HP DVD Movie Writer DC3000 Before you get started ---------------------- Make sure your system meets the minimum system requirements. Make sure your monitor screen resolution is set at 1024 x 768, or higher. Make sure you have enough free hard drive space. On average, MPEG-2 video files require about 450 MB per 10 minutes of video. Use the Windows Update function to ensure that your operating system and drivers are fully up to date. Make sure your USB 2.0 interface is working properly. - USB integrated into motherboard: - Read your computer's owner manual for information on how to configure the USB port in the BIOS setup. Note: your computer may not have come with all drivers pre-installed. Additional drivers provided by the computer manufacturer may be necessary. - Check with your computer vendor's support web site for updated USB drivers and other additional information. - USB 2.0 add-in card. - Please read and follow all installation instructions provided by the card's vendor. - Check with your card vendor's support web site for updated USB 2.0 drivers and other additional information. If you have problems with your USB port, contact the hardware vendor for support. Installing the DVD Movie Writer ------------------------------- Power on your computer and install the HP DVD Movie Writer software. Reboot your computer when instructed. After the DVD Movie Writer software has been installed, and the PC restarted, connect the drive to the PC. Connect power, and then connect a USB data cable to both the drive and a USB port on your computer. The operating system should present a "New Hardware Found" message and proceed to load the necessary drivers, automatically. If you wish to use a third party software package to transfer video or images, and choose NOT to install the included video software, you will need to manually install the device drivers for the video transfer hardware in the HP Movie Writer. These device drivers are located in a folder called "\Drivers" on the installation CD. When the driver installation is complete, verify that the drive is recognized by Windows by opening 'My Computer,' and looking for the drive, which should show up as a new CD-ROM device, with a new drive letter. Note that the drive actually has TWO USB ports. The port on the rear is intended as the connector to your computer. The port on the side is intended for connecting another external USB device, such as a digital camera. The USB port will not operate properly as a pass-through port when the drive is not powered on. The drive does not have the ability to capture video or record DVDs without being attached to your PC. Unplugging the drive -------------------- When removing the drive without shutting down your computer, always use the Eject Hardware utility. This utility is launched from an icon in the Windows system tray. Downloading digital video (or stills) from a 1394 DV Camcorder -------------------------------------------------------------- In most cases, ArcSoft ShowBiz DVD will recognize and be able to acquire and integrate video (or stills) from DV camcorders connected to a 1394 port on your PC. Downloading still photos from USB digital cameras ------------------------------------------------- ArcSoft ShowBiz DVD can acquire still images (or burst mode video) from USB digital cameras only if the cameras' memory can be represented as a logical disk drive. If your camera cannot display it's images as files on a logical disk drive, you will need to use the software that was included with your camera to transfer images to files on your hard drive. Once there, you can add those image files into an ArcSoft ShowBiz DVD project. Potential for audio distortion or loss during video capture --------------------------------------------------------------- When capturing (digitizing) video with the HP DVD Movie Writer, the potential exists for lost or distorted audio. In Windows XP, when the Windows Messenger (or MSN Messenger) application is running, audio problems may occur during video transfers if ANY CD or DVD media is inserted into ANY CD or DVD drive. To avoid lost or distorted audio while digitizing your video files, you must either 1) avoid the insertion of all CD or DVD media in all CD or DVD drives, or 2) you must exit completely from the Windows Messenger. Please note that it is NOT sufficient to merely click the "Close" menu option within the Windows Messenger. You must exit from application completely. To exit the Windows Messenger, right click on the Windows Messenger Service icon found in the system tray, and click on the "Exit" menu option. Following a successful video capture, Windows Messenger may be restarted from the Start menu. For more information about this problem, please refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 328974. Video quality outside the "TV Safe Zone" ---------------------------------------- When previewing or editing video clips using ArcSoft ShowBiz DVD, you may notice fuzziness, "snow," black lines, or video distortion near the outer edges of your video images. If these problems and artifacts occur only at the bottom or outer edges of the picture, there's probably no need for concern about the overall quality of the DVD you create from that clip. The outer-most edges of a video clip will not be visible when you play it from a DVD disc on a TV, with a set-top DVD player. The TV viewable area of a video image is called the "TV Safe Zone." ShowBiz DVD software can display a dotted grid which shows the "TV Save Zone" of your video clips. This boundary grid closely approximates that portion of your video that will be displayed on a TV, when you play your finished DVD. To toggle TV Safe Zone grid lines ON or OFF, click the 'View' menu in ShowBiz DVD, then click "TV Safe Zone" from the pull-down menu. Preview in muvee autoProducer ----------------------------- The video preview function within the "muvee" software often appears choppy. Under normal circumstances, this choppiness is only seen during the preview phase, and does not affect the video quality of the saved output file. Automatic firmware update checking ---------------------------------- The HP DVD Writer software installs a software component that will access the Internet to check for firmware updates to your drive. This software will not initiate an Internet connection, but in the presence of an active connection, it will check for firmware updates. You'll be notified if any updates have been released for your specific drive(s). Click 'Accept' to allow the firmware to be downloaded to your system, or 'decline' to skip the firmware download. HP Software Update utility -------------------------- The HP DVD Writer software installs a software component that will let you easily check for software updates for your HP products. You can configure the utility to automatically check for updates on a scheduled basis. To run the utility manually, go to Start, Programs, Hewlett-Packard, HP Software Update and click on the "Check Now" button. Troubleshooting tips -------------------- Make sure your HP DVD Movie Writer drive has power. The blue eject and transfer button lights should be on whenever the unit has power. If your system is having trouble recognizing the drive, or if you see errors while trying to access DVD or CD media, shut down and power off your computer, unplug power to the drive, restart the drive, and then power up the system with the drive connected. Try using the USB cable included with your HP DVD Movie Writer. USB 1.1 is not fast enough to keep up with the transfer rate required to record DVDs at the drive's maximum capability. The slow transfer rate can also prevent smooth playback of many DVD movie discs. If you are experiencing these problems, and your DVD Movie Writer is connected to a USB 1.1 port, you may see improved performance by disconnecting non-active USB devices. Also, if the drive is connected to a USB 1.1 hub, try bypassing the hub and connecting the drive directly to your computer. While these changes may minimally improve performance, for best results, we recommend attaching the HP DVD Movie Writer to a USB 2.0 port. Verify that your camcorder or VCR is working correctly. Check the yellow video activity indicator light. It should be lit whenever a video signal is present. A valid video signal will only be detected when the camcorder or VCR is playing. If the indicator is not lit, check all cables and connections. Try connecting your video device to a TV to verify that it’s playing correctly.