How to use your miroVIDEO D1 even better:
=========================================

Single Frame Recording
----------------------
You don't need any special hardware for recording top-quality single frames, 
any PC will do and you can even digitize single TrueColor frames in 256-color 
screen mode. However, we do recommend 24 bit/16.7 million colors for post-
editing.

The quality of the result depends on the quality of the incoming video signal. 
We recommend an S-video source connected to miroVIDEO D1 via an S-video 
cable. It is better if the signal is fed in directly from the camera rather 
than video tape. When recording, make sure the camera is mounted on a tripod 
(for more stability) and check the lightning conditions.

Also check the settings in the dialog boxes: In "Video source" select 
the video source under "Quality". "No cropping", "Adapt to scaling"; under 
"Video format" select Dimension "Full" and format "24 bit RGB" or "YUYV 4:2:2"
 - for best quality.

Also important are the settings of the motion filter - when you are dealing 
with still frames, the motion filter has to be deactivated to assure full 
vertical resolution, if, however you have noticeable horizontal movement in 
your picture the motion filter has to be turned on, otherwise your picture 
will suffer from the "picket-fence-effect", due to the interlaced signal.

Once all these things are taken care of the quality of your picture depends 
solely on the quality of the video source. You can transfer your picture 
directly to iPhoto Plus for further editing or move it via clipboard to 
other picture editing software such as PhotoShop.


Recording
---------
When recording a sequence, large amounts of data have to be transferred 
from miroVIDEO D1 to hard disk or RAM - and fast. A resolution of 
320 x 240 pixels with 30 fps, and 16 bit/pixel or YUV, non- compressed makes 
out 4.5 MB/s. You can decrease this amount even more by reducing color 
depth, resolution and frame rate.
Simultaneous compression by the miroVIDEO-XL compressor reduces this amount 
to 560 KB/s in TrueColor quality.


If your PC cannot handle this amount of data single frames are dropped. 
Number and portion of these dropped frames are shown for viewing. When 
choosing parameters such as resolution, frequency, color depth or 
compression make sure they don't force dropped frames.

More details about video recording:

- In "Video Capture", go to "Video Format" to set the picture size 
  (320 x 240) and compression (miroVIDEO-XL), in "Video source" select 
  "Crop to scale" and execute the other settings, just as in single frame 
  recording.
- Record with "Capture Video"; select Capture Destination "File" and 
  "30 Frames/sec." (with slow computers e.g. 15/fps).
- In "Video Editor" you can cut and add overlay effects, and combine all 
  the parts to a complete video. 
- When saving the finished video choose "Cinepak" or "MS Video 1" as 
  compressor, plus the number of colors you want.

This way you are working with the compressor (Record with miroVIDEO-XL and
playback with Cinepak/MS-Video 1) that best suits your needs for recording 
and playback.

With enough RAM you can save the video uncompressed for exceptionally high 
quality (for which you will probably need a fast hard disk for smooth 
playback, rather than just a CD). When saving in Cinepak, select a higher 
output/compression quality.


Performance
-----------
miroVIDEO D1 has enough power to record video to RAM at 320 x 240 pixels 
per second, 30 fps and 32,768 colors or YUV, or with miroVIDEO-XL compression 
to hard disk or RAM. If you run into problems you have system components 
that either don't have enough power or need to be reconfigured. 

Please note:

- If possible, select the driver configuration "0 Wait State". If this is 
  not possible no picture will appear in "Video Capture".
- When starting miroVIDEO D1 the first time, the data transfer rate of the 
  ISA bus will be measured. A 486 computer should be able to handle about 
  5,000 KB/s. If this isn't possible, even in "0 Wait State" (see above), 
  check the bus clock. Default is 8 MHz (check the setup or manual of the 
  PC or motherboard).
- Before you start recording, defragment the hard disk, for example with 
  "defrag" in DOS 6.0. Always use the fastest disk available, even different 
  partitions of the same disk might have a different speed.
- Virtual memory (in "386 extended") and hard disk compression/doubling 
  should be deactivated, and no cache (such as SmartDrive) should be used.
- Video for Windows 1.1 is faster than the 1.0 version, Windows for 
  Workgroups 3.11 has noticeably more power than older Windows versions - 
  in other words, always go with the latest version. Note: you have to 
  wait for VideoStudio Version 1.1 for smooth cooperation with VfW 1.1.
- IDE (AT bus) hard disks, especially low-capacity ones or older models, 
  are often quite slow, so you might only be able to record and compress 
  (with miroVIDEO-XL) videos with 240 x 180 pixels and 15 fps. Most 
  SCSI disks and controllers and newer IDE disks in combination with a
  VL-IDE controller have the power to handle 320x240 30 fps.
- The more RAM the better; for one you can make high-quality recording of 
  shorter sequences directly to RAM, independent of your hard disk's power, 
  and furthermore Video for Windows utilizes the memory as cache for the 
  hard disk, making up for insufficient hard disk power.


Compressors
-----------
Uncompressed videos have the best quality, but the data volume is so big 
that even premium PCs can't guarantee smooth playback, that is 320 x 240 
pixels. In other words, the video has to be compressed for good-quality 
playback. Cinepak-Codec offers the best compression without investing in 
expensive additional decompression hardware, especially with 16-bit playback, 
but compression is slow. At this time there is no possiblity to record with 
Cinepak-Codec in realtime.
Microsoft Video 1 can't match Cinepak's picture quality, but has great 
performance when playing back in 8 Bit mode and is faster while compression. 
Intel Indeo lies between both in compression time and quality. 


miroVIDEO-XL compressor
-----------------------    
Compared with the products described above, the miroVIDEO-XL compressor 
performs very well when it comes to compression recording in real time and 
in TrueColor. XL is very fast in compression, but slow in decompression. So 
record with the XL compressor, cut your scenes and convert it into Cinepak-Codec 
for playback in realtime. So you get a "Best of both worlds" solution - good 
and fast real time compression while recording and smooth good playback 
after converting into Cinepak-Codec. 




VideoStudio
-----------
The latest version 1.0a has these new functions, which are not included 
in the manual:
- When creating videos with 8 bits (256 colors, e.g. with MS-Video 1) from 
  miroVIDEO-XL material, you can use different methods to create an optimal 
  color palette.
- Version 1.1 of VideoStudio will be released soon, it will include the 
  new and powerful version 1.1 of Video for Windows. Also, by that time we 
  will have the entire software and documentation in German. 
- Already today though you can use Cinepak-Codec to create premium-quality 
  videos with VideoStudio 1.0a and Video for Windows. For maximum playback 
  use VfW 1.1.



****************************************************************************
 
Current Information
===================


Video Editor
------------

Opening AVI files with an image size of 768 x 576 and the "Load to memory" 
option can lead to a crash.

After editing, saving and closing a video sequence the Edit and the View menu
might be deactivated. Please close and restart the Video Editor. 


Video Capture
-------------

Do not delete files which are opened and edited in Video Capture. 
This might cause a crash. 

If the display is not correct at the 768 x 576 resolution, use the 
"TV-Cropping" setting in the "Video Source" dialog box. This setting is 
better suited for most video sources, since the signal quality deteriorates 
at the edges (black margin, blurred margin, streaks).

To display the 768 x 576 image size, please ask your graphics board dealer 
for new Windows graphics drivers.






