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PLATO Complete Guide V1.1.1 
 

Entotem Ltd. 

 

1.1.2.

 

Location of your Plato unit 

 

Your PLATO unit should be situated in a well ventilated area. 

 

Your PLATO unit should be situated on a hard surface such as a strong shelf or open support 
cabinet. 

 

Your PLATO unit should not be situated in a closed cabinet. 

 

Your  PLATO  should  be  kept  away  from  sources  of  heat,  dust,  humidity  and  from  direct 
sunlight. 

 

Ensure there is a minimum of 10cms (4 inches) of ‘free space’ all the way around the PLATO 
unit. 

 

Do not expose your PLATO to rain or moisture, this unit must not be exposed to dripping 
or splashing water.  

 

Do not place objects filled with liquid such as vases on top of or above the unit. 

 

Never allow liquids or other objects to fall into the unit. 

 

Your PLATO unit should not be placed directly on top of or underneath another unit. 

 

Do not use your PLATO unit outdoors. 

 

Your Plato unit is designed to be operated at an ambient temperature of 10C to 35C. 

 

No naked flame sources, such as lighted candles should be placed on the unit. 

 

1.1.3.

 

Ventilation 

 

Your PLATO unit includes slots and openings in the cabinet to provide ventilation. These 
openings should not be blocked or covered. 

 

Do  not  place  your  PLATO  unit  on  soft  furnishings,  carpets  or  any other  surface  likely  to 
hinder normal ventilation. 

 

Do not allow curtains, tablecloths newspapers or other similar items to block the ventilation 
slots. 

 

Never insert any items into the ventilation openings. 

1.1.4.

 

Servicing 

This unit contains no user serviceable parts. 

DO NOT attempt to service it yourself. Never remove any covers from the PLATO unit. 

There are no user serviceable parts inside but there are high voltage live parts. Remember 
that contact with AC mains can be lethal or can cause an electric shock. 

Unauthorised servicing will render the warranty void. Refer all servicing to qualified service 
personnel. 

 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Plato

Page 1: ...H O M E E N T E R T A I N M E N T R E I M A G I N E D Plato Complete Guide V1 1 1 Entotem Ltd Suite 3 Acorn Place Alfreton Road Derby DE21 4AS ...

Page 2: ... This home entertainment media management system is designed and manufactured to the highest specification and rigorously tested to ensure you enjoy many years of listening and viewing pleasure Our vision is to bring harmony to your media As such its correct installation and operation will have a major influence on the overall performance of your new set up Please read the contents of this manual ...

Page 3: ... 6 Connecting to a digital sound system 14 2 3 7 Connecting to the internet directly via your home router 15 2 3 8 Connecting to the internet via home plugs and mains wiring 15 2 3 9 Connecting to your HDMI TV 16 2 3 10 Connecting to remote TVs and speakers 16 2 4 Switching on your Plato unit and launching the Plato App 17 2 4 1 Switching off your Plato unit using the rear panel switch 17 2 4 2 Sw...

Page 4: ...onfiguring Inputs 29 6 1 Generic Controls 29 6 2 Input Gain 29 6 3 Phono controls 30 6 3 1 MM MC Select 30 6 3 2 Input Resistance 30 6 3 3 Input Capacitance 30 6 3 4 Rumble Filter 30 6 4 Record Controls 30 6 4 1 Record default setting 30 6 4 2 Record Bit Depth 31 6 4 3 Record Sample Rate 31 7 Playing music from external inputs 32 8 Input Levels 34 8 1 Monitoring Input Levels 34 8 2 Changing Input ...

Page 5: ...audio and video 47 14 1 Streaming music out to remote wireless speakers 47 14 2 Watching and streaming video 48 14 2 1 To watch video from your Media Library 48 15 Additional Menu 49 15 1 Set friendly name 49 15 2 Media rescan 50 15 3 Media browse config 50 15 4 Set Standby Timer 51 15 5 Set record cache size 51 15 6 About info 51 15 7 Gracenote EULA 52 15 8 Debug 52 15 9 Exit 52 16 Advanced Media...

Page 6: ... lead supplied has a moulded IEC connector which plugs into the IEC power inlet on the unit s rear panel Keep the mains lead away from heat sources Do not place a heavy object on the mains lead Do not modify the mains lead Do not overload the mains socket Do not use a poor fitting mains socket Do not use a damaged mains lead This product must be earthed and must be connected to a MAINS socket outl...

Page 7: ...not use your PLATO unit outdoors Your Plato unit is designed to be operated at an ambient temperature of 10C to 35C No naked flame sources such as lighted candles should be placed on the unit 1 1 3 Ventilation Your PLATO unit includes slots and openings in the cabinet to provide ventilation These openings should not be blocked or covered Do not place your PLATO unit on soft furnishings carpets or ...

Page 8: ...Box Based on Pre Installation Check List and additional costed requirements Neutrik Speaker Cables customer to specify required length Home Plug s customer to specify required type number Ethernet Cables customer to specify required number length 1 3 Maintenance After disconnecting the PLATO unit from the mains supply the casing and front panel may be cleaned with a lightly dampened soft cloth or ...

Page 9: ...ay servers connected ton that network The PLATO system elements are Integrated Pre amplifier including 4 Analogue Inputs 4 Digital Inputs 1 Analogue Output 2 Digital Outputs Integrated Stereo Power Amplifier Internal Hard Drive Digital to Analogue Convertor Module DAC Analogue to Digital Convertor Module ADC A touch screen control panel front panel Neutrik Audio Loud Speaker Connectors rear panel ...

Page 10: ...l Item No Item Description 1 Android Display A touchscreen display and app controller to operate your Plato unit 2 System On Off Button To switch your Plato unit to standby mode 3 USB Connector To connect a USB stick to transfer movies and other media files ...

Page 11: ...or other inputs 4 Analogue Inputs 4 Analogue inputs AUX Phono reserved for a turntable 5 Pre Amp To connect to external amplifier and speaker system 6 Digital Inputs To connect 1 x Optical 1 x Coaxial Digital Inputs 7 Digital Outputs To connect to external digital systems 8 Neutrik Speaker Outputs To connect to your speakers 9 USB Connections To connect additional USB storage 10 HDMI Output To con...

Page 12: ...he mains supply Connect the plug on the other end of the mains lead into the mains socket outlet and then switch it on if there is a switch by the mains wall socket The only way to disconnect your Plato unit from the mains is to remove the mains lead plug from the mains socket Therefore you must install your Plato unit near to the mains outlet socket which should be easily accessible Whenever you ...

Page 13: ...belled AUX Phono and is reserved for a turntable record player input If connecting a turntable to this input you must also add an earth connection from the turntable to the Plato unit 2 3 3 Connecting your digital inputs Some inputs may use digital instead of analogue inputs There are four digital input connectors on the rear panel of your Plato unit One is coaxial and three are optical Select the...

Page 14: ...ternal amplifier For best results use equal length speaker cable for both left and right outputs Neutrik cables are included with additional accessories pack Connect both left and right speaker to the rear of your Plato unit using the Neutrik connector To connect align the connector grooves and turn clockwise to lock in place The connection to your speaker will vary according to speaker type See t...

Page 15: ...Plato models without the integrated power amplifier option Use Phono cables from the Pre Out connections on the rear of the Plato unit to connect to an external amplifier and speaker system 2 3 6 Connecting to a digital sound system You can also connect directly to an external digital sound type system ...

Page 16: ...ction diagram below Note that your home router and its connections will vary according to the specific router and type of internet connection 2 3 8 Connecting to the internet via home plugs and mains wiring If it is not possible to connect directly to your home router you can use Home Plug connectors These allow Ethernet transmission through your mains wiring See connection diagram below for typic...

Page 17: ...using your home network either wired directly or through Wi Fi Note Wireless speakers must be UPnP universal plug and play or DLNA Digital Living Network Alliance compliant There is no need to make any physical connections Provided that your Plato unit is connected to your home network you can output to all other items such as remote Smart TVs and speakers that have also been setup on that home ne...

Page 18: ...the Plato App before switching off using the rear panel switch See section 3 3 After the Plato App has closed you can push the rear panel power switch up 2 4 2 Switching off your Plato unit using the front panel on off button To switch off your Plato unit using the front panel On Off button 1 Press the On Off button and keep button pressed for 2 seconds The android power menu appears 2 Select Powe...

Page 19: ...fly on the item or menu on the touchscreen display Long Press To access additional options for that item or menu option Touch and hold on the item or menu on the touchscreen display 3 2 The Plato App Overview This section gives an overview of the Plato App Details of specific options are provided in later sections The first time that you start the Plato App it displays a screen similar to one show...

Page 20: ...ach unit to make it easier to determine which device you are connecting to Details on how to change this name and to output music and video to other devices listed is provided in later sections 3 2 2 The Plato Main Drawer Feature Menu Select the Plato logo in the top left hand corner of the display The Main Drawer Feature Menu is displayed The Main Feature Drawer provides access to Plato s individ...

Page 21: ...s for Media Library are LIBRARY Browse all media on the selected device PLAY QUEUE A list of tracks that have either been played or are queued up to play NOW PLAYING 3 2 5 Internet Radio Use Internet Radio to listen to online radio stations You can save your favourite station as a preset The Tabs for Internet Radio are STATIONS Browse all stations in different categories and genres Use to find sta...

Page 22: ...ntotem Ltd 21 3 2 7 Import Export Use to import or export media files See section 13 for full details The Tabs for Import Export are FILE MANAGER Lists folders to copy media to and from CONFIGURE Reserved for future use NOW PLAYING ...

Page 23: ...to unit before switching off your Plato unit To exit the Plato App 1 Press the Back icon repeatedly from the standard Android control at the bottom of the screen until the Confirm exit dialog box is displayed 2 Press OK Or 1 Press on the advanced menu 2 Select Exit The Confirm exit dialog box is displayed 3 Press OK ...

Page 24: ...blet or smartphone locate your Download folder This will vary depending on your device 2 Select the downloaded apk file The Plato installation dialog box is displayed 3 Leave options at the default settings and select Next A second installation dialog box is displayed 4 Select Install 3 5 Updating your Plato App Check the www entotem com website for latest versions of the Plato App You can install...

Page 25: ...the connected HDMI device or to operate in video mode where only the video data is sent to the connected HDMI device For audio you have the option to either route the audio through the Plato power amplifier to the connected speakers or route through the HDMI for playback on the connected HDMI device To configure HDMI video outputs 1 Press on the HDMI Video icon The screen shown right is displayed ...

Page 26: ...ng a turntable it must be connected to the AUX Phono input To assign and configure each input Long Press press and hold the icon corresponding to the input you would like to modify For each input you can assign a suitable icon and name You can also make changes to the configuration settings When you assign an input there are also configuration menus and options for each input device Tip Do not cha...

Page 27: ...ono text The configuration option screen for this input is displayed 3 To change image icon touch the image in the top right hand corner of the configuration screen The Select Image dialog screen is displayed 4 Select the turntable image 5 To change the name Press on the text area after Name Note screen image of keyboard may vary depending on type of Android device 6 Use the or the Delete key to d...

Page 28: ...e Main Drawer Feature Menu select External Source 2 Long Press the UNASSIGNED icon above the Line 1 text The configuration option screen for this input is displayed 3 To change image icon touch the image in the top right hand corner of the configuration screen The Select Image dialog screen is displayed 4 Select the Compact Disc image 5 To change the name Press on the text area after Name Note scr...

Page 29: ...ign all your other input devices There are specific icons for all types of input devices that you can choose When finished your will see all your configured devices displayed on your screen when you select External Source from the Main Drawer Feature Menu A typical example is shown below ...

Page 30: ...ng for devices with differing output levels Balance trim Adjusts left and right speaker balance for this port Audio delay Applies a digital delay to the audio signal for lip synching with external audio processors Gracenote music recognition can be Enable or Disabled Tip leave as Enabled 6 2 Input Gain All input devices have a setting for Input Gain Before changing any Input Gain values first play...

Page 31: ...s 100R 200R for MC sources 6 3 3 Input Capacitance Selectable as 100pf 200pF for MM and MC sources 6 3 4 Rumble Filter Applies a 14Hz cutoff frequency filter to reduce cone flap caused by warped records Tip Disabling this filter may cause problems with silence detection during recording of this input source 6 4 Record Controls The record controls provide some control over the digital recording for...

Page 32: ...ings on this source 24 bit recordings will give the best quality for analogue sources but will also result in larger audio files 6 4 3 Record Sample Rate Select the required digital sampling rate for all recordings on this source A higher sampling rate will give the best quality but will also result in larger audio files ...

Page 33: ...input is highlighted In the example shown this is the CD Player 3 Start playing music from the selected source For example press Play on your cassette or CD player 4 Select the NOW PLAYING tab to display the screen below To adjust the volume press and slide the Volume Control blue circle icon along the line until the volume is at the desired level Plato s music recognition software automatically d...

Page 34: ...ct album is identified Best of compilation albums can be very difficult in this respect See section 0 to change the Song Icon for saved recorded music Note that Plato s music recognition software requires an internet connection to return track information If you want to record the selected music check that Input Gain is centred to approximately 6dB See following section for details on how to adjus...

Page 35: ... been clipped and this will lead to distortion of the recorded track This is shown by a red dot above the channel s level meter This clip indicator dot stays visible until the Reset Clip button is pressed For optimum listening and recording quality the level meters should be averaging at around 6dB This will ensure the full dynamic range of the ADC is achieved without leading to distortion due to ...

Page 36: ...er positive number to boost the level as shown in the level meters on the Now Playing screen Any change to the input gain should be verified by playing music and noting the values showing on the level meters on the Now Playing screen Tip Typical settings for the Input Gain levels 0db for CD DVD input 6dB for tape 6dB for high output DAC devices For a turntable input Plato provides a wide range of ...

Page 37: ...ying it from the external source 2 Select the NOW PLAYING screen 3 Press the round red Record button 4 The red button changes from being round to square This indicates that Plato is recording the music 5 To stop recording press the red button again It changes back from square to round If you forget to stop recording Plato will automatically stop recording after approximately 3 minutes of silence ...

Page 38: ...he Main Drawer Feature Menu select Media Library 2 Select Album in the option list in the top right hand corner of the display 3 Long Press your chosen album 4 Select Play now from the listed options To listen to a specific song from an album You do not have to play a complete album from the beginning Select your chosen album to display track list of all the songs on the album You can then choose ...

Page 39: ...the right of the song title If you want to change where the selected song is played you can drag the song up or down the list to a new position First select the background of the track you wish to move its background colour will change Now slide your finger up or down to alter the position in the list When you have finished making changes to the Play Queue select Done Whilst in Edit mode you have ...

Page 40: ...ve forward and back within a song using the Progress slider 10 4 Using Search You can search for songs artists and albums using the search function in the top right corner of the display Select the Search Function and type in the name or part of a name of artist album or song title In example below bach Note search is not case sensitive The matches are displayed grouped as artist album and track Y...

Page 41: ... can search by radio type location or language Example below shows search to find BBC Radio 2 The screens and menus displayed will vary depending on which options you choose 1 Select Internet Radio 2 Select By Location 3 Select Europe 4 Select United Kingdom 5 Select Most Popular 6 Select Station After a short delay the selected radio station starts to play ...

Page 42: ... can change the volume using the volume slider control and pause playing of the station 11 1 Saving radio stations to your PRESETS list When you find one of your favourite radio stations you can save it to your PRESETS list This makes it very easy to find again 1 Search again for the radio station that you want to save 2 Long Press press and hold the selected station The Play now Add to presets op...

Page 43: ...2 Listening to your saved radio stations After you have saved at least one station into your PRESETS list it is easy to find it again 1 From the Features Drawer select Internet Radio 2 Select PRESETS 3 Select a radio station from the displayed list ...

Page 44: ... 1 for details 2 Select a device where you want to store the Playlist For example to store on your main Plato unit select Plato Local You can store Playlists on other devices such as a tablet smartphone that has the Plato App installed 3 Select the area below text Enter the playlist name and type in the name The new playlist is added to the PLAYLISTS selection in the Playlist feature menu Note tha...

Page 45: ...ample NYE party 12 3 To Play a Playlist 1 From the Main Drawer Feature Menu select Playlist 2 Select PLAYLISTS 3 Choose a Playlist The selection of songs in the chosen Playlist will now play As with an album in the Media Library you can either Long Press the Playlist and choose to play or queue all the songs in the playlist from the beginning Or Select short press the Playlist to display the song ...

Page 46: ...py USB Shows data stored to a USB device connected to front rear panel Eject Select to eject a USB device before physically removing it from your Plato unit Long Press on any file or folder to display the Import Export option dialog box Options are Copy Select file folder to copy Navigate to destination folder and press paste button from the menu bar This is useful to copying files off of Plato Im...

Page 47: ...ies folder on the USB stick 3 Insert USB memory device into USB port located on the front panel of Plato 4 In the Main Drawer Feature Menu select Import Export 5 Check that you are in the FILE MANAGER tab 6 Select USB 7 Long Press the folder Movies 8 From the dialog box select Import 9 The import function will automatically copy all data files and create all necessary database links ...

Page 48: ...etails Plato is capable of supporting multiple simultaneous streams to different devices so you can use Plato to supply audio video streams to different rooms in the house 14 1 Streaming music out to remote wireless speakers The Plato unit automatically detects uPnP compliant wireless speakers 1 Choose a song album or playlist 2 Press at the top of the device list to display available devices 3 Se...

Page 49: ...l TV using a casting dongle for example Miracast connected to your router 14 2 1 To watch video from your Media Library 1 Select the Video radio button to view available content 2 Long Press a video to play from your library or playlist 3 Select the top device to display the full drop down device list 4 Select Either Your main Plato unit if you want to watch on the HDMI TV connected to your Plato ...

Page 50: ...nit or tablet smartphone running the Plato application This could be useful if you have more than one Plato unit or if you have the Plato App downloaded onto several tablets or smartphones Select the option and type in new name Click OK when done You must reboot the Plato App for the new name to take effect Note that the text Local will always be present after the name for the device that the Plat...

Page 51: ...m During the scan the system may be less responsive than normal due to the additional overhead in performing the scanning functions The following message is displayed 15 3 Media browse config The uPnP browse method is configurable using this option Efficient browse uses uPnP search to return artist album video collections automatically for all uPnP servers which support search uPnP browse provides...

Page 52: ... is saved in a cache area of the hard disk This data is then used to create the individual track files that appear in the media library In order to edit the start and end points of saved tracks or to create missing tracks this cached raw data is required Once it has gone these operations are unavailable This dialog allows the user to set a maximum size for this cache in GB or a maximum age for cac...

Page 53: ...d to Entotem to improve the Plato App software To save logs select this option then select Collect log The log files are stored in a top level folder called DebugLogs The Import Export file manager can be used to copy logs from here to a USB memory stick If the logs are no longer required select Delete ALL logs 15 9 Exit Use to exit the Plato App See section 3 3 for details ...

Page 54: ...for a song or album To access the edit menu for basic editing of song or album details 1 Select the song album to display the Play option list 2 Select Edit Song Album details are displayed You can select non greyed out data and then use the Android keypad to change details Note You can edit ALL tags if you selected a single track but only album specific tags if you selected an album 3 Select Save...

Page 55: ...cenote is unable to determine the track being played The following example shows changing a thumbnail image for Bob Marley s greatest hits Legends album 1 Obtain the correct image This requires you to use a web browser app on your Plato unit 2 Use the selected web browser to search and download suitable image 3 In the Media Library Long Press the incorrect thumbnail image 4 Swap incorrect image fo...

Page 56: ...on will only appear if the raw data is still in the record cache If you recorded the track a long time ago or have recorded lots of other material in the meantime this data may be deleted and you won t be able to edit these files anymore To edit the recorded track 1 Long Press the song to display the Play option menu and then select Edit 2 Select Edit start end of track The edit screen is displaye...

Page 57: ...This will allow you to get beyond the end of the track 5 Select Save This will re write the flac Free Lossless Audio Codec file for I Predict a Riot with the new start and end points 6 Press the Android return button to return to the previous screen 16 3 Creating a missing track Occasionally a track can be missed out if it was not recognised by Gracenote as anything at all or if the silence betwee...

Page 58: ...tarts Here it was pressed at 7 min and 43 sec 6 Select the Mark End button where the next track ends Here it was pressed at 11 min and 13 sec 7 Select the New button This will write out a track called I Predict a Riot NEW that starts at 7 min 43 sec and ends at 11 min 13 sec 8 Use the pop up dialog to enter the track specific tags The album specific tags including the artwork will be copied from t...

Page 59: ... because some of these songs may well have appeared on multiple albums over the years so Gracenote can t be 100 sure which album you are recording Again Plato has editing tools to help merge all songs into a single album as described below Note that this album has the correct album artwork for The Boat That Rocked Various Artists 1 To add I Feel Free to The Boat That Rocked Album Long Press the tr...

Page 60: ...PLATO Complete Guide V1 1 1 Entotem Ltd 59 4 Select Save Tags 5 Go to the Media Library Note that the track list now includes added song ...

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