The FireTV is a Digital Video Broadcast receiver that is connected to the host computer across the IEEE 1394 bus. The FireTV accepts the digital television broadcast signals from the satellite defined by the DVB specification. The source signal of the FireTV is directly from the parabola aerial without the need of additional hardware device (set-top box). The digital video can be processed (including still picture capture, demultiplexing, decoding and rendering of the MPEG-2 transport stream and teletext viewing) on the host computer easily by way of FireTV's advanced design and high transmission capability.

Required Components

• Satellite dish and LNB(s)

• Satellite cable with F-connector

• FireTV hardware

• 1394 (FireWire) cable

• Desktop PC or notebook
  - Windows XP 
  - 1394 host adapter (PCI, PCMCIA card or integrated on mainboard)
  - TV viewer software (included in package)

• External power adapter when using FireTV with a notebook

Features

• Digital satellite TV/Radio receiver (free-to-air channels)

• User-friendly interface

• Automatic scanning for available channels

• Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)

• Still picture capture

• Program recording onto hard disk in MPEG-2 format

• Scheduled recording

• Timeshifting (simultanous recording and viewing of a channel with time difference)

• Teletext

• Remote control support

• Multiple FireTV boxes can be used from one PC (for managing local 1394 TV network)

Hardware

Rear View Front View Side View

The FireTV receiver box You can see on the left the rear, front and side views of the device. If you move your mouse onto the connectors and LEDs this text will disappear and the description of the element you highlighted will appear. A perspective view of the box can be viewed on the overview page. Satellite Connector The satellite signal coming down from your dish (LNB) connects to this F-connector. Adapter Connector Normally the power comes through the 1394 connector and no additional power supply is required. An external power supply is required if you use the FireTV on a notebook or if you use several devices on the 1394 bus at once. The external adapter must be 12V/1.5A with it's connector's inner pin the positive part. Tune LED (red) The Tune LED lights up when FireTV is successfully tuned to a channel (more precisely to a transponder). Operate LED (green) The Operate LED lights up if the device is working. If you see this LED flashing several times it means an error. Please try to restart the FireTV box by pressing reset with a pin, or plugging out and in the 1394 or the power adapter connector (depending on which way FireTV gets it's power). Overload LED (yellow) If the satellite electronic (typically the Diseq) overloads FireTV this LED will light up. If this happens try restarting the device as described at the Operate LED. 1394 Connector The two 1394 connectors are identical. You can use any of them to connect your FireTV box to your PC. FireTV also works as a repeater so you can chain up additional 1394 devices using the other connector. Reset button hole There is small hole on the side of the box to reset the hardware. The reset button can be pressed firmly with a small pin.

Software

TV viewer and Radio listener application

The FireTV application has two windows, the main TV screen, and the control panel. The main TV screen can be maximized to full screen and resized to any size you want. Initially the application starts with the native size of the TV broadcast. The control panel is skinned, so it is possible to create additional skins for it.

FireData Software

High-speed internet access through the satellite

FireData is a complementary application to FireTV for high speed satellite internet connection. Internet access with FireTV board is download only, so you still have to have a regular internet connection (eg. through a phone line) to send requests to your satellite Internet Service Provider (ISP) (eg. Europe Online – www.europeonline.net). You cannot watch TV while using FireData (with the same board), since FireData tunes to a certain transponder to receive data stream and watching TV would require to tune to another. It is though possible to use two boards plugged on the 1394 cable, and to use one for watching TV and the other to receive internet data stream at the same time.

In addition to FireData and your browsing application your satellite ISP may provide additional tools you have to configure correctly in order to use the satellite connection.

• Devices group
  In the devices popup you can choose among the tuner devices on your system. Choose your FireTV board if necessary. If you plug in your board after starting FireData press Refresh and your device should appear in the popup.

• Connections popup
  You have to create at least one connection in order to use FireData. Note that these are not Windows network connections. To create a new connection press Add..., to edit an existing connection press Edit..., to remove a connection press Delete... button. When a connection is selected FireData automatically tunes to the appropriate transponder.

• Multicast addresses group
  Multicast addresses is an informative list about your connection to the system. You don't have to care about it if you do not know the meaning of these data.

• Options... button
  Options... button is the same as in FireTV application. Here you can adjust your lnb and diseq settings. If you have already configured these settings in FireTV there is no need to modify it in FireData.

• Minimize to System Tray
  While using FireData it may be practical to minimize it to the system tray. FireData will be still running, but won't bother you on the screen.