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AJA XenaHS User Manual — Using Xena With Application Software
Using Xena with Windows Media Player 9
Windows Media Player can be configured to output video through the Xena board instead of
playing to its own window on the PC monitor. In this configuration, Windows Media files
can be played out to any device with an SDI input, such as a VTR or television monitor.
(Windows Media Player 9 or later is required.)
Windows Media Player reconfiguration is achieved via the Xena Control Panel. Configuration
controls are found in the “
Windows Media Player Preferences
” on the “
Windows Media Settings
”
tab of the Control Panel.
It is best not to configure a machine for Xena output if that machine will also be used for
capturing or encoding. Doing so prevents Preview on the computer monitor for most capture
applications, since they usually utilize components of Windows Media Player. In some cases,
other complications can also occur. For Windows Media Encoder, encoding fails if Preview is
turned on in this configuration. (To turn Preview off in Windows Media Encoder, go to the
“
Tools > Options
” dialog and disable “
Automatically show panels needed for the current session.
”)
When configured for Xena output, Windows Media Player only plays files with a correct
video size for SD (720x486, 720x576, or 720x480) or HD (1920x1080 or 1280x720). To
play back other sizes, use the GraphEdit application—read the next topic for details.
Using Xena with GraphEdit
GraphEdit is a low-level Microsoft tool for Windows Media application developers. It is not
recommended for typical Xena end-users, however it’s useful to know about since it has some
capabilities not currently available through Windows Media Player. GraphEdit is available
from Microsoft as part of the DirectX SDK; it can also be installed from the Xena Installation
Software CD by selecting the “Tools and Manuals” button from the installation screen. When
installed using the “Custom” installation “Setup Type”, it shows up on your PC under the
Start
menu:
Start > All Programs > AJA > Diagnostics > Graph Edit
If the Windows Media Player configuration has been configured to output to Xena (via the
Xena Control Panel), then GraphEdit will also use Xena as the default video renderer.
It is not necessary to reconfigure Windows Media Player in order to render to Xena in
GraphEdit. Instead, in the “
Graph > Insert Filters
” dialog, manually choose “
WDM Streaming
Rendering Devices > Xena-HD Video Render Device
” when building a graph.
When playing back .wmv files through GraphEdit, video sizes other than the native Xena
sizes will play back through GraphEdit in a corner of the television screen. To play back full-
screen non-native sizes, you must insert a resize filter, such as the one available from Lead
Technologies (http://www.leadtools.com/utilities/Multimedia-Filter-Pack/Multimedia-Filter-
Pack.htm).
