an AC power outlet and
accessible to the Ethernet cables for your wired computers).
4. To remove the stand, grasp it firmly and disconnect it from the H
D media player.
Chapter 1. Getting Started | 9
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Remote Control
Use the remote control to operate your NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player.
Figure 3. Remote control
10 | Chapter 1. Getting Started
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Table 1. Remote Control Buttons
Button Description Button Description
Power. Turn the device on and off. Popup menu. Display popup menus for media.
Show or hide the menu bar. Toggle between list
browsing and cover browsing.
0–9
Caps
Clear
Eject. Stops media playback and ejects the
media if played from an external attached drive.
TV Mode. From the main menu, go to the TV
mode screen. While playing a video, use the TV
Mode popup to temporarily change the mode.
Video. Display the Video menu. Mute. Mute the sound.
Music. Display the Music menu. Page up and down. This button can also scroll
Photo. Display the Photo menu. Reverse. Rewind to the start of the media that is
Web. Display the Internet media menu. Play/Pause. Play or pause media, or resume
Use 0–9 for alpha-numeric entry, searching, or to
skip in a video (0% to 90%). Caps toggles Caps
Lock or numbers on or off. Press Clear to to
clear text from a text entry field.
Audio. When playing music, show/hide the
music media bar. When playing videos, display
the Audio options to select the audio track.
Volume. Increase or decrease volume.
Information. Display media information.
and zoom videos and photos.
playing. If playing music, enter fast seek mode.
normal play from fast forward. In a menu, play
the selected item and queue the rest of the items
in the order shown on the screen.
Fast-forward. Fast-forward the media that is
playing. When playing music, enter fast seek
mode.
Previous. Go back to the previous item playing.
Within a menu, go to the first item in the list.
Subtitle. When playing a video, display Subtitle
options. When browsing media, toggle the sort
order.
Angle. Change the camera angle (if the media
supports this feature).
Aspect. Change the aspect ratio on the TV. Repeat. Repeat a track or media selection.
Home. Display the main menu. Rotate. Rotate a photo.
Menu. Toggle full screen during video or photo
playback. During video playback, show options.
• OK. Select a menu item, song, or video.
• Arrows. Navigate, or enter fast seek mode
when watching a video.
Go back to the previous screen.
Stop. Stop the media that is currently playing.
Next. Skip to the next item on the playlist.
Within a menu, go to the last item in the list.
Time Seek. When playing a video, skip ahead
by a set amount of time or to a chapter.
Source. Controls secondary audio/video (PIP
commentary).
Chapter 1. Getting Started | 11
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Navigating with the Remote Control
To go to the main menu, press Home on the remote control. The following screen
displays:
The main menu offers these selections:
• Video. Watch videos.
• Music. Listen to music.
• Photos. View photos.
• Browse folders. Look through your folders to locate the media that you want to view or
listen to.
• Internet media. Watch YouTube, listen to Internet Radio, view Flickr photos, watch RSS
videos, and access local weather and news.
• Streaming TV and Movies. This feature is coming soon.
• Settings. View or work with system functions.
These menu selections are described in the following chapters of this book.
Popup Menus
Popup displays are available only during media play.
• When playing videos you can use these features:
- Video Media bar. View elapsed time or a playlist.
- Time Seek. Go to a specific time or scene within a video.
- Audio. Select an audio track.
- Aspect. Change the aspect ratio only while watching the current video.
12 | Chapter 1. Getting Started
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
- TV Mode. Temporarily change the display mode while a video is playing. Use the
Appearance tab to change display appearance such as brightness.
- Subtitle. Select subtitle tracks and adjust the color, size, positioning, and timing of
subtitles.
• When listening to music you can display the Music media bar. You can use the media bar
to scroll down through queued-up tracks. You can jump to another track.
• When viewing photos, you can use the Photo media bar and Slideshow options to adjust
the display.
Using the Onscreen Keyboard
The onscreen keyboard is displayed when there is a field where you can type in information.
You can change the keyboard language by using the
available languages.
The onscreen keyboard includes all alphabetic and most punctuation and other symbols that
are found on a regular keyboard. While the onscreen keyboard is visible you can use the
following buttons on the remote control:
button to cycle through the
• Caps. Toggle between upper-case letters, lower-case letters, and symbols.
•
Menu. close the onscreen keyboard.
• 0–9. Enter letters and numbers. Press 2 to cycle between A, B, C, 2, and so on.
•
Back. Erase the last character entered.
• Clear. Erase all characters entered.
•
•
•
•
Next. Move the selector three keys to the right.
Previous. Move the selector three keys to the left.
Fast Forward. Move the selector to the rightmost key.
Rewind. Move the selector to the leftmost key.
Remote Control Buttons and Shortcuts in the Menus
• Next. Within a menu list, go to the end of the list.
•
• Page Up and Page Down. Page up or down within a list of items.
•
• 0 - 9. Narrow selections in media browsing. For instance, press 2 to cycle through A, B,
•
•
Previous. Within a menu list, go to the beginning of the list.
Source. Navigate to Main Menu > Browse folders.
C, and 2 to narrow the selection. Repeat to further narrow the selection.
Information. Access Now Playing (from the main menu only). From Now Playing,
press the left or right arrow key to view now playing information from other NTV550 or
Digital Entertainer devices on the network. Press Popup Menu to access more options,
including Follow Me, allowing media playback to be moved or copied to another NeoTV
device.
Aspect. Start the screen saver manually.
Chapter 1. Getting Started | 13
2. Browsing and Organizing Media
The Ultimate HD Media Player can access media from CIFS (Windows file shares), Samba,
NFS, and DLNA/UPNP. NFS (available on most NAS type devices) typically offers the best
performance, followed by CIFS/SMB. Note that to access DVD media, or to play media with
associated external subtitles, use NFS/CIFS/Samba, not DLNA/UPNP.
For information about supported media file formats, see Supported Digital Media File
Formats on page 65.
CAUTION:
Displaying static images can cause burn-in on certain displays. Do not
display static images (such as menus, photos, or paused videos)
onscreen for long periods of time.
Media on Your Portable Media Player (USB Device)
2
You can connect up to two USB flash drives or a media player such as an iPod to a USB port
on the front or rear panel of the Ultimate HD Media Player. The Ultimate HD Media Player
plays files stored in Windows (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), Macintosh, or Linux disk formats. It does
not matter if you set up the media player on a PC or a Mac.
Note: Be sure to use USB 2.0 devices with your Ultimate HD Media
Player. The limited bandwidth of the older USB1.0 devices might
interfere with the performance of your playback.
To play media:
1. Connect your USB product to the USB port on the front or rear of the Ultimate HD
Media Player.
The Ultimate HD Media Player scans the media, and then the media files are available
for you to play.
2. Press Video, Music, or Photos on the remote control, and then select and play the media.
Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media | 14
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Protected Media Files
You can play most media files that are protected by digital rights management (DRM) on an
Ultimate HD Media Player by selecting the Enable UPnP media sharing check box in the
Configuration Wizard.
Browsing with Live Folder or the Media Library
The Ultimate HD Media Player has two main ways of browsing media:
• Browse the NTV550 media library by category.
• Browse by folder.
Browsing the Media Library
For fastest browsing, add shared media on your network to the NTV550 media library. You
can use the Configuration Wizard to do this, or select Settings > Media Locations > Scan.
The Ultimate HD Media Player scans these locations for media files from sources on your
network, whether they are on NAS devices, PCs, or attached storage, and aggregates the
files into a library. Then you can browse by name, genre, artist, date, cover art, and so on.
To browse the NTV550 media library, use the Video, Music, and Photos menu selections to
browse by categories. You do not need to think about where the media is actually located.
If you add new shared media on computers on your network, you can quickly add it to the
NTV550 media library by selecting Settings > Media Locations > Scan. The Ultimate HD
Media Player scans your selected media locations and updates the library. The library is also
updated to reflect media that has been removed. You can continue to browse the media
library and play media while scanning is ongoing.
Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media | 15
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Live Folder Browsing
Live Folder Browsing is like using Windows File Manager to browse your network to find a
file. When you browse by folder, you see new media on your network immediately. However,
you cannot use categories. Instead of using categories, you locate the media by navigating
the folders where it resides. Only the media locations that are also in your NTV550 media
library are listed.
The main reason to use Live Folder Browsing is if you added a new media files to shared
folders and don't want to take the time to do a scan before playing it (to add it to the media
library). You can use Live Folder Browsing to go directly to the file and play it.
To use Live Folder Browsing:
1. Select Browse Folders from the main menu, or from the Video, Music, and Photos
menus.
2. To see all network folders, press the Popup Menu button, or edit your media locations to
view more network folders.
3. To edit media locations, go to Settings > Media locations > Select media locations.
4. Press Play on a folder to play all the media in the folder.
For example, pressing Play on a folder containing .jpg files starts a slideshow from the
photos in the folder. If the folder contains one or more DVD files, then Play shows a menu
listing the available files. From the folder, press OK to choose which DVD to play.
Tips for Browsing and Searching
You can browse by the type of media that you want (such as videos), or you can browse by
folder. Here are some tips to help you quickly locate media files.
• You can combine categories to narrow your search. For example, you can browse by
genre and then by rating to get to R-rated action movies.
• Some audio or video files might be stored without information in some fields, such as
album or genre. If this is the case, these tracks are listed in a category called Unknown.
• You can enter letters contained in a title to quickly find a media file by name when
browsing. For example, enter EYE to find both Goldeneye and For your Eyes Only.
• When browsing on an iPod, note that iTunes uses an unusual file-naming convention to
store music files on the iPod. The Ultimate HD Media Player can display only the folder
names as they are saved on the iPod. To find the files, use other criteria such as artist or
genre.
• To enter letters, tap the number button to get the letters that you want. For example, tap 6
twice to change from M to N.
16 | Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Browse Folders
Press Home and select Browse Folders, and the following screen displays:
Use this feature to locate media by location. You will see all kinds of media located within
each folder. For instance, you can see your music files, and your videos.
Table 1. Remote Control Buttons While Browsing Media
Button Description
Toggle between list view and cover view.
Within cover view, toggle between a single row of covers (“gallery view”) and a 10x3 screen of
covers (“poster view”).
0–9
Narrow the selected media (for example, press 2 to cycle A, B, C, 2). In cover view, what you type
is visible in the Search box at the upper right. In list view, what you type is visible above the list of
media.
Toggle between sorting alphabetically and by most recently accessed.
Show full screen details on the selected media, including metadata and MediaInfo details for video
and music, and EXIF details for photos.
Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media | 17
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Cover Art
The Ultimate HD Media Player can associate cover art, descriptions, and other media
metadata with videos. Spending a few minutes to tag your media results in a richer browsing
experience. You can tag media using the NETGEAR Tag Tool, or you can use other software
such as MyMovies. In general, tagging media means creating a .tag file with the same name
as the media, and that contains the media metadata and cover art. If you want only cover art,
you can add .jpg format covers to your videos by placing a .jpg file in the same folder as the
video, and giving it the same name as the video. If you have multiple videos in a folder and
you want them to use the same cover, add a file called folder.jpg in the folder.
When you browse media on the Ultimate HD Media Player, you can browse in list form or as
cover art.
Note: For the best cover art browsing results, make sure the image cache
is set to a fixed, fast location (either on an attached USB / eSATA
drive or SD card), or a fast network share. Set the Image Cache
location in Settings > Audio/Video > Playback Options.
When browsing video in cover view, only videos that have cover art are shown with covers.
Other videos are represented within the folders that contain them. You can add cover art at
any time as described earlier. Highlight the video that you have added the cover to, and the
new cover is loaded and cached.
When you are browsing music in cover view, one cover is shown for every album.
Finding Media on Your Network
The Ultimate HD Media Player can access media from CIFS (Windows file shares), Samba,
NFS, and DLNA/UPNP. NFS (available on most NAS type devices) typically offers the best
performance, followed by CIFS/SMB. Note that to access DVD media, or to play media with
associated external subtitles, use NFS, CIFS, or Samba, not DLNA or UPNP.
If your media is on a Windows PC, it is sometimes not sufficient to simply share the folder
containing the media. For best results or if you are having difficulty seeing your media from
the Ultimate HD Media Player, you should run the NeoTV Configuration Wizard for
Windows/Mac, which will locate your media on your PC and share the media folders so they
are accessible by the Ultimate HD Media Player.
To test the speed of your network connection from the Ultimate HD Media Player to your
media servers, use the Network Test option available in Settings > Network. Network Test
shows the average throughput for each network share that you have selected in Media
Locations. The most demanding media streams typically require at least 50 Mbps of network
throughput.
18 | Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
Parental Controls
The Ultimate HD Media Player supports a variety of parental controls. To activate parental
controls, select Settings > Parental controls, and set the supervisor PIN. (For set up
information, see
Once the PIN is set, the parental controls you can configure on this screen are active. Note
that the PIN is also required for accessing the settings.
• You can restrict access to media in the NTV550 library by MPAA rating (G, PG, PG-13,
and so on). You can use the Tag Tool to set the rating. Set the age rating permission in
Settings > Parental controls. Media that is disallowed by the age rating setting is not
shown when you are browsing. Note that media that is not tagged carries the rating NR
(not rated), which is the equivalent of the most restricted.
• You can restrict access to specific media share locations.
• You can restrict access to online media content.
When you are browsing media, if some media has been excluded due to parental controls,
you will see a message Press <Eject> to browse all media. This allows you to enter the
parental control PIN to access the media.
Parental Controls on page 39.)
Once the PIN has been entered, it unlocks restricted media for 1 hour.
Chapter 2. Browsing and Organizing Media | 19
3. Playing Media
CAUTION:
Displaying static images can cause burn-in on certain displays. Do not
display static images (such as menus, photos, or paused videos)
onscreen for long periods of time.
Watching Videos
The Ultimate HD Media Player finds the video files on your computer’s hard disk, on other
computers, on external hard drives, or on other storage devices on the network. Downloaded
content from noncommercial sources might be of varying quality, and might not play back
correctly.
To watch a video:
3
1. Aim the remote control at the HD media player, and either press
Home, and select Video. The following screen displays:
Chapter 3. Playing Media | 20
Video, or press
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
2. Browse videos based on your preference.
• Recently added. View the most recently added videos and select the one you want.
• Recently watched. View recently watched videos and select the one you want.
• Folders. Browse folders to locate the video you want to watch.
• Categories. View videos by categories.
• All video(s). View a list of all videos.
3. Select the video that you want to watch.
• OK plays the selected video.
• Play plays the selected video, and then plays the rest of the videos in the order
shown on the screen.
4. When the video is playing you can use the remote control buttons to customize viewing:
• The Page Up and Page Down buttons zoom the video in or out. Press
twice to restore the original size.
• Press 0–9 to skip to 10% - 90% of the video by elapsed time. Pressing 0 restarts the
video from the beginning.
• To display information about the video, press the i button on the remote control.
• Popup menus are described in the following section.
Home
5. If you want to add videos to a playlist, press the
Angle button.
Popup Menus during Video Playback
While a video is playing you can use the remote control buttons to open popup menus.
Video Media Bar
You can use the media bar for fast seek within a video or to access a playlist. To display the
media bar, press
the media bar.
The media bar has two views, elapsed time and playlist. On the remote control, use the up
and down arrows by the OK button to change between the elapsed time and playlist view.
• Elapsed time. When you press Popup Menu on the remote control, the elapsed
time view displays.
For fast seek mode, use the left and right arrows. The video is paused and you
can move the cursor to the place you want to resume watching. Press the left or
right arrow button again to go faster. Press
Popup Menu while you are watching a video. Press again to exit
Play to resume the video.
Chapter 3. Playing Media | 21
NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player User Manual
• Playlist. You can use the media bar to navigate the play list. Press the down arrow by the
OK button to display the playlist. When the media bar is in playlist view, navigate between
files in the playlist (the currently playing file is shown with a speaker icon). Press OK to
resume playback at the selected item.
Video Aspect Ratio
To change the aspect ratio only while watching the current video, press Aspect. The
Aspect Ratio popup menu displays:
TV Mode and Display Settings
You can use the TV Mode button to display the TV Mode popup menu:
Use care when changing the TV mode.
CAUTION:
Selecting the wrong TV mode can cause a loss of picture.
For you to go to the TV Mode popup, a video has to be playing in full screen mode (not
picture-in-picture). You can change the TV mode setting or the appearance.
• TV Mode Setting. This advanced feature is especially useful for changing to a 50Hz
mode for smoothest playback of 25 fps (frames per second) video, to a 60 Hz mode for
30 fps video, or to 1080P24 mode for 24 fps video.
• Appearance. Change the display settings for brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation.
22 | Chapter 3. Playing Media
Loading...