Instructions for Transmitting Over-the-Air (OTA) Recordings made with the HIDes Receiver Personal Video Recorder (PVR)
(Refer to the Configuration drawing and Receiver’s Quick Start Guide “Record and Playback” section)
Condensed Instructions
1 – Receiver ON with or without valid signal (green or red LED on) SDmicro card in receiver
2 – Use Receiver OSD to select a pre-recorded file (Menu>Multimedia>Movie>SD0>RECORD> <filename>
3 – Connect a HDMI cable from the Receiver to the Transmitter (using a switch or splitter)
4 – Turn on your transmitter and wait for the green LED then Push the OK button to Start the playback.
5 – After the “Finish” window appears, the file maybe replayed, deleted or Exit to quit.
6 – Return the connection to the TV/PC monitor for OTA receive and Exit out of the PVR.
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Detailed Instructions
Making the recording:
Over-the-Air (OTA) recordings may be made using the HiDes HV110/120 series receiver’s Multimedia PVR feature. This receiver feature is offered as a “trial” (beta) release, however with exception of a bug or two it works quite well. Refer to the Receiver’s Quick Start Guide (QSG) “Record and Playback” section describing how to record and play back a .TS file. Recordings are saved on a microSD (>64Mbyte) card installed through a slot on the front panel. Recordings are saved as transport stream (.TS) files in the microSD card’s root directory folder named RECORD. After the recording is made, a unique file name with the recorded station’s or repeater callsign will be found in the RECORD folder. The file can not be renamed with the SDcard in the receiver.
Notes on the recorder:
1/ The file name does not include the size of the file making it difficult to determine if it is a valid file size for playback. If a file does not contain any useful data, the receiver may restart and scan for a valid signal. When this happens, allow the receiver to completely restart before attempting any other function otherwise a firmware reset may be required to bring it back to a fully functional receiver. Files that will not play may pop up the error “Unsupported.” 2/ The file may be paused/restarted by toggling the remote “OK” button. 3/ In the file name, the date and time have no useful meaning. 4/ The receiver will recognize PC convention for file names so they may be renamed (with .TS suffix) to identify them easier. 5/ Long recordings (over about 25 minutes) are divided into multiple <callsign>-R000x.ts files. 6/ Remote’s red “R” or the red “dot” button may be used to start or stop the recording. This button is a toggle, so push the button only once to stop or start. 7/ Other Remote Recording and Playback buttons have not been found functional. 8/ Playback PVR menu’s “Preview” is not reliable or may not work at all and cause a receiver restart. It is not recommended to use. 9/ For playback, use the “Movie” option (Movie list – RECORD). 10/ The recorder firmware was originally written for commercial DVB-T set top boxes with some functions that are not applicable for ham radio use. 11/ There may be other functions of the PVR “undiscovered.” 12/ If you find other functions or errors in these instructions, please let SLATS know using the “Contact Us” found on the SLATSATN.NET web site.
Transmitting the recorded file:
HI Des transmitters (as of this date) cannot read and transmit a .TS file on a microSD. Transmitters can only read a .img file for firmware updates. So, to playback and transmit recordings, the microSD must be put in an HDMI device (i.e. PC or media player) connected to the transmitter with an HDMI cable. This is a little inconvenient since the microSD card is not easy to remove/add (easily lost!) But there is another way to play back the recording without removing the microSD card. Since the output of the receiver’s video recording is sent out its HDMI port, this port may be connected directly to the transmitter’s HDMI input. A simple HDMI switch may be used to select output of the receiver to the TV/monitor or the transmitter. A HDMI video Splitter may be used instead of the switch. If a HDMI switch for connecting other HDMI devices is being used for cameras, media player or pc-s, then connect the transmitter to a port on this switch instead of directly to its HDMI input. Rather than the simple 2 port switch, a HDMI Splitter can route the video to both the Transmitter and the TV or PC monitor. Note: A typical Splitter may or may not route audio to both the Transmitter and the TV/PC Monitor at the same time.
Start transmitting:
Go to the Receiver’s Main Menu >Multimedia>Movie>SD0>RECORD> and locate the file to be played under the Movie List (do not attempt to open “bookmark”). Use the up/down arrows to select the file. Do not start the recording at this time. Next, turn on the transmitter and change the receiver’s output from the TV/Monitor to the transmitter a HDMI Splitter is not being used. The video will now be routed to the transmitter. Wait until the LED on the transmitter changes to Green indicating it is now on the air and ready to accept video from the receiver. To avoid any loss of playback, push OK on the remote twice which will start then pause the output. This is necessary to give time for the transmitter to get in sync with the video. After about 10-15 second pause, push OK again to restart the video. At any time, the video may be paused by pushing the OK button once. Recording may be monitored on the TV/PC monitor if the HDMI Splitter is used. If using the switch, note how long it took to make the recording and stop the transmitter after that time. Or ask the receiving station on 144.34 talkback frequency. At the end of the recording, the receiver will fall back to the Movie list menu. The file may be replayed another file selected or quit using the remote’s Exit button. In the Movie List menu, the file may be deleted with the red “R” button on the top row of the remote. Note: Avoid pushing the upper left “on/off” icon button if the IR signal is in view of the transmitter too. This IR code will turn off the transmitter’s amplifier which may be useful for other situations. This same IR code sent to the receiver will cause the receiver’s “Display Preference” to change from HD 1920×1080 to the receiver’s default mode of 576I50. To return to HD, use settings in the Display Reference menu. See QSG for more information. As always… if a problem in either record or playback is apparent, the best “fix” may be to toggle receiver or transmitter power and start over.
