Sunday, July 27, 2008

ChrisTV PVR - Broadcast mode (available only in ChrisTV PVR Professional)

Using ChrisTV PVR Broadcast feature you can now share your favorite TV shows, Movies with your friends through local networks and through internet.

In the "Broadcast Settings" panel you can select the favorite broadcast preset and view main broadcast parameters : video/audio compression codecs and video/audio bitrates that will be used for the live broadcast. By pressing the "Customize broadcast settings" button you will be able to adjust all broadcast settings.

In this window you will be able to customize any broadcast preset settings.
ChrisTV offers the option to choose the broadcast mode : Video and Audio, Video only or Audio only.
Next you can select which video/audio codecs,frame size and bitrates to be used for broadcasting.
In the advanced settings you can set the port number used for broadcasting and the maximum number of clients that can connect to the broadcast stream. You can also choose to save the broadcasted stream to local file to play it later.

If the broadcast mode does not work properly, try to change the Video Rendering Mode to other value in Program Settings->Video Rendering and also you can try to check "Disable video and audio preview while broadcasting".

For the broadcast feature to work properly you need to download and install Windows Media Encoder 9, for download links please click here.

For more tips how to configure the broadcast module, please visit our support forum.

Note : In the registered version the maximum number of clients is 50, during trial period there are some limitations, please click here for more details.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

ChrisTV PVR - Multituner Support (available only in ChrisTV PVR Professional)

ChrisTV PVR Multituner feature will let you use up to 4 (four) video capture devices with ChrisTV PVR. This feature will allow you to watch your favorite TV channel using 1 capture device and record another channel(s) with the other capture device(s) that you have installed on your PC.

ChrisTV - Multituner Status


The "Capture Devices Status" window will keep you informed regarding the status of each video capture device that you have installed and configured to work with ChrisTV PVR.

You will be able to change the preview from one device to another device ( this change can be made also using the keyboard shortcut keys ALT+"capture device id" ( one of this numbers 1,2,3,4).

Also you can stop any recording at any time (background recordings or recordings with video preview).

Note : The maximum number of capture devices that can be used at once during trial period is 2 (two).

How can I make my TV Card remote work with ChrisTV PVR ?

ChrisTV PVR has integrated support for WinLirc but can not receive and process directly the remote control signals, so a third party software is needed in order to control ChrisTV. Basically in order to control ChrisTV PVR, you need an application that receives and process the signal from remote control (as the remote applications that came bundled with the TV Card) and then sends keyboard shortcuts to ChrisTV window. (Here you can see a list of ChrisTV Shortcuts)

ChrisTV PVR offers support for Hauppauge remote controls, ATI Remote Wonder.

More detailed information you can find on our support forum : How To Make ChrisTV PVR Work With Your Remote Control

ChrisTV PVR - TimeShift Mode (available only in shareware products)

ChrisTV TimeShift lets you freeze the live TV stream, giving you a break while is still recording.

TimeShifting is giving you, recordings with time delayed playback being different from the linear recording style you were used till now.

By TimeShift recording you can fast-forward through commercials and create your instant-replay on a live TV program.

Never miss anything from your favourite show, by timeshifting recording, a simple pause will let you resume later the interrupted TV program viewing.

Timeshifting is based on a principle of buffering the encoded images captured from the live TV program.

Such kind of temporary buffering lets you go back and forth playing on an imaginary timeline of your live TV show while this is still in progress.

ChrisTV - TimeShift

  • There are 3 Timeshift Running Modes :
    • Using software DV Encoder ( with high CPU usage and large size for buffer file )
    • Using software MPEG Encoder ( only MPEG Intervideo Encoder 3 is supported for the moment )
    • Using hardware MPEG Encoder ( available only for TV Cards with MPEG Hardware Encoding Module )
  • Starting with version 5.00 you will be able to choose your favorite Timeshift Quality settings to save diskspace or have best quality from 4 presets :

    • Best (video bitrate 9600 KBits/sec),
    • Good (video bitrate 6400 KBits/sec),
    • Normal (video bitrate 4800 KBits/sec)
    • Low (video bitrate 3000 KBits/sec).
  • In version 5.15 or higher, you will be able to make recordings while using the timeshift feature. You can choose if the recording starts automatically when you begin timeshift or manually when you want, same goes for stop timeshift recording. Please note that you won't be able to record in past, only what is in present time on the live stream.
  • For software encoding TV Cards there is the option to mute the Preview Live Sound while in TimeShift Mode
  • The timeline is as large as the temporary buffer is set: from several minutes, to several hours depending on your available storage space.
    You can customize the TimeShift Buffering Time duration between 1 and 300 minutes ( while in trial mode the maximum duration is fixed to 35 minutes ).


    Note : ChrisTV TimeShift feature works only under Windows XP & Windows XP MCE with SP1 or higher.
  • What are the System Requirements ?

    Hardware:
    - AMD Duron or Intel Pentium II 200MHz+, 500MHz or greater recommended.
    - PCI or AGP DirectX compatible graphic adapter card, overlay support recommended.
    - Memory : more than 64 MB RAM.
    - Supported capture device (see complete
    Supported Capture Devices List).
    - HDD Space : 5-10 MB for ChrisTV Program, 5-10 GB for recorded files.
    - Sound card.


    Software:
    - Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Microsoft Vista
    - DirectX 8.1 or higher installed.
    - Capture device compatible drivers (see
    Supported Capture Devices List).

    What is ChrisTV PVR ?

    ChrisTV PVR (Personal Video Recorder) is a software designed to control analog TV Cards, Graphic Cards with Video Input (VIVO), Combo Cards (Graphic Card and TV Card), Webcams, DVcam Capture that have WDM drivers(Windows Driver Model) or BDA drivers compatible with DirectShow specifications.ChrisTV PVR product suite includes :

    • ChrisTV Lite is a FREEWARE software for NON-Commercial Use. You can enhance it with more features by activating the Add-On Packages.

    For more information about ChrisTV PVR Products Suite, please check the Feature Comparison Chart