csii plugin manual

1

Circle Surround IITM Plug-in for Windows Media Player® 9/10 Series

USER’S MANUAL

This product is manufactured under license from SRS Labs, Inc.

Circle Surround II Plug-in For Windows Media Player 9/10 Version 1.4.2.0

2

Contents About SRSWOWcast Technologies......................................................................3 About SRS Labs, Inc.............................................................................................3 Introduction ...........................................................................................................3

System Requirements: ......................................................................................4 Installing the Circle Surround II Plug-in:................................................................4 Using the Circle Surround II Plug-in......................................................................5

Basic Controls ...................................................................................................6 Troubleshooting (F.A.Q.) ......................................................................................8


3

About SRSWOWcast Technologies SRSWOWcast Technologies is a subsidiary of SRS Labs, Inc. With exclusive Internet and Broadcasting rights to SRS Labs’ intellectual property portfolio, SRSWOWcast Technologies develops and licenses audio and voice technology solutions that specifically address the needs of traditional television and cable broadcasting, as well as Internet streaming, on-demand material and online radio.

About SRS Labs, Inc SRS Labs is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions. SRS Labs develops audio, voice and speaker technologies and licenses these patented technologies to electronics manufacturers worldwide. SRS Labs’ technologies are featured in over 250 million of the finest home theater and audio products, computer and Internet applications and portable audio devices

Introduction This version of the SRS Circle Surround II

TM Plug-in is for use in conjunction with

the Windows Media Player® 9/10 Series on the PC. The CSII Plug-in was created to allow Windows Media users with multi-channel soundcards and speaker systems to take full advantage of their system when viewing or listening to mono, stereo or Circle Surround encoded music, movies or multimedia programming playable on the Media Player 9 Series. In addition to its versatile surround decoding capabilities, the Circle Surround II Plug-in also enhances the presentation by adding our patented Dialog ClarityTM and TruBass® processing. With Dialog Clarity, the vocals and dialog, which are often buried in many compressed media formats, are lifted above the rest of the mix for a more accurate representation of the original recording. TruBass extends the ability of computer speakers to play lower frequencies by adding our psychoacoustic bass enhancement for a heart-pounding bass experience. In short, the Circle Surround II Plug-in will turn your computer into a home theater by adding the same technology that is included in millions of A/V receivers by leading manufacturers such as Kenwood, Marantz, Accuphase and Theta Digital. Until now, there was no surround decoder available for the computer that turns mono, stereo and Circle Surround encoded content into 5.1 surround. This new plug-in gives you the ability to take advantage of the same technology that is used on ESPN’s live broadcasts as well as many premiere sit-coms including Frasier and Becker.


4

System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP 500 MHz CPU (600 MHz recommended) 128 MB RAM 1.3 MB Free drive space Windows Media Player 9 or 10 Multichannel sound card (except Turtle Beach) A minimum of 4 speakers

Note: It is important that you set-up your system to play back in the appropriate configuration. For example, if for any reason the 5.1 sound card is configured as stereo in the control panel, then no sound will be delivered to the rear channels at any time, even with the Circle Surround II Plug-in.

Installing the Circle Surround II Plug-in:

1. Double-Click on the installer logo labeled csii_wmp_plugin_1_4_0_0.exe.

2. Follow the instructions given in the set-up sequence.

3. Open the Windows Media Player 9 (or 10).

4. You will be prompted with a dialog box (see figure 1). Choose the appropriate speaker configuration for your system and click OK. If for any reason your speaker configuration changes, you can change these settings once the CSII Plug-in is running.

4.0 (Left, Right, Right Surround and Left Surround) 4.1 (Left, Right, Left Surr., Right Surr. and Sub.) 5.0 (Left, Center, Right, Right Surr. and Left Surr.) 5.1 (Left, Center, Right, Right Surr., Left Surr. and Sub.)

The CSII Plug-in should now be visible when viewing the Windows Media

Figure 1 - Speaker Configuration Dialog Box


5

Player “Now Playing” tab.

5. The final step is to register the plug-in. Though the controls are visible, the plug-in will not be operational until the CSII Decoder is enabled. Until this occurs a help balloon with the text “The Circle Surround II Plug-in is disabled. Click here for help.” will appear.

There are two ways to prompt the Registration dialog box (see figure 2)

1. Play a media file. This will prompt the registration process. Please enter the registration code that you were supplied at the time you purchased the plug-in.

2. Enable the CSII Decoder. On the menu bar for the Windows Media Player go to: Tools> Plug-ins and make sure there is a check by the CSII Decoder. If there is currently a check, you will need to disable and re-enable the CSII Decoder. This will prompt the registration process. Please enter the registration code that you were supplied at the time you purchased the plug-in.

NOTE: The Circle Surround II Plug-in will not work properly until a valid User ID and Serial Number have been entered. Hitting cancel does not bypass the registration process. Congratulations! You are now ready to use the SRS Circle Surround II Plug-in for Windows Media Player 9/10 Series.

Using the Circle Surround II Plug-in

The Circle Surround II Plug-in can be used on any media played through the Windows Media Player 9. When it is active the controls will glow blue. The plug-in control is displayed in the same place as the rest of the


6

Windows Media Player 9 enhancements. If you would like to make another enhancement visible go to: View> Enhancements and choose the enhancement you would like visible. To return to the CSII controls view go to: View> Plug-ins and select CSII Controls. Note: It is recommended that you disable the SRS WOW effects audio enhancement included with the Windows Media Player 9. The SRS WOW enhancement was included in the Window Media Player 9 to boost the quality of playback over two speakers. Circle Surround II utilizes the same bass enhancement in conjunction with the surround decoding for increased quality playback over surround sound speaker systems.

Basic Controls

1. Mode: This determines the type of content that is being listened to or viewed. If the content is Movies or Video content, choose Cinema; if the content is music, choose Music; if the content is compressed in mono or is a mono music or video file choose Mono.

2. On/Off: This button enables or disables the Circle Surround II Plug-in locally. If for any reason you need to bypass the plug-in, you can do so here, without having to go through the menu.

3. SRS TruBass Level: The SRS TruBass slider controls the amount of bass enhancement added to the signal. When slid to the right the amount of TruBass processing is increased. When slid to the left,


7

the amount of TruBass processing is decreased. Double-Click the slider to restore default. If there is no slider knob present, the plug-in is disabled. Push the On/Off button to re-enable the plug-in.

4. SRS Dialog Clarity: The SRS Dialog Clarity slider controls the amount of dialog enhancement added to the signal. When slid to the right the amount of Dialog Clarity processing is increased. When slid to the left, the amount of Dialog Clarity processing is decreased. Double-Click the slider to restore default. If there is no slider knob present, the plug-in is disabled. Push the On/Off button to re-enable the plug-in.

5. Speaker Size: The Speaker Size selector determines the cut-off level of the TruBass processing. Every speaker has a specific point where the low frequency elements disappear. This allows you to more closely tune the TruBass enhancement to your particular speakers. In general, the small setting should be applied to desktop speakers and the large setting should be applied to systems with subwoofers. This should be adjusted to individual preference.

6. Reset Defaults: The Reset Default button, allows the user to restore the original default settings. These settings are tuned to specifications when the speakers are placed appropriately (at roughly -30°, 0°, 30°, 110° and -110° at equal distances from the listener). When the defaults are reset for a particular mode (i.e. Cinema, Music or Mono), it will not affect the other two modes.

7. Speaker Levels: There are six level sliders that allow you to control the level of each speaker independently. Double-Click the slider to restore the default for that channel. If a particular slider is grayed out and will not move, that channel has been disabled in the speaker set-up. (See #8 to learn how to change this setting.)

8. Speaker Set-up: The Circle Surround II Plug-in is intended to create realistic surround over multichannel speakers. The existing choices in the speaker set-up are:

4.0 (Left, Right, Right Surround and Left Surround) 4.1 (Left, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround and Subwoofer) 5.0 (Left, Center, Right, Right Surround and Left Surround) 5.1 (Left, Center, Right, Right Surround, Left Surround and

Subwoofer).

Choose the setting that is appropriate for your speaker system. If for any reason you switch between a multi-channel and stereo sound card, you will need to deactivate the plug-in when using a


8

stereo sound card.

Troubleshooting (F.A.Q.) Symptom: Possible Solutions/Explanations:

There is a delay when I change any of the controls, what is this?

This delay exists in all of the enhancement controls within the Windows Media Player 9/10. However, it should be very minimal and once you understand it exists, it becomes easier to adjust your settings.

I am not getting any sound out of my center speakers.

Double check that the speakers are connected correctly and turned on.

The speaker settings under the control panel may be set to stereo or 4.0. Go to “Sounds and Audio Devices” under the control panel. Click on the advanced tab under speaker settings. Change the speaker set-up in the drop down menu to match the set-up on your system.

I am not getting any sound out of my rear speakers.

Double check that the speakers are connected correctly and turned on.

The speaker settings under the control panel may be set to stereo. Go to “Sounds and Audio Devices” under the control panel. Click on the advanced tab under speaker settings. Change the speaker set-up in the drop down menu to match the set-up on your system.

The media being played is mono and the plug-in is set to either Cinema or Music. Adjust the Decode Mode setting to Mono.

Dialog or Vocals are coming out of all of the channels.

The CSII Decoder Plug-in may not be enabled. It is possible to have the controls visible without the decoder being on. If this is the case, when you try to enable the controls a help balloon will appear stating that you need to enable the decoder plug-in. On the menu bar for the Windows Media Player go to: Tools> Plug-ins and make sure there is a check by the CSII Decoder.


9

I hear digital artifacts in the rear speakers.

The steering and separation of Circle Surround encoded media holds up down to 40kbps stereo. The digital artifacts that typically exist in this heavy compression sometimes appear in the rear speakers in Circle Surround.

I cannot access the Circle Surround II Plug-in when playing a DVD

Due to copyright issues, the Windows Media Player 9/10 Series does not allow any plug-ins to function when a DVD is being played through the player.

After I scroll to a new point in the media, I hear a clicking sound during playback.

This occurs with all audio plug-ins for the Windows Media Player that are currently available. If you stop and restart the media, the clicking will go away.

Both the CSII Controls and CSII Decoder are enabled, but I am unable to turn the Plug-in on.

On certain systems, the Windows Media Player needs to be shut down and restarted for the initial configuration to be completed.

The audio quality sounds distorted.

It is possible to distort (clip) on certain recordings if the speaker level controls, TruBass and/or Dialog Clarity are set too high. Adjust the individual speaker level controls to eliminate the clipping.

I have followed all of the directions, but the sound is still very garbled.

There is a compatibility with the Circle Surround II Plug-in and some Turtle Beach sound cards. If you are experiencing this problem, we regret to inform you that there is no fix for this. Please email [email protected] for a refund.


10

I have entered the registration code correctly, but I still get an error.

Your user needs to have administrative privileges in order to install the CSII Plug-in.

Are there any updates available?

The latest version available is version 1.4.2. If you have version 1.4.2, it will say so in the Plug-in label. Also, if when you go to: Tools>Plug-ins it says CSII Controls and CSII Decoder without V 1.4.2 after it, then you have an older version. Click here to go to the update page.

How do I get my ID and password?

You can obtain a copy of your information by clicking here. You will need to provide your email address that you used when you purchased the software online. It will be compared to our database and return the same ID and password that were issued at the time of purchase.

I cannot download the software.

If you are behind a firewall you may experience difficulty downloading the software. Disable your firewall and download as normal.

If the website displays “Invalid Login” click here to enter your email address that you used when you purchased the software online. You will be prompted to download and save the software into your computer.

For more recent FAQs please visit the SRS Circle Surround II Plug-in Support page.

2909 Daimler Street Santa Ana, CA 92705 Fax: (949) 442-1484


11

For questions regarding use and operation of the Circle Surround II Plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 Series,

please e-mail: [email protected]

© 2003 SRSWOWcast Technologies, Inc., the Internet and Broadcast subsidiary of SRS Labs, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any human or computer language, in any form or by any means whatsoever, without express written consent from SRSWOWcast Technologies, Inc.

Circle Surround, Dialog Clarity and TruBass are registered trademarks or trademarks of SRS Labs, Inc. The technologies within the Circle Surround II Plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 Series are covered under one or more of the following U.S. Patent Numbers: 5,319,713; 5,333,201; 5,638,452; 5,771,295; 6,198,827; 6,285,767; 5,850,453 and other U.S. and International patents pending.

csii plugin manual

Documents