TECH FAQ
Q. [E, E2, DVDM-300] GUIDE, MUSIC, & RADIO lights are flashing...?
A. When a CD is ripped on to the internal hard drive, it is first copied
in WAV format and then cued for encoding to the MP3 or FLAC format. The encoding process
occurs in the back ground when the unit is not playing music and when it is in standby.
The GUIDE, MUSIC, & RADIO lights flash when the unit is in standby if the encoding
process is running. The lights will stop flashing when the encoding process is complete.
The unit can be turned on at any time during encoding if you wish to use the unit.
Approximate encoding times: MP3 = 20 minutes per CD. FLAC = 5 minutes per CD.
Q. [DVDM] Can I rip my DVD’s to the DVDM-300 hard drive?
A. The DVDM-300 product manages DVD’s from connected changers only.
Currently, Escient does not offer a product that allows a DVD to be ripped to an internal
hard drive because of the legal issues related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of
1998. If and when the legal issues are resolved, Escient will be in a position to quickly
offer hard drive based DVD management products.
Q. [DVDM] I just installed a second changer but the DVDM is not recognizing it.
A. The most common reason is the external control port is set to the same port as
the changer. To check this go to SETUP, AUDIO-VIDEO-COMM PORTS, then select COMM PORT
SETTINGS. (on newer software -- SETUP, EXTERNAL CONTROL, IR & SERIAL, then select
SERIAL CONTROL COM PORT.) Make sure EXTERNAL CONTROL or SERIAL CONTROL COM PORT is not on
the same port as any attached changer(s).
A “null-modem” cable is required when connecting a
DVD changer to the DVDM controller. Pinout for this cable is 2to3, 3to2, & 5to5.
Another option is to use a standard “straight-thru” cable with a
“null-modem adapter”. Here is a link for such an adapter at Radio Shack.
Q. [H, E, E2, DVDM-300] Can the hard drive in my Fireball be upgraded?
A. Currently, there are no options to upgrade a FireBall to a bigger hard drive.
However, we have added a new feature where a second FireBall can be installed and share
the music on both FireBalls from an integrated music guide. We are also working on the
ability to play music from PCs and from networked attached storage. This feature will be
available in Q1 2006.
Q. [H, E, E2, DVDM-300] Which MP3 portable players are supported?
A. Any MP3 portable player can now be supported by using the PC file sharing
capabilities built into the FireBall. The PC file sharing feature allows you to easily
movie files between the FireBall, a PC or Mac, and a portable player connected to the PC
or Mac. Use the following links for more information on how to use the PC file sharing
features and for moving files to portable players:
Windows XP
Integration
MAC OS
X Integration
IPod
Integration – PC
IPod
Integration – MAC
These features are built-in all E2, SE, and DVDM-300 products. The E-40 & E-120 can be
upgrading with the PC file sharing feature using this link eupdate.
The FireBall H included a USB connector and supported the Rio600, the Compaq
PA-1, & the Compaq
PA-2 models directly. There are no plans to add any other MP3 player support to the
FireBall H.
Q. [H] Can I install the E2 software on my FireBall H-40?
A. No. The newer software uses a different operating system that does not support
USB or HPNA. To benefit from the newer software & features, one would have to upgrade
to a newer E or E2 model.
Q. [H, E, E2, DVDM] Why is my CD/DVD “Unknown”? I know it has to be
in the database!
A. The first step is to verify the unit is getting online. A quick test is to go
to SETUP, then UTILITIES, then select UPDATE SOFTWARE. If the unit is indeed online you
will get a response back of, “No update required. Your software is up to date.”
Unknown CD’s – The FireBall reads the TOC (Table Of Contents)
of each music disc and then contacts CDDB to get the artist, title, & track names. This
information is not on the CD itself. If a music CD comes back as “unknown”, this
simply means that TOC is not in the CDDB database; in which case you would have to
manually enter the info.
Unknown DVD’s – We maintain our own DVD database. In most
cases, the DVD is in fact in our library unless it is something pretty obscure. Foreign
DVD’s might have a low hit-rate as well. Depending on where you purchased your DVD,
it’s unique code representing the Table Of Contents may differ from the actual DVD we
used to enter it into our library. To work around this, we have a feature built in to the
DVDM that allows you to browse our database to find a match.
See “ADDING DISC INFORMATION FOR UNKNOWN DISCS: A Guide to Editing Disc
Information for DVD’s and CD’s” for detailed info.
Q. How to print my CD/DVD library?
A. You can print your CD and DVD library using the Fireball’s build-in web
server. You can access the web interface by typing the IP address of the FireBall or the
FireBall “friendly name” into the web browser’s address bar. Once the web
interface is displayed, select OPTIONS and PRINT MUSIC LIBRARY under the
“import/export” heading.
Q. [E, E2, DVDM-300] How do I transfer music from my Fireball to my Apple iPod
or other MP3 portable player?
A. Music files on the FireBall hard drive can be transferred to an Apple iPod or
any other MP3 portable players using the PC file sharing feature built into the Fireball
software. You simply plug the iPod or other portable player into your PC or Mac and then
drag files from the FireBall to portable player using the software on the PC or Mac. The
PC file sharing feature on the Fireball requires the PC to be running Windows 2k/XP and a
Mac to be on MacOSX and the FireBall and the PC must be located on the same local area
network. Step-by-Step instructions on integrating your MP3 device can be found here for
Windows 2k/XP and here for MacOSX.
Q. [E2, DVDM] Why do I not get audio and/or video on a specific output when
playing a disc from a connected changer?
A. Both the Fireball E2 and DVDM were designed to pass-thru both the audio and/or
video from a connected changer. When a specific type of output is desired from the
FireBall this connection must also be made from the changer to the FireBall.
Q. [E, E2, DVDM-300] I copied music from my PC/Mac to the IMPORT folder on the
Fireball but the music does not show up in the music guide.
A. The Fireball is currently compatible with MP3, WMA, FLAC, and WAV digital
music formats. When importing music to your Fireball please make sure that the music you
are importing is one of the supported formats. Unsupported file formats copied to the
IMPORT folder of the Fireball will appear in the import folder as a marker, but will not
occupy any space on the hard drive and will not appear in the music guide.
Q. [MP] Music recorded to the hard drive of the Fireball E, E2, or DVDM-300
does not appear on the MP-150 music player.
A. When recording music to the hard drive of the Fireball music server it will
initially record the music in WAV format (lossless and uncompressed). After recording this
music to the hard drive in wav format it will then compress the music into the specified
format; either FLAC or MP3. In order to stream music to an MP-150 client, the Fireball
music server must first encode this music. However, the unit will only begin this encoding
process when idle. Playing music and/or recording from the server will pause the encoding
process and cause it to take additional time which results in this music taking longer to
show up on the client MP.
Note: You can verify if the Fireball music server currently has music
queued up to be encoded by placing the unit in standby. If the Guide/Music/Radio lights
begin flashing this means that the unit is currently encoding music located on the hard
drive.
Q. [E, E2, DVDM-300] I did a bulk record from the attached changer to the hard
drive of the Fireball but during playback all I received is dead air.
A. When recording from an attached changer to the hard drive of the Fireball a
digital audio connection, either digital coax or optical, must be connected from the
changer. By default the Fireball will use the optical audio input unless specified
otherwise from within the setup menu. It is also recommended that you connected the analog
left & right audio cables from the changer as well. During the record process if any
type of CD copy protection is encountered the Fireball will switch to the analog input in
order legally copy the CD. As a safeguard, it is a good idea to play a CD in each changer
via the FireBall user interface and verify you hear music from each changer before
starting a long record session.
Q. [DVDM] How many DVDs can be viewed at one time using both single and
multiple attached DVD changers?
A. The DVDM will only support a single zone of video even with multiple connected
changers. However, in the case of the DVDM-300, you are able to support multiple zones of
music with additional attached Escient MP-150’s.
Q. [H, E, E2, DVDM-300] After recording multiple CDs via the +1 drive to the
hard drive of my Fireball record times have started to increase dramatically.
A. Increasingly long record times via the +1 drive are usually the result of the
Fireball’s hard drive becoming full of temporary wav files which occupy much more
space than a compressed format. When recording music to the hard drive of the Fireball
music server it will initially record the music in WAV format (lossless and uncompressed).
After recording this music to the hard drive in WAV format it will then compress the music
into the specified format; either FLAC or MP3. However, the unit will only begin this
encoding process when the FireBall is idle. Playing music and/or recording from the
FireBall will pause the encoding process and cause it to take additional time. If you
begin to experiencing increasingly long +1 record times, leave the Fireball in standby to
give it an opportunity to compress the music previously recorded to the hard drive.
Note: You can verify if the Fireball music server currently has music
queued up to be encoded by placing the unit in standby. If the Guide/Music/Radio lights
begin flashing this means that the unit is currently encoding music located on the hard
drive. |
