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PV-256(PCI-bus MPEG-2 Video CODEC/Tuner Card)

User's Manual

Menu1. Before Installation P.-

1.1 Product Specification P.3

1.2 Product Contents P.4

1.3 Product Connection Type P.4

2. Advice Before Installation P.5

2.1 Software Portion P.5

2.2 Hardware Portion P.5

3. Installation P.6

3.1 Install PV-256 MPEG-2 Video CODEC/Tuner Card P.6

3.2 Install PV-256 drivers under Microsoft™ Windows98SE P.6

3.3 Install PV-256 Application under Microsoft™ Windows98SEP.7

3.4 Notice about system setting P.9

4. Start to use or remove PV-256 (Advanced Function) P.11

4.1 Introduction PV-256 Control & Panel P.12

Function list display P.12

Exit P.12

Function list icon P.12

Introduction PV-256 control panel P.12

Icon introduction P.13

Record P.14

Stop P.14

Play P.14

Still capture P.14

Setting P.15

Source P.19

Function list P.19

About P.21

4.2 Record Schedule Setting P.22

5. Hot Keys P.24

6. Q&A P.25

7. New Function Introduction P.26

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Version：v2.0

Date：2023-04-12

1. Before Installation1.1 PV-256 MPEG-2 Video CODEC/Tuner Card

Product Specifications

Product Name PV-256 (Capture Only) PV-256 (w/TV Tuner)

TV Tuner

TV Channel

TV System

125 Channel

NTSC System

PAL/SECAM System

NiCAM / A2 (Optional)

Video Encoder

Video Decoder

Multiple

Real time MPEG-1/MPEG-2 video encoding

Support Constant Bit Rate(CBR) / Variable Bit Rate(VBR)

Decoder ML @ MP MPEG-1/MPEG-2

Support Multiple Cards (PV-256 Capture Only)

Video

Resolution

NTSC System

PAL System

(PAL/SECAM)

704x480, 640x480, 544x480, 480x480, 352x480,

352x240 @ 29.97Hz or 30Hz

704x576, 640x576, 544x576, 480x576, 352x576,

352x288 @ 25Hz

Video Bit Rate 10Mbps or above (Variable Bit Rate)

15Mbps or above (IPB frames & Constant Bit Rate)

30Mbps or above ( 1 Frame Only)

Video Source

(Input/Output)

AV(CVBS) Input *1

S-Video(Y/C) Input *1

S-Video(Y/C) Output /

AV(CVBS) Output *1

AV(CVBS) Input *1

S-Video(Y/C) Input *1

S-Video(Y/C) Output /

AV(CVBS) Output *1

Cable Input *1

Audio Source

(Input /

Output)

Phone Jack (Line-In) *1

Audio Phone Jack (Line-Out) *1

Software Drivers for all Windows (Not in Windows NT)

PV-256 MPEG-II Capture Player Application

System

Requirement

(Minimum)

Pentium-II 350MHz or higher performance PC

128 MB or higher system memory

UltraDMA2 Hard-drive or higher and not less than 7200

RPM

Compatibility with PCI v2.1

Full duplex sound card

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(Recommends

)

Microsoft Windows 98 SE or Higher version (Not Windows

NT)

DirectX 8 or higher version

Pentium-III 933MHz or higher performance PC

256 MB or higher system memory

UltraDMA4 Hard-drive or higher and not less than 7200

RPM

Compatibility with PCI v2.1

Full duplex sound card

Microsoft™ Windows 2000 or higher version (Not Windows NT)

DirectX 8 or higher version

1.2Product Contents

PV-256 full package includes:

PV-256 MPEG-2 Video CODEC/Tuner Card

PV-256 Installation-CD

User’s Manual

Audio cable

S-Video (Y/C) / AV (CVBS) Cable (PV-256 TV Tuner only)

IR Sensor & Remote Control (Optional)

1.3 PV-256 Connection Type

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2. Advice before installation2.1 Hardware:

1. As PV-256 is a PCI Multi-function card, please be sure to confirm there are available PCI

slots in the system for PV-256 insert.

2. The VGA Card support Overlay with 640x480, 16bits or higher.

3. Suggest the PV-256 used isolate IRQ number (example IRQ

3,4,7,9,10,11 etc…).

(If you’re not familiar with this IRQ adjustment, that’s would not affection with your

system performance.)

2.2 Software:

Microsoft™ Windows 98/ME/2K/XPPlease be sure the systems have to DirectX 8 or higher version.

Microsoft™ Windows NTNow, the PV-256 is not support at this operation system.

Please be sure the DMA of harddrive have to enable.

Your system must adjust the DMA (Direct Memory Access) up to 64KB.

(Windows XP is Unnecessary)

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3. Installation3.1 Install PV-256 MPEG-2 Video CODEC/Tuner Card

1. Please power off your computer.

2. Please open the casing.

3. Find out the available PCI slot on the mainboard.

4. Please insert PV-256 onto the PCI slot perfectly and screw tightly.

5. Put back the casing with screws fastened.

6. Power on the PC and start the software installation procedure.

3.2 Install PV-256 Driver under Microsoft™ Windows 98

SE

As PV-256 is a plug and play multi-function card, PV-256 card will

be detected in the system after entering Windows 98 SE.

1. Please insert the Installation-CD onto the CD-Rom. (Assuming CD-Rom driver E: )

2. New hardware system will be detected after entering Windows 98 SE system. The system

will require installing the PV-256 driver.

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3. <Driver Position>E:\(PV-256 or PV-256C)\Driver\win98_2K_Me

4. The system will automatically detect the driver and install into the system.

5. After installing the driver successfully, a new driver can be found on Device Manager.

3.3 Install PV-256 Application onto Microsoft™ Windows

98 SE

1. Please go to “Start” “Run” and key in “E:\(PV-256 or PV-256C)\AP\Setup.exe” or

choose the “Autorun.exe” installation from the Installation-CD.

2. <Application Position> E:\(PV-256 or PV-256C)\AP\Setup.exe

〈PV256→TV Tuner，PV256C→Capture〉

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3. Choose the same language as Windows OS and click “OK”.

4. Please pick up your local TV system after entering the installation program as below:

<USA>(0,13,10)

5. When above setting is OK, the system can detect the application. During the application

installation, it appears the below DMA setting dialogue.

As PV-256 is a high-end encoding card, it requires a faster

operatin system.

To get the best performance of PV-256, we suggest you

select DMA setting.

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Click “OK” button, the “System Setting Change” dialoque shows up.

Click “YES” button, the system restart.

Click “NO” button, the system will not restart.

3.4 Notice when system setting:

AS PV-256 is a high-end encoding card, it requires a faster

operating system.

To get the best performance of PV-256, please make sure you have started the below two

functions on the system.

Step 1. Before starting PV-256 application, go to “My Computer\Control

Panel\System\Device

Manager”, select “System

Devices\Direct memory

access controller”, and

click “Properties”. Tick

“Reserve DMA buffer” and

key in “64” K bytes

reserved.

9Double click or select and click “Properties”.

Step 2. Before starting PV-256 application, go to “My Computer\Control

Panel\System\Device Manager”, select “disk drives\GENERIC IDE

DISK TYPE xx” and double click it or select and click “Properties”.

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Key in “64” K bytes reserved.

4. Start to use PV-256

Go to “Start””Program””MPEG-II TV Tuner Player””Control Panel” to

start PV-256 application.

NOTE: Before start PV-256 application, all settings of “Power management”

have to set to “Never”. Please go to “Start””Settings””Control

Panel””Power management””Power schemes”, change the Power

schemes to “Always On” and select all options to “Never”.

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TV Mode Configuration

4.1 PV-256 Application Function Introduction

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→Start PV-256 Application→ DMA Setting→On Line Help→Schedule Record Wizard→TV Mode Selection→Uninstall PV-256 Application

NOTE: To solve any VGA compatibility problems, if your VGA card doesn’t support Overlay mode, please select “Preview Mode” before you open TV programs.

Always put TV screen on top

Exit

Function List (Right-Click)

Full Screen

1. PV-256 function list can also be founded by clicking right button of mouse on PV-256

screen.

Capture to AVI file

Preview 16 Channel

Let Screen on top

Call panel to top

Adjust the screen

Full Screen Display

Maximum Screen

Minimum Screen

About

Exit

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LCD Display：Current TV ChannelAir / CableCurrent TimeVideo Signal SourceVolume

Stop

Function List

Record

Still Capture

Exit

Volume Up/Down

Play

(TV Tuner Only)

Record

When clicking “Record” icon, it shows a “Save As” dialogue. Enter the “Save

in” path and file name and click save to start recording and save in MPEG

file.

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Video Source

Mute

About

Setting

Air/Cable TV Selection Channel Add/Erase

Auto-scan TV Channel Recall Previous Channel

Channel Up/Down Function List

Channel Number Key

Stop Recording: When clicking “Stop Recording” button, it

stops recording.

Play: When clicking “Play” icon, it shows below dialogue. You can play

the saved files by clicking “Open” button.

Still Capture (*.BMP): When clicking “Still Capture” button, you can capture your

favorite frame.

Setting (Advanced)

When clicking “Setting” icon, it shows the below dialogue which includes five

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parts of settings:

1. MPEG Parameter

2. Disk Information

3. Video

4. Capture Time Limit/FilePath/AV Split

5. Skin

1: MPEG Parameter

Simple Mode: Provide standard parameter setting for VCD/DVD/SVCD

Select picture size VCD, DVD or SVCD standard (PAL/SECAM/NTSC).

Set up video format/frame rate (support PAL/SECAM 25fps or NTSC 29.97fps)

Advance Mode: Adjust Bit Rate according to requirements.

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Set up Picture Size (NTSC/PAL/SECAM) Custom: [Mpeg2→Full,1/2,2/3] /

[Mpeg1→SIF]

Rate Control: CBR (Fixed sample rate) / VBR (Varied sample rate)

Set up Video Format/Frame Rate: support PAL 25fps or NTSC 29.97fps

Bit Rate: Adjist video bit rate

I/P frames distance, Number of frames in GOP: GOP number must be I/P

number in times.

HHR Filtering: Enable HHR filter

User Data: If ticking “Disable”, the user’s data embedded in front of

captured MPEG file won’t appear.

2: Disk Information

The saved hard disk can be set up before capturing.

When the saved hard disk space is less than 100MB free spaces, the

system will stop recording automatically.

You can capture the file size up to 4GB.

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3: Video

[ Video Adjustment ]

Brightness: Default at 128

Contrast: Default at 64

Hue: Default at 0

Saturation: Default at 64

[ Video Standard ]

You can select NTSC or PAL or SECAM video format.

Or click “Auto Detect” to select NTSC/PAL/SECAM by automatically.

[ Video Source ]

0: Select “Video Tuner In” video source.

1: Select “Video Composite In” video source.

2: Select “Video SVideo In: video source.

3: Select “Video Tuner In Air/Cable” video source.

4: Capture Time Limit/FilePath/AV Split

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Use Time Limit: Set up the recording time ( hr, min, sec)

Capture/Playback Option (Tick AV Split):

Save captured audio and video files into MPV file format (video) and

MPA file format (audio)

Use Working Path: Tick this and select the path and file name you want to

save into.

5: Skin

Users can change the interface of PV-256 application when they want to save a new mood of

using our product.

Click “Skin” selection to show the below dialogue. There are have 3 king skins to select.

Select what you want and click OK to change the skin.

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Video Source

0: Select “Video Tuner In” video source.

1: Select “Video Composite In” video source.

2: Select “Video SVideo In” video source.

Function list

When Clicking this icon, it shows below two selection:

Manual Scanning

Channel Editor

1. Manual Scanning

The Manual Scanning Tools shown below is a useful tool for searching

available tuned channels when the build-in frequency table is not correct.

Introduction of each icon:

Searched frequency

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Decrease 0.25MHZ Increase 0.25MHZ

Search previous channel Search next channel

Forward Search Backward Search

Click this button to show below dialogue

Close dialogue

Reset channel

Air mode

Cable mode

This dialogue is to add the searched frequency into the given channel number.

2. Channel Editor

Channel Editor is a good tool of editing all channel attributes.

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Auto scan all frequencies and add to the list automatically. The searched channels will be added in Cable mode first. If cable mode is not enough, it will add in Air mode. Auto Scan-Add takes 15 – 20 minutes to finish.

Rename: If you want to change the channel name, please enter the name you want

(i.e. DISCOVERY) in below dialogue and click “OK” to enter.

Remap: You can re-map the current channel to the different channel

number by selecting below number you like.

About: When clicking this icon, it shows the below dialogue to show the information about

PV-256 application.

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4.2 Schedule Record Wizard

When you click this function, it shows a “Schedule Record” dialogue below:

When clicking “Start” button, it starts to record according to the schedule.

When clicking “Del” button, it deletes the schedule setting.

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When clicking “Stop” button, it stops schedule recording.

When clicking “Hide” button, it hides the “Schedule Record Wizard” on task bar.

When clicking “Info” button, it shows below dialogue about the schedule record information.

When clicking “New” button, it shows a new schedule setting dialogue as

below:

Schedule Number Video

Source

Channel Number Channel

Source

Record date Record time

Record length (H)Record length (M)

File saved path

Note

When the above setting is ok, please click “Next” and it shows the below dialogue.

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<About this detail setting, we introduction the parameter setting in P.15 and P.16>

When the above setting is ok, click “Finish” and wizard will add this setting to the schedule.

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5. Hot Key function

1. → Right: Volume up

2. ← Lift: Volume down

3. 0～9: Channel Number4. UP: Channel Up

5. Down: Channel Down

6. Ｓ: Call Setting Dialogue

7. Ｃ: Still Capture

8. Ｂ: Auto Scanning

9. Ｌ: Recall Previous Channel

10.Ｉ: Change Video Source

11.Ｒ: Record

12.Ｍ: Mute

13.Enter: Full Screen

14.Ｅ: Close Application

v2.0 New Add Function:A：Change Air / Cable

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6. Q&A

1.Q: Why does the video stop when the video window size is adjusted?

A: As PV-256 application is based on DirectX 8, please install Microsoft™

DirectX 8 or higher version.

2.Q: Why does the PV-256 video stop sometimes?

A: Please refer to the system setting from page 9 & 10 of PV-256 manual. It can solve this

problem.

3.Q: Why does the system crash and cause the PV-256 application errors when

start access saving power scheme?

A: Before start PV-256 application, all settings of “Power management” have to

set to “Never”. Please go to “Start””Settings””Control Panel””Power

management””Power schemes”, change the Power schemes to “Always

On” and select all options to “Never”.

4.Q: Why can’t I open “DMA” setting from “My Computer””Control

Panel””System””Device Management””Hard disk””GENERIC

IDE DISK TYPE”?

A: When some IDE Disk Types of Hard disk or CD-Rom connecting devices are accessing DMA

function, it causes the system can’t open DMA mode. Please remove all IDE connections of

Hard disk or CD-Rom from the computer. Or you can check with us directly.

5.Q: The capture video has paused, When I playback that video, but

Asynchronous of video will be occurred, what can I do?？A: This have discontinuity stream of the video, Just can be playback by used “Hardware Mode”

capture from PV256, or use third-party software (ex: PowerDVD) to play it.

However, if your capture mode is use “Software Mode”, please be sure cannot use pause at

video when capture.

6. Q: When I using “Time-Shift” in my Windows XP, but I cannot see / hear anything, it’s nothing

happen?

A: This function is can’t support Windows XP of PV256 v2.0 now, it will be correct in the next

version.

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7. New Function Introduction

1. Time-Shift

It does can be take 30 seconds stream buffer of video streaming.

● Time-Shift can use on VCD mode, but it can’t worked on Windows XP now.

We can promise the function in the future version, this function will be provide and evolution.

2. Capture AVI

It can capture the video to AVI files, and it can over to 4GB by one file.

Start and End Capture always on same icon, and will ask the path to saved.

3. Preview 16 channel

Auto change the window to full screen, and preview 16 channel on the screen.

In the preview, the mouse position will be mark with red frame format on the channel.

Click mouse to view the current channel of red frame format on channel.

4. NiCAM / A2 (Optional)

TV Sound System NiCAM / A2 Select

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In the Property properties , will be found the page is “Audio Setting”.

The setting can control with capture to adjust volume of Total audio channel or L/R audio

channel.

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