SEi USER’S MANUAL P/N: M32003-02A3
The team at Escient would like to take this opportunity to thank you for purchasing an Escient FireBall product. Escient is committed to providing our customers the most technologically advanced, yet easierthan-ever to use products that converge the power of the Internet with home entertainment. To maximize your enjoyment, please take a few minutes to review this User’s Manual. It will guide you through all the features and benefits of your new FireBall.
24 LISTENING TO MUSIC 32 RECORDING FROM THE INTERNAL CD IMPORTING MUSIC FILES System Requirements Audio File Requirements Cover Art Image Requirements IMPORTING FROM A PC IMPORTING FROM A MAC RECORDING FROM OTHER EXTERNAL SOURCES ERASING A CD-RW DISC BROWSING YOUR MUSIC LIBRARY SHOW AND HIDE TRACKS PLAYING THE CURRENT TITLE SELECTING A DIFFERENT SONG CHANGING THE GUIDE VIEW View By Artist View By Title View By Song View By Cover CHANGING THE CURRENT PLAY MODE VIEWING BY GENRE 25 26 26 26 26 27 28 30 31
68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 77 78 79 82 83 84 FIREBALL UTILITIES 85 GETTING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR FIREBALL RESTARTING THE SYSTEM UPDATING THE SOFTWARE CONTROLLING FIREBALL FROM A WEB BROWSER SETTING UP THE FIREBALL WEB SERVER USING THE WEB USER INTERFACE USING THE WEB BROWSER AS A MUSIC CLIENT BACKUP AND RESTORE FIREBALL MUSIC BACKUP FIREBALL MUSIC RESTORE ID3 Tag Support PAGE 4 85 86 87 88 88 88 89 90 90 91 91 NETWORKED AUDIO USING FIREBALL MUSIC CLIENTS 92 SERVERS CLIENTS LOCATING THE FIRE
PRODUCT INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing a FireBall Media Management system from Escient (a division of D&M Holdings). ABOUT THIS MANUAL This FireBall User’s Manual is intended to provide the reader with an overview of the main features and benefits of the Escient FireBall Media Management Systems. For more information, please refer to the Escient web site (www.escient.com) or contact your Escient dealer. RECORD YOUR SERIAL NUMBER The serial number for this unit is located at the rear of the device.
FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS • Do not use this apparatus near water. • Clean only with a dry cloth. • Do not block any ventilation openings. • Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat. • To reduce the risk of electric shock, do not remove the cover. No user serviceable parts are inside. Refer servicing to qualified service personnel.
TRADEMARKS & SERVICE MARKS Escient®, the Escient logo, and FireBall® are trademarks of Digital Networks North America. FireBall and Physital are trademarks of Escient®. Other product names mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies. Music recognition technology and related data are provided by Gracenote®. Gracenote is the industry standard in music recognition technology and related content delivery. For more information visit www.
WARRANTY INFORMATION Terms of Coverage - Each Escient branded media management system sold comes with a standard one (2) year warranty. This warranty provides no-charge coverage under normal product usage, for a period of one year from the date of registration and/or purchase (whichever is earlier). This warranty program provides the following key features and benefits: • Twenty four (24) months service, parts and labor.
• • • • Additionally, Escient does not cover the following items under the terms or its warranty programs: Installation or removal charges. Cost of initial technical adjustments (setup costs). Battery replacement. Escient’s sole liability for any defective product is limited to the repair or replacement of the product at our discretion.
ESCIENT PRIVACY POLICY Escient is committed to providing you with a product that you enjoy and are confident in using, and are committed to providing services in a private and secure environment. We recognize and respect each individual user’s privacy and have created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy. We want you to be fully informed about the information that we collect, why we collect it, and with whom we share it.
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Following are terms used throughout this manual: • Button - refers to a graphic item on the display screen. • Group - a collection of similar music titles. Standard genre groups are provided and custom groups can be created by the user. • Highlight - highlighting is used to indicate the user’s selection on screen. When the selection moves up, down, left, or right, the highlight moves to the next nearest item.
SETUP This manual assumes that you followed the printed “Quick Setup Guide” that came with your FireBall. If you have not properly connected your FireBall to your audio/video system, please go back and follow the “Quick Setup Guide” guide before continuing with this User Manual. POWER STATES After the FireBall unit is plugged in, the Standby LED located next to the power button will flash red until the startup process is complete. Please wait. This may take several minutes.
FRONT PANEL OVERVIEW 1 3 4 8 9 10 6 1 - POWER 2 - GUIDE SCREEN 3 - MUSIC SOURCE 4 - RADIO SOURCE 5 - CD-RW DRIVE 6 - TEXT DISPLAY & IR RECEIVER 7 - OPEN/CLOSE DRIVE 8 - NAVIGATION 9 - SELECT 10 - TRANSPORT CONTROLS & FAVS PAGE 13 7 FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual 2 5
REAR PANEL OVERVIEW 2 6 3 4 1 5 7 FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual 1 - POWER 2 - IR IN 3 - DIGITAL AUDIO OPTICAL OUT 4 - ANALOG AUDIO: AUDIO IN, AUDIO OUT 5 - VIDEO OUT: COMPOSITE, S-VIDEO, COMPONENT 6 - COMMUNICATION PORT: 1 PORT SE-160i / 2 PORTS SE-500i 7 - ETHERNET PAGE 14
REMOTE OVERVIEW UNIVERSAL SOURCE SELECT Telly / Cable / Receiver / DVD - used to configure the remote to control other devices. See manual for details on the universal remote functions. MODE GUIDE SELECT Music / iRadio - used to select FireBall modes. TRANSPORT CONTROLS Rewind / Play / Forward / Record / Stop / Pause - used to control playback music. Also used for text entry and for canceling certain operations. POWER Power - used to toggle the current source device on and off.
ENTERING TEXT WITH THE REMOTE CONTROL The remote control can be used to enter text in all text fields. This text entry capability is provided to allow you to fill out short text fields – such as those that occur in the setup and edit screens. FireBall’s wireless keyboard should be used when extended typing is required. The text characters follow the same convention used by a standard telephone – except in the case of the “1” and “0” keys which contain additional characters.
display a “C”. The fourth key press displays a lower case “a”, the fifth key press displays a lower case “b”, and the sixth key press displays a lower case “c”. Lastly, pressing the “2” key a seventh time displays the number “2”. When entering the second character in a text field or the second character following a space, FireBall assumes that lower case is preferred and the character entry cycles in the following pattern – lowercase, uppercase, and numeric.
ADDITIONAL CONNECTION AND HOOKUP INFORMATION AUDIO OUTPUTS The optical digital and analog audio outputs are both active when playing media from the internal hard drive or Internet Radio. VIDEO OUTPUTS FireBall has several video output formats and connectors including: • Component Video • S-Video • Composite Video All video outputs are active at the same time, so you can use as many as you like without causing signal degradation.
VIDEO FORMAT (NTSC AND PAL) FireBall SEi supports NTSC and PAL video format standards. Follow these steps to set the video format to match that of your video display: If you have not setup and registered your FireBall... 1) Plug in and Power on your FireBall. 2) When the Red Light on the front panel is solid red, press the POWER button once to make it blue. 3) Using the remote control, Enter the corresponding sequence for your desired video format.
RS-232 CONNECTIONS COM port is to be used for connecting an Escient ETP-1500 wired touch panel or to interface with a third party control system such as Opus, AMX or Crestron. Note: You should use the Ethernet control system for controlling FireBall from a third party control system whenever possible. Using the Ethernet control system frees up the COM port for other purposes, allows much longer distances between FireBall and the control system, and provides a much faster path for data transfer.
ETHERNET CONNECTIONS The Ethernet jack on the back panel of the FireBall accepts any standard twisted pair CAT5 Ethernet cable. If you are connecting FireBall to a home network, you typically connect a standard Ethernet cable from your Ethernet router or hub to the FireBall. There are different grades, or categories, of twisted-pair cabling. Category 5 is the most reliable and widely compatible, and is highly recommended. It runs easily with 10Mbps networks, and is required for 100Mbps networks.
CAT5 cabling should not exceed 100 meters. The following drawing depicts the typical wiring scheme for CAT5. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual For more information about wiring an Ethernet network, please refer to the Linksys web site (www.linksys.com).
REGISTRATION Registering your FireBall is accomplished automatically when you go through the Quick Start process described in the User’s Manual. Registration includes properly configuring your FireBall for Internet access and then connecting to the Escient servers to register your serial number and download the latest Internet Radio stations.
GETTING MUSIC INTO FIREBALL Before you can enjoy the Music features of your FireBall Media Management system, you will want to get your music collection into the FireBall. The process of getting music into FireBall is called “Recording” or sometimes “Ripping”.
RECORDING FROM THE INTERNAL CD The easiest way to get music into your FireBall is to record CDs using the built-in internal CD-RW drive. This method requires no additional equipment and is very fast, as the internal CD drive can rip audio at several times the speed of normal playback. This is known as “fast-ripping”. • When recording is complete, FireBall will return to the Music Guide. • Repeat steps 1-8 for each disc in your music collection.
IMPORTING MUSIC FILES If you have digital audio files already recorded on your PC or Mac, you can transfer the files directly to your FireBall using an Ethernet network. This is a fast and convenient way to load up your FireBall with your favorite Music without having to re-record everything. FireBall will import each audio file, extract the song information, and add it to your Music Library.
IMPORTING FROM A PC Make sure your PC is connected to the same network as your FireBall and follow these steps to mount, transfer, and import music files from your PC to your FireBall. On the FireBall (Note: This step only needs to be done once.) 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote control to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the NETWORK menu item. 3. Select the SERVER SETTINGS menu item. 4. Enter a name for your FireBall. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual On the PC 1. Go to the START menu and select RUN. 2.
IMPORTING FROM A MAC FireBall’s File Server acts like a Windows File Server on your network, therefore you will need to connect using the MacOS X’s built-in Windows networking client. Make sure your Mac is connected to the same network as your FireBall and follow these steps to mount, transfer, and import music files from your PC to your FireBall. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual 1. Go to the Finder and select “Connect to Server…” from the Go Menu. 2.
FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual 4. Click on the Content pop-up menu and select the Import directory. 5. Next, an authentication dialog will appear. You can ignore this dialog and just click the OK button. 6. You will then have a new drive mounted on your desktop called “Import”. 7. Drag and drop your audio files onto the Import folder. FireBall will automatically import, add, and catalog each file into your Music Guide.
RECORDING FROM OTHER EXTERNAL SOURCES FireBall allows you to record directly from it’s analog inputs to the internal hard drive. Follow these steps to record from an external source: 1. Press the RECORD key on the remote control to display the Recording Options Menu. 2. Highlight and select the recording option “Record from Ext Inputs to the Internal Hard Drive”. 3. External Record Options screen will be displayed showing the default information for the recording you are about to make.
ERASING A CD-RW DISC You can use FireBall’s built-in CD burner to erase the contents of a re-writable CD. Follow these steps to erase a re-writeable CD: 1. Press the RECORD key on the remote to display the Record menu. 2. Select the ERASE CD-RW DISC menu. 3. Confirm that you want to proceed with completely erasing the disc by selecting the ERASE button on screen. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual • You will not be able to interrupt the erase function.
LISTENING TO MUSIC BROWSING YOUR MUSIC LIBRARY Now that you have gotten your music into your FireBall, it’s time to enjoy it! The Music Guide allows you to browse, locate, and play all of your music in one easy to use on-screen guide. The Music Guide displays a scrolling list of all your Music Titles. Using the remote control, you can navigate up and down the list. As each Title is highlighted, you will notice that the Information Area and Cover Art changes to reflect the currently highlighted Title.
PLAYING THE CURRENT TITLE Playing the currently highlighted Title is the same as playing a CD in a conventional CD player. Simply press the PLAY key on the remote control and it begins to play from track 1. Note: If you press SELECT with a Track highlighted, you will start playback from the selected Track. You’ll notice that a new screen appears with a list of the songs (or tracks) on the current Title, this is the Music Player screen.
CHANGING THE GUIDE VIEW The GUIDE button on the remote control is used to switch between the Music Guide and Music Player screens. When you are viewing the Music Player screen, press the GUIDE button to return to the Music Guide. The Music Guide provides you with several ways to view the contents of your Music Library. One of the easiest ways to browse and sort your Music Library is by using the Music “Views”.
CHANGING THE CURRENT PLAY MODE The default Play Mode will play the current Title from Track 1 to the last track in order, then stop. If you want to change the order of how tracks are played, there are six different Play Modes to choose from: • Normal - play each track in order in the current Title, then stop. • Repeat Track - repeat the same track over and over until you press stop. • Repeat Title - play each track in the current Title in order then repeat the entire disc until you press stop.
VIEWING BY GENRE In addition to the current Guide View, the Music Guide automatically organizes your Music into default “Genres” also called “Groups”. The Group Bar displays a horizontal scrolling list of Genres corresponding to the music in your library. Five Genres or Groups are visible at one time. The “All” genre is the default, which displays all Titles in your Music Library. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Using the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys on the remote, you can select a different Genre.
LISTENING TO INTERNET RADIO BROWSING INTERNET RADIO STATIONS The Radio Guide displays a scrolling list of Internet Radio Stations. Using the remote control, you can navigate up and down the list. As each Station is highlighted, you will notice that the Information Area and Cover Art changes to reflect the currently highlighted Station. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual • Press the iRADIO key on the remote control to display the Radio Guide.
You’ll notice that a new screen appears displaying information about the selected station. This is the Radio Player screen. The Radio Player displays the station name, location, genre, genre cover art, and status about the current Internet Radio station stream. • Playing Internet Radio requires a valid Internet connection. • Although some stations will work over a Dialup Internet Connection, a broadband Internet connection is recommended.
MANAGING YOUR MEDIA Follow these steps to create your own custom Playlist: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Music Options Menu 3. Select the NEW PLAYLIST menu item. 4. Using the remote control or keyboard, enter a name for your Playlist. 5. Select the CONTINUE button on screen to advance to the Edit Playlist Select Guide. The Edit Playlist Select Guide works just like the Music Guide.
To create a custom Group, follow these steps: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode or press the RADIO key if you want to create a custom Radio Group. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Options Menu 3. Select the NEW GROUP menu item. 4. Using the remote control or keyboard, enter a name for your Group. 5. Select the CONTINUE button on screen to advance to the Edit Group Select Guide. The Edit Group Select Guide works just like the Music or Radio Guide. 6.
ADDING INTERNET RADIO STATIONS FireBall comes preloaded with several high quality streaming Internet Radio Stations from around the world, but that may not be enough for you, so FireBall also let’s you add your own Internet Radio Stations. Internet Radio stations must conform to these specifications: • Windows Media WMA or MPEG II layer 3 streams. • Windows Media 9 or earlier. Assuming you have a valid URL for a station, follow these steps to add your own Internet Radio Station to the Radio Guide: 1.
UPDATING THE INTERNET RADIO STATIONS LIST Escient makes every attempt to insure that the preloaded Internet Radio Stations are alive and well, but due to the dynamic nature of the Internet and the third parties who actually serve up these radio streams, sometimes you will not be able to play a station. The “Tune Stations” feature allows you to download a list of the most recent Internet Radio stations from Escient.
EDITING MUSIC INFORMATION FireBall has access to over 4 million CD titles, but you may still encounter a CD that does not return a custom cover or the correct disc information. You can edit the disc information for any Music Title using the Edit Disc and Edit Tracks screens. Editing Disc Info Follow these steps to edit the disc information for the current Music Title: 1. Highlight the Music Title you want to edit in the Music Guide. 2. Press the OPTIONS key on the remote control. 3.
Editing Track Names You can also manually edit the Track/Song names of the currently highlighted Title in the Music Guide. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to edit the track information for the current Music Title: 1. Highlight the Music Title you want to edit in the Music Guide. 2. Press the OPTIONS key on the remote control. 3. Select the EDIT DISC INFO Info menu item to display the Edit Disc Information screen. 4. Select the EDIT TRACKS button to display the Edit Tracks screen. 5.
Automatically Lookup Information for This Disc The “Lookup This Disc” button will initiate a disc lookup for only this disc. FireBall will connect to the Gracenote® Music Recognition Service to locate and download the disc information. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to lookup information for the current disc: 1. Highlight the Music Title you want to edit in the Music Guide. 2. Press the OPTIONS key on the remote control. 3.
Follow these steps to search for a cover: 1. Highlight the Music Title you want to edit in the Music Guide. 2. Press the OPTIONS key on the remote control. 3. Select the EDIT DISC INFO menu item to display the Edit Disc Information screen. 4. Select the SEARCH FOR COVER button to display the Search for Cover screen. 5. The current Artist Name and Album Title are entered as the default search strings. You can change either one of these to modify the search.
Selecting an Existing Cover If for some reason you can not download the original cover, you can choose one of the existing covers for the current Title. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to select an existing cover to assign to the current Title: 1. Highlight the Music Title you want to edit in the Music Guide. 2. Press the OPTIONS key on the remote control. 3. Select the EDIT DISC INFO menu item to display the Edit Disc Information screen. 4.
EDITING RADIO INFORMATION Similar to editing Music Information, you can also Edit the Radio Information. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to edit the station information for the currently highlighted Internet Radio Station: 1. Make sure you are in the Radio source mode by pressing the RADIO key on the remote. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Options Menu 3. Select the EDIT STATION menu item to display the Edit Station screen. 4.
EDITING PLAYLISTS You can change the name and add or remove tracks from any Playlist you created. • If you remove all songs from a Playlist, the Playlist is automatically deleted. • You can not reorder songs within a current Playlist. PAGE 49 FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to edit a Playlist: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Highlight the Playlist Name you want to edit. Note: The Playlist group will list all of your Playlists. 3.
Follow these steps to edit a Group: 1. Press the MUSIC key if you want to edit the Music Groups or press the RADIO key if you want to edit the Radio Groups. 2. Highlight the Group you want to edit within the Group Bar. 3. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Music Options Menu 4. Select the Edit Group menu item. 5. Using the remote control or keyboard, change the name of your Group or select the CONTINUE button on screen to keep the current name and advance to the Edit Group Select Guide. 6.
DELETING MUSIC You can remove any music you have recorded to the FireBall by using the Delete Music feature. You may want to do this if you have filled up your FireBall and you can not record any more music or if you want to remove songs that you just don’t listen to. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to delete music from your FireBall: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Options Menu 3.
DELETING PLAYLISTS FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual You may delete entire Playlists from the Music Guide. Follow these steps to permanently delete one or more Playlists from the Music Guide: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Options Menu 3. Select the DELETE PLAYLISTS menu item to display the Delete Playlists screen. 4. For each Playlist you want to delete, highlight the Playlist and press the SELECT key on the remote.
DELETING GROUPS Deleting Groups from the Group Bar is very similar to deleting Playlists. The contents of the Group (the Music Titles or Radio Stations) are not deleted. They are still available in any other Groups they may be assigned to and in the All Group. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to delete Groups. 1. Press the MUSIC key if you want to edit the Music Groups or press the RADIO key if you want to edit the Radio Groups. 2. Press the OPTIONS key to display the Options Menu 3.
CREATING CDS FireBall is a complete media solution for storing, managing, and listening to your music, but what if you want to get your music out of your FireBall and take it with you? FireBall has that covered as well. You can easily create custom mix CDs, backups copies of any physical CD, and record from the external analog inputs to a CD. Follow these steps to create a custom Mix CD: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2.
FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual 8. When FireBall has added all of your songs and finished creating the new CD image, it will eject the CD tray and ask you to insert a blank CD. 9. Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW disc and close the CD tray by pressing the Eject button on the front panel. Note: You must use royalty paid blank CDs which are typically marked as “audio” or “music” CDs when creating and Audio CD. Data CDs typically used for computers can be used for data mix CDs. 10.
Follow these steps to duplicate a CD: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Press the RECORD key to display the Music Record Options menu. 3. Select the DUPLICATE A DISC button to display the Music Record Select Guide. 4. Select a CD from the built-in CD player. A check mark will be placed next to the selected disc. 5. Press the RECORD key again to continue the recording process and display the Music Record Progress - CD Read screen. 6.
Follow these steps to record direct to CD from an external source: 1. Press the MUSIC key to make sure you are in the Music source mode. 2. Press the RECORD key to display the Music Record Options menu. 3. Select the RECORD EXT INPUTS DIRECT TO CD menu item. 4. The External Record Options screen will be displayed showing the default information for the recording you are about to make. You can use these default settings or edit them. The default recording length is 30 minutes.
SETTING USER PREFERENCES User preferences are available to specify global configuration options and preferred system settings. Press the SETUP key on the remote control to display the Setup Menu. Use the navigation keys on the remote control (up, down, left, and right) to highlight and select any menu item. SETTING THE SCREEN SAVER PREFERENCES Screen Savers are provided for each source mode.
Retail Demo Mode FireBall has a Retail Demo Mode for use in retail display environments. The Retail Demo Mode (RDM) is a special screen saver that is activated during idle time. The RDM continuously displays key features and benefits of the FireBall product on the attached Telly. Pressing any button on the remote will temporarily disable the RDM and allow the user to demo the product. After the specified idle time, the RDM will reactivate as the screensaver.
Photo Screen Saver Mode FireBall has a Photo Screen Saver Mode for displaying your own photos whenever FireBall is idle for a specified period of time. You can import your own photos into the Photos shared directory using Windows Networking. Photos should be 720x480 for 4:3 NTSC Tellys and 640x360 for 16:9 widescreen Tellys. Follow these steps to enable the Photo Screen Saver Mode in your FireBall: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote. 2. Select the General menu. 3. Select the Screen Saver menu. 4.
SETTING YOUR TIME ZONE Specify which US time zone your FireBall is located in. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to set your Time Zone: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the GENERAL Menu 3. Select the TIME ZONE Menu 4. Select your select your Time Zone.
CUSTOMIZABLE USER INTERFACE In addition to the Escient Classic user interface theme, the FireBall allows you to select a custom theme and select your own background images for each Guide, Player, Options, Setup, and Message screens. You can import your own background images into the Backgrounds shared directory using Windows Networking. Images should be 720x480 and saved in either jpg, gif, or png formats. Note: Some backgrounds look better than others.
ENABLING PASSWORD PROTECTION Optional Password Protection enables you to limit user access to the Setup Menus. This is useful to lockout the ability to change the global user settings and preferences. • You must exit Setup and re-enter setup to activate the password protection. • If a user password is specified, you will be prompted for your password whenever you press the Setup key on the remote.
ETHERNET SETTINGS Ethernet is the preferred networking choice which provides you with the best network performance and allows your FireBall to act as a “server” to deliver your music collection throughout your home network using the optional FireBall Music Players. Ethernet networks require that you configure each device on the network with a valid “address”. These addresses are usually configured automatically by your network hardware.
SERVER SETTINGS Your FireBall can act as a “server” delivering audio to optional FireBall “clients” over the network. FireBall’s server also allows you to control it remotely using a web browser on your PC and allows Network File Sharing for backup and import features. The FireBall Name allows you to easily locate and connect to your FireBall by name. Follow these steps to enter a name for your FireBall: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the NETWORK menu. 3.
FIREBALL MUSIC SHARING FireBall contains a special music sharing feature that allows two FireBall Music Servers located on the same network to share their music library into two independent zones. The Music Guide from the second FireBall is merged into the Music Guide of the first FireBall to create one seamless Music Guide for browsing and playing all of your music. This effectively can double the capacity of your FireBall using one FireBall as the master and one as a second zone or “slave” server.
SELECTING THE AUDIO ENCODER TYPE You can specify which audio encoder (MP3 or FLAC) you want to use for recording audio in to your FireBall. The MP3 format allows the most flexibility and compatibility for efficiently storing many audio files while the FLAC format uses considerably more space than MP3 files, but preserves an exact bit-for-bit recording of the original, using half the space of the original CD. Follow these steps to select an audio encoder: 1.
SETTING THE DISC INSERT PREFERENCES You can specify what to do with new discs inserted into FireBall’s front panel CD drive. “Display and Play” will display the information for the disc and then play the disc. Record and Eject assists in bulk recording, allowing you to insert disc after disc, automatically recording then ejecting each one. Follow these steps to set the Disc Insert Preferences: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the AUDIO menu 3.
VIDEO FORMAT Allows you to select 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios on your Telly screen. 4:3 User Interface PAGE 69 16:9 User Interface FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to center the FireBall screen: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3. Select the VIDEO FORMAT menu. 4. Using the Up and Down keys on the remote, select your desired aspect ratio. 5. Press the SELECT key on the remote to highlight the SAVE button. 6.
CENTERING THE FIREBALL SCREEN Allows you to center the FireBall user interface horizontally on your Telly screen. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to center the FireBall screen: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3. Select the SCREEN CENTERING menu. 4. Using the Left and Right keys on the remote, adjust the screen so that it appears horizontally centered on your Telly. 5. Press the SELECT key on the remote to highlight the SAVE button.
ADJUSTING YOUR TELLY’S BRIGHTNESS FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to adjust the brightness on your Telly: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3. Select the BRIGHTNESS menu. 4. Turn your Telly’s brightness control all the way up then lower it to the point where the vertical black bar on the left just disappears.
ADJUSTING YOUR TELLY’S CONTRAST The Contrast or Picture Adjustment control allows you to optimize the contrast (which is sometimes called Picture) of their Telly, using the Telly’s Contrast or Picture controls. This setting helps reduce video “blooming” and create a clearer, more readable user interface. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to adjust the contrast on your Telly: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3. Select the CONTRAST menu.
ADJUSTING YOUR TELLY’S SHARPNESS The Sharpness adjustment allows you the set the Sharpness or Detail control of their Telly so that onscreen text is as readable as possible. Proper adjustment of the Sharpness control (sometimes called the Detail control) on your Telly, allows you to see video and on screen menus more accurately. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to adjust the sharpness on your Telly: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3.
ADJUSTING YOUR TELLY’S COLOR AND TINT Color Bars are used to test the Telly monitor’s ability to reproduce the proper color values. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to adjust the Color and Tint on your Telly: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the VIDEO menu. 3. Select the COLOR BARS menu. 4.
INSTALLING THE ETP TOUCH PANEL The optional Escient Touch Panel is an external 15” flat LCD color display that offers full control of a FireBall via it’s integrated touch sensitive surface. Follow these steps to connect the ETP-1500 to a FireBall: 1. Place the FireBall into Standby. 2. Connect the RS-232 serial cable to the COM PORT on the rear panel of your FireBall. 3. Connect the other end of the RS-232 serial cable to the bottom of the ETP-1500. 4.
Calibrating the Touch Panel To obtain the maximum performance form the ETP-1500 Touch Panel, the main user should calibrate the display using the Calibration tool. Follow these steps to calibrate the ETP-1500 Touch Panel: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote control. 2. Select the External Control Menu. 3. Select the Touch Panel Menu. 4. Select the Calibration Menu. 5. The calibration screen is displayed. 6. Follow the on screen instructions, by touching the moving target with your finger.
Changing the Touch Panel Button Overlay The Button Overlay feature places button controls onto the FireBall user interface for use with the Escient ETP-1500 touch screen and third-party touch panels. The ETP-1500 is automatically detected on the FireBall serial ports and the select overlay is enabled. Using Your Touch Panel The Touch Panel Overlay should now be displayed around the edges of your screen.
IR REMOTE CONTROL FireBall is preset from the factory to operate from the FB1 source button, however, the FireBall can be configured to use any one of the four source buttons using the on screen Setup menus. This is useful when there are multiple FireBalls installed at the same location, so all FireBalls don’t respond to the same IR commands.
DIRECT ACCESS CODES Direct Access Codes are used in conjunction with the MACRO key on the remote control to provide an IR code sequence to access just about any media in your FireBall server. This is useful for programming third-party external control systems and programmable IR remote controls such as the Marantz RC9500. The Direct Access Codes are available for all music, playlists, groups, and radio stations. Follow these steps to view the direct IR codes for your FireBall content: 1.
The following table is used to determine the button sequence for direct access code sequences from the Escient IR remote and IR keyboard.
The following table is used to determine the button sequence for direct access code sequences from the Escient IR remote and IR keyboard.
PLAYLIST HOT KEYS Playlist Hot Keys provides a Keyboard Macro sequence to directly access any five Playlists in your Music collection from any of these five keyboard combinations: • Control + Backspace • Control + Insert • Control + Delete • Control + Top • Control + Bottom Note: If there is nothing in the Playlist Hot Keys list, you must first create Playlists on your FireBall.
SERIAL COM PORTS The Serial Control COM Port setting is used to enable RS-232 serial control for two-way external control communications with a third party control systems. If there are no available COM ports, you must use the Ethernet based external control for two-way external control communications. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to enable or disable the Serial Control Port: 1. Press the Setup key on the remote to display the FireBall setup menu. 2.
CONTROLLING FIREBALL FROM OTHER DEVICES In addition to the Escient ETP-1500 wired touch panel, FireBall provides the user and custom A/V installer with many options for control and integration into any home theater or home automation system using direct IR codes, two-way RS-232 serial control, two-way Ethernet control, and wireless web pad control.
FIREBALL UTILITIES GETTING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR FIREBALL Information about your FireBall hardware and software is available under the Utilities menu. This information is useful for troubleshooting any problems you may encounter with your network connection or verifying the current software versions. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to view the FireBall system information: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the UTILITIES menu. 3.
RESTARTING THE SYSTEM There are two ways of manually performing a full restart or reboot of the FireBall system, one using the front panel power button and the other using the Restart System menu. Follow these steps to restart the system using the front panel Power Button: 1. Press and hold the power button for 4 seconds. 2. When the LED on the front panel begins to flash, release the power button. 3. When the LED on the front panel glows solid RED (standby mode), FireBall is ready to use. 4.
UPDATING THE SOFTWARE FireBall will automatically check the Escient server once a week for any FireBall software updates, and automatically install them. You can also manually check for a software update. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual Follow these steps to manually update the software: 1. Press the SETUP key on the remote to display the Setup menu. 2. Select the UTILITIES menu. 3. Select the UPDATE SOFTWARE menu. 4. Select the Check for Update button. 5. Confirm that you want to update the current software.
CONTROLLING FIREBALL FROM A WEB BROWSER FireBall contains a built-in web server which means you can connect to your FireBall and remotely control it using a standard web browser from a PC, Mac, or PDA over your home network. SETTING UP THE FIREBALL WEB SERVER Your FireBall acts as a web server on your network allowing you to connect and control the FireBall using your PC or Mac computer. This web server is automatically configured and started each time the FireBall is plugged in.
USING THE WEB BROWSER AS A MUSIC CLIENT In addition to remotely controlling your FireBall, the built-in web server also functions as a streaming MP3 music files to the web browser, providing an easy way to add multiple streaming music clients to your FireBall. Note: Your web browser and computer must be setup to properly handle streaming audio files. The proper configuration of these settings is beyond the scope of this document.
BACKUP AND RESTORE FIREBALL MUSIC BACKUP It is possible to backup and restore the music contents of a FireBall using the CIFS or “Windows” Networking feature. Backup is accomplished by mounting the FireBall onto your PC or Mac desktop and using your computer’s backup software. You can also backup the music files to any standard media which your PC supports, such as: DVD+/-R/W, CD-R/RW, or external hard drive. There are several methods and tools for backup your FireBall’s music content.
FIREBALL MUSIC RESTORE You can restore music to a FireBall using the same method used for importing audio files into a FireBall. Restore and Import both use the CIFS Networking feature to add audio files to a FireBall. Simply drag your music files to the Import directory and let FireBall import the audio files. Note: This may take several days for a large music collection! Upon Import, FireBall will rebuild the internal database based on the music file’s ID3 tag information.
NETWORKED AUDIO USING FIREBALL MUSIC CLIENTS SERVERS A FireBall Server is a Fireball media management system that is capable of “serving” media to other FireBalls over a network. The FireBall is a considered a “server” product. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual CLIENTS A FireBall Client is a FireBall that can play media from a FireBall Server over a network.
FireBall is built from the ground up with many features that allow you to centrally locate and remotely control your FireBall clients and servers, such as: • Direct IR input • Two way serial control over RS-232 • Two way serial control over ethernet • Wireless IR remote and Keyboard options • Support for 4 different IR banks (4 IR zones) • Templates for integration into many third party wired and wireless IR distribution systems • Philips and Marantz Pronto remote control templates PAGE 93 FireBall™ SEi U
Distributed A distributed FireBall installation means that your FireBall Servers and Clients are physically distributed or located in different rooms. Distributed FireBalls communicate over a wired or wireless network to share access to your media. FireBall™ SEi User’s Manual The biggest advantage of a distributed clientserver system over a central system is that everything you need is built into FireBall.
CONFIGURING A FIREBALL SERVER Every FireBall capable of server functions is automatically enabled to serve MP3 and FLAC audio whenever it is plugged in and properly configured for your network. It is recommended that you give each of your FireBall servers a unique name that describes it’s location using the SERVER SETTINGS screen which can be accessed from Setup/Network /Server Settings. Names like “LivingRoom”, “HomeTheater”, “MyMusicServer” are all good examples.
TROUBLESHOOTING NETWORK PROBLEMS If you experience problems registering a FireBall or connecting to the Internet to lookup disc information, try these possible fixes before calling Escient Tech Support: • Make sure that your FireBall is properly connected to your home network and that all cables are in working order. • FireBall communicates using TCP/IP and UDP over Ethernet networks using ports 80, 443, and 1755.
SPECIFICATIONS Specifications are subject to change without notice. Please check the Escient web site for any changes to the specifications. Video Specifications • NTSC/PAL • 10 bit Video DACs • Frequency Response: • Composite: -2 dB @ 5MHz • S-Video: -2 dB @ 5MHz • SNR: 50 dB • Crosstalk: 50 dB • Output Impedance: 75Ohm Audio Specifications • Frequency Response: 2 – 20,000 Hz, ±1 dB • THD+N (playback) < -80 dB FS A (< 0.
GRACENOTE® END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT USE OF THIS PRODUCT IMPLIES ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BELOW. This product contains technology and data from Gracenote of Emeryville, California (“Gracenote”). The technology from Gracenote (the “Gracenote Embedded Software”) enables this product to do disc identification and obtain music-related information, including name, artist, track, and title information (“Gracenote Data”), which is included on the Gracenote Database (the “Gracenote Database”).
