Pinnacle Systems NewsCutter XP Setup Guide

Avid® NewsCutter® XP

Setup Guide

Release 2.0

for the Windows® 2000 Operating System

Copyright and Disclaimer

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.
The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. You can obtain a copy of that license by visiting
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D372,478; D373,778; D392,267; D392,268; D392,269; D395,291; D396,853; D398,912. Additional U.S. and foreign patents pending.
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Avid Technology, Inc.

© 2001 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.
The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Copyright © 1988–1997 Sam Leffler
Copyright © 1991–1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc.

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is
hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or
publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE,
INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANT ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

Portions of this software are based on work of the Independent JPEG Group.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

2

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code
equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable
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reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or
consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the
software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised,
knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with
respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by
Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this
software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following notice is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source
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©1993–1998 Altura Software, Inc.

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Certain real-time compositing capabilities are provided under a license of such technology from Ultimatte Corporation and are
subject to copyright protection.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial co mpute r soft war e” or “commercial
computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency
of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement,
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Trademarks

AirPlay, AudioVision, Avid, Avid Xpress, CamCutter, Digidesign, FieldPak, Film Composer, HIIP, Image Independence, Marquee,
Media Composer, Media Recorder, NewsCutter, OMF, OMF Interchange, Open Media Framework, Pro Tools, and Softimage are
registered trademarks and 888 I/O, AirSPACE, AirSPACE HD, AniMatte, AudioSuite, AutoSync, AVIDdrive, AVIDdrive Towers, AvidNet,
Avid Production Network, AvidProNet, AVIDstripe, Avid Unity, AVX, DAE, D-Fi, D-fx, D-Verb, ExpertRender, FilmScribe, HyperSPACE,
HyperSPACE HDCAM, Intraframe, iS9, iS18, iS23, iS36, Lo-Fi, Magic Mask, make manage move | media, Matador , Maxim, MCXpress,
MEDIArray, MediaDock, MediaDock Shuttle, Media Fusion, Media Illusion, MediaLog, Media Reader, MediaShare, Meridien,
NaturalMatch, OMM, Open Media Management, QuietDrive, Recti-Fi, rS9, rS18, Sci-Fi, Sound Designer II, SPACE, SPACEnet,
SPACEShift, Symphony, Vari-Fi, Video Slave Driver, and VideoSPACE are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc.

3

Adaptec is a trademark of Adaptec, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdictions. Adobe Acrobat, and Reader are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. FireWire is a
trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S., and other countries. IBM and IntelliStation are registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation. IEEE is a registered trademark of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Inc. i.LINK is a trademark of Sony Corporation. LSX-MPEG is a trademark of Ligos Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS, NetShow,
Windows, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other
countries. QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks used under license from Apple Computer, Inc. RCA is a registered
trademark of General Electric Company. RealProducer is a registered trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. TI is a registered trademark of
Texas In struments, Inc. All other trademarks contained herei n are the property of their respective owners.

Avid NewsCutter XP Setup Guide for the Windows 2000 Operating System • Part 0130-04909-01 Rev. A • July 2001

4

Contents

Using This Guide

Who Should Use This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Symbols and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

If You Need Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Related Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

If You Have Documentation Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

How to Order Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 1 Setting Up Your NewsCutter XP System

Preparing to Set Up Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Determining Supported Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Purchasing the Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

System Setup Check List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Turning On Your Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Installing Boards Purchased Separately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Installing the 1394 Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Installing the PCI SCSI Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Connecting the Application Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Setting Your Screen Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Connecting the External SCSI Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Preparing the External SCSI Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Cabling the Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Determining the SCSI IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5

Preparing Your Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Partitioning Basic Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Supported File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Checking Your Internal Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Creating Primary Partitions and Formatting Drives . . . . . . . . . 32

Testing Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 2 Installing the Software

Installing the NewsCutter XP Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Installing the Windows 2000 Heap Hotfix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Removing Previous Releases of the NewsCutter XP

Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Installing the NewsCutter XP Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Performing a Cust om Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Modifying, Repairing, or Removing Avid Applications. . . . . . 43

Installing the Companion Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Installing EDL Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Installing Avid Log Exchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Installing the AVX Stabilize Effect Plug-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Creating an Emergency Repair Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 3 Connecting the Editing Equipment

Connecting a 1394 Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Connecting a Computer Without a Client Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Connecting a Computer with a Client Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Audio and Video Sync Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Connecting an Analog Vi deo Deck to the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Controlling an Analog Video Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Assigning a Driver to Your Digital Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

File Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Project Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Starting a Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Preparing to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

6

Editing a Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Generating Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Appendix A Avid Setup and Product Recovery CD-ROM

Process Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Changing the System BIOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Using the Avid Setup and Product Recovery CD-ROM. . . . . . . . . . 72

Adding a Page File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Configuring a Page File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Appendix B Regulatory and Safety Notices

FCC Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Canadian ICES-003. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

European Union Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Australia and New Zealand EMC Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Taiwan EMC Regulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Index

7

Figures

Figure 1-1 Application Key (Dongle). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Figure 1-2 Cable and LVD Terminator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Figure 1-3 Chain of SCSI Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Figure 1-4 Assigning the SCSI IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Figure 1-5 Computer Management Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Figure 1-6 Partitioning in the Computer Management

Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Figure 1-7 Formatting the Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Figure 3-1 Connecting a 1394 Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Figure 3-2 Connecting a Computer Without a Client Monitor . . 53

Figure 3-3 Connecting a Computer with a Client Monitor. . . . . . 54

Figure 3-4 NewsCutter XP System with Client Monitor. . . . . . . . 56

Figure 3-5 Connecting an Analog Video Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Figure 3-6 Analog Video Deck Control Cabling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Figure 3-7 Found New Hardware Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Figure 3-8 File Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

8

Tables

Table 1-1 System Setup Check List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Table 1-2 Monitor Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Table 2-1 Custom Installation Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

9

Using This Guide

This guide explains how to set up the Avid® NewsCutter® XP system.
This release of NewsCutter XP uses the Windows

system and Service Pack 1. For the most current information, see the

NewsCutter XP Relea se Notes.

Avid

Who Should Use This Guide

You should have some prior knowledge of computers before
attempting to install this product. If you are not familiar with
computers, you should obtain qua lified help before installing any
hardware or s oft ware for this product .

®

2000 operating

10

About This Guide

Use this guide when you are connecting the peripherals and cables to
the NewsCutter XP system. After you complete the installa tion, you
might want to consult this guide if you need to add external drives
and video decks to the NewsCutter XP system.

For more information, see the documentation listed in “Related

Information” on page 13 and the Help system.

This guide has the following overall structure:

• Chapter 1 describes how to set up your NewsCutter XP system

and prepare drives.

• Chapter 2 describes how to install the product software and create

an emergency repair disk (ERD).

• Chapter 3 describes how to connect video equipment and shows a

typical workflow.

• Appendix A provides you with instructions for using the Avid

Setup and Product Recovery CD-ROM.

• Appendix B provides regulatory and safety notices.

• A detailed Index helps you quickly locate specific topics .

The Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide contains a comprehensive
Glossary of cross-industry terms and definitions.

Symbols and Conventions

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this document applies to the
Windows 2000 Professional operating system.

®

The term IEEE
features a high-speed serial bus used for attaching digital cameras and
other video devices to the NewsCutter XP PC platform.

1394 refers to a communications standard that

11

OHCI (Open Host Cont r olle r In terf ace) re fer s to a par ticu lar I EEE 1394
specification (also called FireWire
up to 400 megabi t s per second (Mb/s).

The NewsCutter XP documentation uses the following special
symbols and conventions:

1. Numbered lists, when the order of the items is important.
a. Alphabetical lists, when the order of secondary items is

important.

• Bulleted lists, when the order of the items is unimportant.

- Indented dashed lists, when the order of secondary items is

unimportant.

t One arrow indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a

list indicate that you perform one of the actions listed.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

®

) that supports data transfer rates of

Look here in the margin
for tips.

n

c

w

In the margin, you will find tips that help you perform tas ks more
easily and efficiently.

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations,
and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to
your computer or cause you to lose data.

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm.
Follow the guidelines in this guide or on the unit itself when
handling electrical equipment.

12

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using NewsCutter XP, you should:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that
task in this guide.

2. Check the documentation that came with your hardware for
maintenance or hardware-related issues.

3. Check the release notes supplied with your Avid application for
information on accessing the Avid Web site and th e Avid
Knowledge Center.

4. For customer support, contact your local Avid Reseller, or contact
Avid Customer Support directly:

- Broadcast customers — call 800-NEWS-DNG (639-7364).

- Postproduction customers — call 800-800-AVID (2843).

Related Informati on

After learning the basics about NewsCutter XP in this guide, consult
the following for information ab out all product features:

• Avid NewsCutter XP Release Notes

The release notes include important information you should read
before installing and using NewsCutter XP.

• Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide

This guide provides complete information on all editing tasks,
such as recording footage, viewing and marking footage, editing,
trimming, importing, exporting, and generating final output.

• Avid NewsCutter XP Effects Guide

This guide describes techniques for using d igital video effects,
titles, third-party effect filters, mattes, keys, paint effects, and
layering options.

13

• Avid NewsCutter XP Help
The Help system includes online, hypertext information for using

all product features. It provides all the information included in the

Avid NewsCutter XP User’s Guide and the Avid NewsCutter XP
Effects Guide supp lied with your system.

• Avid NewsCutter XP Quick Reference

This folded card lists convenient keyboard shortcuts.

• Avid NewsCutter XP Online Publications CD-ROM
This online collection provides electronic versions of this guide

and other guides listed in this section. You can view these

®

documents with Adobe

Acrobat® Reader™, which you can install
from the CD-ROM. The collection also includes the
Avid NewsCutter XP Help, and the Avid EDL Manager User’s
Guide.

• Avid Products Collaboration Guide
This guide provides step-by-step instructions for transferring

project files, audio files, and graphics and effects files between
various Avid products.

The most recent update of the Avid Products Collaboration Guide is
provided online. Check the release notes supplied with your Avid
application for information on a cces sing online documentation.

14

If You Have Documentation Comments

Avid Technology continuously seeks to improve its documentation.
We value your comments about this guide, the Help, the Online
Publications CD-ROM, and other Avid-supplied documentation.

Simply e-mail your documentatio n comments to Avid Technology at

[e-mail]

Please include the title of the document, its part number, r e vision, and
the specific section you are commenting on in all correspondence.

How to Order Documentation

To order additional copies of this documentation from within the
United States, call Avid Telesales at 800-949-AVID (2843). If you are
placing an order from outside the United States, contact your local
Avid representative.

15

CHAPTER 1

Setting Up Your
NewsCutter XP System

This chapter describes how to set up your NewsCutte r XP system. It
consists of the following sections:

• Preparing to Set Up Your System

• Turning On Your Equipment

• Installing Boards Purchased Separately

• Connecting the Application Key

• Setting Your Screen Resolution

• Connecting the External SCSI Drives

• Preparing Your Drives

• Testing Drives

16

Preparing to Set Up Your System

NewsCutter XP is a DV 25 system; DV stands for digital video and 25
refers to the resolution. The equipment used to transfer the digital
video conforms to IEEE Standard 1394. This equipment (cameras,
video and audio decks, cables, connectors, and processing boards) is
sometimes referred to as FireWire
connections let you transfer digital data (both video and audio )
directly from a DV camera to a digital, nonlinear editing (NLE) system
with no conversi on degr adat ion . The pr o ces s of bri ngi ng fo otage fr om
your camera into your system is not only easy, but gives you
high-quality video a t low cost.

Your NewsCutter XP hardware consists of:

• A supported desktop or laptop system running the Windows 2000
Professional operating system

or i.LINK™. NewsCutter XP

• An OHCI-compliant 1394 capture board (1394 board) using the
Texas Instruments (TI

®

) chip

Determining Supported Equipment

Avid ships the NewsCutter XP as a desktop system. You can also
purchase the NewsCutter XP software and install it on supported
laptop systems. To find out what laptop systems and 1394 boards are
supported, consult your Avid Representative and the Avid NewsCutter
XP Release Notes.

n

The list of supported equipment ch anges as more systems and boards are
tested.

17

Purchasing the Equipment

You can purchase the NewsCutter XP in one of two ways:
t Purchase a system through an Avid Reseller, which includes the

hardware and supporting software drivers preinstalled.

t Purchase the system from a system vendor other than an Av id

Reseller, and purchase a “software only” kit from Avid that
contains the software, documentation, and application key
(dongle). In this case, you are responsible for setting up the
hardware and installing the softwa re according to the
documentation provided by the system vendor and Avid
respectively.

System Setup Check List

Table 1-1 is a check list that lists the tasks you need to complete before

you can use your NewsCutter XP system.

T a ble 1-1 System Setup Check List

To See

Set up your computer hardware:
computer, monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers

Turn on your equipment “Turning On Your Equipment” on page 19

Install boards purchased separately (1394 and PCI
SCSI)

Connect the application key (dongle) “Connecting the Application Key” on page 22

Connect your optional external SCSI drives “Connecting the External SCSI Drives” on

Prepare your drives “Preparing Your Drives” on page 27

Instructions shipped with the computer

“Installing Boards Purchased Separately” on
page 20

page 23

18

T a ble 1-1 System Setup Check List (Continued)

To See

Install NewsCutter XP software “Installing the NewsCutter XP Software” on

page 36

Create an emergency repair disk (ERD) “Creating an Em ergency Repair Disk” on

page 49

Connect your camera, digital video deck, or
transcoder (you can connect these after you install
the software if you prefer)

Turning On Your Equipment

After you have connected the monitor, mouse, keyboar d, and speakers
(if ordered) according to the documentation provided by the vendor,
turn on the various components. This allows you to make sure that
your system works properly before you install any new hardware or
Avid software, and helps you isolate problems for troubleshooting.

If any part of your system fails to turn on, make sure its electrical cord
is plugged snugly into an appropriate electrical outlet or power strip.
For more information, see the instructions for setting up your
computer hardware.

To check the system before you install the hardware:

1. Turn on all peripheral units, such as the monitor and speakers.

“Connecting the Editing Equipment” on
page 50

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If you have exte rnal SCSI drives a ttached to the system, turn them o n also.

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2. Turn on your computer.

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For information on your
operating system
features, such as the
desktop and icons, see
your Windows
documentation.

If this is the first time the computer has been turned on, you might have to
answer questions related to the licensing a n d setup of the operating system.

The computer goes through a self-check routine, and the startup
screen appears.

3. When you see the login screen, do not type a password, just press
Enter and the desktop appears.

4. Do any type of Windows task, such as checking the disks or
running any program, to see if the system is working properly.
Look in the Event Viewer for error messages.

To shut down the system:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

2. Choose Shutdown.

Installing Boards Purchased Separately

The following sections explain where to find installation instructions if
you have purchased supported versions of a separate 1394 board and
a separate PCI SCSI board.

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The operating system will use its plug-and -play capability to install the
software for the boards th e first time you turn on t he system after the boards
are installed. If the software is not available on the system drive and is
installed automatically, a software installation wizard appears. You should
follow the instructions provided by the wizard to install the software for the
boards from the CD-ROM or floppy disk provided with the board.

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Installing the 1394 Board

If you purchased the 1394 board separately and you tested your
system, as explained in “Turning On Your Equipment” on page 19,
turn off your system and install the supported 1394 board. The 1394
board can be either a PCI version o r a PCMCIA version that is OHCI
compliant and uses the Texas Instruments (TI) chip.

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If your system does not have a built-in 1394 connection, you need to install a
1394 board into your system.

Follow the instructions in the documenta tion that ships with your
computer to install the 1394 board in the computer. At this time, there
is no specific PCI slot assignm en t f or the 1394 board in desktop
computers.

If you purchased one of the 1394 boards supported by Avid, a new driver for
the board will be installed with the NewsCutter XP software.

Installing the PCI SCSI Board

If you purchased a supported PCI version of a SCSI board and you
tested your system, as explained in “Turning On Y o ur Equipment” on

page 19, turn off your system and install the supported PCI SCSI

board. At this time, Avid supports the Adaptec
board. Other boards might be supported at a later date.

Follow the instructions in the documenta tion that ships with your
computer to install the PCI SCSI board in the computer. At this time,
there is no specific PCI slot assignment for the PCI SCSI board in
desktop computers.

™

29160 PCI SCSI

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Connecting the Application Key

The application key, commonly referred to as a dongle, allows
NewsCutter XP software to run on your computer.

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If you lose your application key, you must purchase another key
from Avid at the full market cost of your NewsCutter XP software.

The applica tion key must be connected to a USB port on the computer.
The earlier parallel port application key can still be used if you are
upgrading to this release. The computer sees the application key when
it is booting. Figure 1-1 shows the application key.

Figure 1-1 Application Key (Dongle)

Setting Your Screen Reso lu tio n

The video playback on your monitor might not display properly,
depending on the type of graphic board you have and the selected
resolution in the monitor display properties. Use Table 1-2 as a
starting point for setting your s creen resolutions.

Table 1-2 Monitor Resolutions

One Monitor Two Monitors

1024 x 768 pixels 2048 x 768 pixels

1152 x 864 pixels 2304 x 864 pixels

1280 x 1024 pixels 2560 x 1024 pixels

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If you use a single video board to drive two monitors, the maximum
resolution at which video will play correctly might be limited. If video does
not play correc tly, try reducing the reso lution to 204 8 x 768.

To change the monitor resolution:

1. Right-click the desktop and choose Properties.
The Display Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Under the Screen Area, drag the slider to the resolution you want.

4. Under Colors, choose True Colors.

5. Click OK.

Repeat this procedure until you find the best resolution for your
graphics board.

Connecting the External SCSI Drives

Avid supports the connection of Low Voltage Differential (LVD) style
SCSI drives to the desktop version of the NewsCutter XP system. No
external SCSI drives are supported on the laptop version of the
NewsCutter XP system at this time.

Avid recommends the use of an Ultra3 LVD/SE SCSI controller board
(SCSI board) with your external SCSI drives. You will need the
following items to connect external SCSI drives to your Avid system:

• A SCSI board

• An LVD SCSI cable from the SCSI board to the first drive (a

30-inch [76.2 cm] or longer cable)

• One or more SCSI LVD drives

• Cables that interconnect the external drives

• An LVD terminator to terminate the end of the SCSI bus

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• A driver for the SCSI board (must be installed before you use the
SCSI drives)

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If the drives you purchased have instructions diffe rent from the procedures
described in this section, use the instructions that came with yo ur drives.

This section contains the followin g topics:

• Preparing the External SCSI Drives

• Cabling the Drives

• Determining the SCSI IDs

Preparing the External SCSI Drives

Avid recommends the following process when you connect external
SCSI drives:

1. Always read the documentation that comes with the drive.

2. Turn off power to the system and drives before you connect or
install any equipment.

3. Cable the drives from your computer to the last drive in the chain,
and terminate the last drive.

4. Determine the SCSI IDs before you physically set them on the
drive.

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Cabling the Drives

You will need the following components to cable a chain of SCSI
drives to the SCSI board:

• Controller cable — This cable is used to connect the SCSI board to

• Interconnect cable — Use shorter cables to connect each SCSI

the first SCSI drive. The distance between the computer and the
first SCSI drive determines the length of the controller cable.

drive in the SCSI chain. This cable is the same type of cable as the
controller cable, but is usually 15 inches (38.1 cm) long.

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You might need a longer interconnect cable if you are connecting the top drive
in a stack of four drives to the bottom drive in another stack of four drives.

• LVD terminator — Always place on the last SCSI drive in the

chain to ensure reliable communication on the SCSI bus.

Figure 1-2 shows an example of a controller cable and an LVD

terminator. The cables that ship with the SCSI drives you purchased
should look similar.

Controller cable

LVD terminator

Figure 1-2 Cable and LVD Terminator

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