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FILE: FAQ.TXT
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DESCRIPTION: Frequently asked questions for TerraTec Home Cinema (THC)
VERSION: 4.12
DATE: 28-June-06
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COPYRIGHT: (c) 2006, TerraTec Electronic GmbH. All Rights Reserved.
Information in this file is the intellectual property of
TerraTec Electronic GmbH.
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CONTENTS
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A. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
1a) Setup
1b) General
1c) DEBUG OUTPUT (Trace.log)
2a) STATION SCAN: Duplicate stations
2b) STATION SCAN: SIGNAL STRENGTH & ANTENNA
2c) STATION SCAN: XML issues
5a) Video issues
5b) Audio issues
6. EPG issues
7. Recording
8. Network
9. Known Limitations
B. ERROR MESSAGES
C. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
D. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
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A. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
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1a) Setup
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? Which rights are necessary to install TerraTec Home Cinema?
! You can install TerraTec Home Cinema as administrator or as standard user. If
you install it as standard user you will get an error message that you are not
allowed to install it for all users. This is OK. You can ignore the message.
? Which rights are necessary to run TerraTec Home Cinema?
! You can run it as administrator, standard or restricted user. But before you
can use it as standard or restricted user the program must be started at least
once with administrator user rights to register all required Direct Show
filters.
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1b) General
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? Where are application settings stored?
! Most settings are stored here:
%Appdata%\TerraTec\CinergyDVR\CinergyDVR.ini
To open the settings file paste this string into the Windows Explorer's
addressbar and press enter.
? I want to run the Remote Control Editor only as long as TerraTec Home Cinema
runs.
! Step 1: Disable the option "Start with Windows" in the Remotec Control Editor
Options.
Step 2: ! Modify the setting in the INI file:
[Main]
Start RC Editor=1
? I got a 'BAD_POOL_HEADER' error message.
! The reason for this error is not really found. It can occur under many
circumstances after the installation of service pack 2.
Workaround: start "msconfig.exe" with 'msconfig -5'
and disable the index service.
? I have a multi CPU motherboard and want to use all CPUs for THC. Why is THC
running only on the first CPU?
! With some dual core CPUs Windows XP has a problem which leads to flickering
video playback. So we limited THC to use only the first CPU. If you want to
use more than one CPU you can use the following INI option:
[Main]
AffinityMask=3
In the AffinityMask you must set a bit for every CPU you want to use.
For example: 1 - only the first CPU
2 - only the second CPU
3 - first and second CPU
4 - only the third CPU
... and so on
For Windows XP Microsoft has published a patch: KB896256
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256/EN-US/
? THC crashes or ends immediately after start.
!1 Maybe a filter causes the problems.
Set the DebugLevel greater than 4 and look what was the last filter THC tries
to load.
=> Deinstall or reinstall this filter.
!2 When you have a Sony Vaio notebook. THC doesn't work with the preinstalled
SonicStage software.
=> Install the latest version of the SonicStage Audio Mastering Filter
software, that is available on the Sony Vaio Link website.
? THC crashes when I try to access a USB device (like Cinergy T²)
! There are many problems with different USB controller. Here some hints to fix
the problems:
1. USB2 controller with an ALI chipset often causes trouble. Try to use a
controller with a NEC chipset (read #5).
2. On windows 2000 the microsoft USB driver causes some trouble.
- Read the knowledge base article 319973 'Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Support
in Windows 2000'
- Install SP4 for windows 2000. Look at the readme
'http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/SP4/ReadMeSP.htm#4_4_support_for_usb%202_0_qirw'
3. On Windows XP install SP2 the new driver should have at least the following
versions:
%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\usbuhci.sys 5.1.2600.2180
%WINDIR%\System32\drivers\usbport.sys 5.1.2600.2180
4. May the hardware can only handle one USB device per controller.
See:
http://www.heise.de/ct/faq/result.xhtml?url=/ct/faq/hotline/03/25/02.shtml&words=USB%202%200
5. Maybe your USB controller doesn't support BUS powered devices.
Some NEC chips only support self powered devices:
uPD720110A only self powered
uPD720112 self powered and bus powered
uPD720113 only self powered
µPD720130 self powered and bus powered
See the NEC page: http://www.ee.nec.de/products/usb/
Well known chips:
NEC µPD720100 makes trouble with Cinergy T²
NEC µPD720101 works better with Cinergy T²
ALI M5273 makes trouble with Cinergy USB XS
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1c) DEBUG OUTPUT (Trace.log)
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? How can I enable the Trace.log?
!1 Go to the options page 'About'
By pressing 'Ctrl+0' ... 'Ctrl+6' you can set the debug level
to 0 ... 6.
The current level is shown in the system info on the same page.
With the button 'Trace.log' notepad opens the log file.
!2 Add the following parameter to the INI file:
[Debug]
TraceLevel=2
The log will be written to <%AppData%\TerraTec\CinergyDVR\Trace.log>.
Valid values for TraceLevel are
0 - Nothing
1 - Error
2 - Warning
3 - User
4 - Info
5 - In/Out
6 - Verbose
? How can I watch the Trace.log at runtime?
! DebugView from www.sysinternals.com is a good solution
? How can I analyse the TS stream?
! Add the following parameters to the INI file:
[DisconCounter]
; Enable counter
Enable=1
; Update interval for dumping
UpdateMs=10000
; 1 = All PIDs (Program IDs), 0 = only sum
DumpAll=1
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2a) STATION SCAN: Duplicate stations found
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? Only Cinergy 1400 DVB-T: During a channel scan I find different stations but
all of them many times. For example ZDF seven times. Many other stations are
missing.
! You use a Cinergy 1400 DVB-T. The driver has sometimes a problem to change the
tuner frequency. You set a frequency, but the tuner keeps the old one.
=> restart the computer.
? During a channel scan I find different stations but all of them many times.
For example ZDF three times. But no stations are missing.
!1 You made the scan with the wrong frequency table
=> Use a different frequency table
!2 You have set your scan intensity to 'fine' or 'finest'.
=> Set the scan intensity to 'normal'. At the moment 'fine' or 'finest' is
only useful in France.
? How can I fine tune my scan settings?
! You can change some timeouts in the device specific ini file:
m_ulWaitForDataLoops ULONG - Loops to wait for Service descriptions. Each loop
has a delay of 500ms.
default 100
WaitForLock (Scan) ULONG - Wait this time [ms] for a tuner lock during scan
default 2000
WaitForLock (Tune) ULONG - Wait this time [ms] for a tuner lock during
normal tune
default 1000
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2b) STATION SCAN: SIGNAL STRENGTH & ANTENNA
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? I have good signal strength (20% or better) but a bad signal quality (~33%).
! If you use an active antenna with amplifier decrease the amplification. In
addition degrade the reception of the antenna: Move it to another position,
shorten some telescopes, cover it with aluminium foil.
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2c) STATION SCAN: XML issues
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? Why do I see no countries in the list on scan dialog?
? Why can I not save or load channel lists?
! You have to install the latest version of Microsoft XML.
(available here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/XML/XMLDownloads/default.aspx)
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5a) Video issues
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? My video is flickering very hard even though I have a dual core CPU.
! Windows XP SP2 scheduler has a bug. See Microsoft knowledgebase article
896256.
The scheduler cannot handle the different power safe state of the two cores.
There is no fix available from Microsoft at this time.
Workaround 1: Disable all power safe option for both CPUs
Workaround 2: Enter the task manager and
set the application to run only on one CPU
TerraTec Home Cinema/Cinergy Digital 3 since Version 3.03
automatically runs only on the first CPU.
Reference: c't 24/2005 page 198 'Ruckler trotz Zweikernprozessor'
? My video is flickering.
! Here some hints to improve the video performance:
- For PCI-Cards use a PCI-Slot with an exclusive IRQ.
You can check the IRQ in device manager view 'by resources'
- Disable 'NeroCheck.exe' at startup (installed by Nero)
- Disable 'PDVDserv.exe' at startup (installed by PowerDVD)
- After playing a computer game retart the system
- disable the cool & quiet Feature for your AMD processor
? My video is flickering, when using VMR-9.
! This may happen on older Systems or Systems with an older display adapter
(e.g. NVIDIA 5200 etc:)
=> Reduce the OSD quality in the user interface options.
? Why can't I disable the VMR-9?
! When the VMR-9 is disabled, the overlay mixer will be used. The overlay mixer
requires the overlay feature of the display adapter. If it can't allocate the
overlay (wrong resolution, wrong color depth, other application uses the
overlay - the reason depends on the display adapter driver) THC falls back to
VMR-9 who doesn't need the overlay.
? My video is flickering, when using 3rd party decoders
! Go to options Audio/Video and try to disable hardware acceleration for the
video decoder.
? My video stops after a few seconds and the application freezes.
! This occurs when you have an ATI RADEON display adapter and use the overlay
mixer.
=> Use VMR9
In the INI file:
[AudioVideo]
Use VMR9=1
? In fullscreen mode the desktop is not completely obscured.
A 4 pixel-wide area at the right and bottom border is not filled with video or
black bars.
! This effect occurs only when the NVidia 'NView Desktop Manager' is activated.
Obviously this tool has a problem calculating fullscreen borderless windows.
Workaround:
a) Disable 'NView Desktop Manager' globally in the NVida settings
b) Disable 'NView Desktop Manager' only for THC (CinergyDvr.exe) in the NVida
settings
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5b) Audio issues
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6. EPG issues
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? ProSieben shows C6 or $3 instead of German Umlauts (äöü) in the EPG.
! This is a known bug of ProSieben. Sometimes the EPG data contains wrong
character codes. At the moment there is no workaround.
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7. Recording
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? How does 'Wakeup' work for a timer?
! Here are some hints for successful recordings:
- In Control Panel -> Power safe options -> Extended options
'Login after wakeup from Standby' must be unchecked
- Wakeup works only for Standby and Hibernate
? How can I format the recording filename
! You can set the template in the INI file:
[Record]
Mask=[name] - [channel] [yyyy]-[mm]-[dd] [hh]-[min]-[sek]
the template for the recording filename understand the following variables:
[yy] - year, two digits (00-99)
[yyyy] - year, four digits (2006)
[dd] - day, two digits (00-31)
[ddd] - day abreviation
[mm] - month, two digits (00-12)
[mmm] - month abreviation (dez)
[hh] - hour, two digits (00-23)
[min] - minute, two digits (00-59)
[sek] - seconds, two digits (00-59)
[channel] - the channel name [CNN]
[name] - name of the program (startrek)
[desc] - description of the program
[user] - name of the user (administrator)
[[] - the character '['
[]] - the character ']'
? How can I record a whole transponder?
! With 'Ctrl+Shift+R' the datastream from the tuner is dumped directely to disk.
The destination is your video recording directory. The filename has the
following pattern: TRPxxxxxx.TS Where xxxxxx is the frequency. The file growth
by 1,5MB per second.
This is primarily a debug feature. Thus there is no indication that a
transponder dump is running. Switching to a new channel stops the t5ransponder
dump.
? How can I watch a transponder dump?
! If transponder dump is found in your video recordings directory. You get an
additional device 'Filestream device' which is disabled.
To use it, disable all other devices an enable the 'filestream device'. Now
you can use it like any other device. Make a channel scan and add the channel
to your favourites.
Limitation: Because usually all EPG data is too old. You can't see EPG or
current/next info. If you set your windows system time to the time
when the TS dump was made, EPG will be visible.
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8. Network
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? What are the login data for the Telnet console?
! Username: zeus
Password: hermes
You can get a list with the available commands with 'help'
We recommend putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/) as
telnet client.
Important settings for putty:
Terminal\Line discipline options
Local echo: Force off
Local line editing: Force off
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9. Known limitations
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! Screenshots
It's not possible to make screenshots with overlay mixer (VMR-9 disabled) and
third-party decoder.
! Fullscreen
On some systems the Taskbar is still visible in fullscreen mode.
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B. ERROR MESSAGES
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? What is the meaning of the error messages?
Error : InstallShield Wizard: Error 1925. You do not have sufficient
privileges to complete this installation for all users of the
machine. Log on as administrator and then retry this installation.
Reason : You started the installation as 'standard user'. A standard user has
not the rights to add the start menu entries for all users.
Solution: Retry the installation with administrator rights
Error : The DirectX version could not be detected.
Reason :
Solution: Install DirectX 9.0c
Error : DirectX version 9.0 or later required.
Reason : An older version of DirectX was detected
Solution: Install DirectX 9.0c
Error : Not all required filters are available.
Reason : The program requires many DirectShow filters (*.ax) to work properly
Solution: Register all *.ax files with regsvr32.
The DirectShow filters are installed to
<%CommonProgramFiles%\TerraTec>
which usually resolves to
<C:\Program Files\Common Files\TerraTec>
Error : No audio device available.
Reason : No soundcard is installed or the soundcard is disabled.
Solution:
Error : No supported receiver device found.
Reason :
Solution: plug in or mount a supported device. At the moment the following
devices are supported:
Cinergy 1200 DVB-C
Cinergy 1200 DVB-S
Cinergy 1200 DVB-T
Cinergy 1400 DVB-T (only DVB)
Cinergy 2400i DT
Cinergy T² (only with BDA driver)
Cinergy T USB XS
Cinergy Hybrid T USB XS (only DVB)
Prodigy Hybrid TV USB (only DVB)
Error : Bad or no signal.
Reason : The tuner could not lock to valid signal
Solution: - plug in an antenna
- try a different position for the antenna
- try an antenna with amplifier
- stop the application and unplug and plug in again the USB receiver
Error : An error occurred while saving favourites!
Reason :
Solution:
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C. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
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- The prefix for a command cab be hyphen('-') or slash ('/')
- Commands are not case sensitive
- Parameter _are_ case sensitive!!!
- String parameters should be enclosed in double quotation marks (e.g. "CNN")
/noinstall - Omits registration of required DirectShow filters
/registeronly - Registers required filters and exits immediately afterwards
/scheduler - Just an indicator to mark that the application was started by
the windows task scheduler
/silent - Starts with a closed video window, no decoder runs
/list - Preselect a special channel list
e.g.: /list:"TV_01"
/list is always be interpreted before /channel
/channel - Preselect a special channel
if /list is not used the current list is used
e.g.: /channel:"Das Erste"
/fullscreen - Starts the video window in fullscreen mode
/minimize Start minimized. The option 'Minimize to tray' will be taken
into account
/reset - Reset all Settings to default values:
- Delete the INI file (will be rewritten on close)
- For all message boxes with the "don't show again option"
reset the flag in the registry
/tvtv_GetJobs - Get new recording jobs from the tvtv server.
/force - Start the application even if an other instance is running.
!!! attention !!!
Use this option only if the application was terminated
abnormally. Running more than one instance will cause
unpredictable behaviour.
Examples:
/list:"TV" /channel:"CNN" - starts with channel 'CNN' from list 'TV'
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D. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
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Common
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0-9 Station selection
Arrow up / down Next / previous station
Enter / Return Shows the station list
A / F7 Next audio mode or track
B Next subtitle (if available)
C Next video track (if available)
Z Switches back to last seen station
Ctrl+V Opens the recordings directory
Ctrl+P Opens the picture directory (screenshots)
ALT+F4 Exit the application
Ctrl+F4 Minimize/restore the control dialog
F1 Open help file
Ctrl+Alt+B Boss key :-)
Audio
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M / NUM * Mute
+/ - Volume up/down
Video window
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F6 / F11 / F Fullscreen
Ctrl+O Sets the optimal size for the video window
F10 / < Set next aspect ratio mode: 4:3 -> 14:9 -> 16:9 etc.
P Video screenshot
Ctrl+X Closes the video window
Ctrl+NUMPAD7 /
Ctrl+NUMPAD9 Zoom video in (keep aspect ratio)
Ctrl+NUMPAD1 /
Ctrl+NUMPAD3 Zoom video out (keep aspect ratio)
Ctrl+NUMPAD6 Zoom video in horizontally
Ctrl+NUMPAD4 Zoom video out horizontally
Ctrl+NUMPAD8 Zoom video in vertically
Ctrl+NUMPAD2 Zoom video out vertically
Ctrl+NUMPAD5 Reset video position and zoom
Ctrl+Alt+NUMPAD2 Move video down
Ctrl+Alt+NUMPAD4 Move video left
Ctrl+Alt+NUMPAD6 Move video right
Ctrl+Alt+NUMPAD8 Move video up
Ctrl+Alt+NUMPAD5 Center video
Transport functions
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Shift+L Fast rewind
Shift+N Fast forward
L Movie mode : jumps to previous file
Timeshift mode: jumps to the beginning of file
N Movie mode : jumps to next file
Timeshift mode: jumps to the live position
ARROW LEFT Jumps 10% back in playback
ARROW RIGHT Jumps 10% forward in playback
Pause Start timeshift
Space Start playback
R Start record
Ctrl+Shift+R Start recording of the complete transponder
X Stop playback / stop record
Movie mode
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Ctrl+C Open Cut! for cutting files
Delete Delete current file
OSD screens
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O Main menu
E EPG
I Information about current program/movie
Ctrl+I Signal information
F1 / S Scheduled recordings
OSD navigation
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F5 Soft key: red
F6 Soft key: green
F7 Soft key: yellow
F8 Soft key: blue
Page up One page up in lists
Page down One page down in lists
Arrow up / down Navigation in lists
Return Select a list item for execution
Escape Exit OSD
Backspace Back to the last control / menu
Teletext
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Ctrl+T Show teletext in a separate window
T Teletext on -> transparent -> off
Home Page 100
Arrow up / down Page + 1 / page - 1
Arrow right Next subpage
Arrow left Previous subpage
0-9 Entry of page numbers
F5 Soft key: red
F6 Soft key: green
F7 Soft key: yellow
F8 Soft key: blue
P Teletext screenshot
Ctrl+A Copy page to clipboard
Ctrl+S Open "Save as" dialog
Ctrl+P Show teletext decoder properties
Backspace Teletext history: previous selected page
Shift+Backspace Teletext history: next page in history
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.