README.TXT For Ventura (TM)
Version Rel 1.8 (Build 69) -- 2/6/98
====================================
Congratulations on your purchase of the REALmagic Ventura DVD and
MPEG2 multimedia playback controller. This file contains important
information not available at the time the manual was printed.
Please take time to read through it for the latest updates.
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$$ I N A S A F E P L A C E . $$
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$$ F U T U R E U P G R A D E S W I L L R E Q U I R E $$
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$$ T H E S E D I S K E T T E S . $$
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SOFTWARE RELEASE NOTICE :
=======================
1 - The audio output will not output noise when S/P DIF output is
enabled.
2 - Support for another variation of the UDF format allowing the
smooth playback of some DVD movies like "From Russia with Love"
and similarly encoded movies.
3 - If subtitles are enabled, very long pauses will not disable it.
4 - Uninstall will remove the REALmagic extensions from WIN.INI.
5 - For developers, the MCI-Signal command is implemented.
6 - A lot of fine tuning between the Ventura drivers and the vaious
VPM/VPE was implemented for a neater playback and scaling.
CONTENTS
========
I - DISPLAY ADAPTER COMPATIBILITY
II - HARDWARE INSTALLATION
III - SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
IV - HINTS FOR HIGHER PERFORMANCE PLAYBACK
V - DVD STATION
VI - GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
VII - TROUBLE-SHOOTING TIPS
VIII - MISCELLANEOUS
IX - TESTED CONTENTS
X - KNOWN CHIPSET ISSUES
I - DISPLAY ADAPTER COMPATIBILITY
=============================
The Ventura board is compatible with the following graphic chips and
the corresponding VPM/VPE drivers :
Graphics Chip Driver Ventura Connection
------------- ------ ------------------
ATI (Rage II and Rage Pro) VPM nVIDIA/ATI connector
Cirrus (5446, 5465, 5480) VPM VMI Interface
nVIDIA (Riva 128) VPE nVIDIA/ATI connector
S3 (ViRGE DX/GX) VPE LPB connector
Trident (9685, 9750) VPM VMI Interface
II - HARDWARE INSTALLATION
=====================
1. Unplug the power to the computer and remove the computer cover.
2. Insert the Ventura card in an available PCI expansion slot.
3. Connect the VGA feature connector, also called as multimedia bus
connector to the corresponding multimedia bus connector on the
Ventura card using a ribbon cable.
4. Reinstall the computer cover.
5. Plug in the power cord and turn on the computer.
III - SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
=====================
VGA drivers installation:
1. Install the display adapter drivers and VPM or VPE according to the
compatibility list as shown above. The VPM or VPE drivers come with
the display adapter drivers.
2. Follow the installation instructions to complete the installation
of the display adapter drivers.
3. For nVIDIA and S3 make sure that Microsoft DirectX 5 or higher is
installed.
Ventura drivers and DVD Navigation software installation:
NOTE : On the Ventura disk 1 (drivers), copy the INF file from the
subdirectory corresponding to your VGA adapter (eg ATI, CIRRUS
LOGIC, ...) to the root directory. Note that under CIRRUS
LOGIC there are two INF files for the chips 5465 and 5480).
1. Boot your system.
2. After the Windows 95 logo appears, the system will recognize
that a new board was installed (Plug-N-Play feature of the
Ventura board) and Windows 95 will start a Driver information
database.
3. New hardware found window will appear with signature "PCI
Multimedia Video Device".
Click Next.
4. Device Driver Wizard will show a window "Insert Disk 1 of
REALMagic Ventura into drive A". The signature "REALmagic Ventura"
will also appear.
5. Insert the REALmagic Ventura diskette 1 in your floppy drive A
and click Finish.
This will install Ventura drivers on your hard disk.
6. To install the DVD navigation software insert diskette 2 into
drive A and run SETUP.
7. This will copy all the applications to the C:\REALMAGC directory
and create the REALmagic Ventura group containing "DVD Station",
"READ ME FILE", "REALmagic Configuration", and "Uninstall".
IV - HINTS FOR HIGHER PERFORMANCE PLAYBACK
=======================================
1. 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.
If you are using Rel OSR2 of Win 95, check on the DMA feature of
your DVD-ROM drive. This can be found in the Device Manager by
double-clicking the entry for the DVD-ROM drive, clicking the tab
Settings, and checking 'On' the DMA feature.
2. Playing long DVD movies, above 4 GB in size, is supported by the
Microsoft CDFS.VXD of Win 95 Rel OSR2.
V - DVD STATION
===========
DVD Station is the DVD Player for DVD-Movies, DVD-ROM's, Audio
CD's, Video CD's and MPEG files. Press the F1 key to view its
extensive help feature.
The Ventura board has an S/PDIF port and can be turned ON in the
DVD-Station by clicking the "Options Dialog" and the tab
"Settings". If the port is switched during playback the movie
will restart from the beginning.
Also this version of DVD-Station has options for the three display
modes : Wide, Pan Scan, and Letterbox.
NOTE : Clicking on the "More Controls" button will display four
sliders for the Gamma Correction (on VGA), Brightness,
Contrast, and Color Saturation. These settings
are VGA card dependent and cannot be controlled by the DVD
station. It also reveals the Segment Play A>B and Slow
Motion.
VI - GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
=======================
1. MCI Support:
A standard MCI driver is supplied. Interactive Multimedia
titles can use the MCI interface to display high quality
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video.
2. File Format Support:
MPEG-1 Video Streams
MPEG-1 Audio Streams
MPEG-1 System Streams
MPEG-2 Video Streams
MPEG-2 Audio Streams
AC3 Audio Streams
MPEG-2 Program Streams
Video CD 1.x
Video CD 2.0 - Interactive features supported through
DVD Station.
DVD-Video
3. DVD Support :
Full Navigation (DVD-Video compliant)
Sub-picture
Sub-titles
Alternate languages
Multiple camera angles
Parental Control
Multiple audio streams
AC-3 audio
PCM audio (48kHz, 96kHz, 16-bit, 20-bit, and 24-bit)
Seamless switching between audio streams
Seamless switching between sub picture streams
Seamless switching between angles
Menus & Buttons
Fast Forward, Slow Motion, Fast Backward
Time Search
Block repeat A>B
Encrypted movies
VII - TROUBLE-SHOOTING TIPS
=====================
1. The drivers are installed and the Hollywood appears in the
"Device Manager" but the CD's won't play.
Run SETUP from the second diskette (Applications) to create the
"REALmagic Ventura" group. This group contains the DVD-Station,
README file, REALmagic Configuration, and Uninstall.
2. With the Ventura board and the drivers correctly installed
the system crashes after boot-up.
Start Win '95 in the Safe mode, select the Ventura board in
the Device Manager, manually change the Memory Range to a
different setting for the Hollywood and reboot.
3. The REALmagic Configuration can be run but when the DVD-Station
is started (or the Media Player with an MPEG file ) the system
hangs.
Check the Device Manager for a conflict in the IRQ resources
and make the necessary change(s).
4. The MPEG files play and the audio can be heard but the video
is a solid color.
Make sure that the VPM or VPE drivers for your display adapter are
installed.
5. 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. And, if your version of Win 95 is OSR2,
turn ON the DMA flag in the
"Device Manager-DVD ROM drive-Settings-DMA."
6. When running Video CD on the CD-ROM drive, the playback
is shaky.
Connect the Video CD drive as a slave to the hard disk and
not on the same controller with the DVD-ROM drive. If you
are using the original release of Win 95 make sure you have
installed the Microsoft fix (IOSYSUPD.EXE - from their web
site). This fix smoothes the playback of Video CDs from
the slave drives.
7. I get an "MMSYSTEM error 275" when I try to play a DVD
encrypted movie.
This can happen if you are using the original release of
Win 95 and you have the CD-ROM drive as a slave to the
DVD-ROM drive. Use the ESDI_506.PDR of OSR2 in the
directory IOSUBSYS.
8. I get noisy MPEG 2 playback with a "portrait" orientation of
the video window.
This must be a 1/2 D1 MPEG 2 file. This format is not fully
supported by the current drivers.
9. I get a video-audio out of sync when playing MPEG.
Turn OFF the Power Management feature of your system.
10.When I pause the movie the picture shakes a little.
This is not a malfunction since the shaking depends on the
position of the Pause.
11.I cannot capture an MPEG 2 PAL frame even though I can capture
MPEG 2 NTSC and MPEG 1 NTSC/PAL.
This will be fixed in next release.
12.I run Paint while running DVD Station and I loose my video
playback.
Change the color depth from 256 to a higher depth.
VIII - MISCELLANEOUS
=============
1. The Ventura board does not support the interlaced display
mode.
2. Under some graphics chips and/or some resolutions, changing
the resolution or color depth ON THE FLY may not perform a
proper MPEG playback.
3. There is no "Auto Repeat" support for DVD movies.
4. Playing VOB files using the Media Player might not show the
best performance because of different navigation schemes.
Use the DVD Station for this.
5. Capturing a PAL frame will give an exception error.
6. The maximum refresh rates allowed with the Ventura MPEG
playback depend partially on the display board and its VPM or
VPE drivers. However the following can be used as a guideline
to the capabilities of the Ventura board :
640 x 480 120 Hz
800 x 600 120 Hz
1024 x 768 85 Hz
1152 x 864 75 Hz
1280 x 1024 60 Hz
1600 x 1200 60 Hz
IX - TESTED CONTENTS
===============
DVD Movies
==========
Movie Movie Studio
----- ------------
Legends of the Fall Columbia
Jerry Maguire Columbia Tristar
Jumanji Columbia Tristar
Dirty Dancing LIVE
Reservoir Dogs LIVE
Star Gate LIVE
Terminator 2 LIVE
The Birdcage MGM/UA
From Russia with Love MGM/UA
Get Shorty MGM/UA
Golden Eye MGM/UA
Rain Man MGM/VA
Rocky MGM/UA
Species MGM/UA
The Wizard Of Oz MGM/UA
The Long Kiss Goodnight New Line
The Mask New Line
Dumd & Dumber New Line
Mortal Kombat New Line
Fargo PolyGram
Four Weddings Funeral PolyGram
Three Tenors PolyGram
Madonna Time Warner
Babe Universal
The Paper Universal
Assassins WB
Batman WB
Batman Forever WB
Batman Returns WB
Blade Runner WB
The Bodyguard WB
Disclosure WB
Eraser WB
The Exorcist WB
The Fugitive WB
Interview With The Vampire WB
Mars Attacks WB
The Right Stuff WB
The Road Warrior WB
Space Jam WB
Ten WB
Tin Cup WB
Under Siege WB
Unforgiven WB
Warner Music Sampler WB
Woodstock WB
Title Producer
----- --------
Chic Live
Muppet Treasure Island Activision
Spycraft* Activision
Wide World of Animals Creative Wonders (needs MMX CPU)
Delrem AAA maps Delorme
Animal Planet Discovery
Connections Discovery
Startrek "Screen Saver" Inter Actual Technologies
Battles of the World The learning Company
Body Work The Learning Company
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia** The Learning Company
Digital Library The Learning Company
The Genius of Edison The Learning Company
Ski World Multicom (key color should be
black). Use REALmagic Config.)
Short (Cinema Journal) Polygram Video
Opera Imaginaire Sigma Designs
Silent Steel Tsunami
Electronica Xiphias
* Spycraft will play normally with Cirrus Logic and Trident, will
have smaller sizes with nVidia and S3 but will not play MPEG
video with ATI.
** Compton's Encyclopedia does not show video with Trident and works
with the other display adapters when key color is black.
X - KNOWN VGA CHIPSET ISSUES
========================
ATI:
----
Board: All in Wonder Chipset: ATI 3D Rage II+DVD
Driver version: 4.03 VPM date: 07/23/97
1. Capturing images from DVD station results in corrupted green
images.
2. When the control panel is attached to MPEG window, doing a fast
forward and slow motion together show either x2x2 or x8x2 on
display panel. Fixed.
nVIDIA:
-------
Board: Velocity 128 Chipset: nVIDIA RIVA
Driver version: 4.10.01.0116 VPE date: 11/06/97
1. In some scenes of Muppet Treasure Island audio/video is out of
sync. Fixed.
2. In some scenes of the game Spycraft following problems may be
observed:
1. Audio/video out of sync. Fixed
2. Blank screen
3. No video shown on screen but text can be seen. Fixed
3. Capturing images from DVD Station does not work. Fixed.
4. For some games like Electronica MPEG (both audio and video) breaks.
S3 Virge DX/GX:
---------------
Board: S3 Virge DX Chipset: 375
Driver version: 4.10.01.2110-3.30.05 VPE date: 11/18/97
1. There is a scaling problem. To view the full picture, maximize the
window.
2. For PAL output, a pink line and solid black bar appears on the MPEG
window. Fixed.
3. Playing DVD form the media player and changing the resolution will
corrupt the desktop. Need to reboot the system. Fixed.
4. For encrypted movies, some noise displays on top of the screen for
TV output.
5. Sometimes, after booting up Windows 95 and launching the DVD
Station, some noise lines appear across the desktop for 2-3
seconds and then disappear. Fixed.
6. In 16 colors, running a DVD Movie from Media Player displays an
error message. Needs to do End Task to clear this message.
7. For the game Ski World, pressing Pause and then Run freezes the
system. Fixed.
Trident:
--------
Board: Trident 3D Image Chipset: 9750
Driver version: 4.00 VPM date: 10/22/97
1. In the title "Battles of the World", while playing MPEG, moving the
progress bar to the beginning causes the DVD Station to play the
wrong MPEG clip.
Board: Trident Providia Chipset: 9685
Driver version: 4.00 VPM: 10/22/97
1. Opening DVD Station repeatedly, the DVD control or MPEG screen
become bright for 1 second.
2. Moving the seek bar forward/backward or clicking forward/rewind
button, either a green horizontal line pass by or half of the
screen gets corrupted while playing MPEG.
3. TV output does not work. Fixed.
4. A green line appears at the bottom of the screen for some
resolutions and refresh rates.
5. Cannot switch to window from full window in 640 x 480 resolution in
the "Opera Imaginaire" title.
======================================================================
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.