README.TXT For NetStream 2000 TV (TM) Drivers for WINDOWS 9x/Me
Version 2.3 (Build 139_2) ------- July 26th, 2001
==================================================
Congratulations on your purchase of REALmagic NetStream 2000 DVD/MPEG2
multimedia Playback . This file contains important information for
installation of the drivers and application software for this card.
_____________________________________
FOR FUTURE updates DRIVERS VISIT OUR WEB SITE
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Latest Drivers & FTP Access - NetStream 2000 TV
____________________
KNOWN LIMITATIONS : (Build 139_2)
=================
- No support for hybernation (Win Me).
- Going to Windows standby mode will drop the TV signal but might
keep a white screen signal with high resolutions. But when
resuming power, the TV display might be shifted to the right -
launching/closing the TV utility will restore proper display.
This shift happens for resolutions above 1024x768.
The white display on TV might happen also with Monitor off status
of power management.
- The TV settings for the desktop will change if switching between
NTSC and PAL. It will not change after shut down/boot up.
- If you go off-limits when adjusting the TV display of the desktop
and you loose the display, press ESC to restore to the default
settings.
- No help file for the TV utility.
- In DVD Station, if you set the output to TV and close it, re-opening
DVD Station will show MPEG behind the desktop. Go full-screen and
back or click the button for TV in the Control Panel twice.
- Bug : switching audio from AC-3 or DTS to stereo using the Language
button will hang DVD Station.
SOFTWARE RELEASE NOTICE
=======================
1 - If you are installing the NetStream 2000TV for the first time, you
need to set its region code by running SETUP from the application
diskette. If the DVD-ROM drive is an RPC2 drive - carrying its
own region code - then you do not need to set a region code for
NetStream 2000TV (NS2KTV). Make sure you set a region code for the new
DVD-ROM drive - this can be achieved with the Windows utility in
Device Manager\CD-ROM tab. If you insert a movie with a region
code mismatching the DVD-ROM drive region - for RPC2 drives, the
tray will be ejected and a Windows error message issued.
2 - The installation will set DVD Station as the default player when
you insert a DVD-ROM movie disc.
3 - DTS audio is supported : whenever you choose the DTS option in a
movie menu the OUTPUT WILL BE DIRECTED THRU THE SP/DIF OUPUT IN
DIGITAL FORMAT REGARDLESS OF THE DVD STATION AUDIO OUPUT SETTING,
so the DTS stream is NOT decoded thru the analog mini audio jack.
4- The program NetStream 2000TV Utility allows you to output the VGA
desktop besides the MPEG output on the TV set.
CONTENTS
========
I - DRIVER AND APPLICATIONS INSTALLATION
II - BORDER ADJUSTMENT AND COLOR CALIBRATION
III - DVD REGION CODE CHANGE
IV - TV OUT
V - FULL SCREEN PLAYBACK
VI - HINTS TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS AND BETTER PLAYBACK
VII - SYSTEM MONITOR
VIII- RELEASE ISSUES AND KNOWN BUGS
I - DRIVER AND APPLICATIONS INSTALLATION
================================
=========================================================
YOU NEED TO INSTALL DIRECTSHOW PRIOR TO THIS INSTALLATION
IF YOU PLAN TO USE DIRECTSHOW APPLICATIONS. THE DVD STATION
PLAYER DOES NOT NEED DIRECTSHOW.
=========================================================
After the hardware installation of the card do the following:
1. For an existing installation (if not go to step 2): uninstall the
previous software by going to the REALmagic Group - Uninstall,
reboot, and follow next steps 2 to 7 below.
NOTE : Uninstall does not remove the hidden INF entry under
C:\Windows\INF for the board
NOTE : You do not need when running SETUP of step 5 to set the
region code again as mentioned in step 6.
2. On booting your system, Windows 9X will detect the card. Insert the
REALmagic NS2KTV Drivers Disk in your floppy drive A and
click Finish. This will install NS2KTV drivers on your hard disk.
3. To install the application software insert Applications Disk into
drive A: and run SETUP.
4. The Setup program will show two options: Install the REALmagic DVD
application or Change the DVD region code.
5. Check the DVD application installation option and follow the
instructions.
6. Re-run the SETUP program from the applications disk and select
this time "Set the region code" and follow instructions.
7. Click Finish to complete the installation process by performing
Auto Calibration.
II - BORDER ADJUSTMENT AND COLOR CALIBRATION
=======================================
NOTE: If the border is not adjusted properly after Auto Calibration
you may need to set the Border Adjustment to get more
accurate adjustment. You need to set the Border Adjustment
only once for each setting of display resolution.
1. At the Start button, click Programs and select REALmagic NetStream
program group. Click REALmagic Configuration.
2. Click on Adjust Border and use the proper buttons to adjust the
black rectangle in the magenta box.
3. Change different values to adjust stability if you are viewing
jumping pixels on MPEG video. Click OK when you are done.
4. The Reset Default button will reset the color calibration and
border adjustment values to the factory default settings.
Note 1: Color calibration is required if the colors are not
normal or the screen is pink or not clear. If color
calibration is required, Click on "Auto Calibration". The
screen will flash for 5 to 10 seconds then displays a
message that the calibration is complete. Click OK.
Note 2: In the cases where this calibration is unsuccessful,
you can click on Advanced..., then the Manual
Calibration. This will involve fixing the R, G, B
sliders as shown in the window four times. You can use the
up/down arrow keys for fine tuning and you don't need
necessarily to see the cross but just the disappearance
of the vertical bar.
III - DVD REGION CODE CHANGE
======================
Note: The following step is not needed if you have an RPC2 DVD-ROM
drive that carries its own region code.
Run the set program from Application disk. Select DVD Region Code
change option. Set the region code according to the country you
are in. You do NOT need to set the region code when Uninstalling/
installing new drivers.
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
Note: The setup program will allow you to change the region code
for five times. If you want to reset the region code settings
after five times contact the card manufacturer or an
authorized distributor or service center. A nominal handling
fee will be charged.
IV - TV OUT
======
The REALmagic NS 2000 can display on a VGA monitor or a TV.
The TV could be NTSC or PAL regardless of the NTSC/PAL encoding
of the MPEG/movie data. A PAL 60 option is provided for a
smoother playback of NTSC movies on PAL TVs with this support.
To switch between VGA/TV modes, an icon is provided on the left
corner of the DVD Station control panel that toggles between
computer monitor and TV.
In order to display on a TV, some additional settings may be
required. From the DVD Station control panel click Options button.
This will open a window for options setting. Click the settings tab.
Select the options according to your TV type. The color control,
brightness, and contrast controls have also been provided for TV.
The TV output option has four settings :
- MultiSystem : the output will follow the source of the movie,
i.e. if NTSC movie the output will be NTSC
and if PAL movie the output will be PAL (50)
- NTSC : For NTSC TVs
- PAL : For standard PAL TVs with 50 Hz frequency
- PAL 60 : the output will be at a frequency of 60 Hz, the same
as NTSC but with PAL colors (needs TV set with this
capability)
Note : Some TVs are sensitive with video frequency input and may
show Black and White video on TV. This has specially been
noticed on some PAL TVs. In such a situation do the
following WHILE the TV-Out option is active and DVD/MPEG is
playing on TV.:
1. From the DVD station click the "Options Dialog -
Settings tab.
2. Press Configure and then press Advanced Settings.
3. Select Expert Settings and click the mouse. This
will open a pop-up window. Adjust different values
until you have color picture on TV. Notice that you
need to keep on going in one direction when changing
the values i.e. either always increasing or
decreasing because of the hysteresis nature of this
adjustment.
Some PAL TVs with SCART/S-Video adapters will not show
colors thru their S-Video inputs but will show a B&W picture.
Either the TV set is not tuned to the proper channel or the
TV set does not support S-Video input.
Note : Use the NetStream TV Utility program to adjust the desktop
on the TV output. More in the manual.
V - FULL SCREEN PLAYBACK
====================
In order to playback in full screen, double click the left button
of mouse anywhere in the MPEG window or press Ctrl+Z. This will
playback the video in full-screen mode. In order to go back to the
window mode, press Space in full-screen mode and it will resume
playback in the restored MPEG window. If you need to start
DVD Station in full-screen mode, you can do it by adding the line
"fullscreen=1" in the [Settings] section of WVP.INI in the
directory where you installed the applications (usually REALmagic).
VI - HINTS TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS AND BETTER PLAYBACK
=============================================
1. The MPEG files play and the audio can be heard but the video is a
solid color.
Run "REALmagic Configuration" and select "Auto Calibration." Or,
make sure that the output of the Display Adapter is routed to the
NS 2000 input and the Display Adapter's output is routed to
the monitor.
2. The picture is waving.
Run "REALmagic Configuration," select "Border Adjust" and adjust
the STABILITY: smoothness of the two vertical sides.
3. MPEG 1 files run normally, but DVD movies are shaky.
Make certain that the DVD-ROM drive is connected as a Master on the
IDE controller. Also make sure of using Bus Mastering IDE drivers.
4. For DVD-ROMs that require high data transfer rates, it is better to
have the DVD-ROM drive connected to an IDE controller with the
"Bus Master" mode activated.
5. Capturing of an MPEG frame from an encrypted DVD movie is not
supported because of Copyright issues. In other cases the capture
feature gives its best results at a color depth of 64K (16 bits)
or higher.
6. Playing VOB files using the Media Player might not show the best
performance because of different navigation schemes. Use the
DVD Station for this.
7. Video is fine on VGA but is Black and White on TV.
Please see section for TV-Out.
8. When watching the movie on TV, the picture gets dimmer and brighter
at short intervals and with some movies some yellow horizontal
lines appear on the TV screen.
The TV set is connected to the PC system via a VCR or an alike
device. This device initiates the Macrovision protection of the
movie. Connect the TV directly to the PC system.
9. The S-Video connector on NS2KTV is a 7-hole jack and
my S-Video cable has a 4-pin socket only.
The 4-pin cable is compatible with the 7-pin socket. There are
more pins on the 7-pin socket to provide for the composite TV
output.
10. I lost the S-Video/Composite Adapter cable and have no access to
another one.
Order another one from your supplier. In the USA, you can check
the phone number or the email address of the fulfillment center on
the web site . The pinout of this adapter is as follows :
_________
/ \
| 7 6 5 |
| 4 3 2 1 |
| |
\ OOOOO /
---------
1:GND
2:Composite
3:GND
4:GND
5:Luma
6:not connected
7:Chroma
11. You want DVD Station to check your DVD-ROM first and it has a
drive letter after the CD-ROM.
DVD Station allows you to set your preferred drive (Options -
Tab : Play List).
12. You see the video but no audio.
- Try first the speakers plugged in NS 2000 and be sure the
output from DVD Station is Stereo.
- Then check the audio jumper cable from the output of NS 2000
to the input of the sound card. If no sound, check the
volume mixer to have Line-in NOT muted or at low level.
- If you are using a Dolby Digital Receiver, make sure that it
accepts AC-3 streams and your setting in DVD Station is AC-3.
13. The maximum refresh rates allowed with the NS 2000 MPEG
playback depends on a combination of the display adapter, and
the monitor and some of these combinations may show
a little degradation in the desktop display because of the
overlay. The MPEG playback is not affected. However, the
following can be used as a guideline:
640 x 480 100 Hz
800 x 600 100 Hz
1024 x 768 85 Hz
1152 x 864 75 Hz
1280 x 1024 60 Hz
1600 x 1200 60 Hz
14. The NS 2000 does NOT support the MP3 files playback.
15. You have a third generation DVD-ROM drive (RPC2 specs that require
a region code on the drive) and you cannot playback movies.
Run the manufacturer utility for this drive to set the region code
to your country code.
16. You can add the option "/f=filename" on the command line of
DVD Station to allow the direct playback of a file.
17. What is the pinout of the VGA signals on the pass-thru cable ?
View of the 9 pin socket of the pass-through cable,
seen from the bracket:
_________
/_________\
| |
| 9 8 7 |
| 6 5 4 3 |
\ 2 1 /
---------
1:Blue IN
2:GND
3:Green IN
4:GND
5:Vsync IN
6:Hsync IN
7:Red IN
8:SDA (from pin12 of DB15) - for PnP monitors
9:SCL (from pin15 of DB15) - for PnP monitors
VII - SYSTEM MONITOR
==============
There are a variety of statistics that are displayed in the
Windows System Monitor utility under the heading RM 8400.
This can be a very useful tool for developers.
These are described below:
1) # interrupts/sec
2) Audio int/sec - "Audio interrupts per second"
3) Video events pending
4) Audio events pending
5) Video bytes queued - "Video bytes queued not sent yet to HW"
6) Audio bytes queued - "Audio bytes queued not sent yet to HW"
7) Video bytes/second - "Video bytes sent per second"
8) Audio bytes/second - "Audio bytes sent per second"
9) VideoFullness - "Bytes in VideoHardware Fifo"
10) AudioFullness - "Bytes in AudioHardware Fifo"
11) MemoryCheck
12) LockedMemorySize
13) LockedPages
14) AllocMemory
15) NewMemory
16) NodesAllocated
VIII- RELEASE ISSUES AND KNOWN BUGS
=============================
Transport Streams containing multiple Programs (PID's) are supported
under DirectShow. You can select the PID you desire by using the Property
Page of the REALmagic Splitter Filter. This can also be programmably
controlled through C++ programming in DirectShow.
The MCI driver will open the MPEG file window by default with the same
size of the MPEG file frame size. DirectShow will open by aspect
ratio.
DirectShow support is implemented for MPEG-1 and -2, including System,
Program and Transport Streams.
The standard I_Async_Reader interface (Pull) is supported.
The new I_Mem_Input interface (Push) is supported.
MPEG-1 Payload data is supported.
You can play back video using the standard Windows Media Player
DirectShow - which is installed with Internet Explorer.
Playing a high bit rate file from a slow device as
a CD-ROM drive, multiple quick SEEKs might cause the player to stop
responding.
Playback from some 24x CD-ROM drives does not work well because some of
these high-speed drives repeatedly speed up and slow down, which causes
the MPEG data to stream very poorly. This causes frequent "drops." Use
the System control panel to set the buffer value for your CD-ROM drive
as high as possible.
We have experienced AV out-of-synch of up to 2 sec. at the play start.
With a combined slow CPU and a high bit rate of the MPEG streams, it
may take longer to synchronize.
======================================================================
END OF FILE
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.