Support Notes -  dTV GRID (no longer available for license)    Help With Media Center Edition dTV GRID should work fine with MCE but is not supported.  But please note that MCE supports only a small range of TV cards (Consult Microsoft web site)   and that your TV card must be fully working in all other programs before using dTV GRID.  Should you run dTV GRID with an unsupported card, you will likely find that dTV GRID does not display any TV channels. In addition, when you do run a supported card after running an unsupported card, dTV GRID will only work properly after you delete file "All_Card_Definitions.xml"  in folder  "XML Setups"  and restart dTV GRID.    Alerts PVR recording fails for any programs at 4:00 am because of an improper maintenance feature. This will be corrected only on the HDTV product. As a workaround, start a recording at 4:01 am or end a recording at 3:59 am. Whos's recording at 4 am anyways?! This is a followup to the note immediately below --- dTV GRID is designed to be a standalone PVR entertainment product and thus when we start adding other programs to our PC running dTV GRID, things often get messy. This is just the nature of Windows. We make the note below that Skype switches audio recording from line-in to mic, so forget about PVR recording, even if you switch it back to line-in, Skype will keep switching it away when you reopen or restart.  Other programs also disrupt PVR programs.  Bottom line, dedicate an underused, min 1 Ghz 128 MB PC for dTV GRID, set it up once, and enjoy PVR features forever,  just don't start adding new programs. An additional help note on audio recording : While there are considerable audio help notes in dTV GRID and once you get things set you're usually good forever,.. we find one more note that might help. On one of our machines, audio recording is an either/or between Microphone and Line-In. When we set it for Microphone (to enable making telephone calls) we lose TV recording audio. On this machine we must reset back to Line-In (in Control Panel / Sounds And Audio Devices / Voice tab / Voice Recording Volume Button). Since so many programs try to overule your media settings, we always recommend a dedicated setup for dTV GRID. SOFTICE/WINICE error ("This program will not run with debuggers installed") can occur with a very small percentage of installations : This issue is described at Microsoft Support (with various fixes).  As well, many documented instances on the Internet show that Nero Burning Software version 6 places the debugger on the PC and that uninstalling NBS 6 easliy removes this problem. We will contact Nero to determine a better solution than uninstalling their product.  [Debuggers are commonly used for reverse engineering] The start page of dTV GRID sometimes will not draw properly when users do many other tasks while opening the program. dTV GRID is designed to be always-on so this should not be an issue if allowed to open properly the first time. A demo willl be made to show clearly all of the main screens and interactions.    Version Info   Version 1.3  June 30, 2006  [users of earlier versions should save their four dTV GRID xml folders and then simply install version 1.3] added a full separate Help module added a redirect for certain expired Internet channels - 3-6% of Internet TV and Radio channel links expire in the year - we will redirect you automatically to the new link removed the Pre-Registration Process added new backgrounds     dTV GRID version 1.2    May 8, 2006   the default grid on start-up now contains over 90 Internet TV and radio stations fixed an Internet TV buffer error (full-screen only would go black with considerable buffering and substantial changes in bit-rates). This was not very noticeable in version 1.1 due to the fact that there were few Internet TV channels and these channels did not rebuffer much. the program now allows pictures to be dropped into the WEB area, even from Internet Explorer (large pictures with no underlying hyperlink). This allows you to test out a picture. If you like the picture, you must still drag it into the actual pictures folder defined in *BUILD* *Folders*. enhanced pvr audio by muting line-in on pvr playback only. added more screen resolutions including 1280x960 and 1600x1200. It is recommended that the minimum screen size be 1280x960. As you get used to the dTV GRID objects on the screen, you may likely prefer higher resolution of 1600 x 1200.   dTV GRID version 1.1   November 4, 2005 fixes faulty Y navigation in CATV.   Y channels in CATV now show in FlyPanel, scrolling in CATV is now fluid, scrolling can also be done over channel name to see channel description, usage mirrors *CATV User Guide* Help notes. fixes error that would not allow personal pictures to display in WEB area.  Usage now mirrors Help notes in "Channel Guide, Quick Navigation, and General Program Operation Hints* Section 12. fixes audio blast problem.  When users were in OFF, WEB, or PVR position with media stopped, audio would play all of a sudden when a PVR timer recording started.  While this was normal operation, it could often be a surprise if users stepped away from the PC thinking the audio was OFF and all of a sudden it was on and loud.  Current fix lowers the audio when PVR recording comes on, from levels 3-25(max) to level 2 when the GRID is in OFF, WEB, or PVR.  This allows a little volume to show that all is OK. If you want to leave the GRID with audio off, simply put the volume to 0 whether in OFF, WEB, PVR, or CATV. Note that this dTV GRID volume control and the Line-In volume have no effect on recorded volume. See the audio troubleshooting section for greater understanding of how audio works with PCTV. fixes erroneous doubleclicks in PVR panel and now shows FlyPanel / PVR panel on left half / right half respectively.   dTV GRID version 1.0   public release November 1, 2005    License  dTV GRID is no longer available for license    Requirements Platform: Windows XP.   dTV GRID should work fine with MCE but is not supported (see MCE notes at the top of this page). The program will not open if you are running Windows 95 or Windows Me. TV tuner card:  Recommended cards are the full series of ATI "AIW" (All In Wonder) cards. Program can be used without a TV tuner card but CATV and PVR features will not be available. Screen resolution:  Minimum 1280 x 960 screen resolution is recommended.  Users will likely prefer 1600 x 1200 after they become familiar with the program objects   (1024x768 can be used but is not recommended as it has a less attractive look and feel) PVR Recording:  Minimum 2 GHz processor for real-time encoding at 24 fps x 640 x 480. (1GHz processor can be used for real-time encoding at 18 fps x 640 x 480). recommended minimum 40 MB hard drive storage for PVR TV show storage. recommended minimum 128MB ram. Color:  24 bit color (16 million colors) or higher.  The program will not open with under 24 bit color! Users who have recently reformatted their PC may find they have been inadvertantly set with less than 24-bit color.     Warnings dTV GRID sits over your installed TV tuner cards and the base media player. All TV tuning will function in this program as long as your underlying programs are installed correctly and can be verified to work properly. If this program does not TV tune as expected, exit this program and test your TV tuner programs. dTV GRID is geared toward  always-on (for PVR) / dedicated PC / full-screen  1280x960(4:3) or higher (1600x1200 preferred) resolution. dTV GRID is not at this time designed for home theatre or conventional TV sets.  You may consider large "Monitors", "HDTV Monitors", or "Displays" that specifically mention PC or computer compatibility. dTV GRID uses only the base media player installed in Windows XP®. While you should notice exceptional quality of media play and streaming media play, you may find this limits access to some newer media streams. Before playing, some streams may prompt some systems to update this base media player. We have noticed only updates from Microsoft Corporation ® and have found them completely satisfactory." dTV GRID provides access to streaming media. Streaming media can be costly if your service provider surcharges for MegaBytes over a maximum. Some service providers mask surcharges under the name of *speed*, *connect time*, *throughput*, or other. Unless you have verified that your service provider DOES NOT HAVE SURCHARGES, we do not advise using this program."