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MagicBox VIP User Manual

Other manuals for VIP: User Manual, User Manual
Manual is about: Video Information Player

Summary of VIP

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    V v i i p p v v i i d d e e o o i i n n f f o o r r m m a a t t i i o o n n p p l l a a y y e e r r by magicbox user manual v1.65 copyright © 2005 magicbox, inc. All rights reserved ®.

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    T t a a b b l l e e o o f f c c o o n n t t e e n n t t s s introduction ...................................................................................................................1 hardware ........................................................................................................

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    Vip unit reference................................................................................................... 19 player unit capabilities ................................................................................. 19 floppy disk playback....................................................

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    Vip composer installation..................................................................................39 requirements................................................................................................... 39 starting setup… ..............................................................

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    Day of week ...................................................................................... 73 full example...................................................................................... 73 project properties ................................................................................

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    Vip user manual 1 i i n n t t r r o o d d u u c c t t i i o o n n the vip (video information player) system allows you to create slides on your pc with graphics and text which can then be played back on a video monitor using the vip unit. A variety of applications can be served by a vip, including a...

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    2 vip user manual software each vip unit comes with a version of magicbox’s “vip composer professional” software. This software can be installed onto a windows (95, 98, nt, 2000, or xp) computer allowing you to place text messages over graphical backgrounds. The backgrounds can come from many source...

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    Vip user manual 3 customer support should you have any questions about installing or using your magicbox vip system, please call our technical support line at 541-752-5542, send a fax to 541-752-5614, or write to: magicbox, inc. 1600 sw western, suite 130 corvallis, or 97333 you can also send email ...

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    4 vip user manual copyright and use this manual and the software described herein are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Under the copyright laws, neither this manual nor the software may be copied, in whole or in part, without the written permission of magicbox, inc. Magicbox®, vip™, and vip com...

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    Vip user manual 5 credits executive producer: tom searcy project director: bob richardson production manager: karl frederick vip composer software: karl ott vip player development: gavin bradshaw brian larsen bryan silbermann special thanks: garrett andres scott bowman anne davies ramona perry-campb...

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    6 vip user manual warranty the vip player unit hardware is warranted against defects in parts and labor for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty does not apply to damage caused by misuse or external forces such as power fluctuations, extreme temperatures, exposure to excessi...

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    Vip user manual 7 software license software program license agreement please read carefully copyright this manual and software described herein are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Under the copyright laws, neither this manual nor the software may be copied, in whole or in part, without the wri...

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    8 vip user manual fcc statement federal communications commission (fcc statement) this equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a class b digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the fcc rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interfer...

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    Vip user manual 9 important safety instructions ⌧ the following instructions describe how to prevent physical injury to yourself or others, as well as how to prevent damage to the unit. Read these instructions thoroughly before attempting to setup or install your unit. 1. Please read these instructi...

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    10 vip user manual 14. Do not open the device unless instructed to do so by authorized customer service personnel. 15. If the following conditions occur, the device must be disconnected from the main power, and it must be checked by a qualified service center: a. Power cable or power plug are damage...

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    Vip user manual 11 h h a a r r d d w w a a r r e e s s e e t t u u p p box contents before you begin setup of your vip unit, make sure that the following components are included in the original packaging: __ vip main system unit __ remote control __ power cord __ ethernet adapter (“express” models o...

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    12 vip user manual find a suitable location the vip unit should be placed on a stable, flat, level surface. Ensure that the unit is not in a place where it may be easily knocked over, have its cords tripped over, or have liquids spilled into it. The vip unit warranty does not cover damage caused by ...

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    Vip user manual 13 select a television standard different parts of the world use different television standards. The standard used in most of north america is called “ntsc”. The standard used in many european countries is called “pal”. On the back of the vip unit is a switch labeled “ntsc / pal” – e...

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    14 vip user manual connect the ethernet adapter vip “express” models only vip express models include an ethernet networking adapter. There are two varieties of ethernet adapters, “silicom” style and “xircom” style. Compare the adapter supplied with your unit with the photos below to determine which ...

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    Vip user manual 15 “xircom”-style ethernet adapters have a software- controlled power light. This power light won’t come on until the vip unit has been configured to work with the adapter, so you may not see the power light until after you have adjusted vip’s setup menus. Connect the power once you ...

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    16 vip user manual once all of the demo pages have been loaded, they will begin playing automatically. If you have successfully reached this stage, your unit is ready to go into service. Be sure to follow the steps under “configure the vip unit”, on the next page. Configure the vip unit at any point...

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    Vip user manual 17 using the arrow buttons ( ) on the remote, highlight “time/date” and press the select ( ) button. A sub-menu will appear with the options “set time” and “set date”. Highlight “set date” and press the select ( ) button. A 6-digit digital display showing the current month, day, and ...

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    18 vip user manual a 4-digit digital display showing the current hour and minute, will appear. Use the left and right arrow buttons to select which digit you wish to modify, and use the up and down arrow buttons to change the value of that digit. This menu uses 24-hour notation, meaning that hours r...

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    Vip user manual 19 v v i i p p u u n n i i t t r r e e f f e e r r e e n n c c e e player unit capabilities floppy disk playback all vip playback units accept floppy disks created using the vip composer software. The vip unit displays the pages found on the floppy in the order specified as part of y...

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    20 vip user manual modem transfer in addition to the direct serial cable, vip units can receive images via a modem. The vip unit automatically detects a modem when it boots. ⌧ if you intend to use the serial port with a modem, you must use a vip modem cable from magicbox, inc. Use of other cables wh...

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    Vip user manual 21 important considerations please keep the following issues in mind when setting up and operating the vip playback unit. Protect the unit from power loss. The image storage memory inside the vip unit is not permanent. If the unit loses power due to a power failure or if it is unplug...

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    22 vip user manual the vip unit turns on automatically. The vip unit has no hard power switch. When you plug the unit in, it will immediately turn on. You can put the unit into sleep mode using the remote control, but the unit will turn on again after a power interruption. Do not connect more than o...

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    Vip user manual 23 using the remote control the vip unit’s functions are accessed using the included infrared remote control. If you intend to use the vip unit purely as an automatic playback device, you will not need the remote control after you have set things up the way you like. Store the remote...

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    24 vip user manual arrows - during playback, you can use the next ( ) and previous ( ) arrow functions to use the vip unit as a live slideshow. When accessing menus, the arrow buttons navigate the menus and change the values of selections. Select - the select ( ) button functions like an enter key. ...

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    Vip user manual 25 if you are using the remote control to turn on the vip unit, you should see the splash screen in less than five seconds. When first applying power, the unit will boot in less than 20 seconds. Once booted, the splash screen will disappear and one of the following will occur: if no ...

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    26 vip user manual if your disk will not load even after you have tried this menu option, there may be something wrong with your disk. The vip unit will only accept two kinds of disks: disks created using the magicbox vip composer software (described later in this manual), or vip software upgrade di...

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    Vip user manual 27 if you do not want the gallery screen to display as your pages load (for example in a broadcast application), you can go to the setup menu and select preferences, and then select hide gallery. From then on, a black screen with only the progress bar will appear when loading pages f...

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    28 vip user manual the disk icon will cause the vip to reload all of the pages from the disk. Use this for times when you have interrupted the loading process and want to start over, or if for some reason the vip does not initially detect the insertion of a new disk. The rabbit icon will take you to...

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    Vip user manual 29 show gallery/ hide gallery normally, whenever a new disk is inserted or a project is published, the unit switches to the gallery screen while the pages are loaded from the disk. If you do not wish for the gallery screen to appear while pages load, select “hide gallery” instead. Th...

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    30 vip user manual standard res. If you select “standard res.”, then the vip unit will output 640x480 video. This is the mode to use if you intend to hook up the composite video or s-video outputs. Any graphics created in modes other than 640x480 by vip composer professional will be scaled down to f...

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    Vip user manual 31 it is important to set the date and time because the vip unit uses this information to determine when to play certain pages that you have created. When you create pages on your pc, you can set starting and ending dates and times. Setting the time a 4-digit digital display showing ...

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    32 vip user manual reset use this menu if you want to reset all of the preferences settings back to the factory defaults. Do not use this menu to reboot the unit. Just use the power ( ) button on the remote. Using this menu will lose any of your changes to the preferences settings. Upgrade future up...

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    Vip user manual 33 if you are upgrading an older unit into an “express” unit using the provided upgrade disk, perform the upgrade before accessing the setup menus. Perform the steps under “updating the unit’s software” later in this chapter, then return to this section. All network settings are adju...

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    34 vip user manual “xircom” adapter “silicom” adapter ⌧ when connecting the adapter to the vip’s parallel port, ensure that the power cord to the vip unit is unplugged in order to prevent damage. After connecting the adapter, first connect the adapter’s own power supply cable, then connect the vip’s...

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    Vip user manual 35 use the up/down arrows on the remote control to adjust the digital display. Select the subnet value that matches the one used on your network. (this value is provided by your network administrator.) it is important that the subnet match the subnet of your network, or communication...

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    36 vip user manual to verify that data can reach the vip unit, use a pc on the same network. Open an ms-dos prompt on the pc, then type in a “ping” command: ping x.X.X.X substitute your ip address for the “x.X.X.X” shown above. For example, if the ip address of your vip unit is “10.1.4.52”, then you...

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    Vip user manual 37 ⌧ do not disconnect the power from your unit during the upgrade process. Although the unit is designed to survive a power failure during the upgrade process, a power interruption at exactly the wrong time can permanently damage your unit..

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    Vip user manual 39 v v i i p p c c o o m m p p o o s s e e r r i i n n s s t t a a l l l l a a t t i i o o n n requirements to install the vip composer software, your computer must meet the following requirements: • 100mhz 486 or better (pentium-class recommended) • 32mb ram • 50mb hard drive space ...

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    40 vip user manual e:\setup.Exe if you do not know the drive letter of your cd-rom, you can click on “browse…” and find the setup.Exe program using the menus that appear. Once you have entered/found the setup program, click “ok” and it will be launched. Using setup when the setup program first runs,...

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    Vip user manual 41 the wizard will now display the software license agreement for vip composer. This software license agreement is also printed in the introduction section of this manual. After you have read the license agreement, click “yes” if you want to continue. Clicking on “yes” constitutes yo...

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    42 vip user manual before you can continue with the installation, you must enter your vip composer serial number. This number is printed on your cd-rom and your registration card. This number is not the serial number of your vip player unit itself. It should start with a “z” and will be in the forma...

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    Vip user manual 43 after you have selected “typical”, “compact”, or “custom”, click on “next >” to continue with the installation. If you have selected “custom”, you will be given a menu of components to install. Next, the wizard will ask for the name to use for the program group containing vip comp...

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    44 vip user manual the installshield® wizard will now begin copying files from the cd to your computer. During this process, you will see progress information displayed similar to the images below: depending on the speed of your computer and the installation options you have selected, this process w...

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    Vip user manual 45 v v i i p p c c o o m m p p o o s s e e r r c c o o n n f f i i g g u u r r a a t t i i o o n n this section will describe how to launch the vip composer software and configure the program’s settings. Launching vip composer to launch the vip composer software, use these steps: cli...

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    46 vip user manual the setup menu click on “setup” from the main menu to enter the setup menu. You will see a window similar to the one below: the “preferences” tab the preferences tab, shown above, allows you to set the default font style, size, and justification. This saves time if you have a favo...

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    Vip user manual 47 click on “add” to create a site description. You will be presented with the following window: the first thing to do is type in the site’s name. In the example above, “lobby monitor” has been entered. Use whatever short word or phrase that best describes your vip unit’s location. B...

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    48 vip user manual the remaining options, “set time on publish”, “auto-clean unit on publish”, and “print dymo label at publish time” are reserved for future expansion and are not currently used. Depending on the way each vip unit is connected, there are different ways to set up each site descriptio...

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    Vip user manual 49 “modem” sites the “modem” publish method is for remote vip units that are accessed over the phone using your pc’s modem. Select the “com” port to which your modem is connected, and enter the phone # (including any long-distance or outside line access #’s you normally dial) of your...

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    50 vip user manual completing site setup after you have setup your site’s name, preferences, and connection method, click on “ok”. You will be returned to the setup window with the sites tab still selected. Now your site name(s) will appear in the list, similar to below: the names of the sites will ...

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    Vip user manual 51 v v i i p p c c o o m m p p o o s s e e r r t t u u t t o o r r i i a a l l this section will introduce you to the main concepts in creating pages for the vip unit using the vip composer software. Be sure that you have already installed and configured the software using the instru...

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    52 vip user manual the tutorial disk your player unit should have come with a 3.5” floppy disk labeled “tutorial”. This disk is meant to be played in the player. If you have not done so already, set up your player as described earlier in this manual. Insert the tutorial floppy disk and it will begin...

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    Vip user manual 53 opening the tutorial project a “project” is a collection of pages created for display on the vip unit. This tutorial works with a project that has already been created. After completing this tutorial, you will be ready to create your own projects from scratch. Click on “open proje...

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    54 vip user manual a closer view of the list mode: a closer view of the thumbnail mode: to change the mode between, click on the “view” menu at the top of the page and select or deselect the checkmark next to “pages as list”..

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    Vip user manual 55 the project editor the project editor displays a list of all the pages in your project. This list is in the order that the pages will appear when played. The tutorial project contains 15 pages. The project editor list shows the number and name of each page, the duration and transi...

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    56 vip user manual the entry will now appear highlighted like this: to work on the selected page, click on the “edit” button on the right of the screen. Alternately, you can double-click on an entry in the list. You will now be taken to the page editor screen where you can change the appearance of a...

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    Vip user manual 57 the page editor the page editor is the main workspace where you can create and modify pages. You should now see the layout of page 15 of the tutorial, a simple black page that says “this page needs a background.” technically speaking, this page does have a background – a plain bla...

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    58 vip user manual the safe text area guides notice that besides the black background and the “this page needs a background” text, there is a thin white rectangle: this rectangle represents what is called the “safe text area”, or sometimes the “safe title area.” computer monitors and television scre...

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    Vip user manual 59 changing the background to modify the background, click on the page background icon on the tool palette. The page background dialog will now appear: there are many types of backgrounds available. To see the list of background types, click on the arrow of the pull-down menu: a pull...

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    60 vip user manual some ramp styles use four colors. The “ramp vertical” style uses just two. “color 1” is the top of the screen, and “color 2” is the bottom. Currently, “color 1” and “color 2” are set to black. Click on the “color 1” button. A color dialog like the one below will appear: vip compos...

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    Vip user manual 61 click the “apply” button again, and now the background will ramp (continuously change) from blue at the top to purple at the bottom. Feel free to try other color combinations and ramp styles. When you have finished experimenting with the ramp backgrounds, click “ok” to return to t...

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    62 vip user manual the page background can also be from an image file, instead of just a solid color or ramp. The vip composer software includes 100 backgrounds to get you started, but you can use backgrounds from just about any common file format, including .Jpg and .Bmp. Click on the page backgrou...

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    Vip user manual 63 click on “ok” to return to the page editor and see your selected background. Changing the text now that your page contains a background, it is time to change the text that says “this page needs a background.” items of text on the screen are referred to as “text objects”. Every tex...

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    64 vip user manual to edit the contents of this text object, either double-click on the text, or click once with the right mouse button (called right-clicking). An “object properties” dialog will appear. You can also get to this dialog by clicking on the “object properties” icon on the tool palette....

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    Vip user manual 65 feel free to make other changes to the text, including changing the font and color, and see how they are affected by the tracker control. When you are done editing this example page, click on the exit icon on the tool palette, and you will be returned to the project editor. Text o...

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    66 vip user manual initially, the “filename” field will be blank. To select an image file, simply click on “browse my images” or “browse stock images” and select the file you want to display on your page, then click on ok to return to the page editor. You can drag your image object around on the pag...

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    Vip user manual 67 image size and position as mentioned before, you can change the size of an image by dragging its corners in the page editor. For more precision, you can adjust the size and position of an object manually by entering numbers for its width and height, as well as coordinates for its ...

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    68 vip user manual page properties every page in a project has what are called “properties.” these are settings other than those that control the actual contents of the page. For example, the duration a page appears and the transition effect used are page properties. Click on the first page in the l...

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    Vip user manual 69 pass the mouse over the tool palette. Notice that as you pause over any icon, a text message pops up describing the function of that icon. One of these icons is labeled “page properties” as shown here: click on the page properties icon ( ) and the page properties dialog will appea...

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    70 vip user manual dwell time this is how many seconds your page will be displayed by the player before the next page is displayed. A typical dwell time would be ten to twenty seconds. Note, however, that this dwell time is filled in as zero. Entering just a zero tells the player to display this pag...

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    Vip user manual 71 output quality the output quality setting determines how much disk space will be occupied by a page. The vip system saves disk space by using a method known as jpeg compression (jpeg stands for joint picture expert group – the committee that developed the standard) which is widely...

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    72 vip user manual time domain the “time domain” tab allows you to control when a page appears by date and time of day. Normally, pages are set to “run always”, meaning that they show up each time the player repeats through the project. However, you can click on “user domain” and set this particular...

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    Vip user manual 73 note that the page will appear all day on the ending date. (on some other software programs, the page would not appear.) by clicking on the pull-down menu ( ) next to the starting or ending date fields, a calendar will pop up allowing you to browse through the months. Starting tim...

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    74 vip user manual starting date: 03/15/01 ending date: 04/30/01 starting time: 10:00:00am ending time: 02:00:00pm run on: [mon] [wed] [fri] after you have practiced editing the page properties, click on “ok” to return to the page editor, and then on “exit” to return to the project editor. You can a...

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    Vip user manual 75 the project properties dialog allows you to edit supplementary information about your project as well as set the default dwell. Author / company / notes these fields allow you to indicate who created this project. This is for reference purposes and will not appear on the player un...

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    76 vip user manual click on “ok” to exit the project properties dialog. You will then see any change to the default dwell take effect. “ logo bug ” many tv networks today display a continuous logo in a corner of the screen. This is known as a “logo bug”. Now your vip projects can have a logo or grap...

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    Vip user manual 77 first, select the “enable logo for all pages” checkbox. This will enable display of the logo bug. By default, all pages will display your logo. If you want certain individual pages to omit the logo, you can use the page settings dialog of those pages to disable the logo. Next, cli...

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    78 vip user manual reordering pages you may have noticed earlier in this chapter how some of the pages seemed out of order. In particular, the following three pages: when played back, first “abc” would appear, then just “ab”, and finally “a”. This exercise will show you how to change the order of pa...

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    Vip user manual 79 next, click the “up” button once. The page will move up one in the list to become page 3 – bumping the old page 3 down to page 4. Your list should now appear like this: now click “up” one more time, and your page will move to page 2. The phrase “easy as a.” is now the first in the...

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    80 vip user manual at this point, all three pages are in the correct order, and when played back in the player, the illusion of the letters “a”, “b”, and “c” appearing one at a time will be created. Saving your work by now you’ve made a lot of changes to the project. It is important to save your wor...

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    Vip user manual 81 although there are seven pages, when you play back the project on the vip unit, only one of the pages will show up. This is because the time domain settings for each page are set to specific days of the week. The page that says “today is monday”, for example, only has the “mon” bu...

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    82 vip user manual ordinarily, this page would appear as: you may have noticed that this page did not show up when you played the tutorial disk in the vip unit. This is because the page’s time domain settings are currently like this: this page is set to run from march 1, 1999 to march 31, 1999, a da...

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    Vip user manual 83 when you update the vip unit with the new version of this tutorial project (see “publishing” on the next page), this page should now appear as part of the run. Save your work now by clicking on the save icon ( ). Publishing to a vip unit now that you have completed the tutorial ex...

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    84 vip user manual for the purposes of this tutorial, select the “publish to floppy” method and then click “next.” the other publish methods are described later in this chapter. The publish wizard allows you to specify which floppy drive to use for publishing. Normally, this will be drive “a”: now c...

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    Vip user manual 85 be sure you have inserted the correct disk, then click “yes” to continue. The vip composer software will now begin copying files to the project transfer disk, displaying a progress indicator like the one below: when the publishing process is complete, you can remove the floppy and...

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    86 vip user manual the rest of this chapter describes how to create your own project, how to use “linked” pages, and the other publishing methods. Refer to the additional publish method information if you intend to use the serial, modem, or network connection methods, or if you have more than one vi...

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    Vip user manual 87 resolution modes this section describes each resolution mode. 640x480 (standard aspect 4:3) this is the standard mode supported by all vip players and all editions of vip composer. Use this mode if you intend to output compose video or s-video, or want to create a project that is ...

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    88 vip user manual landscape 800x450 (wide aspect 16:9) this mode is intended for use on the new hdtv-style widescreen monitors, such as plasma displays. Use this 800x450 mode if your monitor does not support anamorphic stretching of images (see below.) landscape 1066x600 anamorphic (wide aspect 16:...

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    Vip user manual 89 you will now be taken to the project editor. Remember to set your preference under the “view” menu for “pages as list”, depending on if you prefer to work with thumbnail images or with a detailed list. Unlike the tutorial project, this project will be empty. The first step is to c...

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    90 vip user manual “linked” pages are pages that are created using other software, such as adobe photoshop, microsoft powerpoint, or have been supplied by a client in finished form. Rather than being edited by vip composer, they are merely passed on to the vip unit “as-is” at publish time. This can ...

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    Vip user manual 91 more about publishing the publish wizard offers several different options for publishing your projects to vip units. Earlier in this chapter, the “publish to floppy” method was explained. There are two additional methods, “publish to single site”, and “publish to multiple sites” w...

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    92 vip user manual publishing to multiple sites from the first screen of the publish wizard, select “publish to multiple sites”: you will now be shown a special split-screen list, with all of your sites initially shown in the left list: the list on the right (initially blank) is a list of all the si...

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    Vip user manual 93 project selection vip composer is just about ready to begin publishing. But first, it needs to know what project to publish to the current site. (this step will be repeated for each site if you are using the “publish to multiple sites” option.) the publish wizard will pop up a lis...

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    94 vip user manual here is an overview of the status displays for each publish connection method: floppy the “floppy” publish method will first prompt you to insert a disk and remind you that the disk will be overwritten: click on “yes” to continue. The floppy-publish status display will now appear:...

  • Page 101

    Vip user manual 95 serial the “serial” publish method displays the following status window: the top progress bar indicates the overall publishing process for this site. A bottom progress bar will appear for each file that is being transferred. Modem this publish method works in a very similar fashio...

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    96 vip user manual network the “network” publish method uses tcp/ip networking to connect to a vip unit at high speed. It displays the following progress window: the top progress bar shows the overall publishing process for this site, while the bottom bar shows the progress of the current file being...

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    Vip user manual 97 this window will list all sites published-to, as well as any errors that may have occurred. If you wish to print a copy of the log for your records, or for technical support reasons, click on the “print” button. The status report also lists a file name near the top. This is where ...

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    98 vip user manual try to publish to your vip unit. If you are still receiving the same error, contact your network administrator to verify that your settings haven’t been changed. Contact technical support if you have exhausted both possibilities. Can i use microsoft powerpoint in a composer projec...