DTH Explorer HELP page

list of terms :

• Disk :
  The current hard drive selected by the program. It is expected to be a DTH7000 hard drive, but some features can be used even with another type of drive.
• Video :
  General term to describe the complete folder for a video (with the same meaning as what it is called video by the DTH7000 unit), even if some feature (save...) only handle the VOB file.
• File Table :
  First sectors of the DTH7000 hard drive that includes a list of the disk content, with various information's and especially the file locations into the disk. If the file table is destroyed, file still exists, but because the path to them is lost, its similar to physically erase them.

Video/System files pages :

Menu Items :

Disk menu

• Open disk...
  Open a specific physical disk as the Thomson disk. Once it is opened every action inside the program that affect a disk will affects this one.
  It is not absolutly necessary, since the program is able to auto-detect Thomson disk on your computer. However, in some situations when the hard drive signature is missing (after a formating for example), it could be very usefull.
• Erase disk...
  Write zero's every where on the current disk, including inside the first sectors (boot sectors, file table...). It could help preparing a format action.
  It is highly recommended to do a disk backup before.
  CAUTION !!! Once it is done all the previous hard drive content is definitely erased !
  
• Backup disk...
  Copy every bytes from the disk to a computer file. It requires a very big amount of available space on your computer drive, in fact as much as the Thomson drive size.
  This backup can be used to restore the disk content after a format or to quickly earn space by saving the disk content to computer and erasing its content on the Thomson hard drive.
• Restore disk...
  This feature is directly associated with the backup possibility. It is the opposite action, to copy each bytes of the backup file into the Thomson hard drive.
  CAUTION !!! Once it is done all the previous hard drive content is definitely erased !
• Close
  Exit the program.

Video menu

• Save Video as...
  (also available inside the right click popup menu in the video view)
  Export the selected video (could be several processed one by one) in the list view, from the Thomson hard drive to your computer hard drive. In fact it export only the VOB file of the selected video folder. IFO files exists but are not compliant with thoses expected by DVD softwares on your computer.
  
• Save Partial Video as...
  (also available inside the right click popup menu in the video view)
  Export the selected video (only the first is multiple selection has been made) in the list view, from the Thomson hard drive to your computer hard drive. It export only the VOB file of the selected video folder. Instead of saving the entire VOB file, it only save the selected segments (If all are selected the entire VOB file is saved). In the specific windows, it update on the fly the destination file size information accordingly with the current segment selection.
  
• Rename Video
  (also available inside the right click popup menu in the video view)
  Change the video name. Once it is done, the selected video will appears with its new name on your TV screen (when the disk is placed back into the unit).
• Delete Video
  (also available inside the right click popup menu in the video view)
  Delete the video from the file table and therefore will free the space it previously used into the Thomson hard drive. The mpeg file content is still here into the hard drive but cant be access anymore. (I think the unit proceeds the same way to delete video's)
• Save File As...
  (also available inside the right click popup menu in the system file view)
  Export the selected file (could be a .VOB file, .IFO file or anything else except folders) from the Thomson hard drive to your computer. This feature is only available when file system page is displayed. It's a way to save IFO files, but again I'm pretty sure you won't be able to do anything with them.

Option menu

File table menu

• Refresh
  Reload the File Table from the Thomson hard drive. Therefore it guarantee that last potential modification will be visible.
  
• Export As...
  Save the current Thomson hard drive file table to a computer file (with .DTH extension). In fact it copy the first sectors of the drive.
• Import...
  related to Export As : It reload a previously exported file table into the Thomson hard drive. CAUTION !!! It will overwrite (and erase) the current file table and links to the disk content. Even if file content still exists the system will loss the path to it. So be careful with it.

Help menu

• About
  General information's about the program, and especially the license terms under which it is distributed.
  

Specific features :

To format a 40Go hard drive :

To preview a video :