Advertisement
Quick Links
Advertisement
Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel
Summary of Contents for Prestigio DMA-301
- Page 1 Prestigio Digital Media Adapter DMA-301 extended User’s Manual Your Essential Guide...
- Page 2 CE Declaration of Conformity This equipment complies with the specifications relating to electromagnetic compatibility EN 55022/A1 Class B and EN 50082-1. This meets the reasonable protection requirements set out in the European Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive (89/336/EEC).
- Page 3 System Requirements To run the media server program included with your digital media adapter, and to allow the media server to communicate with the digital media adapter, you must have the following computer and networking equipment: ® an IBM-type X86 microcomputer running Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP This is the hardware and software environment in which the media server program runs.
- Page 4 Other requirements and computer-or network-related items that will be required in some cases but not in others, are described below. Batteries You will need two size-AAA batteries for the remote control. Other common designations for such batteries are UM-4, AM-4, R03, and LR03. One pair of batteries is already included in the package.
- Page 5 Be aware that if you set the DMA-301 in setup to route any Surround encoded Signal like AC3 directly to the optical outlet, the analog outlet will not work since the decoding to stereo is also disabled with this setting.
- Page 6 Introduction Congratulations on purchasing a fine digital media product — and thank you for taking the time to read this manual. We hope it won’t take too much of your time! Your digital media adapter will work with many kinds of audio, video, and networking equipment.
- Page 7 When you are ready to enjoy the content that you have selected, you just leave the media server running. (It can run in the background, taking up almost no screen space.) It will use the computer’s network connection to communicate with the next part of the chain ..Media Adapter The media adapter connects to your network and audio/video equipment, puts an attractive background image on your TV or projector screen, and lists the...
- Page 8 Install the media server as follows: 1. Bring up the Windows “desktop” display. If the computer is already powered on and in windows mode, exit any running programs until the desktop appears. If the computer is off, turn it on and wait for the desktop to appear.
- Page 9 8. Click Next again. Installation will begin. The installation program will report its actions and display a progress bar while installation is under way. When installation is complete, a dialog box containing a completion message, some options, and a Finish button will appear. To enable an option, position the mouse over it and click so that a check mark appears in its check box.
- Page 10 Part 1. A Tour of the Media Server Installing the media server puts a new group in the Programs section of the Start menu (below, left) and (assuming you selected this option during installation) a new shortcut on the Windows desktop (below, right). Before you start the server, examine the “system tray.”...
- Page 11 To display the tray icon’s command menu, click the tray icon with your mouse’s outside or right button. The outside button is the button furthest from your body. Clicking with it is often called “right-clicking.” The tray icon’s Run command is for making the media server “actively run” (see above) after you have stopped it.
- Page 12 Finding and Selecting Audio/Video Files The Media Import panel contains two list boxes, titled Folders and Files To Share and Shared Folders and Files. The Folders and Files To Share box initially lists the computer’s storage devices. Click the plus s [+] next to an item to see any folders (subdirectories) and/or audio/video files residing there.
- Page 13 When at least one file or folder appears in the Shared Folders and Files box, the server is ready to do its job. If the media adapter and remote control are set up, the content you have selected can be listed and played back on your audio/video equipment (note that you may have to press the remote control’s Refresh button to allow newly selected content to be listed).
- Page 14 Organizing Audio/Video Files -chapter 1- Most of us try to organize our tapes, discs, and photos to make it easier to find particular items. Using the media server, you can organize your audio/video files by genre, artist, and/or album, and give them titles and ratings, so you are not confronted with long lists of cryptic file names when you sit down to enjoy your digital content.
- Page 15 To create a group, click the plus sign [+] in the panel’s bottom left corner. A dialog box will appear. Click in its New Value input area, type a name, and click OK. To place a file in the group you want, drag its name from the Title column to the group name.
- Page 16 Use the same techniques to organize files in the Music and Photo subpanels (remember: switch subpanels by clicking the icons at the top of the Media Files panel). The only significant difference is that the Music subpanel has separate “sub- subpanels”...
- Page 17 Organizing Audio/Video Files –chapter 2- When browsing through lists of audio/video content on your TV or projector screen, chances are you would rather see titles like “Concerto No. 3 in E Major” and "Sunset on Kilimanjaro" than file names like con3emaj.mp3 and P1010034.JPG. You might also want to —...
- Page 18 The next step is to go to the Media Files panel. To do this, click the top icon in the group at the left edge of the Configuration window. Then click the Photo subpanel's icon, a picture of a roll of film at the top of the panel. The server has created the group unknown and placed Sample.jpg in it.
- Page 19 To preview Sample.jpg, click the rectangular Preview button to the right of the file location in the Properties mini-panel. This will start up the application program that is associated with the kind of file that is currently selected. In the case of a .jpg file, this will usually be a Web browser or graphics program.
- Page 20 (Note that we put the words My Picture . Titles and group names cannot contain double quotes ["].) None of your changes have been made “official” yet. You must take one more step to write the changes to disk. (The file Sample.jpg itself will not be changed. The title, album name, and rating are all values stored in the server’s database.) To finalize your changes, click Update (or press your keyboard’s Enter key).
- Page 21 The Video and Music subpanels (which you access using the two leftmost icons at the top of the Media Files panel) have Properties mini-panels that work just like that of the Photo subpanel. You’ll have no trouble using them if you’ve carried out the above steps.
- Page 22 Open the Playlist subpanel by clicking its icon, a picture of a partly open book, in the group at the top of the Media Files panel. To add a playlist, click the plus sign in the panel’s bottom left corner. This will open a standard dialog box for typing a file name or browsing and selecting a file.
- Page 23 Some editing functions work only when at least one entry in the playlist is selected. To select an entry, click it. To select a contiguous range of entries, click the first, hold down a Shift key, and click the last. To select or de-select one entry without affecting any others, hold down a Ctrl key and click the entry.
- Page 24 However, chances are you can’t even see the Internet Radio subpanel’s Properties mini-panel, because you don’t have any Internet radio files to select. We will help you solve this situation, and then look at the small but important difference in the Properties mini-panel. The media server can help create Internet radio files for you.
- Page 25 To go the Internet Radio subpanel, first click the Media Files icon (the top icon in the group at the left edge of the Configuration window) and then click the Internet Radio icon (at “at” sign, globe, and musical notes at the top of the Media Files panel).
- Page 26 We do not recommend adding URLs to Internet radio files, or modifying their contents in any other way. We do, however, recommend knowing where they reside. Because Internet radio files can easily be confused with regular playlists, the server reserves a special folder for them.
- Page 27 The Media Import panel is the first panel we explained, and it is displayed (redisplayed, to be precise) by clicking the second icon in the group at the configuration window’s left edge. The second panel we described, the Media Files panel, is displayed by clicking the first icon in that group.
- Page 28 You can choose to have files arranged by name (title), size (the number of bytes in each file), or date (the date and time each file was created or last modified). Click the option you want. Server Log Capability By default (that is, unless you command it not to do so), each time the server starts or finishes sending a file to the media adapter, it records the date, time, action, file name, and destination IP address on a single line in a log that it keeps on disk —...
- Page 29 Server Language The media server can display its messages and label its boxes, buttons, and other screen items in more than one language. By default, it uses the language you selected during installation. To change the server's display language, click the Server •...
- Page 30 The information displayed in the Server Status panel is primarily of use to technical personnel in diagnosing problems and improving the capabilities of the system. Each column of the display is explained briefly below. 1. IP Address: The IP address of the media adapter. 2.
- Page 31 Part 2 The Wand and the Wizard Although your digital media adapter’s remote control is not in any way magical, it can be likened to a magic wand by which you control the system — and although the media adapter’s built-in setup utility uses purely mechanical logic to prompt you for information, it is referred to as a “wizard.”...
- Page 32 Preliminary Steps Before powering up the media adapter for the first time, turn on your TV or projector and set it for the input the media adapter is connected to (SCART, composite video, S-Video, or component video). This is usually done through the TV or projector’s remote control.
- Page 33 Remote Control Basics Before using the remote control for the first time, note the following: Nothing you do with the remote control can affect your audio/video files or the configuration of the media server. You can safely experiment and explore. Response can sometimes be slow.
- Page 34 Language Selection The wizard’s first screen prompts you to select a language. The languages you can select are listed under the prompt. The first setting in the list is highlighted — that is, marked with an arrowhead and a distinctive color. Instructions on how to use the remote control’s buttons appear below the list of options.
- Page 35 Wireless networking is disabled by default (wired networking is always enabled). Enable wireless networking only if necessary — that is, if you want wireless stations running the media server software to be able to link to the media adapter through their IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g interfaces.
- Page 36 If the network that the media adapter is connected to has a link to the Internet that more than one computer can use, the network almost certainly has a DHCP server. Most “Internet gateway” devices such as household/small-office routers can act as DHCP servers (and are set at the factory to do so).
- Page 37 Setup for Wireless Once wireless networking is enabled, you must set the media adapter to use the correct network type and SSID; you may have to set it to use the correct radio channel; and you may have to enable encryption and input encryption settings. 1.
- Page 38 2. SSID After you specify the wireless network type, the wizard asks you for the network’s SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is sometimes called the network name. The SSID is the main setting that separates one wireless network from another. The media adapter must be set to use the same SSID as any wireless stations running the media server software.
- Page 39 The input area is the large horizontal rectangle in the middle of the screen. The small vertical rectangle in it is the cursor, which always shows where the next character you type will appear. Two indicators appear below the input area: indicates that the current typing mode is lowercase letters.
- Page 40 To type a number without switching to [123] mode, press its button quickly one more time than the number of characters under it. Pressing the 8/TUV button four times in quick succession, for example, will produce an 8. No matter which mode you are in, you can edit what you have typed as follows: To erase a character you just typed at the end of the line, press Clear.
- Page 41 The channel setting screen’s input area works much like that of the SSID setting screen. In this screen, however, you must type a one- or two-digit number that (1) matches the channel setting of the other device or devices on the ad hoc wireless network, and (2) complies with regulations in the region you are in —...
- Page 42 To set the media adapter to use encryption, use the up or down arrow button to highlight the correct setting — 64 bits or 128 bits — and press Select. If you use 64-bit encryption, you must set from one to four encryption “keys” (all in hex format).
- Page 43 The wizard will prompt you to type in the key. The method of entry is exactly the same as that for the SSID (see step 2, above), except that the key must be a full 26 characters long. After typing the key (and double-checking to make sure it is correct), press Select to confirm it and continue.
- Page 44 Setup for Fixed IP Addressing Fixed IP settings include an IP address and address mask, which are always required; gateway and name server addresses, which are required for access to other networks and the Internet; and, in some cases, “proxy server” settings, which are required on some networks for access to the World Wide Web.
- Page 45 You can begin typing an address (or editing the address shown) immediately. You can use the Clear and left and right arrow buttons to edit the address. To type any number but 1, press the button with that number marked on it.
- Page 46 When the address mask you want appears in this screen, press Select to confirm it and continue. If the IP address and address mask that you have entered are suitable for your network, the media server and the media adapter will be able to communicate with each other using these settings alone.
- Page 47 4. Name Server (DNS) Address After you confirm the gateway address, the wizard prompts you to input a “name server” address. This is the IP address of a machine in the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates between human-friendly names like bigcompany.com and machine-friendly IP addresses.
- Page 48 If the media adapter does not need to use a proxy server, this is your last chance to go back and make changes in the settings you have input. You can go back — even all the way to the language setting screen — by pressing the remote control’s Return button.
- Page 49 The method for typing and editing the proxy server address is identical to that for typing and editing the media adapter’s IP address (see “1. IP Address,” above). When the address you want appears in this screen, press Select to confirm it and continue.
- Page 50 Checking the Results Your TV or projector should now show what we call the media adapter’s server selection screen. This screen is explained in detail in the next chapter. Right now, you may want to make sure all your settings were successfully applied — and you might want to adjust some of them, or adjust the media adapter to work better with an HDTV-type TV or projector.
- Page 51 It is through the Setup screen that you can adjust the media adapter to work better with an HDTV-type TV or projector. To do this, follow the steps below. We did not include screenshots for these procedures since you already learned how to use the menu structures.
- Page 52 When you open the Video submenu, the highlighting automatically moves to the Resolution control. 4. Press Select to view the available Resolution settings. The first option in the list is highlighted. The current setting is marked with an asterisk. The default setting, 480i, results in an interlaced picture with resolution similar to that of a conventional TV (but much greater clarity as a result of digital processing and the component video interface).
- Page 53 Display devices that take component video input vary greatly in resolution and features. All should handle standard SDTV, EDTV, and HDTV signals well, though. The signal formats that the media adapter can use all conform to the SDTV, EDTV, and HDTV standards. You should be able to get an excellent picture, though in some cases you may need to adjust settings on one or both devices.
- Page 54 To prepare to use the Web-based setup utility when you can’t see the media adapter’s video output, don’t know its IP address, and don’t have a DHCP server, carry out these steps: 1. Make sure the media adapter’s factory settings are in effect. If you are not sure of the current settings, restore the factory defaults as described at the beginning of this chapter.
- Page 55 The media server should now be transmitting the video to the media adapter. Playback information will appear in the Server Status panel. 10. Write down the IP address shown in the Server Status panel. This will be 169.254.x.y, where x and y are random numbers from 1 to 254.
- Page 56 IMPORTANT note regarding firmware upgrade procedure After you send a firmware code file to the media adapter, the power indicator flashes at a rate of about once a second while the media adapter decompresses the new code and “burns” it into flash memory. Do not turn the media adapter off while the power indicator is flashing.
- Page 57 3. Click Apply. You can see the effect of the new setting immediately if your TV or projector is connected to the media adapter and turned on. A success message and a Continue button will appear in the browser window. Click Continue to go on. Almost everything else in the Web-based setup utility is a duplicate of a function provided in the media adapter’s setup wizard and Setup screen.
- Page 58 Remember that, in any panel with an Apply button, you must click Apply to make any changes take effect. To exit the Web-based setup utility, simply close the browser window.
- Page 59 Part 3 Showtime! This is a run-through of all the operations you might carry out while relaxing in your home entertainment center with the media adapter and remote control. Consider this a dress rehearsal of your own productions. As you explore your digital media adapter, you will find that its screens are organized in a tree-like structure.
- Page 60 Sometimes, along the way, you might encounter a query or reminder (we have no error messages — only reminders). Follow the script closely and the performance will go off without a hitch. The Home Screen The media adapter’s home screen appears automatically after the adapter finishes its power-on self-test.
- Page 61 Mute disables or re-enables all sound output from the media adapter. VOL+ and VOL- set the volume of all sounds the media adapter outputs. The navigation buttons move the highlighting and take you forward to category selection screens or back to the home screen. Refresh updates the screen with the latest information from the server(s).
- Page 62 page. It will also cancel playback and take you out of the Search, Setup, Bookmark, and Memory screens. Since we’ve encouraged you to experiment and explore, we’d better explain something right away ..Important Note about Navigation As you may have discovered, when the media adapter displays items in list form (as it is set to do at the factory), the right arrow button often works like Select, and the left arrow button often works like Return.
- Page 63 Refresh can be used when you have made changes in the media server’s configuration window (added or deleted a folder or file in the Media Import panel, for example) and you want to update the listing provided by the media adapter.
- Page 64 How do you start background music? When you play back an audio-only piece, the media adapter displays information about it. Press the left arrow button to leave this playback screen. The piece will continue to play, stopping only during playback of other audio content (including videos with audio tracks), or if you press Background Music.
- Page 65 Remember also that an item can appear in more than one group, and Play All, if pressed in the first category selection screen, will play each item once for each group it appears in. A video, for example, will be listed in the “All Movies”...
- Page 66 Pressing either of these buttons ends the current piece and the whole • sequence, and returns you to the screen you were in when you pressed Play All. To use an audio Play All sequence as background music, press the •...
- Page 67 Press the right (or down) arrow button three times to go from All to Photo. Press Select to change the Media Type setting from All to Photo. Press the down (or right) arrow button once to go to the Search Key line.
- Page 68 letters), or [123] (numbers). The used/maximum indicator shows the number of characters typed so far and the maximum number that can be typed. To change the typing mode, press Keyboard. • If the mode is [ABC], press Keyboard once for [abc] mode, or twice for [123] mode.
- Page 69 typing any character pushes the character the cursor is on, and any characters after it, rightward. A search can turn up groups, or playable items, or both. We’re confident that you already know how to select groups and get to the playable items in them. This means you’re now in the kind of screen that brings on the show .
- Page 70 Move the highlighting if necessary, press Select, and playback will begin. You can control playback with all the same buttons as when you use Play All in a category selection screen (see preceding section). (Using Play All in a content selection screen actually produces the same results as using it when that screen’s name is highlighted in its “parent”...
- Page 71 Two exceptions are the playback screens for the first and last items in the group: you cannot press up to go from the first item to the last, or press down to go from the last item to the first. Another exception is when you have zoomed the display during video or image playback.
- Page 72 Magnify and de-magnify the picture with the Zoom buttons. Press the Zoom “plus” button once to view the picture at a magnification of 2X, a second time to view it at 4X size, and once more to enlarge it to 8X. Press the Zoom “minus”...
- Page 73 these appears if only one piece is selected for playback; it makes a big difference if a Play All sequence is playing! To set the piece or sequence to stop repeating, watch the top left • corner of the screen and press Repeat 1/All until the “no repeat” symbol appears.
- Page 74 We hope you’ve enjoyed the show, but more than that, we hope you derive many years of enjoyment from your digital media adapter. www.prestigio.com...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the DMA-301 and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers