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1. What is MPEG?
You can find good overviews about the MPEG standards at the following URLs:
http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/frame/research/mpeg/mpegfaq.html
http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/index.html
2. Where can I find other DirectShow filters working with the bitcontrol® decoder?
Please, have a look at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3filter
http://www.free-codecs.com
http://www.codec-download.de (German)
http://www.codec-download.com
http://packs.matroska.org
http://www.3ivx.com
http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis
3. How can I check, if the bitcontrol® MPEG-2 video decoder is installed correctly?
Use free software tools like “gspot” from http://www.headbands.com/gspot. Press the
“View” button in “gspot” to get a list of all installed DirectShow filters. Another
way should be to use the Microsoft utility “GraphEdit” from the MS DirectX SDK.
4. I have installed the trial Moonlight Software (Elecard demultiplexer), which is not
willing to include the bitcontrol® video decoder in the filter graph. What should I do?
The Elecard MPEG-2 video decoder is fixed coupled to the Elecard MPEG 2 demultiplexer.
So, if you are using the Moonlight-Elecard MPEG-2 player, then the Elecard demultiplexer
is working only in conjunction with its own video decoder. There is no chance to change
this behaviour. Other players are able to bind the bitcontrol® video decoder to the Elecard
demultiplexer.
5. I want to play VOB files from some DVD's, but the Windows Media Player doesn't
show anything. What can I do?
If you are using Windows Media Player version 9, so it does not accept the *.vob
file extension for playing. Please use the older Media Player "mplayer2.exe"
(version 6.x), located usually under directory C:\Programs\Windows Media Player\...
6. I don't hear any sound, when I play VOB files from DVD.
The bitcontrol® MPEG-2 audio decoder supports the following audio formats: LPCM (stereo),
MPEG-1 Layer 1/2 (stereo). For AC-3 and other formats, please use third party products, e.g.
AC3filter from www.sourceforge.net. An AC-3 filter from BitCtrl is on the TODO list for
future release. Please have a look on the DVD cover and check out, which formats
are included. Stereo format should play in any way.
7. There are many codecs on my computer. How can I uninstall some of them?
The bitcontrol® MPEG-2 decoder has its own "uninstaller" program. So, it's
very easy to erase the BitCtrl software from the computer. Some other vendors
don't handle deinstallation procedures properly. In this case, please use the
command line tool "regsvr32" to unregister the unwanted codec, e.g.
"regsvr32 /u C:\WINDOWS\system32\codecname.ax". You can find the name and the
location of the installed codecs by means of the "gspot" utility.
8. bitcontrol® Digital TV Link does not play TV on my PC
There may be a lot of reasons. Please, check
- from Digital TV Link version 2.8 the ReceiverType
has to be specified in the URL;
- if the Set Top Box is turned on;
- if the
streaming features on the Set Top Box are configured properly;
- if you have referred to
to right streaming protocol and URL, e.g. "bcmsdb://192.168.1.109?ReceiverType=dreambox";
- if you have installed the bitcontrol® MPEG-2 decoder;
- if your license is valid, etc.
9. What does it mean "Evaluation period has expired. Please register software."
 There is a little fee to pay for an unlimited license. Please have a look at the price list for several bitcontrol® products. Use our online-shop to obtain a full license.
10. How can I save the video stream of the Set Top Box to HD on Windows PC?"
The bitcontrol® multimedia player is not ready yet. So, we have used the preference menu
of WMP 6.4 "mplayer2.exe" and the Windows registry to set options and to control some features of
our filters. For writing the stream
to HD, please, set the following option in the registry with "regedit" utility:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER --> Software --> BitCtrl Systems GmbH --> DreamBox Receiver --> bSaveInFile
Value 0 means "off" and value 1 means "on". After restart of WMP the bitcontrol® Digital TV Link
writes to files now, "C:\DreamBoxAudio.mpg" for audio elementary stream and
"C:\DreamBoxVideo.mpg" for video elementary stream. If you want to change the filenames, then
change the items "szSaveAudioFilename" and "szSaveVideoFilename" in the registry too.
We know, that this is a little bit tricky today, but not having a player it's difficult to
control such features. We plan to deliver program stream und transport stream formats in futures releases of the writing filter also.
11. When I'm watching TV on PC from my d-Box II, then I'm getting a jerky video
There may be several causes. The fist problem could be an interference effect, if the monitor
frame rate (LCD usually 60 Hz) differs from multiple of PAL (25 Hz / 50 Hz half frames) or from
multiple of NTSC (29,97 ~ 30 Hz) frequency.
Second cause could be a very small buffer inside of the bitcontrol® DreamBox receiver filter.
This parameter is called "dwBufferTime" and can be set in MS Windows registry under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> BitCtrl Systems GmbH -> DreamBox Receiver
In case of bumpy video the value should be greather than 1000 ms.
If you have a fresh software installation, then you have to generate the registry items by
changing one of the filter parameters, e.g. by using the WMP6.4 "mplayer2.exe" preferences
menu.
Last but not least some issues could be appear in conjunction with 100% CPU use, network overload,
third party decoder filters and with other causes.
12. I know MPEG-2 players, which are free of charge, e.g. VLC. Why should I pay for the bitcontrol® stuff?
MPEG-2 technology is patented by some companies and require to pay royalties to their licensors. Please, refer to MPEG LA. Private and commercial use of VLC with MPEG-2 (SVD, DVD, Streaming) without paying MPEG-2 royalty is illegal, as described at VideoLAN FAQ.
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