Replay A/V 8 User

User Guide

User Guide

Getting Started

Overview
How to Add a New Recording
How to Change Show Properties
Tutorials & How-to's

Installation and Setup

Replay A/V 8 Setup Guide Document

Reference

Main Screen
Top Menu
Pop-up Menu
Show Properties
Settings
Stream Capture/URL Finder
Convert/Transfer
Log Viewer
Keyboard Shortcuts

Cool Tricks

Recording iTunes Radio Stations
Recording from an External Audio Source (like a Radio)
Continuously Recording a Station
Customizing Recording File Names
Custom Conversion Options
iTunes Tricks and Hints
Syncing to other MP3 Players
Supported Stream Formats

Overview

Replay A/V is the easiest, most powerful way to automatically record, schedule and convert Video or Audio delivered to your PC. You can capture from the Internet, or from a variety of devices like TV Tuner cards, Webcams, or radios - just about anything attached to your computer. And you can convert to all the popular formats automatically. There's no better way to take control of your Media.

Replay A/V is really simple to use -- here's how the main screen appears:

Here's all the kinds of things Replay A/V can capture:

Replay A/V includes Replay Converter, which lets you automatically convert your captured media into all the popular formats including:

Find Great Radio and Video with the Media Guide

Picking shows to record is easy with the built-in Media Guide. Thousands of shows and stations are listed, with more being added every day. Plus, the URL Finder tool makes it easy to find the audio feed for any shows not listed in the guide.

Recording Methods: Stream Capture vs. Audio Recording

Replay A/V has two main ways to record online media: Stream Capture and Audio Recording.

Stream Capture is the most desirable way to record. For capturing video, it's essential, but it is also a very powerful way to record audio. Stream Capture works by making a digital copy of the stream sent from the server. Here are some of the benefits:

Some internet audio cannot be recorded via Stream Capture, and for those cases, the Audio Recording method captures audio that plays over your PC's speakers. (You can also record from the Mic or Line-In ports using this method - for example, this is how you'd record from a radio attached to your PC.) Think of Audio Recording as an alternative if Stream Capture fails.

The rest of this User Guide describes specific features of Replay A/V. Dive in and enjoy!

 

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How to Add a New Recording

If you're just getting started with Replay A/V, the easiest way to get up and running is with the Open Recording Wizard button:

Just click this button, and you'll be taken step-by-step to create a new recording. It's that easy!

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How to Change Show Properties

Once you've added a new recording, you can go back and fine-tune how the recording behaves:

  1. Click the Show. A popup menu appears:



  2. Click Properties. The Show Properties dialog appears.

See Show Properties to learn more about the various options.

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Main Screen Reference

Replay A/V is designed to be powerful, yet simple to use. There are just a few options on the main screen, but you can quickly gain access to a variety of tasks.

Hint: Place your mouse over any button to see what it does.

Minimize Replay A/V.

Put Replay A/V into the system tray (lower right hand portion of the screen).

Close Replay A/V.

Open the New Recording Wizard.

Click here to move the mouse to the screen resize area.

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Top Menu Reference

You can perform any task in Replay A/V from the top menu bar. This section explains the options available:

File


Shows


Record


Tools


Help

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Pop-up Menu Reference

Click on any show to make the pop-up menu appear. These choices let you perform operations on a specific show.

 

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Show Properties Reference

Click on any show, then select Properties to open the Show Properties dialog. Depending upon other settings, some of the dialogs may have more or less options.

Basic Options

 

The available options here are:


Recording Options


Schedule Options

This screen lets you determine the recording schedule for the show.

 

Output Options

This screen lets you decide how to output the show. Your choices are:


Splitting Options

Recorded shows can be split into smaller files in various ways:


Tags

The Tags setting allows you to customize how MP3 files are tagged. If you leave these entries blank, Replay A/V will set the MP3 file tags to defaults. Otherwise, you can specify exactly how files are to be tagged. Select Never Tag Files if you'd like the files NOT to be retagged after downloading.

A powerful option is to use special abbreviation codes to have the current time or date entered into a tag. The following codes are available:

%a - Abbreviated weekday name.
%A - Full weekday name.
%b - Abbreviated month name.
%B - Full month name.
%c - Date and time representation appropriate for locale.
%d - Day of month as decimal number (01 – 31).
%H - Hour in 24-hour format (00 – 23).
%I - Hour in 12-hour format (01 – 12).
%j - Day of year as decimal number (001 – 366).
%m - Month as decimal number (01 – 12).
%M - Minute as decimal number (00 – 59).
%p - Current locale’s A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock.
%S - Second as decimal number (00 – 59).
%U - Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 – 53).
%w - Weekday as decimal number (0 – 6; Sunday is 0).
%W - Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 – 53).
%x - Date representation for current locale.
%X - Time representation for current locale.
%y - Year without century, as decimal number (00 – 99).
%Y - Year with century, as decimal number.
%z - Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.
%#c - Long date and time representation, appropriate for current locale.
%#x - Long date representation, appropriate for current locale.

Use the # character to remove any leading zeroes, as in any of the following:

%#d, %#H, %#I, %#j, %#m, %#M, %#S, %#U, %#w, %#W, %#y, %#Y

Examples:

Car Talk %b %#d

The above string makes a tag like "Car Talk Sept 1.mp3".


%m-%d-%y Car Talk

Would make a tag like this: "09-01-06 Car Talk".


Audio Options

When recording shows via the Audio Record method (not download/stream capture or TV Card ), you have some extra features available:

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Settings Reference

This section describes the various settings available to you for customizing the operation of Replay A/V. From the top menu, click File, Settings to open the Settings dialog. Settings are divided into these tabbed sections:

Folders

Tell Replay A/V where to save your recorded radio show files here.


Podcasts

You can have Replay A/V check for new Podcasts at certain times of day or at regular intervals.


Tuning

For recording shows broadcast over the Internet using the Audio Record methods, you can specify how to tune them as follows:


Connections

If you are connecting to the Internet via a dial-up modem, or with a proxy server, you'll need to configure those settings here.


Sound Mixer

Use these settings for reconfiguring Audio Method recordings.


Sync

The Sync settings are used to copy your recorded files to a single folder on the PC, or for syncing to a USB-based MP3 player or other external drive.


XM Hardware

If you have an XM PCR, or a hardware cable interface from Hybrid Mobile, you can record XM Satellite feeds once Replay A/V is properly configured. The functions on this page help you test the XM Hardware connection.


Other

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Stream Capture/URL Finder Reference

The Stream Capture and URL Finder tools use an identical interface to help you capture clips immediately, or schedule a recording for later. You can open Stream Capture from the top menu by selecting Record, Stream Capture Video or Audio Clips. Open the URL Finder tool from Tools, URL Finder.

The only difference between these two options is that Stream Capture is automatically set up to start recording right away after you pick a URL to record from.

If you've already played a video and it was downloaded to your PC, you don't need to play it again to record it - just select it from the list. These are the "cached" videos you may see.

Here are the options here:

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Convert/Transfer Reference

Convert/Transfer lets you perform file conversions, burn CDs, delete files, insert files to iTunes, and fix ASF files. You can open this in two different ways:

Click on the files in the upper pane, then choose an operation from the lower pane, and press GO.

The operations are self-explanatory. Fix ASF files is used to process a Windows Media ASF file, and make it playable and seekable.

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Log Viewer Reference

If you're having trouble recording, looking at the Log is a great way to see what might be going wrong. The Applian Technical Support Team is delighted when you send along a log file upon submitting a support request.

To open the Log Viewer, select Tools, Log Viewer from the menu.

Click on a date, then one of these options:

 

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Keyboard Shortcuts

For visually impaired users, commonly used functions in Replay A/V can be triggered with keyboard. (Note: Version 8.02 of Replay A/V changed these shortcuts from using the Alt key to using the Ctrl key.) Here's all the shortcuts:

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Recording iTunes Radio Stations

iTunes has a decent list of radio stations, which you can record to your iPod and listen to on-the-go. Plus, each song is recorded as a separate MP3 file, and the song information is added to that file. It's easy to do, and a great way to get more out of iTunes.

Here's how to record iTunes radio:

Replay A/V Note: One of the cool things about recording iTunes (and other Shoutcast-style stations) is that Replay A/V will automatically create a new MP3 file whenever a song changes. In addition, it will tag the MP3 files with the artist and song title, so you can see what song is playing while you listen. If you set up a playlist in iTunes, you'll be able to skip over songs you don't like, or replay songs you enjoy. There's never been a better way to listen to the radio!

 

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Recording from an External Audio Source (like a Radio)

In addition to recording over the Internet, you can record any other audio sources your PC accepts, including the Line In or Microphone jack on your PC's sound card, CD Players, and more.

If you have a device like a radio or police scanner attached to your PC, you'll need a dual male headphone adapter as shown here:

Before connecting the adapter, check to be sure you get sound out of the microphone or line-in input. Often times Windows is not set up properly for this by default. You can check this by opening Sound Recorder from Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and then recording something.

Configuring Windows for Recording from External Audio Sources

To record, you need to make sure Microphone or Line In recording is selected using the Windows Volume control. Here's how to set it up properly:

Note: When you record in this manner, be sure to select the proper Audio Recording Method when adding a new show to record.

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Continuously Recording a Station

Replay A/V makes it easy to continuously record a station 24 hours a day.

Here's how to continuously record:

Continuous recording works by setting the schedule to record from midnight to midnight 7 days per week. It it highly recommended to also set up Splits (click the Splitting tab) to that your recordings are broken up into smaller pieces.

 

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Organizing Shows

You can change the order which your scheduled shows appear on the main screen, either by sorting shows, or rearranging them manually. Here's how the main screen appears again:

To sort shows:

To rearrange the order of shows:

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Customizing Recording File Names

You can specify how you want the names of recorded files to appear. By default, a show named "My Show" saved as an MP3 file on December 1 will be named "My Show Dec 1.mp3". However, you can change this using the File naming format string in Settings, Other.

Here are the various symbol options and what they mean:

%%s - This is the name of the show, and must be present.
%a - Abbreviated weekday name.
%A - Full weekday name.
%b - Abbreviated month name.
%B - Full month name.
%c - Date and time representation appropriate for locale.
%d - Day of month as decimal number (01 – 31).
%H - Hour in 24-hour format (00 – 23).
%I - Hour in 12-hour format (01 – 12).
%j - Day of year as decimal number (001 – 366).
%m - Month as decimal number (01 – 12).
%M - Minute as decimal number (00 – 59).
%p - Current locale’s A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock.
%S - Second as decimal number (00 – 59).
%U - Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 – 53).
%w - Weekday as decimal number (0 – 6; Sunday is 0).
%W - Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 – 53).
%x - Date representation for current locale.
%X - Time representation for current locale.
%y - Year without century, as decimal number (00 – 99).
%Y - Year with century, as decimal number.
%z - Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.
%#c - Long date and time representation, appropriate for current locale.
%#x - Long date representation, appropriate for current locale.

Use the # character to remove any leading zeroes, as in any of the following:

%#d, %#H, %#I, %#j, %#m, %#M, %#S, %#U, %#w, %#W, %#y, %#Y

The characters / ? : * \ cannot be used anywhere in the format string. Any other characters that appear are presented as-is.

Examples:

The default format string is:
%%s %b %#d

The above default string makes show names like "My Show Dec 1.mp3".

A format string like this:
%m-%d-%y %%s

Would make a show name like this: "12-01-03 My Show.mp3".

Note: Track numbers are always appended to the END of each show, before the .mp3 suffix. For example:
12-01-06 My Show - 01.mp3
12-01-06 My Show - 02.mp3
etc.

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Custom Conversion Options

For Advanced Users Only!

With Replay A/V, you have the ability to automatically convert recordings using any command line conversion utility you choose. The conversions are done after the recording has finished. Replay A/V comes with several built-in conversions already, and you can create your own as well. Here's how to do it:

Here's a sample CNV file used to convert to 128 Kbps MP3 using Replay Converter::

[Custom Conversion]
name=Audio - MP3 (128 Kbps)
from=ANY
to=MP3 
exe=ReplayConverter.exe
cmd=ReplayConverter.exe ?%from?%to?MP3-128?Q
fromext=ANY
toext=mp3
itunes=1

Each line has a parameter that Replay A/V reads to perform conversions. Here's what they are:

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iTunes Tricks and Hints

If you're using iTunes to manage your downloaded MP3 files, here's some neat tricks:

Making Smart Playlists

Wouldn't it be cool if you could have any shows recorded by Replay A/V automatically appear in their own playlist? Replay A/V saves each recorded file with a Genre of "Replay AV", which makes it easy to do this. Here's how:

To make just new shows appear in a Playlist, add the following condition: PlayCount=0. The smart playlist screen appears like this:

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Syncing to other MP3 Players

With Replay A/V, you can have all your recordings copied to a single folder on your PC, as well as sync them to any USB-based MP3 player. This is set up using the Sync option in the Settings menu.

If your MP3 Player attaches via a USB or Firewire connection, and can appear as a drive letter on your PC, then this option will work for you.

Here's how the Sync settings appear:

See the Sync Settings reference for details on how this option works.

 

Supported Streaming Formats

For recording streaming video or audio using Stream Capture, Replay A/V captures the following formats and protocols:

The Audio Record method can capture ANY audio format, even ones not yet invented. Files are saved in their original format, or converted to MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, M4B (iPod bookmarkable) and more.

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Legal Notices

MetaProducts Download Library™ is a copyrighted work of MetaProducts Corporation and is distributed by Applian Technologies, Inc. under license.

 

© Copyright 2010 Applian Technologies Inc. - All Rights Reserved