SatAmp

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SatAmp
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                                                          SatAmp Help & Information

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* SatAmp is an application intended for use with certain automotive based tuners for Premium radio services available in the United States and Canada. If you do not have a radio, or an adapter for computer use of your tuner, go to http://www.mjsgadgets.com and find out what you need to know to get started. Mitch has a storefront there, and his forum is full of valuable information that explains how it's done, and what you need to hook up tuner to computer.

 

* There are several Options available from the dropdown List made visible through right click on empty area of Main SatAmp window. A brief list of Options is detailed in the following dialog: 

 

* Tiny Window - This is a tiny user interactive display that is very small, and gives current tuned channel, artist, and song title info. Main window can be restored with a double click in the border area of “Tiny Window”. Main window can also be restored with a right click on it and then selecting “Restore Main” from the dropdown menu.

 

* ListHeight - If window is larger than smallest size this will restore the window to previous size; otherwise it will reduce window size to minimum.

 

* ListView - Opens/Closes the listview. Use this to hide the listview completely if you desire.

 

* General Settings - Open “General Settings” window to allow several adjustments for radio detection, CommPort assign, TosLink Switch, and to enable AutoStream. If you have tuner detection problems, or wish to use a specific tuner with another program exclusively - you can use this area to assign a specific CommPort to your tuner, or to disable its operation in SatAmp. It is recommended that you assign a CommPort to each of your tuners and your TosLink switch if present. Assigning ports dramatically decreases the startup time SatAmp needs to “Discover Radios”. This is also handy if you are using a Recorder program like Alex J. Sirius Recorder/ XM Recorder, and wish to listen to another tuner at the same time while recording. Check out Alex J. program at http://www.backpocket.com His is the consummate recording program for these types of devices, and is very impressive in its blend of features, and capabilities. I am very impressed with it, and I believe you will be too.

 

* Change Opacity - This setting only works in newer operating systems like Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 - it is not available for Windows XP, etc. Opacity setting either makes the window partially transparent, or removes transparency from it.

 

* Always On Top - Use this setting to force SatAmp window to remain on top of other windows. This can be helpful if you have another application running in the background that focuses, and you wish to keep the SatAmp display visible during those processes.

 

* Exit - Radios Off - Use this to turn off the SatAmp program. You can also turn off the program with the "X" at top of window.  "Pwr" button on the main window turns off the current tuner only. Use “Pwr” button to reset radio with Comm Error, or power on tuner.

 

* Open Help File - Opens this help file for future reference in case you don't read this now, or need help determining how to operate program at a later date.

 

* About SatAmp - Contains version number, and hyperlinks to the various services as well as hyperlinks to me and MJS Gadgets. Also contains required legal information.

 

* Web Control & MP3 Stream Settings:

 

* Set HTTP Port - The “Set HTTP Port…” button assigns your custom port number if you wish to change the default port number of "80". The URL for web control of SatAmp from a remote computer is in this format: http://YOUR IP ADDRESS HERE:80/satamp when using the default port 80. So if you leave Port Number to the Default "80" you do not need to include it in your URL. If you change the Http Port Number you will need to include that port number in your remote web control URL: http://YOUR IP ADDRESS HERE:YOUR NEW PORT NUMBER HERE/satamp. Example using a New Port Number of "82": http://YOUR IP ADDRESS HERE:82/satamp.

 

* Note - You must Restart SatAmp to reset Web Control Port after a change is made.

 

* Stream On/Off - My IP - This is your MP3 Streaming Control, and is used in conjunction with the "SatAmp" Web browser Control. Use “Web Settings” to learn how to identify “YOUR IP ADDRESS”. To Receive the MP3 Stream at a Remote Computer requires a Stream Receiver application, (I recommend using WinAmp to receive MP3 Stream), and for you to know your “YOUR IP ADDRESS” and “YOUR PORT NUMBER”. The URL to use for MP3 Stream Receiver filename is in this format: http://YOUR IP ADDRESS HERE:8000/satamp. Notice the colon (:) before 8000/satamp.

 

* Most computers already have Windows Media Player installed; but don’t try to use it because it is terrible at caching MP3 files which is what SatAmp streams. Right click in “File” menu area of WinAmp if you have it, and select "Open URL", and then enter your URL in the same format described above. WinAmp is a free media player available from http://www.nullsoft.com. I also have a standalone stream receiver app on my website: http://satamp.net/Documents/SatStreamed_1.0.rar. Run SatStreamed.exe on a thumb drive, or your desktop, to receive streamed content from your home computer. SatStreamed.exe may require you to download and install the latest Dot Net 2.0 Runtime and/or Updates. These are free downloads at http://www.MicrosoftDownloads.com.

 

* Note - You Must Enable the Audio for any tuner you wish to stream with, or else the MP3 stream will have no audio output even though it is active. Use the Audio tab in the Settings Page for to enable your tuner(s). You can easily tell if you are enabled by the presence of Vu Meters on the main window of SatAmp if you are not sure it is enabled.

 

* Web Control - Use this menu Item from dropdown list to launch your Internet browser and bring up the SatAmp controller. You can use this to learn or look at the web control you will see when connected to SatAmp from a remote computer.

 

Audio Settings:

 

* Audio Devices - Use this tab page to adjust the inputs your computer uses for each tuner you have connected to SatAmp. If for instance you have a satellite radio connected via the TosLink or Analog audio switches, or want to stream or use meters, then you will want to enable audio on one or more tuners here.

 

* TosLink Switch - Here you can adjust the switch position SatAmp automatically will use and switch to on tuner change. You need to set the Audio Device to the connected input on your computer - in this case it may be the SPDIF Input that you would select. In XP you also need to select the Device Line for your selected input.

 

* Analog Switch - Here you can adjust the switch position SatAmp automatically will use and switch to on tuner change. You need to set the Audio Device to the connected input on your computer - in this case it would probably be an analog input that you would select. In XP you also need to select the Device Line for your selected input.

 

* Audio Device Line - Vista automatically sets Line to “Master Volume”. In other operating system you will want to select the input line your tuner uses to connect audio into the computer sound system.

* Enable Audio - Lastly you need to enable the sound output for your specific tuner(s) with the bottom checkbox buttons in order for the streaming, meters, audio monitor, and/or audio switch(s) to work.

 

* Satellite Radio Only Info:  

 

* FavLIst - Use the “FavList” button to display only the presets in the list view of available channels; otherwise all the channels available on a satellite service are displayed in the listview. Click the “FavList” button again to restore all channels or selected genre(s) listview.

 

* ListHgt - Use the “ListHgt” button to lengthen, or shorten, the listview, in order to display more, or less, stations in it. In satellite mode you can also use “Last” button to select the last channel listened to on the satellite radio band you are using. Use the listview button to show or hide the listview.

 

* Display – Use the “Display” button to switch between three displays available in satellite mode.

 

* Artist Notify - You can add up to 15 Favorite artists for artist notify popup window use. Right click on line with your favorite artist, and a dropdown menu will appear. Click add artist to add, and it will be entered as long as you have not reached the 15 maximum allowed listings. If you wish to substitute another artist for a currently listed one – right click on the artist to remove, and click “Remove Artist”; then use the add routine to make your selection.

 

* Genre ListView Filter - This is available through right click anywhere on the listview area, and after selecting genre filter another dropdown menu will appear with the genre selections. Click on a genre, and the listview will change to your choice. To return to normal listview operation you can right click over listview again, and you will now see a “Turn Off Genre Filters” listview selection; click that to restore all channels listview.

 

* KeyPad - Meters - You can access the keypad with the “Meters” button. Use these buttons to select a channel number and then enter it for tuning.  To make the meters visible again hit the “KeyPad” button. “Keypad” is not enabled for HD Radio; so clicking this button in HD Radio will show/hide the meters only.

 

* HD Radio Only Info:  

 

Band – SeekAll - SeekHD - Use the “Band” button in HD Radio mode to select AM or FM bands. “SeekAll - SeekHD” button changes the seek mode for horizontal aligned arrow buttons in 'cross'. The arrows allow forward, or backward, seek tuning; in “Seek All” mode these buttons will change the station to the next available channel up or down. In “SeekHD” mode the buttons will tune up or down to next available HD encoded channel as it skips over other non-encoded stations.

 

* Display & HD 1-2-3 - Use the “Display” button to switch through screens until you see the one listing HD 1, HD 2, etc. Once you decide on an HD 2 station to listen to use the “HD 1-2-3” button to switch from current HD channel to other available stream on that channel. If you are on HD 2 use this button to go to HD 1, or HD 3, and vice versa. Use the vertically aligned buttons in 'cross' to tune backwards, forward, to next frequency. This may be helpful to fine tune a station that locked in early.

 

* General Program Info:

 

* SIR” – “XM” – “HD” - Use labeled buttons to switch tuners if you have a Sirius, and XM Radio, and/or an HD Radio.

 

* Mute – Clk - Use “Mute” button to temporarily mute the audio for phone calls, etc. The circular button labeled "Clk" is used to switch between Date/Time of Day, The Radio ID of tuner in use, or to disable DateTime/RadioID if you don't want that displayed while operating tuner.

 

* Preset Bank – Use the “Bank” A, B, C, D, buttons to switch the preset banks to one of the four groups of five presets available in each bank. To select a preset - simply press the presets button. To save a preset; press, and hold down for three seconds the preset button you want to store the preset memory in. The held preset button will change appearance once the setting is in memory.

 

 * Custom Colors - Use this tab page to adjust colors of fonts, and backgrounds, and to turn the listview background skin on or off; listview skin must be off for solid listview back color. Also there are several settings to use to change the button coloring. You have complete color control in SatAmp, and the settings will save for the next use automatically.

 

* Settings Resets - If everything seems all messed up after you have played around in settings – use the “Reset All Settings to Default Value” button to set colors and all other settings back to the factory defaults. There is also a “Reset Colors” button on color tab page to reset only the colors.

 

* Image Replacement - You can substitute any satellite radio image for the channels by using a 128 x 50 pixel, (nominal), sized png file. The naming routine is prefix "x" for XM Radio and “s” for Sirius, followed by channel number. Example: an image for XM channel 12 would be named x12.png, and image for Sirius channel 100 would be named s100.png. The replacement name for the main background skin is “userskin.png”, the name for the display background is “userdisplayskin.png”, and the name for the listview replacement is “userlistskin.png”. If you want transparency in image to utilize custom color controls for background, or display, you need to set image at @70% opacity in an application like Photoshop before placing inside SatAmp files. Use a PhotoShop filter like Alien Skin Eye Candy Impact Gradient Glow to enhance image edges if the color is washed out by the display background. Do not set the opacity for the “userlistskin.png” image as that is not supported in windows forms handling of listview. Place new image(s) in "User Images" folder inside \Program Files\SatAmp folder.

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SatAmp is written by Mitch J.S. and SatAmp.Net. We claim ownership and the copyright on the term SatAmp. The term MJS Gadgets is a copyright of Mitch J.S. The term Backpocket is a copyright of Alex J. The term HD Radio is a copyright of Ibiquity. The term XM Radio is a copyright of Xm Radio. The term Sirius is a copyright of Sirius. The term SiriusXM is a copyright of SiriusXM.

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SatAmp Revision History

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          * Version 3.8.4.2 – Fixed Image display in Tiny Window mode.

 

          * Version 3.8.4.0 – Added HD Radio tune function to keypad.

 

          * Version 3.8.3.0 – Fixed bug preventing HD Radio from saving Presets.       

          ReplacedService/Station Art with even prettier High Resolution PNG Images.

          Added Replacement Image Info File.

 

* Version 3.8.2.5 – Upgraded Service/Station Art to High Resolution PNG Images. Added Meters/Keypad Hide function to “Meters” on/off switch.

* Version 3.8.1.5 – Added out of range keypad entry handling and null data handling for popup notice.

* Version 3.8.0.5 – Updated Channel Images and made a few GUI changes. Added KeyPad with number buttons and an input button to allow tuning satellite radio channels via direct numeral entry.

* Version 3.8.0.1 – Tweaked shutdown of multiple tuners in “DualSatMode”. Fixed ListView lockout when opening Main Window after using Tiny Window if “DualSatMode” was not enabled.

* Version 3.8.0.0 – Updated XMComm.dll to latest. New GUI look with cleaner ListView fonts, and ListView icons denoting satellite service. Added “DualSatMode” which allows the use of Sirius/XM simultaneously, and preserves ListView/Channel Info while HD Radio is active. In “DualSatMode” you can select any channel listed, and SatAmp will switch to the new tuner, and/or selection. Tweaked the window loading/switching routine which got rid of the annoying flicker observed during startup, and Tiny Window/Normal Window mode switching. Also tweaked the HD Radio GUI to eliminate the flicker that occurred when data changed in that mode. Added Meters On/Off switch. Tweaked the Custom Color Settings and added Button Radius setting which controls the roundness of the button corners. Added cool SatAmp image to cover tuner selection buttons for those of you unfortunate enough to only have one tuner. Updated channel images in new format.

* Version 3.7.0.0 - Added user skin option. Reworked the Radio Detection GUI.

* Version 3.6.0.0 - Updated XM channel images. Updated XMComm.dll, HDComm.dll, and SiriusComm.dll to latest versions. Added links to SatAmp.Net.

* Version 3.5.0.0 - Updated Sirius channel images after channel lineup shuffle.  Added listview context boxes inactivity event. Fixed startup/shutdown problem found with multiple tuners. Added support for MJS USB analog audio switch. Tweaked settings GUI and radio detection GUI.

* Version 3.2.0.0 - Added artist notify as its own popup, and added a few seconds to the display time. Added this history file, and tweaked the settings layout. Added a favorite listview indicator so you can see when you have the favorites function enabled. Added a web control enable - disable setting. Fixed TOSLink switch startup problem.

* Version 3.1.5.0 - Added favorite artist notify on pop up with channel links.

* Version 3.1.2.5 - Added 32 character font displays for current artist and song. Made the antenna indicators different colors to make it easier to tell which is which.

* Version 3.1.1.5 - Added minimize to Tray - remove from taskbar for main window. Added genre filtered listview to web control.

* Version 3.1.1.4 - Added genre listview for Xm Radio and Sirius in 12 categories. Tweaked web control GUI. Made listview double click for activation, and allowed for right click menu in listview.

* Version 3.1.1.1 - Added support for new XMDirect2 tuner interface Mitch makes for XM. Added support for inactivated tuners. Tweaked tiny window GUI. Added separate bank buttons for web control to make it easier to change presets. 

* Version 3.1.0.0 - Added streaming port user setting including bit rate adjustment over web.  Updated GUI and web control.

* Version 3.0.0.5 - Added support for MJS Gadgets modified HdRadio cables that addressed 'thump' at turn on to speaker output.

* Version 3.0.0.0 - Added HD Radio support and a new GUI look.* Version 2.x.x.x - Added Sirius Radio Support.

* Version 1.x.x.x - Was XM Radio only.

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User Skin = On

 

 New Channel Logos For General Developer Use:
Three sets in each of Large & Small Enhanced, and Small Clear.