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miroMEDIA PCTV
Readme.txt  version 1.00                                          12.12.1996

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This text contains important information for the miroMEDIA PCTV user.
If you encounter any problems when working with the miroMEDIA PCTV,
please read the manual and this text. 
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Contents

1.00    Installation miroMEDIA PCTV
1.10    Before starting the installation
1.20    Windows95 - installation
1.30    Driver update
2.00    Tips and tricks for miroMEDIA PCTV
2.10    Use of miroMEDIA PCTV as overlay monitor
2.11    Video Overlay support in general
2.20    miroMEDIA PCTV as overlay monitor with DC1/DC20
2.30    Incorrect colors during TV playback    
2.40    Blue TV-screen
3.00	Important hints on miroMEDIA PCTV
3.10    Maximum resolution with miro graphics boards and overlay
3.20    Changing the resolution during capturing with active video overlay
3.30    Interrupt sharing
3.40    Hard disks
3.41    Enhanced-IDE hard disks
3.50    VidCap32
3.51    VidCap32 and NTSC standard
3.52    VidCap32 and Media Player
3.53    Known bugs with VidCap32
3.60    Single frame capturing
3.70    Remote
4.00    Known restrictions
4.10    DIRECT X3
4.20    Primary
4.30    Cropping
4.40    Capturing in YUV9 format
5.00    miro services
6.00    Changes to the last driver versions

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1.0     Installation
1.1     Before starting the installation

Before you start installing the miroMEDIA PCTV board, make sure that
an already installed video device will be removed.

!!! Attention: Driver errors may occur !!!


1.2     Windows95 installation

Please switch the computer off and insert the miroMEDIA PCTV board into
a free BUSMASTER-capable PCI slot. Start Win95.

During the Windows 95 hardware detection the following message appears:

"New hardware component found - PCI Multimedia Device" 

Then the "New hardware component found" dialog box appears. Select the
"Driver on hardware manufacturer´s diskette" option.
Follow the instructions given by the Hardware Wizard.
You will find the drivers in this directory:
<CD-ROM drive letter> :\disksets\win95


1.3     Driver update

If you want to update the driver, please use the SETUP program located on the 
driver CD. This program deletes all drivers installed under Windows 95 
and installs the new drivers the next time Windows 95 is started.

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2.00    Tips and Tricks for the miroMEDIA PCTV board
2.10    miroMEDIA PCTV as overlay monitor

The miroMEDIA PCTV board allows you to monitor the video capture of the 
miroVIDEO DC1/DC20 boards. This means that you do not need a second 
TV set for this purpose.

2.11    Overlay support in general

In general, state-of-the-art PCI graphics adapters with S3 Trio 64V+ or 
S3 Virge graphics processors are able to support a PCI overlay. 
Some manufacturers don't support this function in their Windows 95 drivers. 
You can easily check if your graphics board supports this function 
by opening the "VIDEO DC30 Configuration" program and click the "Test" button.
If you notice any disturbances in the overlay windows during capturing, change
the overlay scaling in VidCap32 in the "Options" menu and and switch Video
Display into the next smaller level. In doubt, select the "Small resolution"
option for the overlay scaling. This should fix the disturbances in the video
overlay windows.


2.20    miroMEDIA PCTV in conjunction with the miroVIDEO DC1/miroVIDEO DC20 
        boards

Hardware installation:

The video source supplying the master video signal has to be connected to the 
"Video IN" connector of the miroVIDEO DC1 and the miroVIDEO DC20 board.
Then, connect the video output of the miroVIDEO DC1 or the miroVIDEO DC20 
board to the "Video IN" connector of the miroMEDIA PCTV board.

Software description:

ATTENTION!! : Premiere always uses the first Codec which was entered, independently
whether it is a DC1/DC20 codec or another one.

Therefore you should install the miroVIDEO DC1 or miroVIDEO DC20 software first
to ensure that this board (or to be more precise the codec) is entered first. 
Install the miroMEDIA PCTV board afterwards.
If the boards are installed in another order, please change the order of the codecs
manually via "Multimedia" (//Start//Control Panel//Multimedia//Advanced//
Video Compression Codecs". Put miroVIDEO DC1 or DC20 to the first position
in the list.
For miroVIDEO DC20/DC1 start DC20/DC1 Control switch the video-loopthrough
on.
You should configure the Vidcap program for the miroVIDEO DC1/DC20 Motion JPEG Capture/
Codec board. (//Options//)
Select "Composite" in the miroTELEVISION program afterwards.
Actually VidCap (DC1/DC20) captures video.



2.30   Incorrect colors during TV playback

Some graphics boards do not support the overlay function. Then, they work in the so-called
"Primary Surface" mode. In an 8-bit resolution (256 colors) the TV image is dithered.
Solution: eitzher use a graphics board which supports the overlay function of select a 
higher color depth.


2.40    Blue TV screen

Possible reasons:
	- the source does not supply a signal
	- the source supplies a weak signal
	- the channel is just being changed

Solution:
	- select an input with a sufficient signal

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3.00    Important hints on miroMEDIA PCTV
3.10    Maximum resolution with miro graphics boards and overlay

This list shows you the maximum resolutions at which miroTELEVISION 
and VidCap run in the overlay mode.

for a 2Mbyte graphics board
1280 * 1024  with  8 bits color depth 
1024 * 768   with 16 bits color depth
800  * 600   with 24 bits color depth


3.20    Changing the resolution during capturing with active video overlay

Avoid changing the resolution during capturing AVI files with enabled
video overlay. The video overlay can be enabled in VidCap32 or in the
Premiere capture program.

3.30    Interrupt sharing

This miroMEDIA PCTV version supports PCI interrupt sharing. This function is 
necessary if the motherboard allocates a single interrupt to all PCI slots. 
In this case, all PCI devices have to share one interrupt which means that 
every driver has to check if the current interrupt comes from its device. 
If this is not the case, the driver must not handle this interrupt and has to 
pass it to the next PCI device. If only one of the devices involved (or its 
driver) fails to do so, the system will not function properly. Because the 
devices which are mostly used for recording and playing back video are SCSI 
hard disks and SCSI controllers, we test the behaviour of SCSI controllers.
Under Windows95, we tested miroMEDAI PCTV together with several SCSI 
controllers. This combination works without any problems.

3.40    Hard disks

Windows 95 supports the 32-bit access to hard disks. Please check in 
Control Panel/System/Device Manager, if your hard disk drive or your SCSI
controller has been detected by Windows95 correctly. If not, the data transfer
rate of your hard disk will not suffice for a satisfying quality when
recording and playing back video.

Install a second hard disk to save the complete video clips for recording and
playback. You can save temporary files to your system hard disk. During
recording and playing back, Windows 95 accesses system files. If these files
are located on the same hard disk as the video clips, the head has to be
repositioned which leads to one or more dropped frames (unsmooth playback). 

3.41    Enhanced-IDE hard disks

With some E-IDE hard disks, high data rates result in an unsmooth playback
when playing back AVI files because the hard disk is recalibrated while a
file is read. This is no problem of miroMEDIA PCTV but is due to the
functionality of your hard disk and the other system components.  
If you got a disk with special busmaster drivers with your hard disk, please
install these drivers in your system, because the disk performance will
raise considerable.

3.50    VidCap32

For using the miroMEDIA PCTV under Windows 95 we recommend Microsoft VidCap32 
for capturing AVI files. VidCap32 will be copied during the installation of the
miroVIDEO DC30. VidCap32 fully supports the 32Bit capture-class, so that you
can reach higher data rates during capturing. Check in the VidCap32 menu
"Edit| Preferences| video and audio synchronisation" if the option "No master"
is enabled.


3.51    VidCap32 and NTSC standard

Before capturing NTSC movies with VidCap32 you should set the "frame rate"
in the Capture/Video menu exactly to 29.97 frames/s and not 30 frames/s !!!
Only with this exact setting it is possible to capture NTSC movies lipsync for
a long periode of time.
	

3.52    VidCap32 and Mediaplayer

We don't recommend to start VidCap32 or any other video capture program during
the playback of AVI files with the miroVIDEO DC30 and the Media Player. 
miroVIDEO DC30 does not allow to capture and play back AVI files simultaneously.


3.53    Known bugs of VidCap32

By default, VidCap32 sets the capture file to C:\CAPTURE.AVI. If you like to 
select another drive for capturing, it could happen that VidCap32 stops with 
a General Protection Fault (GPF). Start VidCap32 once again, ignore 
the error message that the device is already active and set the desired
drive for capturing. Close VidCap32 now and restart Windows 95.


3.60    Capturing single-frames

When capturing single-frames, please make sure that the "24 BIT RGB" format
(Vidcap//Options//Video Format) has been selected.
This format is compatible with all common graphics programs (also Kai´s Power Goo).


3.70    Remote

To be able to operate the tuner when using Vidcap, start the Remote32 program. 
You can also use this program to operate audio sources. 
It also runs together with Vidcap and miroTELEVISION.



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4.00    Known limitations
4.10    DIRECT X3

Direkt X3 is currently not supported. Therefore, problems and incompatibilities
may occur together with graphics board drivers. To avoid these, make sure
that you use DIRECT X2. To do so, let the installation program
of the miroMEDIA PCTV board overwrite all current system files.
At a later driver version this will be no longer necessary.

4.20    Primary

If you use "Primary" instead of "Overlay", it may happen that when this window
is completely covered, the tuner video image stays on top.

4.30    Cropping

At the time, this function is not supported.

4.40    Capturing with YUV9

Capturing with YUV9 is only possible with a limited viewing area and a smaller
refresh rate. This mode is suited for capturing an image with 16 bits
to edit it later with an MPEG program.
To play back a video clip which has been captured using YUV9 using the Media Player,
you have to have installed INDEO4-RUNTIME (contained on the InstallCD).

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5.00    miro services

You can obtain new drivers via:

miro MAILBOX:	      	    +49 531 2113-112
Internet:                   ftp.miro.com
                            http://www.miro.com
CompuServe:                 GO MIRO

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6.00    Driver version changes

Version 1.00

there is no newer driver version
                         
