What are the system requirements for running the Configuration Program?
There are no specific hardware requirements other than a serial port to connect to Meridian products. If you do not have a spare serial connection on your computer, you can use one of the many serial-to-USB converters available, although testing has shown that communications reliability is not always as high as when using a direct connection.
For best effect, your display should have a colour depth of 256 colours or more and be set to a resolution of 800x600 or better.
The Configuration Program runs best on Windows XP, but may be run on Windows 95 and later. To display the Start and Finish pages, Microsoft Internet Explorer must be installed (but the Configuration Program will still run even if it is not).
In addition, to display HTML Help, your computer must have both the HTML Help layout engine, which is installed with any of the following:
- Microsoft Office 2000
- Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 or later
- Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Windows NT Server or Windows NT Workstation version 5.0
Can I import settings from an msf file created with a previous version of the Configuration Program?
The current release of the Configuration Program supports only G products, whereas previous versions only supported 500 and 800 series products: thus the situation does not arise. A future release may add support for certain pre-G series Meridian products; in this case it will probably be necessary to fetch settings from the product rather than to use .msf files.
Can I configure 800 and 500 series Meridian products using the Configuration Manager?
In this release, only G products can be configured. The 800 DVD player is included as a source (not a controller); its product-specific settings cannot be modified, nor can settings be stored in it. A future release may add support for certain pre-G series Meridian products.
How are documents stored?
The usual Windows model is used for storing documents on your computer. This means that you will be prompted to save a document when exiting the Configuration Program, and to give a name to an untitled document. Documents have the extension .msl, their content being xml. Each time you store to a controller product, the document is also compressed and saved in the internal memory of the controller. This means that it is possible to retrieve information from the controller should you misplace or remove the document file on your computer. In the case of products such as the G68 that store multiple Types, a document corresponds to each user type and so a set of documents is stored in the product.