Frequently Asked Questions About HP DreamScreen

This document pertains to the HP DreamScreen 100 and 130 series. This document provides frequently asked questions about your HP DreamScreen.

Yes. You can download and install HP DreamScreen software for Windows 7 from the HP Customer Care Web site.

Try these things:

The Windows Vista operating system requires that streaming occurs over a secure "private" network. If your network is "public" you can change it to "private" by following these steps:

Your HP DreamScreen displays supported multimedia files that are in the shared folders on your network computer for Windows Media Player.

Windows Media Player does not show unsupported media files such as iTunes audio files in MP4 (AAC) format, photos in Bitmap format (.bmp) or Graphic Interchange Format (.gif).

A DreamScreen appears as a removable disk in Windows when connected to a PC with a USB cable. Windows allows you to format the removable disk using a variety a file systems. The DreamScreen is made to use the FAT32 file system. If other files systems, such as NTFS, are used to format the removable disk storage area, the DreamScreen will not be able to use the space and will not work.

To fix this problem, connect the DreamScreen to a Windows PC and reform the DreamScreen removable disk using FAT32. To do so, follow these steps:

Only those files that the HP DreamScreen can play are copied.

You need to be in the HP DreamScreen's Main Menu in order to access it remotely from the PC.

The file transfer rate ranges from 0.1 MB per second to 0.3 MB per second.

Make sure the computer is connected to the Internet and the Dreamscreen is connected to the computer. The DreamScreen must be connected for this button to be active.

The file types that can be streamed to the HP DreamScreen requires the installation of the HP DreamScreen software and the files and codecs you are trying to view must be supported by Windows Media Player. For more information refer to Supported Media Types .

This is a limitation of the HP DreamScreen when streaming music. The track time and song title are displayed.

Album art must be embedded within the music file before DreamScreen can display it. Many audio software programs do not embed album art into the file when the file is created. For example, Windows Media Player copies jpeg images of Album Art into the Album's folder instead of tagging it to the file. To get album art, purchase audio files that have album art included or use file tagging software to add album art to your existing files. There are many free software tagging tools that you can download and use for free by searching the Internet for "free mp3 tagger software album art".

The HP DreamScreen does not support streaming of videos. The video files must be located on the device.

HP DreamScreen does not recognize all ID3 tag versions in music files.

Depending on the resolution of your picture, the HP DreamScreen may not be able to display the entire picture. The resolutions are 800 x 480 for the Model 100, and 1280 x 800 for the Model 130.

You can play music and view a photo slideshow with certain restrictions. Only one internet based application - Pandora, Snapfish, Facebook, HP Radio – can be used at one time. The following chart provides direction of simultaneous photo and music playback.

The play once feature is limited to the videos on the current screen.

Details for working with Facebook are provided in the following document: Viewing Your Facebook Account .

HP DreamScreen is dependent on the Facebook application program interface (API) for receiving and reporting data from Facebook. The API may be different from one used for a computer.

The default setting for photo display on the HP DreamScreen is Fit to screen . If you wish the photo to display without cropping off, set the photo display to Original in the Photo Options Dialog box. In some cases the photo is cropped off when photo display mode is set to "Fit to screen", such as displaying 4:3 photo in horizontal mode.

No, DreamScreen does not support accented characters as Email addresses and passwords cannot have accent marks.

The time is estimated by the size of the file and as such might not be accurate.

You need to exit the HP SmartRadio application for the change to take effect.

If connected to the Internet, you can check for an update by going to Settings/Info and press the down arrow to select Software Update . If there is an update available, follow the onscreen instructions.

You can check for the version of your HP DreamScreen firmware by going to Settings in the Main menu. You can also check for an update at Get software and drivers - Select your operating system page . Type DreamScreen and the model number in the field provided and click Next . If there is an update, you can download from here and apply the update with a thumbdrive.

For more information, refer to Updating DreamScreen Software .

It may be time to replace the battery in your remote control.

Delete all from PC software.

Delete individually or all from the HP DreamScreen. Go to the Main menu, select Photo , Video , or Music and then select the folder that contains the files you want to delete. Press Option and select Delete or Delete All . Then press OK .

Connect the HP DreamScreen to the PC via the mini-USB cable. Treat the HP DreamScreen as an external device on your PC where you can delete individually, by group, or in total.

You cannot delete files on external devices (memory cards, USB) from your HP DreamScreen.

No. Only USB devices with data storage can be used.

The memory available in the HP DreamScreen can vary based on the settings and the files loaded. Some of the available memory is used for file manipulation. It is similar to the memory available on a USB thumbdrive.

Check the Screen Saver setting. Set Screen Saver Wait Time to Off or select a time, such as 60 minutes , to allow music to play for that amount of time. Play music and in 60 minutes your music stops and the Screen Saver displays.

Make sure the card is unlocked before inserting it into the HP DreamScreen.

Different format utilities can also cause the USB/Memory card not to be recognized. After saving the files, reformat the USB/Memory card on your PC using the file format recommended for your primary device (such as a camera).

If the card cannot be recognized after a re-format, it is possible there are some errors in the partition table that the HP DreamScreen cannot resolve unless a low-level format is performed. At this point, HP recommends you copy the files from your PC by using the HP DreamScreen PC software.

No. You cannot use the HP DreamScreen to delete photos, videos, or music from any external source.

Yes. You can delete photos, videos, and music from internal memory by selecting the media and pressing the Option button.

All media disks (cards) inserted should have the label facing the rear of the HP DreamScreen. Do not force the card into the slot as this may damage the slot.

Remove all external memory cards and USB flash drives. The HP DreamScreen automatically switches to internal memory.

The diagnostics tests are designed to appear if the power button is held down while the HP DreamScreen is powering up, or if the power button is held down while plugging in power supply. Press Power ON/OFF key to reset.

It currently takes approximately 20 minutes to restore the factory default settings.

Including the top layer, a total of 7 layers are allowed for browsing on the HP DreamScreen.

The HP DreamScreen synchronizes once a day, typically at midnight.

This is a limitation. In the US and Canada, the Daylight Savings Time function is either on or off. If one city is on Daylight Savings Time, and the second city is on standard time, no adjustment is made to show the second time. Additionally, Daylight Savings Time is based on US timeframes. If you want to show another country that follows Daylight Savings Time, manually select a time zone that has the correct time.

To keep the clock on display at all times, set the Screen Saver to clock. Select Setup from the Main menu, then select Clock from the list of Screen Saver Options, and make sure the Screen Saver is not set to Off .

Instructions for setting the alarm are provided in the following document: Time and Date .

If the alarm is set to "Music on Device" and if you have used Pandora, the alarm does not have sound. You need to start a local song after finishing with Pandora to activate the sound for the alarm.

It is located on the same page as the other network attributes. There is a different MAC address for wired and wireless.

Up to 2.44 m (8 ft.).

No, HP DreamScreen can only access media stored on the target PC.

You can share media from USB devices.

You can connect a USB device or Personal Media Drive directly to the HP DreamScreen. When the USB device is recognized, the DreamScreen provides you with an option screen.

With the device attached to your computer, go to Windows Media Player and manually add the folders on the USB drive to your library as you would normally add files to a library. To view them on your HP DreamScreen, go to Main menu, select Photo , Video , or Music and then select the folder that contains the media you want to view.

No, HP DreamScreen can only playback media from the selected PC and cannot playback media from a playlist shared from another computer.

The weather displayed on the HP DreamScreen comes from an RSS feed, which may differ from the PC.

You can connect the HP DreamScreen to the iMac or Mac platform using a USB cable. The DreamScreen appears as a storage device, similar to an external hard drive.

In order to stream music or photos to the HP DreamScreen, Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 or 12 is required.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP with Service Pack 2 using Windows Media Player 11 or 12 are supported operating systems. It may be possible to use an external media server to share files from your Apple computer to your HP DreamScreen, but this configuration is not supported by HP and some services and features may not work.

You can browse to and play any compatible music file that is being shared from your computer. Your iPod and HP DreamScreen can both use certain music file formats such as MP3. Your HP DreamScreen can play compatible files from the directory that iTunes uses within the My Music folder when it is shared. You may notice that some songs are not listed or do not play. Your HP DreamScreen does not support the Apple music file formats and these files must be converted to a compatible format, such as MP3, before they can be shared and played on your HP DreamScreen.

You can use iTunes to convert your music CDs and files to a compatible format, such as mp3.