[English] README.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 1998.01.21 Rainbow Runner Software for Windows 95 Version 2.00.061 Table of contents ----------------- - Description of this release - New features for this release - Release History (Features added) - Rainbow Runner software installation contents - Installation - Notes, problems and limitations Description of this release --------------------------- This product includes Windows 95 drivers for the Matrox Rainbow Runner Studio add-on card, and the Matrox PC-VCR Remote program for Windows 95, which lets you quickly access Rainbow Runner features. New features for this release ----------------------------- - Cutlist support for faster editing in Media Studio 5.0 - DirectDraw support for faster processing of special effects in Media Studio 5.0 - Option for saving PC-VCR Remote video snapshots as JPEG files - Option for scaling PC-VCR Remote video snapshots up to 400% - Improved speed of snapshots with PC-VCR Remote - Support for channel ordering in PC-VCR Remote ("TV Setup" property sheet) - Matrox HD Benchmark program lets you select which drives to test Release history (features added) -------------------------------- - Release 1.50 - European TV tuner audio support, including: FM, NICAM support and language selection - New Teletext browser in CD-ROM "Teletext" folder - PC-VCR Remote option to view full-screen "TV", "LINE" or MJPEG video with more detail - With PC-VCR Remote and the Rainbow Runner TV card, option to simultaneously preview up to 30 channels in a single window - With PC-VCR Remote and the Rainbow Runner TV card, automatic TV channel fine-tuning to get the best reception - Separate cropping settings saved for "TV" and "LINE" input with PC-VCR Remote - Information dialog box for video files opened with PC-VCR Remote - PC-VCR Remote "Pause" button freezes "TV" or "LINE" video input - Controls for setting your audio recording levels in PC-VCR Remote - Automatic TV standard (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) detection option in PC-VCR Remote - Support for different European cable types on "TV Out" property sheet - Installation of OLE 2.20 components for PC-VCR Remote - Fixed problems with Closed Captioning timer programs in PC-VCR Remote (it previously wasn't possible to set a time limit) - Fixed conflicts between Direct3D games and Rainbow Runner software - Release 1.10 - Presets for Adobe Premiere in CD-ROM "Utils" folder - Interactive mode indicators on PC-VCR Remote (click them to toggle features) - Fixed audio problems with Ensonic sound cards (previously, the audio would stop playing when seeking in a video file) - Release 1.00 - Original feature set - Full support for capturing video to disk, video editing, and video conferencing - Hardware-accelerated MPEG playback Rainbow Runner software installation contents --------------------------------------------- setup.exe install program setup.ini install configuration file rrunner.ini Rainbow Runner configuration file readme.txt File holding important information about the product rain_eng.dll English file needed for the installation rain_fra.dll French file needed for the installation rain_deu.dll German file needed for the installation rain_ita.dll Italian file needed for the installation rain_esp.dll Spanish file needed for the installation main.mva Language independent compressed files deamovie.exe German Active Movie Installation amovie.exe English ActiveMovie Installation itamovie.exe Italian ActiveMovie Installation eng_files.mva compressed English files fra_files.mva compressed French files deu_files.mva compressed German files ita_files.mva compressed Italian files esp_files.mva compressed Spanish files tvt.reg Registry information for TV Tuner tables Installation ------------ - The Rainbow Runner software installation program stops if you don't have a Rainbow Runner add-on card properly installed in your computer, or if recent MGA display drivers aren't installed. - If you see a message indicating that ActiveMovie cannot be installed, it may be because ActiveMovie is already installed on your computer. If you see this message, click "OK" and continue the Rainbow Runner installation. - You can uninstall Rainbow Runner software using the uninstall program in the Matrox Rainbow Runner program group. You should restart your computer immediately after you run the uninstall program. Notes, Problems, and Limitations -------------------------------- - There are maximum video window sizes for viewing video files recorded with Rainbow Runner (MJPEG-encoded AVI files) and live video ("TV" or "LINE" input). These maximum video window sizes depend on your display settings and graphics card. For more information, see the "Display information" section of your Rainbow Runner Studio manual. - Using a full-screen DOS window or changing display settings (resolution or color palette) may cause problems if, at the same time, you're playing back or recording a video file, or using the Closed Captioning feature. - Suspend mode is not supported when using the Rainbow Runner software or when using any of the TV Out modes. - When you drag-and-drop video files onto the PC-VCR Remote icon, long file names are converted to the old 8.3 DOS-naming style in the PC-VCR Remote menu window and on video window title bar. - Capturing video to a file while outputting video to your TV may cause "jittering" in your computer monitor display if your video source (video input line or TV signal) is unstable. - If Microsoft Media Player does not respond, try clicking on the Windows desktop background, then clicking on Media Player - this may restore control. - Problems may occur if you change display settings (resolution or color palette) or switch to full-screen DOS while running video programs (programs that capture, play back or edit video). - Only one program at a time can use Rainbow Runner hardware. Before starting a video program, close any other video program that may be running. - Because of a limitation in Microsoft Video for Windows, video files you capture are limited to a 2 GB size. - With a Matrox Millennium II graphics card, TV out mode is supported only with a 16-bit color palette. (Note that many games support only an 8-bit color palette. If you're using a Millennium II graphics card, these games can't be viewed on a TV.) - With a Matrox Millennium II graphics card, only live video playback ("TV" or "LINE" input) is supported in a video window if you're using a 32-bit color palette. For more information, see the "Display information" section of your Rainbow Runner Studio manual. - With a Matrox Millennium II graphics card, TV output in full-screen VGA/DOS display modes are not supported. - With a Matrox Millennium II graphics card, placing a window over a video window may cause the video window to go to black. (The video continues to play, but it's not displayed in the video window.) This happens at the following display settings: Color palette Display area ------------- ------------ 16-bits 1152 x 864 and higher 24/32-bits 1024 x 768 and higher The video plays normally when you remove all windows overlapping the video window, or move the video window in front of all other windows. - When the "Use dual-fields in full-screen mode" feature is active in PC-VCR Remote (see its context-sensitive Help), placing any window over the full-screen video window causes the video window to go black. (The video continues to play, but it's not displayed in the video window.) The video plays normally when you remove all windows overlapping the video window. - The Matrox Vidcap driver is designed to work only with 32-bit programs (programs designed for Windows 95). You can't use 16-bit programs (programs designed for Windows 3.1) with Rainbow Runner. - For PC-VCR Remote video snapshots, only the portion of the video window that is inside your Windows desktop area is saved. - Ensoniq Sound Cards (certain models): Some Ensoniq sound card, for example the SoundScape Vivo 90, will lose audio when seeking or stopping and restarting any video file. This happens when double clicking on a file or using Active Movie through MediaPlayer. To avoid this problem, use the PC-VCR Remote to view your video files. - ESS Sound chips (certain models): Some sound card equiped with the ESS audio chip, for example the ESS 1878 found on laptops, may experience a loss of audio-video synchronisation when playing back video files. Video will be late compared to audio whenever pausing and restarting the playback. To correct this problem, click on the PC-VCR Remote's Playback Status Bar to jump to a particular area in the file. - With the Microsoft NetMeeting program, use "preview" mode. Netmeeting doesn't support "overlay" mode for Rainbow Runner. For more information on preview mode, see the Rainbow Runner Studio manual. - Using TV output, you can't run games in fit-to-screen mode. When outputting games to TV, overscan mode will be used by default. - You will encounter problems using Adobe After Effects with Matrox MJPEG compression. To avoid any problems, create video files using the "RGB uncompressed" setting. To compress your RGB video files, insert them into Ulead MediaStudio Video Editor, then create a video file using the "Matrox MJPEG" setting.