Frequently Asked Questions
These are common questions that come up from our customers. If you don't see your question answered here, please use the Contact form to ask your question. Click on a question to open or hide the answer.
Troubleshooting (9)
Quick Guides to how to report information and fix it yourself!
We are seeing an alarming number of users that do not have all of the Firefox extensions installed. A correct installation should have 4 Zinc extensions. Incomplete installations could be the result of aborting the installation process, or having anti-virus software interfere with the installation.
To check whether you have all of the extensions installed:
Within Zinc Press F11 (toggles full screen mode) to run within a window
In the toolbar menu select Tools -> Add-ons
Switch to the Extensions tab, you should see:
Note that this window is from the Zinc Windows application. If you have 4 but they are not at the Rev level 0.8.10.xxxxx you are not running the Beta-5 version of the extensions and should click the Find Updates button.
If you have less than 4 Zv Logo extensions you need to re-install from http://www.zinc.tv/get-zinc
You may need to temporarily turn off your virus protection during the installation if you continue to see less than 4 extensions after the install.
To reproduce the problem with Debug Logging on
1) In Zinc, press the F11 key to go into windowed mode
2) Go to the URL about:config and hit enter.
3) Select “I’ll be careful, I promise”
4) Type “debug” into the Filter field, and hit enter
5) Select extensions.zviewer@zeevee.com.debug (blue highlighted line) and right click to get the pulldown menu select Toggle to change the preference to true.
6) Use the back arrow to return to Zinc
7) Exit out of Zinc completely. Make sure all Firefox windows are closed.
8) Restart Zinc
9) Reproduce the problem
10) Exit out of Zinc again
11) There will be a file zv.log on your desktop
12) Send the Zinc support team the file as an email attachment to support at zinc dot tv.
13) Restart Zinc go to About:config and reset your extension to turn debug off for better performance.
Zinc can be installed as a windows application (called “Zinc standalone”) or as a firefox extension. Zinc standalone is based on Mozilla Firefox so many of the menus and options will be familiar to a Firefox user. However, Zinc standalone is not the same as Firefox and does not use the same locations on your computer to store information. You can install both Zinc Standalone and the Zinc extension on your computer. Here is a table of the differences between Zinc standalone and the Zinc extension:
To understand more about Firefox Profiles see http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles
Differences:
| Zinc Standalone | Firefox w/ Zinc Extension | |
|---|---|---|
| Consists of | Zinc extensions + Firefox (zv.exe) | Zinc Extensions (zinc_bundle.xpi) |
| Size | (7mb Extensions + 14 Mb Firefox) = 21 Mb | 7 Mb |
| Default browser | Does not prompt to make Zinc your default browser. | prompt |
| Launch | Icon on Desktop, Start menu Icon | Extension button on browser toolbar |
| Favorites and history cache (unique per profile) | %AppData%\Roaming\ZeeVee\ZeeVee\Profiles\8m9zx76w.default\zvMedia.sqlite | %AppData%\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\f92gs9i6.default\zvMedia.sqlite |
| Items that are same (beta-5) | Favorites, Queue, History per account | Favorites, Queue, History per account |
| Items that are unique | Account list at login, Zinc Version Number, settings -> data, Zviewer extension settings in about:config | Account list at login, Zinc Version Number, settings -> data, Zviewer extension settings in about:config |
| Feeds automatically loaded | http:, rss:, zinc: | rss:, zinc: |
| Install locations | Program Files | Extensions folder in your current profile |
If you just upgraded to Beta-5, and all you hear is the “bing” sound and then nothing happens when you try to play a video! You should contact support and we may be able to diagnose the issue. This could be due to a problem writing your history to the local favorites file. See the Troubleshooting: Deleting your local favorites and history cache.
At Beta-5 your favorites and history are securely stored in the cloud so that you can access them from any Zinc enabled device. Our servers are offloading your local machine the burden of searching for new episodes which improves video playing performance. The first time you access favorites within a session the show information is downloaded to you local storage (cache) for quicker access. If you have many shows in your favorites this process could take up to a minute during which you will see the Please Wait and spinning circles. Our performance team is looking at ways to optimize this operation. Subsequent access to the favorites will be much faster as only those shows where new videos have been published will be downloaded.
However on rare occasions we have witnessed cases where the migration from an earlier revision of the local database has resulted in corrupted local storage. You can remove the local storage file and Zinc will automatically recreate the file.
See the Troubleshooting: Deleting your local favorites and history cache.
To understand which is the right file to remove see Understanding the differences between Zinc's Standalone windows application and Firefox with the zinc extension.
The local favorites and history cache stores on your machine a copy of the favorites and history. If this file gets corrupted it can be deleted and Zinc will automatically recreate it on the next time it starts.
This file zvMedia.sqlite is a hidden file, and won’t be found through normal searching of your C: drive.
To find the file you need to turn on Advanced Search, and then select the checkbox to include hidden files.
Note: This type of search can take a long time (minutes) to complete.
If you have both the Zinc Windows application and the Zinc Firefox extensions installed you will find 2 copies of this file. For each Firefox profile (user) a new instance of this file is created. Make sure you delete the right one. To understand which is the right file to remove see Understanding the differences between Zinc's Standalone windows application and Firefox with the zinc extension.
You should also find a zvMedia.sqlite.backup file that was created prior to initially uploading your data to the cloud. If deleting the local cache does not restore you to a working system with all of your favorites and history information, please send the backup file to our support team as an attachment to support at zinc dot tv.
To be certain you have the latest drivers, you should start at the Support section of your computer manufacturer's website, such as Dell.
If you can't download the latest driver that way, then you need to determine what the manufacturer is for your video card.
To determine the manufacturer of your graphics card
You can use the dxdiag program to determine your computer's hardware, operating system, and graphics card:
- Go to Start > Run.
- Type dxdiag in the field labeled "Open:".
- Click the OK button.
- Click Yes in the dialog box that comes up.
- Click the Display tab, and you'll find the manufacturer of your graphics card listed under the "Device" section.
- Check the version number and date of your Driver
If your driver is more than a year old we strongly recommend upgrading to the latest version.
Links to driver download for some of the most popular manufacturers
Here are links to the driver download pages for several popular graphics card manufacturers:
- Nvidia -
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp - AMD (formerly ATI) -
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html - Intel - http://support.intel.com/support/graphics
This is likely to be an issue with older video drivers. Many older drivers claimed to support OpenGL but at the older rev did not work correctly. Upgrade your video driver to the latest rev if it is older than 6 months. Click here to find out how to understand your current rev. and update the driver.
Yes, Zinc is installed per Firefox profile.
Zinc General (22)
Questions about Zinc, our Internet video browser. Click on a question to show or hide the answer.
The ‘esc’ escape key will get you out of full screen on most sites, which with then allow you to use the backspace button on your keyboard to get back to the preceding page.
Some players run in frames or create multiple windows along the way (which means you may have to hit back multiple times).
Other players will not handle the event from the backspace button, and you need to use the browser’s address bar back button (sigh). Testing Hulu on my PC, I needed to hit esc to get out of full screen and then use the browsers back arrow to return to Zinc.
I understand that control click will do the same on the Mac.
Zinc keeps track of information like your Favorites "in the cloud" so that you can access them from any device where you run Zinc. You need to create an account and log in so that Zinc can match you to your information.
It has come to our attention that a scam has been setup involving Zinc software. Isoftwaretv.com and affiliates have been illegally selling subscriptions to Zinc. They are not authorized to distribute the Zinc package, charge subscriptions, or do any other business on behalf of ZeeVee. Zinc currently is free software which you can download from Zinc.TV. ZeeVee has filed DMCA complaints against the infringing sites.
We strongly recommend that anyone who has been caught in this scam contact their credit card issuer and cancel the charge that was used to purchase the software. The request for refund should be submitted to clickbank.com not ZeeVee.
We suspect there may be more affiliate sites that the scammers are using to illegally sell Zinc. Please contact us and let us know the URL that you used to purchase a license to Zinc.
We appreciate and share your frustration with this situation!
Videos that have been added within the last 7 days are show as being new.
The remote icon signifies that select and ZvRemote and Media Center remote control functions (e.g. Play, Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind etc.) will work with the indicated site or show. One unique function available on ZvRemote is the “full Screen” command. Visit http://www.zeevee.com/connected-home/zvremote to learn more about using ZvRemote.
As often as the host site’s listings are updated. Each time you select a show, Zinc checks the site where the show originates, to see if any new episodes are available.
Favorites is where you can store the shows you frequently watch for fast access. Website pages can be added for easy access from the couch. You can also store Media RSS feed for shows that are not in ZvPresents.
When you click on a show to see available episodes, a banner window appears at the top of the screen, and it has subscription information in it. Clicking anywhere in that window will allow you to subscribe to that show. If you want to unsubscribe, open Favorites, click on the subscribed show, and you’ll see the remove from Favorites option at the bottom of the window.
Favorites are organized automatically based on the order in which items are added to it, and on the content type. At this release there is no way for you to organize the content yourself. Providing the ability to organize and manage favorites is on the roadmap.
It’s easy- open the Settings Tab, click on Applications, then on Add Application. Browse the files on your computer, find the application that you want to add, select it, and click “OK”. If you want to delete an application, open Settings, then Applications, and click on the application you’d like to delete.
If the website's RSS feed is a Media RSS feed, it can be added to favorites.
There is a very simple video on YouTube that does a very nice job explaining RSS:
RSS in Plain English
We have a special Zinc forum at Zinc.TV. Use it to tell us and others how you’re using Zinc, to give us your feedback, and to suggest features for future releases.
Though standalone Zinc has a Firefox browser in its Web section, it’s separate from the Firefox browser on your computer. They behave like completely separate programs, so adjustments in one do not affect the other, see Understanding the differences between Zinc's Standalone windows application and Firefox with the zinc extension.
At the bottom of the right-most detail pane there is a progress bar that is either greyed-out if you haven't watched it or partially filled in if you have watched the file. At some point in the future we hope to be able to report how much of the video has been consumed.
It’s possible to sort some collections of shows by name or by date, but that’s possible only if more than 70% of the items in the feed contain those pieces of information.
In the settings section you can clear the History of what videos you have watched. You can also turn off the history by clearing the checkbox that says "Remember the shows and movies I have watched".
The remote icon signifies that select ZvRemote and Media Center remote control functions (e.g. Play, Pause, etc.) will work with the indicated site or show. We only include the icon for those sites where we’ve been able to confirm that the remote controls are effective.
You’ll be automatically upgraded to new software as it becomes available. There is also a manual update control in the Settings section of Zinc.
The "Local Content" tab holds links to videos on your computer. To add videos in "Local Content", open the "Settings" tab, click on "Media Folders", then on" Add Folder". Browse the folders on your computer, find the one that holds videos you want to add, and select it. If you want to delete a folder, open "Settings", click on "Media Folders", click on the link of the folder you’d like to delete, and you’ll see the delete option.
Tivo and other DVR's can only record one channel at a time, and have limited storage capacity. Zinc can access the vast storage of video on the internet. Shows such as evening news that occur on many channels at the same time, are all made available for online viewing. Therefore you can watch them at your leisure and gain the advantage of multiple perspectives. The internet is the ultimate digital video recorder.