Using SlingSync

SlingSync can be used to scan all of your drives for audio and video content. It also tells you whether the content is compatible with SlingCatcher, or if it requires conversion before SlingCatcher can play it back.

• Click Scan Folder to scan any available drive on your PC (internal hard drives, network hard drives/network shares). SlingSync puts a small index file on the drive to make it quick and easy for you to find things.

Now you're ready to transfer (or, if necessary, convert and transfer) your files.

IMPORTANT NOTE: every time you make a change to a drive (for example, delete a file, add a file, or change the organization of the drive) and you make that change without using SlingSync (for example, using Windows Explorer) you need to rescan the drive using SlingSync. If you don't, then SlingSync won't see the changes. To re-scan, double-click the drive in the left pane of the SlingSync application, click Scan, and select the drives/folders that you want to re-scan.

• How can I see that "intro" top panel again? The one that I saw when I first launched SlingSync?

If you'd like to see the Welcome Page again, choose Show Welcome Page from the Help menu.

File color-coding

• Files marked with a green dot  are all ready to be played on your SlingCatcher. If they're already on a USB 2.0 disk that you plan to plug into your SlingCatcher, then you’re ready to go. If they're on another drive, you can use SlingSync to transfer them to a USB 2.0 drive connected to your PC. (After that's done, you'll disconnect the drive from your computer and connect it to your SlingCatcher for viewing.)
• Files marked with a yellow dot  are not yet ready to be played on your SlingCatcher. They need to be converted into one of the formats that SlingCatcher can work with, and then (if necessary) transferred to the disk that you're going to use with your SlingCatcher. (You can convert a file to/from the same disk, in which case there'd be no need to transfer the file.) Converting copies the original file into another file that's saved into a format that SlingCatcher can use.
• Files marked with a green dot and a yellow sticker  have already been converted.
• Files marked with a red dot  cannot be used with your SlingCatcher, and they cannot be converted by SlingSync because they contain copy-protection of some sort. Files with content protection have typically been purchased from services such as CinemaNow, Movielink, Amazon Unbox, Napster, iTunes, or similar services.

File thumbnails

After scanning your files, SlingSync creates simple thumbnail images for each file. These thumbnail JPEG images are stored on the same disk as the file(s). Depending on your Windows Explorer folder options settings, you may or may not see these thumbnail files: they're inside a Thumbnails folder, which is inside a normally-hidden folder called SlingSyncInfo. Unless you have Windows set to display hidden files, you won't see the SlingSyncInfo folder. 

Note: You cannot change or edit SlingSync thumbnail images.

Viewing files in one big list, or by folder

Choose File List or Folders from the View menu. Or click the file/folder control  to switch between viewing your media files in a single list, or by folder. If you choose to view by folder, a hiearchical view called Folders appears next to the file list.

Note: this view only shows folders (containing audio and video content) that have been scanned by SlingSync.

Sorting files in the SlingSync list

When viewing lists of files in the SlingSync list, you can easily sort: just click the heading of the column that you want to sort by, and the list is immediately re-sorted by that header. Click the header again and the sort for that column changes from ascending to descending, or vice-versa. You can also choose Sort by from the View menu, then choose the field that you want to use for sorting.

Things you can do by right-clicking (context-clicking) on a file

As a shortcut, there are a number of things that you can do by right-clicking on a file in the list (not all options are available for all files):

• Open—opens the file in your media player
• Explore—launches Windows Explorer and opens the containing folder
• Transfer—transfers the file to another disk
• Convert—converts the file to a format that you can use with your SlingCatcher
• Delete—deletes the file from the SlingSync list, and places it in the SlingSync trash. To restore the file from the trash, click Trash in the lower-left corner of the screen. The deleted file (as well as any others) display in a list. Right-click the file you want to restore, and choose Restore from the right-click menu.
• Get Info—opens the Windows Properties dialog for that file

Transferring your files

Files that are listed with a green dot  are already in a format your SlingCatcher can use, so there's no need to convert them. But if you'd like to transfer files from one disk (such as your computer's hard disk) to another (such as the USB 2.0 drive that you are going to connect to your SlingCatcher) here's how:

1. Select the file(s) that you'd like to transfer:
1. For a single file, just click to select it.
2. For multiple files that are in an unbroken group, press and hold the Shift key, click the first file in the group, then click the last file in the group. Release the Shift key. The group of files should be selected. To deselect any file(s) from the group, press and hold the Ctrl key and click the files that you want to exclude from the group.
3. For multiple files that are not in an unbroken group, press and hold the Ctrl key, then click the files you want.
2. When the file(s) you want to transfer are selected, you can do several things to transfer them:
1. Click Transfer. A dialog box opens, asking where you want the transferred file(s) to go. Select it, and click OK.
2. With the file(s) selected, drag one of them (the whole group follows) to the the disk listed under PC Drives that you want to transfer to. When the pointer includes a + symbol, release the mouse button to "drop" the files onto that drive.
3. With the file(s) selected, right-click on one of the files, and choose Transfer from the right-click (Context) menu. A dialog box opens, asking where you want the transferred file(s) to go. Select it, and click OK.
3. Once you do this, click the Activity Monitor to view the status of the file transfer. From here you can cancel one or more of the file transfers if you want.

Converting your files

Files that are listed with a yellow dot  need to be converted into a format that your SlingCatcher can use. Along with converting your media files, you can also transfer them from one disk to another at the same time. You can also convert a file back onto the source disk (the converted file is a copy of the original). Here's how to convert/transfer your media files:

1. Select the file(s) that you'd like to convert (or transfer and convert):
1. For a single file, just click to select it.
2. For multiple files that are in an unbroken group, press and hold the Shift key, click the first file in the group, then click the last file in the group. Release the Shift key. The group of files should be selected. To deselect any file(s) from the group, press and hold the Ctrl key and click the files that you want to exclude from the group.
3. For multiple files that are not in an unbroken group, press and hold the Ctrl key, then click the files you want.
2. When the file(s) you want to convert are selected, you can do several things to convert them:
1. Click Convert. A converted copy of the files is created in the same locations(s) as the original files.
2. With the file(s) selected, right-click on one of the files, and choose Convert from the right-click (Context) menu. A converted copy of the files is created in the same locations(s) as the original files.
3. Once you do this, click the Activity Monitor to view the status of the conversion/transfer. If you want to cancel one or more of the file conversions, you can do that here.

Setting tags for files

You can create descriptive tags and assign those tags to your files however you like.

First, create your tags ...

1. On the left-side panel, beside Tags, click the + symbol.
   A text field appears.
2. Type a tag in the text field. For example, Comedy or Mystery.
3. Repeat to create as many tags as you like. You can create tags at any time, you don't have to do them all now.

Then assign tags to your files ...

1. Click a file to select it.
2. In the Tags area on the left-side panel, click to select the tags that you'd like to use to describe that file. You can select one tag or many, it's up to you. You can also deselect any file's tag at any time if you feel that tag doesn't apply to that file.

Then display your files by tag ...

• Click any tag, and only the files with that tag display.
  Note: Doing this displays your files in File view. If you prefer to see the folder hierarchy of your files, click the folder icon on the far right side of the file list header.

To delete a tag ...

• To delete tag, click that tag from Tags area in the left-side panel. (The files with that tag display.) Click the X that's to the right of the tag name, then confirm in the dialog box that you'd like to delete that tag.
  Note: Deleting a tag does not delete any files with that tag!

Setting a description for a file

You can enter a small description for each file. This description appears in the header of the SlingSync window, beneath the video file's title, when you click to select the file. To set a file description:

1. Click to select a file.
2. Click on the text that says Click to set description
3. Enter your description text, then click Done.
   The description appears.

To remove a file description: click it, delete the description text, then click Done.

Searching for files

To search for files, in the Search box in the upper-right corner of the SlingSync window, type the name of the file you want. SlingSync starts locating file matches as you type. Matches are based on the first letters of the file name.

The Search is performed across all available internal, external, and network drives that:

• are attached to the PC
• have been scanned by SlingSync.

Deleting and restoring files from SlingSync Trash

If you decide you no longer need a file, you can delete it in several ways:

• Click the file to select it, then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
• Right-click on the file to be deleted, and choose Delete from the right-click (Context) menu.
• Drag the file to the SlingSync Trash area.

In each case, a confirmation dialog box appears, so you can make sure that deleting the file is what you really want to do.

To restore a deleted file: if you change your mind about deleting a file, click the SlingSync Trash to display its list of files. Right-click the file that you'd like to rescue from SlingSync Trash, and choose Restore from the right-click (Context) menu.

Formatting disks using SlingSync

SlingCatcher requires a USB disk formatted using the FAT32 file system; otherwise, SlingCatcher can't read the disk. SlingSync can reformat the disk or drive for you in FAT32 format.

WARNING: Formatting destroys all existing data on a disk or drive. Before formatting, save/back up any data on this disk or drive BEFORE you perform the format operation.

To format a USB drive/disk in FAT32 format (so that your SlingCatcher can read the drive/disk's contents):

1. Connect the USB drive to your computer, with SlingSync running.
2. Click the drive in the left panel so that it's selected.
3. In the top panel, you see a Format Drive button.
   Alternatively, you can also choose Format from the File menu.

SlingSync formats your USB drive in the FAT32 file format.

What happens if you try to use SlingSync and SlingProjector together

If you're using SlingSync to convert files, and then you launch SlingProjector to connect to your SlingCatcher, all file conversions pause. This prevents the load on your computer from resulting in unacceptable performance for SlingProjector. Check the SlingSync Activity Monitor to confirm that conversion is paused. If you have a really powerful computer, you can click Resume All, which overrides the automatic conversion pausing.

Using SlingSync with archived DVDs

If you have archived DVDs on your disk or drive, SlingSync scans this content and displays it as a single entry, with a DVD icon next to it.