Terratec TVALUE878 VXD User Manual

Version BT878

Manual (english)

26.08.99

TerraTValue PCI 1

CE Declaration

We:

TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany

hereby declare that the product:

ReceiverSystem TerraTValue

to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standardizing documents:

1. EN 55022

2. EN 50082-1

The following are the stipulated operating conditions and environmental conditions for said compliance:

Residential, business and commercial environments and small-company environments.

This declaration is based on:

Test report(s) of the EMC testing laboratory

TerraTec EWS

ProMedia, SoundSystem Gold, SoundSystem Maestro, SoundSystem Base1, AudioSystem

64, AudioSystem EWS88 MT, XLerate, XLerate Pro, Base2PCI, TerraTec 128iPCI, TerraTV+, TerraTV Radio+, TerraTValue, WaveSystem, MIDI Smart and MIDI Master Pro are trademarks registered by TerraTec Electronic GmbH Nettetal.

In most cases, the designations used in this handbook for software and hardware are also registered trademarks and are thus subject to the relevant regulations.

©TerraTec

Meticulous care has been exercised in the preparation of all text passages and illustrations in this User Guide. TerraTec Electronic GmbH and its authors, however, accept no liability, legal or otherwise, for errors or the consequences of such errors. We reserve the right to technical modifications.

All text passages in this documentation are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, by photography, microfilming or other process or rendered into a language/form usable by computers without the prior, written consent of the authors. All rights for use and propagation by presentation, radio and television are also reserved.

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Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Key features................................................................................................................................... 6

System Requirements ................................................................................................................... 6

Package Contents.......................................................................................................................... 6

Hardware Overview........................................................................................................................... 7

Installing the Hardware..................................................................................................................... 8

Windows 98 Installation ..................................................................................................................10

Step – 1 .........................................................................................................................................10

Step – 2......................................................................................................................................... 11

Uninstalling the Drivers................................................................................................................ 11

Windows 95 Installation OSR-1 / OSR-2 ..........................................................................................12

Installing the TV Software................................................................................................................12

Important System Settings for Operating the TV Card ....................................................................13

Important Settings for Sound Card Owners..................................................................................14

On the Search for Connections – The Connection of External Devices to the TV Card.....................15

Connecting an External Device with Antenna Out ........................................................................15

Connecting an External Device with Video-Out ............................................................................16

Connecting an External Device with SVHS-Out ............................................................................17

Connecting an External Device with Scart Out .............................................................................18

Attention! -Connecting Audio to the TV Card............................................................................... 20

The TV Software in Detail.................................................................................................................21

The Surface of the TV Software ....................................................................................................21

Shortcut Keys in the TV Software................................................................................................22

Touch of a Button – The Functions of the Right Mouse Button ................................................... 23

Quick Access – The Channel List in the Status Bar...................................................................... 24

Editing Channel Settings ............................................................................................................. 25

Adding Stations Manually ........................................................................................................... 26

The "File" Menu .......................................................................................................................... 27

The "View" Menu ........................................................................................................................ 28

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The "Channel" Menu................................................................................................................... 29

The "Options" Menu ...................................................................................................................30

Uninstalling the TV Software....................................................................................................... 35

Attention! – Recording Parameters of Video Sequences ................................................................ 36

The Big Picture – Important Information about the Video Format............................................... 36

Less is often More – The Number of Frames per Second to be Recorded ...................................38

More or Less - Determine the Compression ................................................................................ 39

The Right Sound – The Audio Parameters for Video Sequence Recording.................................. 40

In Detail - More Video Recording Settings ...................................................................................41

Attention Trap – Recording a Video Sequence................................................................................ 42

Say Cheese - Recording a Single Frame.......................................................................................... 44

Always Informed – The Teletext Software....................................................................................... 45

The Surface of the Teletext Software .......................................................................................... 45

The Symbol Bar of the Teletext Software .................................................................................... 46

The "File" Menu .......................................................................................................................... 47

The "Teletext" Menu................................................................................................................... 48

Status / Error List - Teletext Decoding ........................................................................................ 50

The TerraTec Hotline........................................................................................................................51

FAQ.................................................................................................................................................. 52

4 TerraTValue

Introduction

With the receiver system TerraTValue you have taken the next step towards a new multimedia future. Watch your favorite television station while comfortably reading teletext, and, at the same

time, let Intel transmitted over your television signal. Of course, the necessary software is included.

The performance of the included 32-bit applications ensures the completely stable, flicker-free display of the TV picture on your PC monitor. The view of the display screen can be freely adjusted up to a size of 768 x 576. If that's not enough, use the full-screen mode for maximum screen area without distracting menus or tool bars. Are you looking for an interesting program? The mosaic function can give you a hand by displaying an overview of up to 100 stations simultaneously for fast navigation through the station jungle.

Forget about tiresome manual station selection. The TV software's scan function automates the installation of stations without manual intervention. The integrated capture function lets you make compressed recordings of running programs from a connected video camera or VCR. The degree of compression is user-definable.

The included teletext software features high-speed display and very convenient handling. Forget about long waits and keying in page numbers. Simply navigate the world of teletext with your mouse. An internal buffer of the teletext software directly loads all available teletext pages for the program currently running, so that these are available to you at the touch of a button.

IntercastÒ Technology show you selected Internet sites. These can now be

TerraTValue proves itself to be connection-friendly through a coaxial antenna connection (just like you are used to from your house antenna), a video-in for a video camera or VCR and a SVHS input for high-grade SVHS components. The no fuss connection of a video camera or webcam to

TerraTValue makes it ideal for video conferencing via the Internet.

TerraTValue PCI 5

Key features

· Brooktree 878 chipset

· Intel

IntercastÒ Technology – Receiving

Internet sites via TV signals

· High-speed teletext – teletext without

delay

· Recording of stills and video sequences

· TV screen scalable up to full screen size

· Multiple-station preview of up to 100

stations simultaneously

· SVHS and video inputs for external video sources

· Win95/98 compatible

· Ideal for Internet video conferencing

· 2 year warranty

System Requirements

· Pentium 90 MHz

· Windows 95 or 98

· 1 free PCI 2.1 master slot

· Active speakers or a sound card

· 1 free interrupt

If your PC and equipment do not meet these requirements, the TerraTValue will not operate correctly.

· CD-ROM drive (to install the drivers and software)

· 1 PCI VGA card with Direct Draw drivers and Video Overlay support

Package Contents

· TerraTValue Card

· External Audio Cable (for connecting to the

Line-in input of a sound card)

· TerraTValue CD-ROM with drivers,

TerraTValue Software, Intel

Intercast Viewer, MS Netmeeting, Videotext Software, DirectX 6.0, Acrobat Reader

6 TerraTValue

Hardware Overview









 SVHS-In

 Video-In

 Audio-Out

 Antenna Terminal

7 TerraTValue

Installing the Hardware

Install the hardware as follows:

1. Switch off your PC and all connected peripheral devices, such as printer, monitor and so on. Leave the AC cord 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 yourself and discharge static. Now unplug the cord from the AC mains socket.

3. Now remove the your PC's casing.

4. Look for a free PCI expansion slot. When selecting the PCI slot, note that TV cards should not be plugged into PCI slot 1 in conjunction with an AGP graphics card, because PCI slot 1 is always assigned the same interrupt as the AGP slot. This would give both cards the same interrupt, which can lead to crashes during operation! The numbers assigned to the PCI slots are listed in 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 through your computer and the TV card is not damaged.

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 aligned with the slot’s socket (refer to the following illustration).

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

8. Fasten the TV card with an appropriate screw.

9. If a sound card is installed, connect the TV card to it using the supplied jack-jack cable. Plug one end into the audio output of the TV card and the other end into the Line-In terminal on the sound card (refer to the following illustration).

8 TerraTValue

fig. 1: Connect the output of the TV card to the input of the sound card as shown

in this illustration.

If you connect the TV card to the sound card, be sure to read the section called Important Settings for Sound Card Owners on page 14!

10. Replace the cover of your PC case.

11. Using the supplied adapter, connect the antenna cable (which you would normally connect to the antenna input terminal on your television) to the antenna terminal on the TV card. Reconnect the mains and all other cables. Make sure that your speakers are set to low volume. Start your computer.

TerraTValue 9

Windows 98 Installation

Step – 1

1. Install the TerraTValue hardware and start Windows 98.

2. During startup, place the provided TerraTValue CD into your CD-ROM drive.

3. After Windows 98 has started, the TerraTValue is detected as a PCI Multimedia Video

Device. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button.

4. Using the mouse, select the Search for the best driver for the device. (Recommended)

option and confirm your choice by clicking Next.

5. Enable the check box next to CD-ROM drive. Confirm this setting by clicking Next.

6. Windows 98 now informs you that it has found the driver for the TerraTValue. Confirm the

message by clicking the Next button. Windows 98 then copies and installs all of the required driver files.

7. When the installation is complete, Windows 98 informs you that all drivers for the device

have been installed. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button.

10 TerraTValue

Step – 2

1. When the first part of the installation is complete, Windows 98 finds a second device called TerraTValue – Audio Section. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button.

2. Using the mouse, select the Search for the best driver for your device. (Recommended) option and confirm your choice by clicking Next.

3. Enable the check box next to CD-ROM drive. Confirm this setting by clicking Next.

4. Windows 98 now informs you that it has found the driver for the TerraTValue – Audio Section. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button. Windows 98 then copies and installs all of the required driver files.

5. When the installation is complete, Windows 98 informs you that all drivers for the device have been installed. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button. This concludes the installation of the drivers.

Uninstalling the Drivers

The easiest way to uninstall the drivers is to use the Uninstall utility which you can find in the

\Drivers\Uninstall directory of your TerraTValue CD or at our Internet site at

www.terratec.net. Uninstall the drivers as follows:

1. To uninstall the TerraTValue drivers, run the Uninstall utility.

2. Click the Uninstall button.

3. Once all drivers have been uninstalled, a message is displayed informing you that the uninstallation was successful. Confirm the message by clicking the Exit button.

4. This concludes the uninstallation of the TerraTValue drivers.

TerraTValue 11

Windows 95 Installation OSR-1 / OSR-2

1. Install the TerraTValue hardware and start Windows 95.

2. During startup insert the TerraTValue CD provided in your CD-ROM drive.

3. After Windows 95 has started, the TerraTValue is detected as a PCI Multimedia Video Device. Confirm the message by clicking the Next button.

Enter as the installation path, for example E:\Drivers. Confirm by clicking OK. If necessary, enter the installation path again. If your CD-ROM drive is designated by another letter, you will have to adjust the path accordingly (for example, G:\Drivers, Z:\Drivers).

Installing the TV Software

TerraTValue includes high-quality, 32-bit TV software, which provides a colorful spectrum of features and makes the operation of the individual TV functions more convenient. Install the TV software as follows:

5. Start the TerraTValue Autostarter by placing the TerraTValue CD into your CD-ROM drive or by running the Autorun.exe file located in the main directory of the CD.

6. Select the language to be used for the installation.

7. To install the TerraTValue software, click the TV software button. Follow the instructions of the installation program. After installation you will find the TerraTValue software and the online user manual in the program group TerraTValue.

12 TerraTValue

Important System Settings for Operating the TV Card

Observe the following items to ensure that the TV card provides optimal performance:

· The color depth for your graphics board should be set to a minimum of 16 bits or 65536 colors so that the TV image can be displayed in true-to-life color. You can change the color depth setting for your graphics board under Control Panel > Display. For questions regarding the configuration of the color depth, refer to the manual provided with your graphics board.

· The TV card blends the TV/Video data directly into the memory of your graphics board through the PCI bus. This requires direct access to the hardware of the graphics board. Because direct access under Windows is only possible through a DirectX driver, your graphics board must be equipped with a DirectX driver that supports Video Overlay. Video Overlay refers to the blending of the TV data into the graphics board memory. If you are not sure whether your graphics board driver supports DirectX, acquire the newest drivers for your graphics board and then install the newest version of DirectX. The DirectX 6.0 drivers are provided in the \DirectX directory of the TerraTValue CD!

· If you own a mainboard with VIA or SIS chipset, you should check certain settings in your system BIOS. If you do not know what chipset is installed on your mainboard, refer to your mainboard manual or try to locate large, obvious chips on your mainboard and compare their labels with the following list.

Important: You might find that the chipset on your mainboard matches one of the chipsets listed in the following but that the corresponding setting is not available in your BIOS. In this case, try to activate the corresponding options by acquiring a BIOS update. Another way of accessing the corresponding settings is by using the TweakBIOS utility, which you can download from the Internet. This tool allows you to enable hidden BIOS settings.

Chipset Note:

VIA VT82c598 MVP Set the CPU to PCI Write Buffer option to disabled. You can find

this setting in your BIOS under the PnP/PCI-Configuration item.

VIA VT82c598 MVP3 Set the CPU to PCI Write Buffer option to disabled. You can find

this setting in your BIOS under the PnP/PCI-Configuration item.

SIS 5582 Set the Peer Concurrency option to disabled. You can find this

setting in your BIOS under the Chipset Features Setup item.

TerraTValue 13

Important Settings for Sound Card Owners

If you have connected the Audio output of the TV card to the Line-In input of your sound card using the provided jack-jack cable, you will have to make certain settings in the mixer for the sound card so that you can hear and record the TV/Video tone.

fig. 2: Connect the TV and sound card as illustrated here.

To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Double-click the volume control icon illustrated here which is found on the

taskbar.

2. Be sure that the Mute option under the Line-In slider is not checked and that the Line-In

slider is not at the bottom of its range.

3. Select the Options\Properties menu item.

4. Set the Adjust volume for option to Record. Confirm your choice by clicking OK.

5. Now enable the check box below the Line-In slider and set the Line-In slider to its middle

position. By checking the check box below Line-In, you define the Line-In input of your sound card as a recording input source. This is required if you want to record a video sequence with sound!

Close Volume Control to complete the sound card configuration.

14 TerraTValue

On the Search for Connections – The Connection of External Devices to the TV Card

In this chapter, you will learn everything you need to know about connecting external devices such as VCRs, video cameras and satellite receivers. Generally, you can connect external devices to TerraTValue through the antenna, video or SVHS inputs.

Which connection you can or should use depends on the type of device you want to connect. So, first of all, check to see which outputs your device has. Refer to the following illustration:

Antenna Out Video-Out SVHS-Out Scart-out

Compare your device to the illustration shown to figure out your connection possibilities. To connect the device follow one of the following segments. They will provide you with detailed information on how to proceed with the connection process!

Connecting an External Device with Antenna Out

You can connect external devices with antenna out to the antenna in of the TV card by using a standard 75 ohm antenna cable (see illustration 3).

fig. 3: 75 ohm antenna cable

TerraTValue 15

Connecting an External Device with Video-Out

External devices that have a Video-Out port can be connected to the Video-In port of TerraTValue using a cinch/cinch cable (see the following illustration).

fig. 4: Use this cable to connect a device with a Video-Out port.

Proceed with the cable connection as follows:

1. Plug in the cinch cable with one end in the video out of the external device and the other end in the video in of the TV card.

2. Under the menu point Options\Video Source in the TV software choose the setting Composite , so that the video picture of the external device will be shown. You can also set the video source Composite , by clicking on the V-interface which is shown on the left side of the symbol bar in the TV software.

NOTE! When attaching a cinch cable, please read the segment Attention! - Connecting Audio to the TV Card at the end of this topic.

16 TerraTValue

Connecting an External Device with SVHS-Out

External devices that have a SVHS-Out port can be connected to the TV card by using a connector cable with male plugs on both ends. (see the following illustration)

fig. 5: SVHS/SVHS cable

Proceed with the cable connection as follows:

1. Plug in the SVHS cable with the one end in the SVHS-Out of the device you want to connect and the other end in the SVHS-In of the TV card.

2. In the TV software under the menu point Options\Video Source choose the setting SVideo, so that the video picture of the external device is shown. You can also set the video source SVideo, by clicking on the S-button shown to the left side of the TV software's symbol bar.

NOTE! When attaching a SVHS cable, please read the segment Attention! - Connecting Audio to the TV Card at the end of this topic.

TerraTValue 17

Connecting an External Device with Scart Out

If you want to connect a device that has a scart out, you will need a special adapter cable to make the connection to the TV cable.

The cable you will need must have a scart port on one side which you plug into the external device. The other side will have three male cinch plugs (see illustration left). The three cinch plugs will carry the left and right audio signals as well as the video signal.

Scart cable

y-cable

Proceed with the connection to the TV card as follows:

1. Connect the cinch plug for video with the Video-In of the TV card.

2. Connect the scart cable's left audio and right audio to the two cinch connectors and

the y-cable.

3. Plug in the y-cable's jack plug to the Line-In input of your sound card.

For you be able to connect the left and right audio cables with the Line-In input of your sound card, you will need

the other two cinch connectors and a y-cable (see illustration).

cinch connectors

4. In the TV software under the menu point Options\Video Source choose the setting

Composite, so that the video picture of the external device is shown. You can also set the video source composite by clicking on the V-button on the left side of the symbol bar in the TV software.

NOTE! When attaching a scart cable, please read the following segment Attention! - Connecting

Audio to the TV Card.

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