CTpvr Media Center
Version 2.1

1. Introduction
   
2. Getting Started
   • What's New
   • Hardware Setup
   • Supported Hardware
   
3. ETV-Guide
   • ETV-Guide Setup
   • ETV-Guide Navigation
   
4. Live TV
   • Watching Live TV
   • Picture in Picture
   • Pausing Live TV
   
5. Scheduling and Recording
   • Recording Favorites
   • Scheduling a Recording
   • Watching Your Recordings
   
6. Media Play
   • My Picture Library
   • My Music Library
   • My Video Library
   • My DVD Player
   • My FM Radio
   • Internet Music
   
7. My Plugins
   
8. Keyboard Control Guide

Users Guide

CTpvr Media Center is a Personal Video Recorder(PVR) plus a Media Play and Management Center. The PVR is designed to work with integrated hardware encoder TV Tuner cards. PVR's use TV tuner cards to record TV shows to your PC's hard drive. CTpvr allows you to record TV shows while watching shows you have already recorded. You can even watch a show while the recording is still in progress. Our Media Play Center supports viewing of Photos; playback of DVD's, Videos files, Music files, Internet music and FM Radio.

Getting Started

Designed with easy navigation in mind you can perform almost any task with just five keys/buttons. These are the Left, Right, Up, Down Arrows and Enter/OK keyboard keys or remote buttons. There two different types menus available in CTpvr. The full user interface menu is display upon startup unless you choose to start CTpvr with the TV already on. The second menu is used when in windowed view. Right mouse click on any media screen to activate menu. While playing any media pressing the keyboard key "Ctrl-M" or the Menu button on Hauppauge silver remote will access the main interface menu. The same will occur during any video output by using the Enter key or the OK remote button.

Note: All alphabetic keyboard keys require the addition of the CTRL key. In this guide there are references made to many alphabetic keyboard keys. These will all require the CTRL key to be pressed in conjunction with the key mentioned. This is not required with numeric or special function keys like "Page Up".

What's New

• Version 2.1

  • CTpvr TV program data service
    We are now directly providing USA users high quality electronic TV program data. We're providing this listing information in our effort to improve your PVR(Personal Video Recording) experience. We are committed to the continued enhancement of our products to better serve you.
    
  • Pause Mode (Timeshifting)
    Improved core to pause mode providing you with a better timeshifting experience. Quicker channel changes, faster seeking through pause buffer and more.
    
  • Channel Navigation Information
    When changing channels either by using the up/down keys or entering in a number directly, You will now see the information for the show currently playing. To start viewing the channel simply press enter or select/ok on respective keyboard or remote control.

  
  Version 2.0

  • Themes
    Allows changing the appearance quick and easy providing you the ability to choose your look and feel.
    
  • Plugins
    Extends the capability with add on software that provide new features you choose to install.
    
  • My Picture Library
    View and play sideshows of your digital photos with zoom and image rotate. Allows media playback during slide show.
    
  • My FM Radio
    If your TV Card has a built in FM tuner, You can to listen to local FM stations in your area.
    
  • Internet Music
    Listen to internet music available in all genres. Save your favorite station for quick access. (requires ShoutCast filter.)
    
  • Recordings Management
    All your recordings can now be automatically managed based on your preferences. Auto delete recordings according
    to your criteria's. Such as delete when spaces is needed, after I've watched it or I'll decide when to delete.
    
  • Priorities and Duplicates
    Select the recording priority and whether to allow duplicates for every scheduled recording or favorite.
    
  • Event Log
    logging of all activities related to recording of shows.

Hardware Setup

Hardware setup is not required . All supported hardware are automatically used by CTpvr. You can also provide support for compatible hardware not already recognized by adding the TV card information to capdev.ini file.

Supported Hardware

CTpvr is much like a real TV, you do not have to setup hardware or channels to view Live TV. Since CTpvr is designed to work like a TV. Geared for remote control use with limited mouse controls. CTpvr Manager provides a better interface with normal Windows mouse control. Great for managing settings that would be more difficult to perform with a remote control. The manager also lets you view the ETV-Guide, Manage your Scheduled Recordings and Recorded files.

You can view Live TV or Recordings in three different window styles.

• Full Screen which is the default filling the entire screen.
• Skinned window style which has one click buttons for controls
• Compact window style just has a nothing but a border that surrounds it.
  

  The Windowed Styles are only available when a video image is being displayed on the screen. To enter Windowed Style just start Live TV or watch a Recording then press the "ESC"or "Ctrl-F" keys. You can also use the Full Screen, Select or OK buttons on the remote. You can also double click on the video screen to toggle between Full Screen and Windowed Style.

Watching Live TV

Select the [Live TV] main menu item to start Live TV. Much like a TV you can just type the channel you want to watch and it will change to it. You can use the autotune feature which will located under [System][More Settings] to narrow down the channels used while channel surfing. You will be prompt the first time your start Live TV if you want to autotune. Autotuning does not limit the channels you can manually enter providing the freedom to view any channel available to the tuner. You can also add or remove any channel from the list created by autotune.

For Channel surfing use the "Up" and "Down" arrow keys/buttons. To control Volume level use the "Left" and "Right" arrow keys/buttons. Live TV can be started form the guide by selecting the menu item [Watch Show]. You can also enter the Guide while watching Live TV and use the same procedure to change channels. To enter the Guide while watching any media press"Enter" or OK to bring up the main menu. Allowing you access to all other CTpvr functions including the Guide.

Picture in Picture

The use of PIP require at least 2 tuner cards. PIP can be activated while Watching Live TV or Playing back any video media. To start PIP enter the number 777 or use the "Insert" key and the PIP window will popup on the upper left hand corner. enter 778 to have the window change position to a different corner. To exit PIP just enter 777 or the "Insert" again.

When in PIP mode you can press Mute "Ctrl-Q" to hear and control the PIP TV screen. This will allow you to change the PIP channel until you press it again to hear the main TV screen. To switch PIP to main window press "Ctrl-L" key or the [Back] button on the remote.

Pausing Live TV

While watching Live TV you can press the keys "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Pause button on the remote. This will initialize Pause Mode and pause the viewing of the show. To continue viewing the show in this mode just press "Ctrl-Y" or "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Play button on the remote or the play button on the progress bar. Pressing "Ctrl-T", the Stop button on remote or the stop button of the progress bar once will pause playback and bring up a menu asking if you want to stop pause mode with options. To get to the end of the buffer, pause the playback then press the skip key "F8", the Skip button on remote or the skip button on the progress bar. You can also enter the number of minutes you want to skip then press any of the skip buttons and the playback will skip the amount entered.

While in pause mode you are still able to change the channel. You can only do this by entering the channel number then pressing "Enter" or Select. Give it a couple of seconds for the buffer to catch up since you are always a behind the real time of Live TV. The default pause buffer size is limited to 8GB and if reach Live TV pause will stop recording but keep the pause playback running. You can change the size of this buffer in the Manager.

While in pause mode in you can press the record button to have the show kept as a recording. Once the show has ended you can still save as a recording by going to [Recordings] in main menu, select the show and choose keeper from menu item. The show's title will begin with "CTtvPause" followed by show name. You can also have CTpvr start in Live TV Pause Mode via an option in settings. CTpvr will keep the Pause file for 24Hrs(Default) before it will delete them. The hours to purge these pause files can be change in the Manager's settings. Any show you select to keep will not be deleted by this purge feature.

ETV-Guide

The guide is where you can view downloaded TV show information. The Show's Title, Sub Title, Start/End Times, Description and more are made available in the guide The guide is one off the most useful and powerful capabilities of PVR's. You can search it, schedule from and create recording favorites from here. You should spend some time getting aquatinted with it to better take advantage of all it can do.

ETV-Guide Setup

Before using the ETV-Guide you must configure and download guide program data. CTpvr uses our guide data service for USA and XMLTV to download and populate the ETV-Guide.

USA Guide listing setup can be performed in the Manager by selecting the menu item "Setup ETV-Guide". Here you can run the "USA Lineup Wizard" to locate and configure you local service provider. Multiple lineups are supported by just adding another provider. You can also perform the initial download from this section as well as set the preferred auto listing download time. Auto updates needs to be reset when ever you change the service type or country by unchecking then rechecking.

For XMLTV you need to download the required files and place them in to the "XMLTV" folder located under "Program Files\CTpvr". Click on the menu item "Update Listing" in CTpvr manager to setup and download guide program data. Select XMLTV from the options group then pick from the drop down your country and click on configure to begin the XMLTV configuration setup. This will allow you to choose your broadcast provider by using zip code or some other means. Once the setup is complete, you then click on "Download Listing" to begin downloading your guide program data.

ETV-Guide Navigation

CTpvr has a program guide that can be access by pressing "Ctrl-G" on keyboard, the Blue Button on Hauppauge remote or by select "ETV-Guide" item in the main menu. You must have setup the Service provider before the guide would become available. Once the guide is open you can press the keyboard key "Enter" or OK on the remote control to access Guide menu items. You can maneuver around guide using the arrow keys on keyboard and the remote. Page up and Down keys will move you up or down a page at time. The << Rewind on the remote will take you back a day and the Fast Forward >> will move you forward a day while Play will bring you back to current date. The equivalent key on keyboard are "F5", "F6" and "Home" respectively.

Scheduling and Recording Shows

Upon startup CTpvr creates the folder MyVideos where your recordings are kept. You can change the default location of the recordings in CTpvr Manager under settings. You can schedule ETV-Guide shows in both CTpvr and CTpvr Manager.

CTpvr allows you to pause, rewind and fast forward the show while it is recording. You can also playback a file already recorded while a recording is in progress. To return to the show currently recording, just go to the [Recordings] item from the menu. The show that is currently recording will always be on the top of the list labeled "Now Recording".

When a schedule show starts recording CTpvr will run hidden in the background. If you are watching Live TV and it needs the tuner, it will interrupt your viewing to start recording your scheduled show. When playing back a show already recorded it will not interrupt your viewing and just start recording. You can view the show while it is recording by following the instruction in the previous paragraph.

Recording Favorites

Recording Favorites is a way to record TV Shows by having CTpvr schedule these shows to record automatically. Creating a Recording Favorite is a very simple process. With every favorite you can control the recording quality, keep until method, priorities, padding and whether to allow duplicates. Below are 3 separate ways of doing this.

1. Open the ETV-Guide then go to the time and channel slots of the show you want to record. Press "Enter" on keyboard or OK on the remote control. Find the menu item [New Favorite] and select the method CTpvr will use to decide what when your favorite is scheduled to record.
   
2. You can also perform a search on the guide by Title, Category, Channel or 1st Run(Zap2it Only). Scroll through the list of found shows and perform the same steps mentioned above.
   
3. In the main menu enter the item labeled [Schedule]. Now enter in to menu item [View and Manage Your Favorites]. There you will find a menu item [Create Keyword Favorite]. You can have CTpvr schedule a recording for any show the contains the keyword or phrase you provide.

Scheduling a Recording

To schedule a non favorite recording, open the ETV-Guide. Go to the time and channel slots of the show you want to record. Press "Enter" on keyboard or OK on the remote control to show menu. Select the menu item [Schedule]. To cancel a recording while in the ETV-Guide. Follow the steps mentioned above and select [Cancel].

All schedule recordings can be found under main menu item [Schedule] [View Shows Scheduled to Record]. Here is where you can delete any scheduled recordings. You can delete any schedule show regardless if it is an Episode or Favorite schedule. This will not delete your favorites only the one schedule item of that favorite.

To delete the recording favorite, go to [Schedule] [View and Manage Your Favorites]. Select the favorite you want to remove. Press "Enter" on keyboard or OK on the remote control. Follow the prompt from there to delete the favorite.

Watching Your Recordings

The Main menu item [Recordings] and the Mouse controlled menu item "Playback File" can be used to playback recorded shows. CTpvr can playback almost any file as long as you have the decoder installed to play them. Once the file has loaded, you can control the playback in this manner. To pause playback use "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Pause button on the remote or the pause button on the progress bar. To resume playback, press "Ctrl-Y" or "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Play button on the remote or the play button on the progress bar. Pressing "Ctrl-T", the Stop button on remote or the stop button of the progress bar once will pause playback and bring up the recordings menu. While pressing it twice will stop playback and take you to the main menu. To skip in the playback, press the skip back key "F7" or the skip forward key F8", the Skip buttons on remote or the skip button on the progress bar. You can also enter the number of minutes you want to skip then press any of the skip buttons and the playback will skip the amount entered.

Media Play

Media Play is where you go to play none PVR media and devices. You can view your Photos; play DVD's, Videos, Music files, Internet Music streaming and FM Radio. These items can be organized to provide quick access to any of your favorite items.

My Picture Library

Use menu option [Add folder to My Picture Library] to browse for your photos. Your pictures will be displayed in thumbnails that also serves as your menu. Press "Enter" or OK on an image to view it in full-size. From here you can navigate, rotate and zoom in on your photos. The "Left" and "Right" arrows will navigate to the next and previous images. The "Up" and "Down" arrows will rotate them. Press "Enter" or OK to zoom in and the arrow keys to move the zoomed in image. Press "Enter" again to exit zoom. Sideshows can be started from the thumbnail view by highlighting an image or a folder then press "Ctrl-Y" or Play to start. You can also start the sideshows from the full-size image view using the same key stroke. Sideshow can be paused using "Ctrl-P" and stopped with "Ctrl-T". Both the "Back" key and the "Escape" key will take you out of the full-size view returning you to the thumbnail menu. To remove a folder from the library, highlight the item then press the "Delete" key.

My DVD Player

DVD's are detected automatically when inserted. You will be prompt whether or not to play the DVD. You can also go directly to the menu item in [ Media Play ]. DVD's can be playback as long as you have a DVD compatible video decoder. DVD menus can be navigated using Keyboard, Remote or Mouse. To pause playback press "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Pause button on the remote or the pause button on the progress bar. To resume playback, press "Ctrl-Y" on the keyboard, the Play button on the remote or the play button on the progress bar. Pressing "Ctrl-T", the Stop button on remote or the stop button of the progress bar once will pause playback and bring up the DVD menu. While pressing it twice will stop playback and take you to the main menu. To skip chapters press the skip back key "F7" or the skip forward key "F8", the Skip buttons on remote or the skip button on the progress bar. Jump to any chapter by entering the chapter number you want go to then press "Enter" or OK. You can skip minutes by entering the number of minutes you want to skip then press any of the skip buttons and the playback will skip the amount entered.

My Music Library

In order to play your music files you need to create Music Libraries in CTpvr Manager. A Library is a catalog of Music files accessible to your PC. Any sub folders that contain music files will also be added to the Library. When creating a Library you will be asked if you want to process the ID3 Tags for Artist and Album Images. This will allow CTpvr to display the album covers while navigating the Music Menus. You can modify the database information that CTpvr manager extracts from the ID3 Tags. This allows you to correct information that is incorrect in the Tags. Only the CTpvr database will be modified not the ID3 Tags in any of your files.

Once you have created at least one Library you can create your Playlists which can include music files from any Library you created. You do not have to create a Playlist to start playing your music but it helps to control the type of music you may want to listen to. To add files to your Playlist, Just choose the Library you want to add the music from. Select the songs you want to add and either click the Add to Playlist or Drag the files to grid above the Add to Playlist button. You can repeat this process to add music from any of your Libraries. Before adding files to a Playlist you can press the play button under the Files for Select Library grid to sample any songs in that Library.

To play the songs in your Library or Playlist enter the [Media Play] menu item of CTpvr then enter in to [My Music Library] where you will find your created Libraries and Playlists. After selecting a Library or Playlist you are ask how to list your Music. You can choose either by Artist, Album or All Tracks. Once you start playing a song, CTpvr will play every song in that displayed group of music and auto repeats that group until you start playback of a different group.

My Video Library

Playback and manage all video types. To begin managing your videos start CTpvr Manager. Select settings then select the tab Video Library in the settings window. Add a video folder to the library and you will see the list of videos in that folder. If you want to add individual video information just select the video. Click the Add/View Info button. Here you can enter information like synopsis, year, cast, category, run time, director, rated, star rating and language. This information will be displayed when navigating My Videos.

Once the video file has loaded, you can control the playback in this manner. To pause playback use "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Pause button on the remote or the pause button on the progress bar. To resume playback, press "Ctrl-Y" or "Ctrl-P" on the keyboard, the Play button on the remote or the play button on the progress bar. Pressing "Ctrl-T", the Stop button on remote or the stop button of the progress bar once will pause playback and bring up the My Videos menu. While pressing it twice will stop playback and take you to the main menu. To skip in the playback, press the skip back key "F7" or the skip forward key F8", the Skip buttons on remote or the skip button on the progress bar. You can also enter the number of minutes you want to skip then press any of the skip buttons and the playback will skip the amount entered.

My FM Radio

Listen to local radio station with and supported TV card that has a built in FM tuner. Its very simple to use with no setup requirements. To seek stations use the "Left" and "Right" arrow keys/buttons. To add as a favorite station just seek the station you want. Press "Enter" or OK to access the action menu. Select the [Favorite] menu item. To remove from favorites, highlight favorite then press "Enter" or OK and choose [Delete].

Internet Music

Listen to Internet music from a wide variety of internet sources. Select [Internet Music - SHOUTcast Streaming] from the Media play menu. This will open the menu with all the different music genres. Select a genre to download the list of available stations. Select a station to access the action menu then select Play to start streaming. The same menu also has the option to add station as a favorite.

To access your favorites go back in to the [Internet Music - SHOUTcast Streaming] menu. Select the [My Inet Favorite] menu item. Select any favorite station and play as mentioned above. The favorite action menu also has the menu item to delete your favorite.

My Plugins

Plugins are a great way to expand on any program's capabilities. There are five different types of plugins supported. These are Module, ProcessMenu, Process, Input and Output. Both Module and ProcessMenu Plugins when enabled for use will be shown in the My Plugins menu. All other plugins types run in the background. In order to run a plugin you need to enable the plugin via the Manager's settings. After the plugin is installed you should see it in the list of installed plugins. Check the enabled checkbox to inform CTpvr to utilize the plugin. If the plugin is shown as not registered you can try to fix is's state by clicking on Register plugin.