ChronoPlayer mkII

Interfacing and Connectivity

• Backlit LCD display – 2 × 16 characters
• Status LED
• Clickable knob (volume, playback control and setting menu)
• Infrared sensor – Protocol: Sony SIRC, 12 bits, 38 kHz carrier
• USB Host 2.0 Full Speed (12 Mb/s), standard “mass storage” driver, type-A receptacle
• SD card slot
• Unbalanced line-level stereo audio output on standard RCA connectors
• Headphone stereo audio output on a standard 3.5 mm (TRS) jack
• 8 combined configurable opto-isolated input contacts on a 3.81 mm pluggable terminal block (typical debounce time: 25 ms)
• RS-232 serial link on a 3.81 mm pluggable terminal block (9600, 19200, or 38400 bauds)
• Power supply output 3.81 mm pluggable terminal block
• External DC power supply chassis socket – Plug Ø 2.1 mm / 5.5 mm

Audio File Formats Supported

• MP3 (.mp3): MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III, mono/stereo, 16 bits, 44.1 kHz, from 32 kbit/s to 320 kbit/s, CBR (Constant Bit Rate) or VBR (Variable Bit Rate), with or without ID3v1/2 tags¹
• Proprietary obfuscated MP3 (.mp3): to protect MP3 audio content²
• WAV (.wav): mono/stereo, 16-bit LPCM, 44.1 kHz, WAVE_FORMAT_PCM or WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE

¹ Some ID3v1 or ID3v2.4 footer tags might cause unexpected noises at the end of the files.
² Contact Waves System for further information about this feature.

Other File Formats Supported

• TM2 (.tm2): timestamped programming file (scheduler.tm2) – Scheduler V2 file format
• TXT (.txt): text file for serial (serial.txt) and configuration (config.txt) usages – raw text format (only printable 7-bit ASCII characters) with CR/LF, LF or CR end of line characters.

Storage Devices

• File system supported: FAT32 (read/write)
• Supports long filenames limited to 63 characters maximum including extension
• Accepted storage device types:
  • SDSC cards
  • SDHC cards
  • USB flash drives
• Accepts 1000 folders maximum at the root, containing up to 999 files each

Audio Amplifiers

• Headphone output:
  • 2 × 85 mW – 32 Ω, THD+N = 0.1 %, 1 kHz
  • 2 × 110 mW – 32 Ω, THD+N = 10 %, 1 kHz
  • 2 × 200 mW – 8 Ω, THD+N = 0.1 %, 1 kHz
  • 2 × 325 mW – 8 Ω, THD+N = 10 %, 1 kHz

Built-in Clock

• Maximum clock drift:
  • From 0 to +50 °C: 3.8 ppm – 120 seconds per year
  • From +50 to +60 °C: 5.0 ppm – 156 seconds per year
  • Aging: ±3 ppm/year
• Timekeeping when the player is not powered: up to 2 months

Power Supply

• Player power supply input:
  • Nominal voltage: 12 V DC
• Supplied mains adapter input:
  • Voltage: from 100 V to 240 V
  • Frequency: from 50 Hz to 60 Hz

Current Consumption (12 V supplied)

• Typical consumption in playback with a SD card: 80 mA
• Recommended power supply for full use of the device – output current: 500 mA

Thermal Information

• Operating ambient temperature: from 0 to +60 °C
• Storage temperature: from -20 to +60 °C

Dimensions

• Width: 140 mm – 1/3 of a 19-inch rack
• Height: 43 mm – 1U
• Depth (with the pluggable terminal blocks): 107 mm

Weight

• 196 g (with the pluggable terminal blocks)

Suggestions of uses:

• Triggering of bells or alarms in schools.
• Installation within stores or public spaces for the playback of informative messages, manually or programmed.
• Playback of musics and information. Organization of events pertaining to a precise schedule along a day. With pushbuttons, messages can be triggered on demand.
• Several ChronoPlayers can be installed in a 19” storage bay to create and manage multizone messages. With the serial link, a ChronoPlayer could drive a series of ChronoPlayers or a series of any other type of players.

• Sample content files:

• • Guidelines for using sample content (English)
  • Guidelines for using sample content (French)
  • Basic sample content files (playback at the power on and triggering with the 8 inputs of the player)
  • Scheduled sample content files (playback controlled by a timestamped programming file)
  • Extended sample content files (various tags, RS-232 frame sending and configuration file)

• Wiring diagrams:

• • Wiring diagram for 3 buttons to 2 input contacts with diodes
  • Wiring diagram for 7 buttons to 3 input contacts with diodes
  • Wiring diagram for 15 buttons to 4 input contacts with diodes
  • Wiring diagram for 15 buttons with a Ext15In extension board
  • Wiring diagram for 30 buttons with 2 Ext15In extension boards
  • Wiring diagram with a Senso Pad
  • Wiring diagram with a IR Pad

• FAQ:

• • I’m using a USB stick with a number of very large audio files. How can I improve the start up time of my player?

During start up, the player carries out an automatic listing of all the files present on your media support. If the number of files present in each folder is large, this operation can take considerable time. Owing to the technology integrated in player, using an SD or SDHC card is preferable. Start up time will be faster with a high-performance SD/SDHC card.

• • I have put a number of large files in the same folder but not all of them seem to have been read. Why?

The number of files accepted by player in the same folder is limited to 999.

• • I don’t know how my file is encoded. Which software can i use to know precisely which are the caracteristics of my file? (format, type, encoding, bitrate…)

If you have not any software for this, you can use MediaInfo software (http://mediaarea.net/fr/MediaInfo). This software, provided under BSD license, is free and opensource on all operating system (Windows, Mac OS X or Linux).

• • I have properly named « 000 » the autoplay folder, but the player reads the folder just one time, what is the problem?

By default, the folders are not played in loop. The condition to play a folder in loop depend to the add of a specific parameter in the name of the folder. This parameter is a jump function, done when the folder is fully played. To play your folder in loop, please, rename the autoplay folder from « 000 » to « 000 [J000] ». For more informations on the folders parameters, please, refer to your owner’s manual.

• • I have created a text files « config.txt » and/or « serial.txt » as specified into the manual, but the player does not include instructions that i put in the configuration file. Why?

Make sure that the « config.txt » and « serial.txt » files are generate with a basic text editor like the « Notepad » of Microsoft Windows. Otherwise, your text editor needs to create a « ANSI » file, 100% ASCII. « DOC », « RTF », «  »UTF-8 », « UTF16 », « UNICODE » or other format of text file are exclude.