Full instructions.

1. Prepare the remote

Insert AAA batteries, matching the + and − markings inside the battery compartment. Plug the remote’s USB receiver into a black USB port on the Player.

2. Connect the video drive

Plug the video drive into a blue USB port on the Player. Keep one video drive connected at a time.

3. Connect your TV

PTV brings back the feel of classic television. It’s right at home on an older CRT (tube) TV and works just as well on a modern flat screen.

For a TV with HDMI

Connect the micro-HDMI end of the cable to the Player and the full-size HDMI end to an HDMI input on your TV.

For a TV with yellow, red, and white AV inputs

1. Connect the Player’s micro-HDMI cable to the included converter’s HDMI input.
2. Connect the converter’s yellow, red, and white outputs to the matching AV inputs on your TV. Yellow carries video; red and white carry sound.
3. Connect the converter’s USB power cable to a remaining USB port on the Player.

4. Start watching

Turn on your TV and select the HDMI or AV input you connected. Connect the Player’s power supply to the Player and a power outlet.

PTV starts automatically. If it doesn’t, press the power button on the Player. Its power light is green when on and red when off.

Allow PTV to read the video drive and start playback. On later starts, it restores your saved channel and playback position, or returns to the Program Guide if that was open.

The remote does not need a line of sight to its USB receiver. You do not need to point it at the Player or keep the receiver in view.

The remote sleeps after about 1–2 minutes without use to save batteries. Press any button to wake it, then press your desired button again if needed.

In menus, use Up / Down to highlight an item and OK to select it. Back returns to the previous screen. Settings with left/right controls can be adjusted with those arrows.

Channel 0 — Program Guide

Press the Magnifying Glass button, enter 0 then OK, or select Menu → Program Guide.

The guide scrolls through your channels and shows each channel’s current program. Press Up / Down to browse, then OK to watch the highlighted channel. Automatic scrolling resumes after about 10 seconds without input.

Channel 0 is reserved for the guide. Do not create a channel folder numbered 0.

Channel 1 — All Videos

PTV automatically gathers the program videos from your channel folders into one channel, set to shuffle by default. It does not copy the files or use extra space for duplicate videos.

Commercial files are not part of its program selection. You can still enable commercial breaks in this channel’s settings.

Channel 2 — All Commercials

PTV automatically gathers videos from the shared and channel-specific Commercials folders into a commercials-only channel, set to shuffle by default.

Channels 1 and 2 are created automatically. To replace either one, create your own channel folder with the same number. To keep both automatic channels, use numbers 3 and above for your own channels.

Standby — for everyday breaks

Tap the remote’s Power button to pause playback and darken the screen. The Player stays on. Press Power or OK on the remote to resume.

Shut down — before unplugging

1. Hold the remote’s Power button for 1 second.
2. Select Shut down and press OK.
3. Wait for the Player’s power light to turn red before disconnecting power.

To turn it back on, press the power button on the Player. The remote cannot turn it on after shutdown.

Always shut down before unplugging the Player. Standby leaves it on.

Turn your TV off separately.

You add videos by copying files to the video drive on your computer.

1. Safely disconnect the drive

On PTV, select Menu → Video Drive → Eject Video Drive. Wait for confirmation, then unplug the drive and connect it to your computer.

2. Open the Channels folder

Open the video drive in Finder on a Mac or File Explorer on Windows. Open the Channels folder or create one if needed.

Each numbered folder directly inside Channels becomes a channel. Add videos to an existing folder, or create a new one with a unique number and name, such as 9 Home Movies or 10 Sports.

Video drive
├── Channels
│   ├── 9 Home Movies
│   │   ├── 001 - Family Vacation.mp4
│   │   └── 002 - Birthday Party.mp4
│   └── 10 Sports
│       └── Championship Game.mp4
└── Commercials
    └── Vintage Commercial.mp4

Channels and Commercials are folders on the drive—not inside an additional enclosing folder.

Put program videos directly inside their channel folder. PTV does not search additional subfolders for programs. Give every channel a different number.

3. Choose a playback order

For a specific sequence, start filenames with 001, 002, 003, and so on. On PTV, set that channel’s Play Order to A–Z. These leading zeros keep files in the intended order, even when you have more than nine videos.

Choose Shuffle on PTV for a randomized order instead.

4. Reconnect and watch

Safely eject the drive from your computer, then reconnect it to the Player. PTV detects it automatically.

If your changes do not appear, select Menu → Video Drive → Refresh Channels.

Compatible videos

Recommended format: MP4 (.mp4) with H.264 video and AAC audio is a good starting point when exporting or converting videos.

PTV recognizes common file types including MP4, M4V, MKV, MOV, AVI, MPG, MPEG, and WebM. Playback also depends on how a file was encoded, so a recognized extension does not guarantee compatibility. DRM-protected downloads are not supported. Videos up to 1080p are supported.

If a file does not play, try Menu → Video Drive → Check Video Files → Run File Check. Changing a filename’s extension does not convert the video.

Keep a backup of videos you want to preserve before deleting or replacing files on the drive.

Find Videos for Your Channels

Looking for more to watch? These websites are good starting points for downloadable videos, vintage commercials, historical footage, and relaxing scenery.

• Internet Archive
  Explore classic films, cartoons, historical footage, and television material. Check each item's download options and rights information.
• Prelinger Archives
  A collection on Internet Archive featuring vintage commercials, educational films, industrial films, and everyday-life footage. A great starting point for nostalgic channels and commercial breaks.
• Library of Congress: Public Domain Films
  A curated collection of classic movies, animation, and historical shorts, including The Hitch-Hiker, Duck and Cover, and an early Popeye cartoon.
• NASA Image and Video Library
  Space exploration, rockets, astronauts, and science footage for a space-themed channel. Review NASA's media usage guidelines.
• Pexels Videos
  Nature, ocean, city, and other stock footage for relaxing or ambient channels. Videos are free to download under the Pexels license.

Downloading from Internet Archive: Open an item and look for Download Options. Choose an MP4/MPEG4 version when available. See the Internet Archive download guide for help.

Once downloaded, copy the video files into a channel folder on your PTV video drive, safely eject the drive from your computer, and reconnect it to the Player.

Check each video's download permissions and license before using it. Not everything on these websites is public domain or copyright-free.

Other channel ideas

Build on the included channels with videos from your own collection. These are ideas for channels you can create, not a list of the content included on your drive. Use an available channel number; date-inspired numbers like 1103 and 1225 work too.

Personal & Nostalgic

• Birthday Channel (1103): Home videos of someone born on November 3, for example.
• Family Channel: Old home movies, holidays, vacations, and family memories.
• Wedding Channel: Wedding videos, anniversaries, and favorite couple memories.
• Vacation Channel: Videos from your favorite trips and destinations.
• Yearbook Channel: Home videos organized by the year they were filmed.
• Pet TV: Videos of your pets.
• Growing Up Channel: Videos of your kids growing up, from babies to adults.
• Our Story: Videos documenting a relationship, from first dates to today.

Classic Television

• Decade Channels (5–9): Channels 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 play content from the '50s through '90s.
• Sitcom Channel: Nothing but classic sitcom episodes.
• Single-Show Channel: A dedicated Seinfeld, Friends, or The Twilight Zone channel, for example.
• Saturday Morning Cartoons: Classic cartoons mixed with vintage toy and cereal commercials.
• After-School TV: Cartoons, sitcoms, and commercials that feel like coming home from school.
• Late Night TV: Vintage talk shows, comedy sketches, and late-night interviews.
• Game Show Network: Classic episodes of The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and more.
• Infomercial Channel: Classic outrageous infomercials and As Seen on TV products.
• TV Land: A mix of old shows, station IDs, promos, and commercials.

Movies & Entertainment

• Movie Channel: A collection of your favorite films.
• Drive-In Theater: Classic B-movies, trailers, and vintage intermission ads.
• Movie Trailer Channel: Trailers for your favorite movies, old and new.
• Cult Classics: Weird, obscure, and beloved cult films.
• Creature Feature: Classic monster movies and cheesy sci-fi horror.
• Movie Marathon: An entire movie franchise playing back-to-back.
• Behind the Scenes: Making-of documentaries, bloopers, and movie extras.

Music

• MTV Channel: A nonstop stream of your favorite music videos.
• Decade Music Channels: '70s, '80s, or '90s music videos on their corresponding channel.
• Concert Channel: Live performances, concert films, and music specials.
• VH1 Classics: Throwback music videos and classic artist interviews.
• Artist Channel: An entire channel dedicated to one favorite band or musician.

Holidays & Seasonal

• Christmas Channel (1225): Christmas specials, movies, cartoons, and vintage commercials.
• Halloween Channel (1031): Spooky movies, Halloween episodes, and old Halloween commercials.
• Thanksgiving Channel: Thanksgiving specials, parade footage, and classic holiday TV.
• Valentine's Channel (214): Romantic movies, sitcom episodes, and love songs.
• Summer Vacation: Beach movies, summer commercials, and nostalgic summer programming.
• Birthday Party TV: Classic birthday-themed episodes and cartoons.
• New Year's Channel (101): Historic countdowns, celebrations, and New Year's specials.

Fun & Unexpected

• Weather Channel: Vintage weather forecasts, Weather Channel Local on the 8s recordings, and relaxing weather footage.
• Retro News: Historic news broadcasts and major moments in history.
• Disney Channel: Classic Disney cartoons, specials, and vintage park footage.
• Theme Park TV: Vintage Disneyland commercials, ride-throughs, and park documentaries.
• Public Access: Weird local TV, homemade shows, and obscure broadcasts.
• The Static Channel: Nothing but vintage TV static and test patterns.
• Channel 3: Classic video game footage, walkthroughs, and retro gaming commercials.
• The Nostalgia Channel: Random VHS recordings, station IDs, bumpers, and forgotten TV moments.
• The Fireplace Channel: Cozy fireplace footage for the holidays or relaxing evenings.
• Aquarium TV: Relaxing underwater footage and ambient visuals.
• Security Cam: A prerecorded fake security camera feed featuring funny or spooky surprises.
• Time Capsule: Videos, commercials, news, and pop culture from one specific year.

Tune to the channel you want to change, then open Menu → Channel Settings. These settings apply to that channel and save automatically.

For example, a series channel could use A–Z + Repeat Channel + Resume. A home-video channel could use Shuffle + Repeat Channel + Resume.

“When Returning” controls what happens when you leave a channel and tune back to it. Normal Player startup restores saved playback instead.

Quick Menu overlay

During playback, press any arrow button to open the Quick Menu overlay. It gives you quick access to common settings without opening the main menu:

• Play Order: Choose A–Z for filename order or Shuffle for a randomized cycle.
• Picture: Choose Fit Full Video to show the whole picture or Fill Screen to fill the screen, which may crop the edges.
• Commercials: Turn commercial breaks On or Off.

These settings apply to the current channel and save automatically. Press Back to dismiss the overlay.

Commercials play between videos, rather than interrupting a video partway through. They are off by default for new channels.

Shared commercials

Safely eject the video drive and connect it to your computer. Copy commercial video files into the Commercials folder at the drive’s top level, alongside Channels.

After reconnecting the drive, tune to a channel and open Menu → Channel Settings:

1. Set Commercials to On.
2. Choose Ads per Break.
3. Choose Ad Play Order.

Repeat for each channel where you want commercial breaks.

Commercials for one channel

Create a Commercials folder inside that channel’s folder:

Channels
└── 9 Home Movies
    ├── Family Vacation.mp4
    └── Commercials
        └── Family Commercial.mp4

That channel uses its own Commercials folder instead of the shared one. An empty channel-specific Commercials folder means that channel has no ads to play. Remove that folder if you want the channel to use shared commercials again.

To stop commercial breaks, set Commercials to Off. If a break is currently playing, PTV ends the break and moves to the queued program.

On your computer, place an image named logo.png, logo.jpg, logo.jpeg, or logo.webp directly inside the channel folder. A transparent PNG works well.

Recommended shape and size: Use a square image (1:1 aspect ratio), ideally 512 × 512 pixels. Keep the design simple so it stays readable at small sizes.

Safely eject the drive from your computer, reconnect it, and refresh channels if needed. Use Menu → Channel Settings → Channel Logo to choose Off, Brief, or Always for the playback logo. The Program Guide also uses channel artwork.

Open Menu → Settings → Screen.

TV Shape

Choose Classic TV · 4:3 for a traditional screen or Widescreen TV · 16:9 for a widescreen TV.

Screen Fit

If menus or on-screen graphics extend beyond the edges of your TV, choose Extra Margins or Wide Margins. Keep the entire dashed border visible.

Screen Fit adjusts menus and on-screen graphics. To change how a video fills the screen, use the channel’s Picture setting instead.

Resolution

Automatic is recommended. Manual resolution choices are available for advanced display setup.

After a screen change, select Keep This Picture if it looks correct. Choose Restore Previous Picture to undo it. If the picture disappears or becomes unreadable, do not confirm: PTV restores the previous setting after about 15 seconds.

Volume and sound output

Use the remote’s VOL + / − and Mute buttons to control PTV.

Your TV or external speaker has its own volume control, which PTV cannot adjust. We recommend setting your TV volume to 50%, then using only PTV’s volume controls to adjust the sound as needed.

Open Menu → Settings → Sound to select an available sound output.

Volume Leveling

Open Menu → Settings → Sound → Volume Leveling and turn it on to help reduce loudness differences between videos and commercials.

PTV checks files in the background. Unchecked files play at their original level, and new adjustments apply when a clip starts. You can view progress here and choose Retry Sound Check if files could not be checked.

Leveling does not rewrite your videos, remove all loud and quiet moments, or add sound to silent files. Turning it off removes the correction from current playback.

Bluetooth speakers

1. Turn on your speaker and put it in pairing mode. Disconnect it from another device if necessary.
2. Open Menu → Settings → Sound → Bluetooth Speakers → Scan for Speakers.
3. Select your speaker, then choose Pair Speaker, or Connect if it is already saved.

Use My Speakers to reconnect to a saved speaker. On means connected; Saved means it has been paired before.

If pairing fails, open the speaker’s Connection Help menu to retry, forget the speaker, or scan again. Use Pair with PIN only if your speaker requires a PIN. Number buttons enter a numeric PIN; an on-screen character selector is available for other characters.

To return to TV sound, choose the TV/HDMI output listed in Settings → Sound.

Choose a theme to customize the colors of PTV’s menus and on-screen controls to match your style.

Open Menu → Settings → Theme. With Display Theme highlighted, use Left / Right to preview the choices. Your selection saves automatically.

Themes change the interface colors. They do not change your videos or playback settings.

The remote is not responding

Try each step and check whether the remote works before moving on:

1. Wake it: Press any button, then try your desired button again.
2. Check the batteries: Make sure they have enough power and match the + and − markings.
3. Reinsert the batteries: Remove them, then put them back in.
4. Reconnect the receiver: Unplug the remote’s USB receiver from the Player and plug it back in.
5. Try the button shortcut: Hold TV + DEL together for 3 seconds.
6. Pair the remote again: Unplug its USB receiver. Hold OK + TV together for 3 seconds, until the red indicator light flashes rapidly. Plug the receiver into the Player’s USB port. The light stops flashing when pairing succeeds.

The remote’s battery-saving sleep mode is separate from the Player’s standby mode.

The TV shows no picture

1. Check that the Player is on. If its light is red, press the power button on the Player.
2. If PTV is in standby, press Power or OK on the remote.
3. Make sure the TV is set to the HDMI or AV input you connected.
4. Check the video cable connections.
5. For AV connections, make sure the converter has USB power and the yellow video cable is connected to the TV’s video input.

If the picture disappeared immediately after a screen-setting change, wait about 15 seconds for the previous setting to return.

There is no sound

Check PTV’s volume and mute setting, plus your TV or speaker’s volume. Make sure the intended output is selected in Menu → Settings → Sound.

For AV connections, check the red and white audio cables. For Bluetooth, make sure the speaker is connected and not connected to another device.

Try a different video; some files have no audio track. If sound still does not return, select Settings → Sound → Restart Sound. This reconnects the sound system and resumes playback using the saved position and volume.

The drive or my channels are missing

Check that the video drive is connected to the Player. On your computer, verify:

• Channels is at the drive’s top level.
• Each channel folder is directly inside Channels and starts with a unique number.
• Videos are directly inside the channel folders, not additional subfolders.
• The files have finished copying and are recognized video types.

Safely eject the drive from your computer, reconnect it to PTV, and select Menu → Video Drive → Refresh Channels if needed.

A video skips or will not play

PTV skips files it cannot play. Open Menu → Video Drive → Check Video Files → Run File Check and select a listed issue for more information.

The check can identify issues such as empty files, missing audio, or unreadable video information. It does not test every frame or guarantee smooth playback.

Try the file on your computer. Replace an incomplete copy or use a compatible version of the video, then select Refresh Channels to try it again. A video without an audio track can still play silently.

Commercials are not playing

Check that Commercials is on for the current channel and that its commercial folder contains playable video files.

If there is a Commercials folder inside the channel folder, it replaces the shared selection—even when empty. Commercial breaks happen between videos, so let the current video finish to check the next break.

The picture is cropped or has borders

Use Channel Settings → Picture → Fit Full Video to show the entire video. Borders are normal when the video and TV have different shapes.

Fill Screen may crop the video to fill the screen. If the menus themselves are cut off, adjust Settings → Screen → Screen Fit instead.

PTV is stuck or behaving unexpectedly

Choose Menu → Settings → Restart Player, then confirm. This restarts playback and the player screen while keeping saved channels and settings.

If the menus are unresponsive but the remote is working, hold Back for 5 seconds to restart the player software.

If PTV is entirely frozen or stuck and neither restart method works, disconnect the Player’s power supply, wait 10 seconds, then reconnect it. If it does not start automatically, press the power button on the Player. Only disconnect power without shutting down as a last resort; unsaved settings or playback progress may be lost.

Restore the original settings

Use Menu → Settings → Factory Reset only when you want to clear your preferences. Select Erase Settings and Reset to confirm.

This clears channel settings, saved playback positions, theme choices, paired speakers, and temporary data. It does not delete the videos on your USB drive. The reset cannot be undone.

My deleted files are still showing

Empty your computer’s Trash or Recycle Bin while the video drive is still connected to your computer. Check that nothing in the trash needs to be kept; emptying it permanently deletes those files.

Safely eject the drive, reconnect it to the Player, and select Menu → Video Drive → Refresh Channels if the deleted files still appear.