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- ********************************************
- PowerDVD XP 4.0
-
- (c) Copyright CyberLink Corp.1997-2003
- ********************************************
-
- Thank you for using CyberLink PowerDVD XP 4.0!
-
- This README file contains the latest information about PowerDVD XP 4.0. For complete
- PowerDVD XP 4.0 instructions and usage, please refer to the online help or user's guide.
-
- - What's New in PowerDVD XP 4.0
- - Additional Features of PowerDVD XP 4.0
- - Hardware Compatibility
- - General Playback Performance and Quality Issues
- - Microsoft(tm) DirectShow Support
- - Limitations under Windows NT 4.0
-
-
- =============================
- WHAT'S NEW IN POWERDVD XP 4.0
- =============================
-
- For more details and further explanations of each function, refer to the online
- help or user's guide.
-
- -------
- Audio
- -------
-
- * Certified multi-channel DTS digital surround decoder to play DTS DVD-titles and
- DTS Audio CDs. (*)
-
- * Dolby Pro Logic II decoder that processes stereo sources such as MP3, Audio CD,
- Video CD, Super Video CD and LPCM/MPEG Audio DVD into surround sound in a
- multi-speaker environment. (*)
-
- * SRS TruSurroundXT(tm), an audio package containing TruSurround, Focus and TruBass,
- provides enhanced virtual surround sound and virtual bass experience through
- 2 speakers. (*)
-
- * Allows interactive virtual speakers positioning by utilizing A3D and Microsoft
- DirectSound3D technologies.
-
- * Supports Dolby Digital Dynamic Range Control for Quiet, Normal or Noisy environments.
- Also useful for boosting the audible volume on a notebook or laptop.
-
- * Option to mix Low Frequency Effect for headphones, 2- and 4-speaker systems.
-
- * Supports 8-channel sound cards like Guillemot GameTheater XP to play DVD titles with
- Dolby Digital Surround EX tracks and provides 8 discrete audio channels output. (*)
-
- * Supports DTS/Dolby Digital multi-channel or SPDIF output under Windows XP and
- Windows 2000 (with Service Pack 2 installed) in Microsoft WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE
- interface. (*)
-
- Note(*): Full multi-channel DTS/Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II decoder,
- Dolby Headphone and SRS TruSurroundXT features are all optional and may not
- be available in your PowerDVD XP version.
-
- -------
- Video
- -------
-
- * Full range video adjustments including newly added contrast and saturation controls
- along with original brightness, yellow/blue and red/green controls.
-
- * Four default video profiles : Original, Vivid, Bright, and Theater.
-
- * The ability to create, define and save video profiles of your own!
-
- * New Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration WHQL certified. Supports DVD video playback
- by utilizing hardware MPEG video decoding circuits in ATI, Intel, NVidia, PowerVR
- and SiS display chips/integration chipsets under Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME
- and Windows 98.
-
- * Supports full range of dual view display cards/chipsets such as ATI Radeon 8500/7500,
- Radeon VE, NVidia GeForce2 MX/MX200/MX400, Matrox series and SiS 315/650.
-
- * Enhanced screen capture by utilizing CyberLink's proprietary interpolation technology.
- Option of capturing as original DVD video frame size (video source) or current video
- window size is available.
-
- * Enhanced video de-interlacer and UV up-sampler.
-
- * Widescreen monitors are supported with correct aspect ratio display of 16:9 movies
- and letterboxed 4:3 movies.
-
- ------------------
- Playback Formats
- ------------------
-
- * Supports playback of all DVD formats: DVD Video, DVD Video Recording (on DVD-RAM
- or DVD-RW), cDVD (DVD on CD-R/RW), cdDVD, and miniDVD.
-
- * Supports playback of Super Video CD and Video CD 2.0 discs.
-
- * DVD files can be played and previewed directly from any folder in your HDD.
-
- * Compatible with new DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW or DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive with
- 1394, ATAPI, SCSI or Card Bus interface.
-
- ------------------------------
- Navigation and User Controls
- ------------------------------
-
- * Enhanced Toolbar navigator: speed slider added. Customize your toolbar by deciding
- what functions you would like to include. Options of showing toolbar only under full
- screen mode is also provided.
-
- * Video windows always on top option.
-
- * Mouse scrolling setting: customized mouse scroller functions include "Shuttle Reverse/
- Forward", "Previous/Next Chapter", "Volume Adjustment" or "Time Seek".
-
- * Time Seek with duration from 1 to 600 seconds by using "Page Up" and "Page Down".
-
- * DVD Auto-Resume playback: if a movie playback is interrupted, the next time you will
- have the freedom to view from the beginning of the movie or resume from the point of
- interruption.
-
- * Slow/Fast/Step forward/backward playback from speeds of 1/8X (Express Menu only) to 32X!
-
- ---------------
- Miscellaneous
- ---------------
-
- * Microsoft WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab) certified with Windows XP, Windows 2000,
- Windows Millennium and Windows 98. New look-and-feel of Windows XP windows and dialogues
- are fully integrated.
-
- * Title information and dynamic bitrate monitor displays current position in title and
- video bitrate (fixed or variable), audio encoding type, channel information and audio
- bitrate.
-
- * Optimized for Intel SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2) and AMD 3DNow! Professional
- (in new generation of Athlon and Duron processors) instruction sets.
-
- * New i-Power DVDonet.com portal for the latest DVD news and resources. Portal pages can be
- updated and viewed later offline.
-
- * Minimized Skin Technology: four newly designed and revised skins including Crystal XP,
- Oscar XP, Neo XP and Epiphany XP. With each skin, you can toggle between the full
- functioning version and a minimized version for desktop space efficiency.
-
- * Import and export your favorite DVD bookmarks from/to another computer.
-
-
- ======================================
- ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF PowerDVD XP 4.0
- =================================-====
-
- * Dolby Headphone support (*)
-
- * AB repeat function
-
- * Proprietary "Dual Subtitles" technology. Suitable for language learning along with
- AB repeat function
-
- * Closed Captioning decoder
-
- * Digital Zoom function
-
- * System diagnostic tools including a DMA enabling/status detecting tool for all kinds
- of system chipsets from Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi and AMD. Supports Windows XP,
- Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows 95 OSR2.
-
- * Supports Microsoft HID (Human Interactive Devices) interface for HID compliant
- multimedia keyboards like those from Logitech, Microsoft, or other input devices
- to control PowerDVD XP directly .
-
- * OSD (On Screen Display) support. Can change font type, font size, font color,
- display duration, display location and background OSD color.
-
- * Information page in PowerDVD XP 4.0 configuration displays player status, display
- mode, video/audio/subpicture attributes and complete hardware information.
-
- * Visual bookmark viewer and flexible bookmark management. No need to manually write
- scene descriptions for each bookmark.
-
- * Visual chapter viewer
-
- * Multi-user parental control and user management
-
- * Flexible screen capture to any folder, Windows desktop, or Windows Clipboard
-
- * Option of displaying widescreen movies in Letterbox or Pan&Scan mode. Under
- Pan&Scan mode, you can hold down the mouse button and drag in order to pan the video.
-
- * Plays a wide range of media files as well as audio CD and Video CD
-
- Audio CD Tracks (*.CDA)
- DVD-Video object files (*.VOB)
- DVD-Video Recording object files (*.VRO)
- Dolby Digital AC-3 audio files (*.AC3)
- MIDI Audio files (*.MID; *.RMI)
- MPEG-1/2 files (*.MPG; *.MPEG)
- MPEG-1 Audio Layer-2 files (*.MP2)
- MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 files (*.MP3)
- Playlist files for MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (*.M3U)
- Playlist files for PowerDVD (*.PLS)
- MPEG-1 Video files (*.M1V)
- MPEG-2 Video files (*.M2V)
- Microsoft Waveform audio files (*.WAV)
- Windows Media files (*.ASF; *.WM; *.WMA; *.WMV)
- Video for Windows files (*.AVI)
- Video CD files (*.DAT)
-
- Note(*): optional features
-
-
- ======================
- HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY
- ======================
-
- * Complete multi-channel (4 or 6) and SPDIF/Toslink sound device support, including
- (but not limit to) those made by Analog Devices, Aureal, Creative, Cirrus/Crystal,
- CMedia, ESS, Fortemedia, KCTech, Philips/VLSI, Realtek, Sigmatel, SiS, TI, Yamaha,
- VIA and any other sound device that supports the Microsoft WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE
- interface.
-
- Popular sound cards supported include but not limited to:
-
- Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 family
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy family
- Hercules GameTheater XP
- Philips Acoustic Edge
- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
- VideLogic Sonic Fury
-
- It is recommended that you always install the latest driver from the original
- card/device maker but not use any Windows built-in drivers in order for this function
- to work properly.
-
-
- * Supports video playback acceleration hardware in display chips or integrated chipsets
- from ATI, Intel, NVidia, PowerVR, SiS, Trident and VIA/S3. Acceleration functions
- include Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform (iDCT; only for ATI), Hardware Motion
- Compensation and Subpicture Alpha Blending units.
-
- Display cards from any other vendor that provide DirectDraw overlay capability are
- also supported.
-
- With the newly evolved Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration API, DVD acceleration
- hardware can be utilized not only under Windows ME and Windows 98 but also under
- Windows XP and Windows 2000. PowerDVD XP 4.0 is fully compliant with DirectX VA and
- is Microsoft WHQL certified.
-
- If "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled, on some systems you might notice subtitles in
- interesting colors. This is because the display driver only supports an old format
- of Microsoft DirectX VA interface. It is recommended that you install the latest driver
- from the original card/chip maker in order for this function to work flawlessly.
-
- However, if the problem still persists after using the latest driver, under Windows 2000
- or Windows XP, you will have to disable the the "Hardware Acceleration" option. Under
- Windows ME and Windows 98, renaming the file "CLDXVA.AX" under the CyberLink PowerDVD
- program folder will force the program to use the vendor-specific proprietary interfaces
- and not DirectX VA. Thus, the acceleration hardware may still be utilized through this
- method.
-
- * PowerDVD XP 4.0 is fully optimized for multimedia instruction sets such as
- AMD 3D Now! Professional, Enhanced 3D Now!, 3DNow!, Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions 2
- (SSE2), SSE and MMX.
-
- * Compatible with new DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW or DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive with
- 1394, ATAPI, SCSI or Card Bus interface, as long as the drive conforms to the SFF8090
- command set and SBP-2 (if applicable).
-
- * Compatible with all Socket 478, Socket 423, Socket370, Slot1, SocketA and SlotA
- chipsets from Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi and AMD. Also compatible with Transmeta Crusoe
- systems.
-
-
- ===============================================
- GENERAL PLAYBACK PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY ISSUES
- ===============================================
-
- * To enable Dolby Headphone, SRS TruSurroundXT or Dolby Pro Logic II decoder or to play
- DVD titles with DTS digital surround tracks, it is recommended to use a 400MHz or higher
- processor system and at least 128MB of system RAM.
-
- * In 2 Speaker Mode (Audio Configuration), the "A3D/DirectSound3D" selection may have
- weaker audio volume as compared to using "Stereo" or "Dolby Surround". This is a normal
- occurrence.
-
- * Enabling video profiles like "Vivid", "Theater" or "Bright" instead of "Original"
- consumes extra CPU power. It is also recommended to use a system running at least
- 400MHz.
-
- * Limitations about playing DVD files on a HDD:
-
- - The user should open "VIDEO_TS.IFO" (For DVD Video Format) or "VR_MANGR.IFO" (For DVD
- Video Recording Format)to play the file set.
- - DVD Auto-Resume function will be unavailable.
- - Bookmarks may be set during initial playback but will not be available for recall when
- playing the file set again.
-
- * Enabling the DMA mode of DVD-ROM drive to enhance playback performance:
-
- It is HIGHLY recommended to enable the DMA function of your DVD-ROM in order to
- reduce the CPU loading when accessing DVD discs. Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME,
- Windows 98, Windows 98SE and Windows 95 OSR2 all contain built-in DMA support.
-
- The CyberLink system diagnostic utility will be automatically launched after PowerDVD XP
- 4.0 is installed to help you activate the DMA option. However, under Windows XP it only
- shows the DMA status of your DVD-ROM drives since Windows XP will, by default, enable DMA
- support during its setup process.
-
- * Display issues:
-
- PowerDVD XP 4.0 supports Microsoft(tm) DirectDraw, DirectSound and DirectSound3D. It
- is recommended to run PowerDVD XP 4.0 with the latest Microsoft(tm) DirectX Runtime
- installed.
-
- PowerDVD XP 4.0 requires the existence of the DirectDraw overlay surface for optimal
- playback performance and video quality. Almost all display cards nowadays support this
- feature.
-
- If the DirectDraw overlay surface cannot be created, PowerDVD XP 4.0 will use a slower
- mode called the DirectDraw off-screen mode. It is either because the color depth, desktop
- resolution or screen refresh rate is too high and leaves insufficient bandwidth to
- sustain the creation of an overlay surface, or the display card requires the installation
- of the latest DirectX Runtime. You can try to lower the desktop resolution, color depth
- or refresh rate and then try again.
-
- It is suggested not to run PowerDVD under a 640x480 desktop resolution, since DVD-titles'
- video resolution is higher than 640x480.
-
-
- =================================
- MICROSOFT (tm) DIRECTSHOW SUPPORT
- =================================
-
- * PowerDVD XP 4.0 is Microsoft (tm) DirectShow complaint. Interactive DVD titles or games
- can utilize PowerDVD DirectShow filters to decode high-resolution MPEG-2 video clips or
- high quality Dolby Digital audio files inherent in such titles or games.
-
- The newest DirectX Runtime must be installed for the filters to work properly.
-
-
- ================================
- LIMITATIONS UNDER Windows NT 4.0
- ================================
-
- * Service Pack 5 or above must be installed for PowerDVD XP 4.0 to work properly under
- Windows NT 4.0.
-
- * Toolbar Navigator control is not available under Windows NT 4.0.
-
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