User manual PINNACLE SHOWCENTER

[. . . ] Pinnacle ShowCenter Pinnacle ShowCenter User's Guide D/GB March 2005 41005345 © Pinnacle Systems GmbH 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transferred to other media without explicit written permission from Pinnacle Systems GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany. All brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories. "Dolby" and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. [. . . ] All the playlists created with the Rhapsody application are displayed and can be imported into the Pinnacle MediaManager, via Import/Rhapsody playlists. Due to licensing restrictions, the playback of Rhapsody titles via the Pinnacle MediaManager on a PC is currently not possible. 69 Pinnacle ShowCenter Rhapsody Music and the ShowCenter Player Just like other music, Rhapsody titles are displayed in the TV menu Music in the ShowCenter Player. Note that it can take several minutes until newly added music is displayed in the ShowCenter Player. Radio stations in the Rhapsody Library are automatically made available via Music/Internet Radio/Rhapsody Radio. You can play back Rhapsody music via the ShowCenter Player only if the Rhapsody application has already been started and you have logged in. 70 Pinnacle MediaManager File Formats Supported File Formats Supported audio file formats MP3 MPA PCM WAV WMA Supported video file formats (Standard Definition) MPEG 1 MPEG 2 (also VOB files) MPEG 4 AVI (versions 3, 4, 5; simple profile) Xvid AVI (simple profile) DV AVI WMV Supported video file formats (High Definition) MPEG 2 HD up to 1080i MPEG 4 AVI HD up to 720p WMV HD up to 1080i Supported photo formats JPG PNG GIF BMP 71 Pinnacle ShowCenter Converting Files The Pinnacle MediaManager can convert media into other formats. For example, you can convert an MPEG 2 movie file into the MPEG 1 VCD format for burning onto a CD. If you use the Pinnacle ShowCenter, this file conversion function is useful for formats that you cannot directly play back in the ShowCenter Player such as, for example, DV-AVI video clips. During conversion, a copy of the media is created, while the original file remains unchanged. You can define where to save this copy in the File/Preferences menu of the Pinnacle MediaManager. Here you can also configure an automatic media conversion, as well as keep track of the current status of running conversions. In order to convert a media file, select it in the Media Library, right-click and then select the format you want via the Shortcut menu Convert/Convert to. Conversion runs in the background and keeps going, even if you close the Pinnacle MediaManager. File status For each media type, the Media Library displays details for individual files in the list to the right. The first column shows the file status, which describes the conversion status of a file. 72 Pinnacle MediaManager Any file in a given category can have one of the following file statuses (indicated by the icon): This file needs to be converted before it can be displayed with a connected ShowCenter 1000 Player and be played back. With a ShowCenter 200 Player, it is sometimes possible to get playback without having to convert. Conversion options Right-click a file in the list to bring up the pop-up menu, where you can choose from the following options: Convert to The selected file will be converted. You can choose from the following movie formats: VCD (VideoCD) The video is compressed using MPEG 1 to one-fourth of its original image size (352x240 or 288). That means that one CD (650 MB) can hold a little over an hour's worth of video and audio. While the video quality is rather poor, VCDs can be played back in most DVD players. SVCD (SuperVideoCD) The video is compressed using MPEG 2 with full vertical resolution and 2/3 horizontal resolution. The data rate is 2. 5 Mbps and one CD can only hold a little less than a half an hour's worth of video and audio. The video quality is much better than on a VCD, but only some DVD players accept the SVCD format. DVD LongPlay The video is compressed using MPEG 2 with full vertical resolution and 1/2 horizontal resolution. DVD LongPlay can be burned to DVDs and is accepted by virtually all DVD players. [. . . ] (see also "SVCD") VHS: Abbreviation for "Video Home System". System used by many VCRs for recording and playing back sound and video from magnetic tape. It uses a composite signal that combines brightness and color information into one signal. (see also "Composite Video", S-VHS) Video-on-Demand (Vod): A multimedia application that allows users to access a video server and view photos/images or videos/movies. [. . . ]