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Visual Circuits Harmony 4E User Manual

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Harmony 4E
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Summary of Contents for Visual Circuits Harmony 4E

  • Page 1 Harmony 4E User Manual...
  • Page 2 Trademarks The Visual Circuits logo is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries. All other products, services or company names mentioned herein are claimed as trademarks and trade names by their respective companies. Visual Circuits, 1999-2003. All rights reserved. No portion of this manual may be copied by any means without the prior consent of Visual Circuits.
  • Page 3 The Hamony 4E complies with Part 15 (EN61000-3-2) of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1.
  • Page 4 Council Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of the laws of Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility. Council Directive 73/23/EEC of 19 February 1973 on the harmonization of the laws of Member States relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits: Each amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC of 22 July 1993 on the harmonization of CE marking requirements.

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    VERVIEW Overview ........1 Installation Guide ......3 Editing Driver Settings.
  • Page 6 Contents...
  • Page 7 Audio/Video Distribution ..... . .2 Application Interface (API) for the Harmony 4E ..2 Installation Guide ......3 Card Installation .
  • Page 8 Contents NoReadBuff ......18 Audio/Video ......19 DisableSync .
  • Page 9 Contents SMPTE time codes are not recognized properly .27 Video blocks or stutters when starting playback. .28 Overall block or distorted playback ...28 Problems using the API.....28 Mouse lags and overall poor system performance 29 MPEG will not play on mapped network drive.
  • Page 10 Contents...

  • Page 11: Overview

    VERVIEW Introduction The Visual Circuits Harmony 4E card is a PCI MPEG decoder card supporting four independent outputs or “channels” of high-quality video playback. The Harmony 4E has its own unique driver and API structure designed to offer maximum compatibility with Visual Circuits ReelTime series cards.

  • Page 12: Audio/Video Distribution

    2. Audio Cables: Cables with 1/8 inch (3.5 mm) stereo phone plugs to two phono (RCA) plugs may be used to connect the Harmony 4E digital audio outputs to an external audio receiver/decoder. The output labeled “CH1/2” is designated for channels 1 &...

  • Page 13: Installation Guide

    NSTALLATION The Visual Circuits Harmony 4E decoder board is a 3/4 sized PCI card. The card is secured using an IO mounting bracket secured to the chassis. This bracket is affixed to the 25-pin female D-Sub output of the board.

  • Page 14: Card Installation

    Ensure that the bracket is aligned with the IO opening of the chassis and that the outer edge of the card rests securely according to the chassis’ design. Consult with the chassis manufacturer for specific guidelines Figure 2. Installation of Harmony 4E Card.

  • Page 15: Cable Installation (A/V Breakout)

    5. If desired, connect Y-adapter audio cables, (1/8 inch/3.5 mm stereo phone plug to two RCA plugs), from the Harmony 4E card’s digital audio output jacks to the proper inputs on an external audio receiver/decoder. Note that the audio output jack labeled “CH1/2”...

  • Page 16: Driver Installation (Windows 2000/Nt 4.0)

    Installation Guide NOTE Apply strain relief as required when attaching patch cables. The set-screws will easily support the Universal Cable strain, but will not take into account the weight and strain of any connected cables. Driver Installation (Windows 2000/NT 4.0) For use under Windows 2000, complete both Parts 1 and 2 of the driver software installation instructions.
  • Page 17 Installation Guide Under Windows 2000, to complete this installation you must point the system to the driver installation disc when prompted by Windows. The harmony.inf file (included on the driver installation disc) should be installed for each of the video channels. Important: Each board appears as 4 devices to the system.
  • Page 18 Installation Guide 2. Select the first option, “Search for a suitable driver for my device”, and click “Next”. Figure 5. Search For Suitable Driver For My Device Screen 3. Windows will ask where to look for the location of the driver file for this device.
  • Page 19 Installation Guide 4. A dialog box will appear informing you that this device does not have a digital signature and will ask you if you still want to install it, click “Yes”. Figure 7. Digital Signature Not Found Screen 5. Now that the driver is installed for this channel, select “Finish”.
  • Page 20 “Next”. Figure 9. Display List of Known Drivers Screen 8. The Hardware Wizard will have already found the Harmony 4E device driver and will have it listed under “Models”. Click “Next” to continue. Figure 10. Select a Device Driver Screen...
  • Page 21 Installation Guide 9. The wizard will be ready to install the device driver. To start the installation, click “Next”. Figure 11. Start Device Driver Installation Screen 10. A dialog box will appear informing you that this device does not have a digital signature and will ask you if you still want to install it, click “Yes”.
  • Page 22 Installation Guide If the “Welcome to Found New Hardware Wizard” screen is ❏ displayed again, you will need to go back to step 6 to continue the procedure for installing additional channels/ cards as necessary. If the “Welcome to Found New Hardware Wizard” screen is ❏...
  • Page 23 Installation Guide Harmony Driver User Manual: ❏ Contains detailed information on the driver parameters and hardware. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher. Harmony Encoding Guidelines User Manual: ❏ Contains important information on how to encode MPEG-2 files for use with Visual Circuits decoder products. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher.

  • Page 24: Starting Playback

    Installation Guide Starting Playback Now that your card is installed: Be sure all software applications are closed. ❏ Run Harmony Vidserve, the playback application located ❏ under Visual Circuits’ programs. Browse to the MPEG file desired and open it. ❏ Click Load and wait for the position counter to stop ❏...

  • Page 25: Editing Driver Settings

    DITING RIVER ETTINGS Driver Editing Utility: Harmony VccReg.exe Figure 13. Harmony VCCReg Parameter Editor Common Driver Parameters Harmony VccReg.exe is a driver editing utility designed specifically for editing the VCCmpeg2 driver settings. There are four tabs containing different parameters, descriptions of these parameters, and driver default settings.

  • Page 26: General

    Editing Driver Settings To change a parameter, enter the appropriate information in the Value field and click the set button . If you want to restore the default value, click the set to default button General Network 0 = The driver cannot read files over the Windows NT network. 1 = The driver can read files over the Windows NT network.

  • Page 27: Performance

    Editing Driver Settings Performance BufferSizePerChannel Amount of RAM allocated for each channel. A larger buffer supports larger minimum file reads which reduces hard drive seeking. Default = 400000 hex, high performance playback (optimal) recommended. Range = 100000-800000 hex MaxDisks This parameter sets the number of disk read threads. The channels are divided into maxdisks groups, and each group must play off a different physical drive.

  • Page 28: Nocache

    Editing Driver Settings NoCache 0 = Normal NT file system caching is used. 1 = The cache is not grown when files are played. Default = 0 Range = 0-1 NOTE NoReadBuff provides a preferable method to dissolve file caching and should be used instead of NoCache. NonPagedPoolSize Reserves a block of memory for decoding.

  • Page 29: Audio/Video

    Editing Driver Settings Audio/Video DisableSync 0 = Enables audio/video synchronization. 1 = Disables audio/video synchronization. Default = 0 Range = 0-1 VideoTypes 0 = All channels output S-Video/Composite. 1 = All channels output Component. 2 = All channels output RGB (sync on green). Default = 0 Range = 0-2 Special...

  • Page 30: Dontuseints

    Editing Driver Settings dontuseints 0 = Normal interrupt driven playback. 1 = Interrupts not used. (Improves compatibility). Default = 0 Range = 0-1 LateLoadNext Sets the handling of mpgLoadNext calls that arrive after playback has stopped. 0 = Late mpgLoadNext calls will be ignored. 1 = Playback will always resume.

  • Page 31: Dual-Card Servers

    ERVERS Multi-Threading and Drive Mapping Depending on hard drive speed and bitrate, proper drive mapping can be crucial for MPEG playback performance. Fundamentally, this often involves configuring the driver so that it reads from different physical hard drives simultaneously. In a system with two MPEG content hard drives, data should be read from both drives at the same time for maximum performance.
  • Page 32 Dual-Card Servers...

  • Page 33: Troubleshooting Overview

    ROUBLESHOOTING NOTE Only authorized technicians should perform board troubleshooting or system repairs. Unauthorized repair of systems may void warranty. Server Setup Check Prior to any troubleshooting, power down the system and be sure that the card is properly installed in the system’s PCI slot. Test only one card in the system at a time.

  • Page 34: Getting Started

    Troubleshooting Overview Getting Started 1. Power the server up and open Harmony Vidserve playback application located under Visual Circuits programs. Figure 14. Harmony Vidserve Playback Application On the main application window, the radio button selected should indicate Card 1 found. If it states “Harmony driver not found” see page 25 for tips on how to fix the error.

  • Page 35: Troubleshooting Tips

    Usually starting with the VGA/AGP card if not on board. Try placing the Harmony 4E card in a different PCI slot. ❏ Message says '' Harmony Driver not found!''...

  • Page 36: No Video Or Audio Output

    Troubleshooting Tips "Harmony: Failed to allocate mem" ❏ Be sure to verify that the BufferSizePerChannel is set correctly in Harmony VccReg. Verify all memory is detected by server on start up or by right clicking on My Computer and reviewing General. "Harmony: HARDWARE ERROR"...

  • Page 37: Latent Images" Or "Flashing" During Playback

    Troubleshooting Tips NOTE Harmony 4E series boards may not be mixed with earlier generation Harmony or ReelTime series boards. "Latent Images" or "Flashing" during playback Incorrect source timecode provided or improperly closed ❏ encoding session. If the incorrect timecode for a file on tape is given, it is possible to encode a frame or two of trailer or header information from the tape.

  • Page 38: Video Blocks Or Stutters When Starting Playback

    Troubleshooting Tips Video blocks or stutters when starting playback Be sure buffers are fully loaded before calling a playback ❏ command. Usually following the initial buffer load, a delay is required. Overall block or distorted playback Make sure the file is not a transport stream. These files ❏...

  • Page 39: Mouse Lags And Overall Poor System Performance

    Troubleshooting Tips Mouse lags and overall poor system performance Verify ATA 133 to ATA 33 compatible components and ❏ drivers. A different IDE bus driver may be required for proper system performance. MPEG will not play on mapped network drive This will not work unless you set network=1.

  • Page 40: More Than One Board Will Not Play Or Make A Few Horizontal Lines On The Screen

    Troubleshooting Tips More than one board will not play or make a few horizontal lines on the screen Make sure BIOS is not set to PnP operating system. ❏ Verify number of boards and number of channels using ❏ Harmony VccReg.exe driver editing utility.

  • Page 41: Contacting Visual Circuits Corporation

    ONTACTING IRCUITS ORPORATION Contacting Technical Support If you are experiencing problems with the decoder board, consult the Troubleshooting section on page 23 and the support information available at www.visualcircuits.com first. If you need further assistance, please contact your Visual Circuits Value Added Reseller or Distributor.

  • Page 42: Technical Support Contact Information For The Value Added Reseller (Var) Or Distributor Only

    Contacting Visual Circuits Corporation 3. If your problem is too complex to be resolved during your initial conversation, the representative will arrange for you to be called back at a later time. You will receive an inquiry number that you can use to refer to your problem in the future. NOTE After regular business hours, the technical support representative will always arrange for you...

  • Page 43: Appendix

    PPENDIX Hardware Specifications PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Dimensions: Length = 9.4'' (239mm) Height = 4.25'' (108mm) Connectors: 25-pin D-Sub for use with universal breakout cable Dual 3.5 mm jacks for digital audio output. POWER All four channels 10.5w Typical (playback to TV) active = PCI Voltages +3.3V...
  • Page 44 Appendix Software controllable stereo channel routing (mono, dual mono, right or left, etc.) Audio output -10dBv level: Audio output 10K Ohms/unbalanced impedance: VIDEO PARAMETERS Output level 1 volt peak-to-peak when terminated with composite 75ohms video: Output level .7v peak-to-peak when terminated with RGB (RT+): 75 ohms Standards:...

  • Page 45: Audio Video Breakout Cables

    Appendix Ambient Operating: 0 deg C to 40 deg C temperature: Non-operating: -40 deg C to 60 deg C MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Minimum Intel or AMD-based 600MHz/equivalent processor: (1 GHz or higher recommended) Minimum 256 MB PC-100 (PC-133 recommended) system memory: Hard disk: Ultra ATA/66 or higher.
  • Page 46 Appendix Audio lines need to be quality audio wire. An example of a compatible audio cable is the Assmann Electronics AK243-2 3.5 mm stereo to 2 phono plugs cable. Note that two separate audio cables will be required to connect all 4 channels: one cable for channels 1 &...
  • Page 47 Appendix PIN-OUT CONNECTION TABLE: Pin No. Harmony GROUND AUDIO L/3 COMP 3 LUMA 3 AUDIO L/2 COMP 2 LUMA 2 AUDIO L/1 COMP 1 LUMA 1 AUDIO L/0 COMP 0 LUMA 0 NOT USED AUDIO R/3 CHROMA 3 AUDIO IN R AUDIO R/2 CHROMA 2...
  • Page 48 Appendix Pin No. Harmony AUDIO IN L AUDIO R/1 CHROMA 1 VIDEO IN AUDIO R/0 CHROMA 0...
  • Page 49 NDEX ambient temperature 34 audio 33 AuxSkip 17 BIOS 30 buffers 29 BufferSizePerChannel 17 chassis 3, 4 connecting cable 2, 35 universal cable 2 contacting Visual Circuits 31 environmental 34 extention bracket 4 flashing images 27 hardware description 33 InitOnOpen 19 installing 4 latent images 27 MaxDisks 17, 21...
  • Page 50 VideoVSize 19 Vidserve 29...

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