User Manual

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USB DEVICE COMPATIBILITY
This section explores the technical aspects of connecting USB devices to D2 Director. For many users much
of the detail will be irrelevant - the player will simply do the expected thing. However, it is a good idea to
familiarise yourself with this information so you are prepared for any unexpected issue that might occur while
working.
USB CONNECTION
D2 Director is a USB Media player. It has no storage of its own, but rather external storage is connected via up to
three USB ports (one at the front, two at the rear). This allows three devices to be connected directly to the unit,
which is ample for most situations. However, USB hubs are also supported for extending the possibilities to at
least twelve devices. Hubs must be connected directly to the D2 Director; connecting a hub to a hub is not
supported.
The USB specification limits the amount of power a USB port can provide. Some devices, particularly motorised
devices such as hard drives, require more power than can be taken from one port and so ship with an AC Adapter
or a second USB cable. Please be sure to use the adapter or cable to ensure reliable operation. We recommend
that hubs should be of the powered type to ensure that sufficient power is available for the devices connected to
them, especially if any of those devices are motorised.
When connecting to the USB ports, take care to get the plug the right way around. Forcing a plug the wrong way
could damage the connectors both of your device and D2 Director. For your convenience you may choose to
connect USB extension cables to the D2 Director ports, and your devices to the cables. This is fine however you
should avoid the use of excessively long (greater than 1 meter / 40 inch) extensions as these can cause unreliable
operation.
SUPPORTED STORAGE DEVICES
D2 Director is compatible with most USB storage devices that support the Mass Storage Class standard. This
includes USB hard drives, flash memory keys, flash card adapters and personal music players. Devices that
require device driver installation on your PC or Mac might not be compatible. Devices must comply with the USB
1.0, 1.1 or 2.0 standards including the specification for bus powering (no device may draw more than 500mA from
one port).
Although D2 Director has been tested with a wide variety of devices, it is of course impossible to test with all of the
thousands of variants that exist. If you discover a compatibility issue, please let us know, stating the type, make
and model of the device and where and when you bought it. It is likely that any problem is due to the device
deviating from the USB standard, however sometimes it is possible to accommodate even these devices in a
future firmware update.
D2 Director supports devices with multiple partitions. Each partition that contains a supported file system will show
up as a separate library. When ejecting, be sure to eject all of the partitions before removing such a device.
If your device has a Write Protect switch we recommend setting it to Off. D2 Director can work with write protected
devices but some functionality will be lost, such as creation of playlists and saving of the crate. A device must be
write enabled to create a library, however an existing library on a write protected device can be loaded.
IDENTIFYING LIBRARIES
Each library in use has a unique name which indicates how it is connected, like this:
¸ USB 1 Front USB Port
¸ USB 2, USB 3 Rear USB Port 2/3
¸ USB 1-1 Port 1 of a hub connected to the front USB Port
¸ USB 1-4 Port 4 of a hub connected to the front USB Port
¸ USB 1b The second partition on the Front USB Port
¸ USB 1-2c The third partition on Port 2 of a hub connected to the front USB Port
In most cases, for simple devices connected direct to the unit, you will simply see USB 1, USB 2 or USB 3.