Transcript
Micro Audio Video Recorder Operation manual Version: 06-03-10
© TS-Market
Contents
Purpose...................................................................................................................................... 3 mAVR controls........................................................................................................................... 3 Shipment set.............................................................................................................................. 4 The basic possibilities and technical parameters:.................................................................... 4 The additional functional possibilities....................................................................................... 6 Preparation for operation. Switching on order.......................................................................... 6 How to........................................................................................................................................ 9 Battery installation into mAVR-3M........................................................................................... 10 Battery charging...................................................................................................................... 10 External control connection. ................................................................................................... 12 Preparation of the CF card for operation................................................................................. 12 Operation modes. .................................................................................................................... 13 Accessories to mAVR . ............................................................................................................ 16 Software and its updates......................................................................................................... 17 Technical support.................................................................................................................... 17 The possible faults and ways of resolving.............................................................................. 18 Mode LED indication................................................................................................................ 19 Warranty policy........................................................................................................................ 20 Guaranty talon......................................................................................................................... 20
Purpose
Miniature audio video recorder mAVR is intended for mobile recording of video information from any PAL / NTSC video camera and audio from the built-in or external microphone on a Compact Flash (CF) card. The CF card can be read with any standard CF card reader. mAVR has the extremely small size and power consumption. Due to the absence of moving parts, the recorder is able to operate in wide temperature range, in terms of shaking and dustiness. The supplied software is compatible with operational systems Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP and provides the possibility to save video recordings in the standard AVI format and set recording parameters. Green LED Stop button Record button Red LED Built-in microphone Universal socket Compact Flash card compartment
Micro Audio Video Recorder
REC. STOP RESET
Reset button
mAVR controls
Shipment set There are available three models of mAVR: - mAVR-1 is powered by external power source - mAVR-2 is powered by built-in Li-Polymer rechargeable battery - mAVR-3M is powered by the replaceable Li-Polymer rechargeable battery mAVR-1 shipment set: - Audio video recorder - Power supply unit (110 - 240 V) - Universal unit for connection of video cable (RCA) and power supply unit - Power cable from computer USB port - Operation manual - CD with software - Packing box mAVR-2 shipment set: - Audio video recorder - Charger with RCA video input - Power supply unit (110 - 240 V) - Video cable RCA - Power cable from computer USB port - Operation manual - CD with software - Packing box mAVR-3M shipment set: - Audio video recorder - Charger with RCA video input - Power supply unit (110 - 240 V) - Video cable RCA - Power cable from computer USB port - Operation manual - Spare Li-Polymer rechargeable battery - CD with software - Packing box
The basic possibilities and technical parameters: - Resolution of the saved video: For PAL format
176*144 pixels 352*288 pixels 704*288 pixels For NTSC format 176*120 pixels 352*240 pixels 704*240 pixels - The supported video signal standards – PAL,NTSC, colour and b/w. - Video input parameters - 1.0 Vp-p, 75 Ohm. - Video compression algorithm - Wavelet, 3 compression levels. - Frame frequency - 25, 12, 6, 3, 1 frames per second (FPS) - Audio signal frequency band: 300-3300 Hz, sample rate 8 kHz 300-6600 Hz, sample rate 16 kHz - Audio sensitivity of the built-in microphone – up to 5 m. - Audio input sensitivity – 50 mVp-p - Supports Compact Flash, type 1, with capacity from 16 Mbyte to 8 Gbyte - Capacity of the built-in Li-Polymer rechargeable battery in mAVR-2 - 1750 mA/hour. - Capacity of the replaceable Li-Polymer rechargeable battery in mAVR-3M - 850 mA/hour. Dimensions: - mAVR-1, without rechargeable battery – 53*55*10, weight 35 gr. - mAVR-2, with built-in rechargeable battery – 53*65*15, weight 75 gr. - mAVR-3M, with replaceable rechargeable battery – 53*88*10, weight 48 gr. Operation temperature range -10…+60 ºС Recording time proportionally depends on a CF card capacity, on video type – colour or b/w (b/w - 30% longer), frame frequency (approximately proportionally), the set compression rate (+/-10% per each step), resolution (for 176*144 pixels 3 times longer). Besides this, the recording time significantly depends on the recording image itself – the more fine details and movement in a frame, the less recording time. The plenty of fine details can reduce the recording time up to 2 times, and recording time difference at, for example, a camera rotation (100% movement in a frame) and at the recording of a static picture can be up to 10 times. The switched on audio recording takes 8 or 16 Kbytes per second depending on audio sample rate. The approximate recording time on a 2 Gbyte CF: -176*144, B/W, 1 fps, no audio, normal quality, almost static picture – 100 hours -176*144 Colour, 12 fps, audio 8 kHz, medium quality, 25% movement – 15 hours -176*144, Colour, 25 fps, audio 16 kHz, high quality, 25% movement – 6 hours -352*288, Colour, 12 fps, audio 16 kHz, high quality, 25% movement – 4 hours -352*288, Colour, 25 fps, audio 16 kHz, high quality, 25% movement – 2 hours -704*288, Colour, 25 fps, audio 16 kHz, high quality, 25% movement – 1 hour 15 minutes Operation time with fully charged rechargeable battery depends on the recorder operation mode
and recorder type. Battery life in record mode: - mAVR-2 - 6 hours - mAVR-3M – 3 hours Battery life in stand-by mode: - mAVR-2 – 12 months - mAVR-3M – 6 months The real frame frequency in the modes with maximal quality and resolution can be less than preset one at using of the slow CF card types or at pictures with plenty of fine details.
The additional functional possibilities - Watermark support – the system of recording integrity control, i.e. of the recording modification absence. Program «mAVR Checker» is used for this purpose. - Support of up to 8 recording profiles (Profile is a recording parameters set). - Linear and circular recording mode. In the linear mode the recording stops at filling up of all free memory. In the circular recording mode there the last record overwriting takes place. - Built-in real time clock and date, timer. - Software converter to the standard AVI format.
Preparation for operation. Switching on order. Model mAVR-1 Connect the universal unit to the recorder connector (without CF card). Supply power from the power adapter or a computer USB port using the supplied USB port power cable. The red and green LEDs start blinking by turn and approximately in 10 seconds the recorder switches over to the stand-by mode. Connect video cable from a camera to the RCA connector of the universal unit. Turn on video camera power. Models mAVR-2 and mAVR-3M mAVR-2 uses the built-in Li-Polymer rechargeable battery and mAVR-3M uses the replaceable Li-Polymer rechargeable battery with large capacity. It is required to fully charge the rechargeable battery before start of operation with the recorder. To avoid the early battery exhausting at long intervals in usage it is required to make the full charging of the rechargeable battery not less than once per month. Connect video cable from a camera to the RCA connector of the universal unit. Turn on video camera power.
USB port power cable
Power cable
Video camera
Universal unit for connection of video signal (RCA) and power cable
Micro Audio Video Recorder
REC. STOP RESET
Fig. 1: mAVR 1 connections
USB port power cable
Power cable
Video camera
Charging unit
Video signal cable
Micro Audio Video Recorder
REC. STOP RESET
Fig. 2: mAVR 2 and mAVR 3M connections
How to... ...install software - Simply copy the folders with programs for mavr from the supplied CD on your PC ...prepare a CF card for use with mAVR - Insert CF card into CF card reader - Format the card with FAT16/FAT32 format - Run mAVR Manager - In the pull down menu, which is the next to the “Init CF card” button, select the drive where the CF card is inserted - Press the button “Init CF card” and wait until the card is completely initialized - If required make the appropriate settings of the recording parameters ...start recording - If required, charge the recorder’s battery or connect the supplied power source - Connect video camera - Insert the prepared CF card into the mAVR’s slot for CF cards - Initially the recorder is in stand-by mode (see the appropriate indication) - Press and hold any button until the LEDs start blinking rapidly. Recorder switches over to the active mode (see the appropriate indication) - Press and hold the Rec button for 0.5 second, then release it. LEDs will start blinking continuously for 0.25 second - recorder switches over to record mode and starts recording (see the appropriate indication) ...stop recording - Press and hold the Rec button for 3 seconds, until both LEDs go on continuously. Recorder switches over to active mode. - Then press the Stop button for 3 seconds, until both LEDs go on continuously. Recorder switches over to stand-by mode. - Now you can remove the card from the recorder ...convert the made recording from CF card to a PC - Insert the CF card into CF card reader - Run mAVR Decoder program - Using the button “Convert from file...” find the file record.bin located on the CF card - Using the button “Convert to file...” point the location and file name where the conversion should be made to - If you want to have a time/date stamp in the frame field, set on the “Add mark” tip. - Press the button “Convert” - In the next program window “Video compression” you need to select the compressor driver. If required, you can change the compression parameters of the selected format using the button “Configure...”. Changing of compression parameters is not available for the option “Full Frames (Uncompressed)”. Please note that the extension of the result file does not depend on the selected driver. It is always “avi”. For some drivers it is possible to change the compression rate
using the “Compression quality” bar. - When the required driver is selected, press the “OK” button - Then the compression process starts, which can be interrupted by pressing the “Cancel” button - If the compression process is successfully passed, you will see the message “File successfully created” ...verify the integrity of the saved video file - Run program “mAVR Checker” - Using the button “Set checked file” select a file for verification - Press the “Check” button - If the verified file was not changed, you get the message “Verification successful”. If the file was created by MAVR but changed, you will get the message “Video file been hacked”. If the file was not created by MAVR, you will get the message “File was not created by mAVR Decoder”. ...view the content of the saved record - Run Explorer - Select the file you want to view - Press Enter or double click on it - This way you will run third party software associated with “avi” extension. This can be any media player. Note, if video camera was not connected to mAVR during recording, the result “avi” file will contain only audio information and time/date stamp if the appropriate tip was set on before decoding.
Battery installation into mAVR-3M
Move the battery compartment slider aside in the bottom part of the recorder case. Place the recorder and rechargeable battery as shown on the figure below. Insert the battery into the recorder up to the stop. If you made so, both LEDs will start blinking. Then mAVR will turn to stand-by mode. Put the battery compartment slider to the original place. To avoid the early discharging of the battery do not leave it on metallic surfaces and do not close the battery contacts with metallic items.
Battery charging
The battery charging can be made from power network or PC USB port. The shipment set also includes the charging unit, which controls the charging process. The charging block has two LEDs for charging process indication. The red LED indicates that the charging process is going on. The green LED indicates that the charging process is stopped. This unit disconnects the charging current automatically, so there is no need to look at the charging end. The charging time of the fully discharged battery is 5-6 hours. The battery charging order If the charging is carrying out from power network, then connect the power adapter to the charging unit and plug the adapter into the power network. The LED on the power adapter will go on indicating the power connection. If the charging is carrying out from a computer, then connect the supplied cable to USB port, and another end of the cable to the charging unit. The red LED will go on for a short time on the charging unit and then the green one will go on constantly. After this,
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connect the charging unit to the recorder. The red LED will go on on the charging unit, indicating the charging process. If the red LED does not go on, but the green one continues to light, so the rechargeable battery is completely charged. Upon the charging finished the red LED goes off and the green one goes on. After this disconnect the charging unit from the recorder. Attention!!! Li-Polymer rechargeable batteries fall out at deep discharging, thus it is necessarily to charge the batteries from time to time, at least once per month. It is strongly forbidden to use other charging units, than the supplied one. Do not connect any power sources directly to mAVR-1 or mAVR-3M (with installed battery) to avoid battery fall out. Warranty does not cover the rechargeable batteries, fallen out due to deep discharge or use of the wrong charging unit. It is possible to record and charge simultaneously. To do so, connect the video output of a camera to the video input of the charging unit and supply power on the charging unit. At the battery discharging with connected charging unit, the charging will switch on automatically. Also it is possible to connect video signal output from a video camera directly to the recorder, using video cable from the shipment set. And supply power to the camera.
Battery installation into mAVR-3M 11
External control connection mAVR can be controlled by the external control signal Start. The signal is supplied via the recorder connector. Locking the switch Start, the recorder switches over from stand-by mode to record mode (recording is made according to the preset profile). At the switch unlocking, recording stops and recorder switches over to the stand-by mode. Connector pins assignment: 1. Video - video signal input. 2. Start – external control input. 3. UCC power voltage + 4. Is not in use 5. MF+ -connection of the external microphone. 6. GND – common wire. Please note, that recording starts not right away after the switch closed, but in 7-10 seconds. This time is required to switch over the recorder from stand-by mode to recording mode. Contact 6 Contact 1
Contact 5
Universal socket contact numeration Universal socket
Video
1
Start
2
UCC
3
Not in use
4
MF+
5
GND
6
Red White Green
“Start” Black Braid
Preparation of the CF card for operation
For operation with the recorder, any CF card type 1 can be used with capacity from 16 MByte up to 8 GByte. Format the card into FAT16 or FAT32. (FAT and FAT16 are two names of the same format) For this insert it into the CF card reader (the reader is not included into the shipment set and can be obtained separately), open “My computer”, “properties” and check the file system type. For operation with mAVR the CF card must be formatted with FAT16 or FAT32. If required, reformat
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the card into FAT16 or FAT32 with standard procedure of the operational system. Then it is required to initiate the card (prepare for recording). For this run the program mAVRmanager, choose the letter of your CF card reader and press the button “InitCard”. After the process finished successfully, the CF card is ready for operation with mAVR. Before removing the card from the reader, it is required to carry out the safe removing. For this make the right button click the reader shortcut and choose the Remove command. After this you can remove the card. The information on the CF card is used in the special format of mAVR, thus for playing back by the regular Windows programs please use the recoding program mAVRdecoder.exe (it is saved in the mAVR directory on the supplied disk). Installation and removing the CF card Installation and removing the CF card can be made only in the stand-by mode of the recorder (rarely blinking green indicator). In case of improper installation or removing the card, the card can be damaged. For installation the card, place it in front of CF card compartment with contacts directed to the compartment and face up. The card should be installed without significant efforts. If the card cannot be installed, turn it over. To avoid damaging of the recorder please do not place any exterior items, and more other metallic, inside the battery compartment of the recorder
Operation modes
The LED indication of the modes is described in the table in the end of the manual. In the same table there is given information on the recording start. Stand-by mode Initially the recorder is in the stand-by mode, with minimal power consumption. At this rarely blinks the green LED, the red LED is off. If the red LED blinks rarely, that means that the rechargeable battery is strongly discharged and it is required to charge the battery. From the most modes, the recorder switches over to the stand-by mode after a certain period of time at the absence of control actions or at the allocated memory is finished. The control actions for switching over into the stand-by mode from other modes are described in the appropriate parts. From this mode it is possible to switch over to the Active mode by press and hold longer than 2 seconds of any of the buttons – Rec or Stop, also into the recording mode by the external switch Start. The recorder initializes itself during several seconds, during this time the green and red LEDs blink frequently. After this the red LED goes on during the card format analyze. Depending on the card volume, this time can vary from a second in the case of the right format, and up to several seconds in the case of the wrong format. After analyzing, if the card is not inserted or the format is wrong, the recorder returns to the stand-by mode. Active mode This is the mode when the recorder is ready to record. The red LED blinks with the series of 1..4 flashes with a pause between the series. The quantity of flashes indicates the rate of the battery charge. The more flashes the more the charge. The green LED blinks rarely. From this mode there are possible the switches over to the following modes: - Stand-by mode – press and hold of the Stop or Rec button during 2 seconds.
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- Record mode – short, 1 -1.5 sec, press and release of the Rec button. - The record profile choice – press and hold longer than 3 seconds the Rec button. - Erasing of the last recording – press and hold longer than 3 seconds the Rec and Stop buttons. - Erasing of the complete CF card – press and hold longer than 6 sec the Rec and Stop buttons. - Time setup – press and hold longer than 9 seconds the Rec and Stop buttons. If the recorder is in the Active mode longer than 5 minutes, than it automatically switches over to the stand-by mode for saving the battery charge. If voltage of the rechargeable battery achieved the minimal level, so the recorder automatically switches over to the stand-by mode to avoid the failure of rechargeable battery and CF card. At this the red LED starts blinking rarely. Recording mode Immediately after switching over to this mode, the green and red LEDs go on for a second. During this time the recorder initializes the record block, after this the record starts. The green LED indicates the relative frame frequency, the red LED indicates the amount of the rest space on the card (the more flashes, the more the space). If press and hold the Stop button, so the red LED indicates the battery charge rate. To stop the recording press and hold the Rec button during 3 seconds. So the recorder will switch over to the Active mode. Also mAVR automatically switches over to the stand-by mode at achieving the end of free space, when the Linear record mode is set in the current profile. Recording mode by the external switch Start Recording start from the stand-by mode is possible also by switching on the switch Start. Recorder activates and recording starts immediately. Recording goes on till the switch Start off. After this mAVR switches over to the stand-by mode. If earlier the record pointer achieved the end of the card in the Linear mode, than the recorder does not on by the external switch. Selection of the recording profile mAVR supports the active switch over of up to 8 recording profiles. The profiles are set with the program mAVRmanager.exe. Using the profiles it is possible to set the following recording parameters: video resolution, video quality, frames per second, linear or circular recording mode, colour or black/white, audio sample rate and so on. There are the preset profiles as well as the possibility to create the profile by a user himself. Selecting the circular recording mode the recorder uses free space of a CF card, which was available at the moment of the record start. For example, before starting recording in circular mode there is 40% of the card space already allocated for previous recordings, so only the rest free 60% of the card space will be used for recording in circular mode. If it is required to use the complete volume of the CF card, so you need to erase the old information on the card before recording start (see the part Erasing of the complete CF card). To select a preset profile, created in the program mAVRmanager (from 1 to 8) in the Active mode it is necessary to press and hold the Rec button during 3 seconds until the both LEDs will go on. Then release the Rec button – the LEDs will go out and in half a second the green LED will start blinking rarely. Quantity of flashes until the repeated press of the Rec button corresponds to the number of the selected profile. For example, you need to select the profile No 3, so it is required to count 3 blinks of the green LED and press Rec button. After this the recorder switches over to the Active mode.
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Erasing of the last recording In the Active mode press and hold the Rec and Stop buttons (during this time both LEDs are on constantly). In 3 seconds both LEDs start blinking rarely and synchronously. If now release the Rec and Stop buttons, so the last video recording will be erased (physically it is not erasing just the pointer moves). After this the recorder switches over to the Active mode. Erasing of the complete CF card In the active mode simultaneously press and hold the Rec and Stop buttons (during this time both LEDs go on constantly), in 6 second the LEDs will start blinking frequently. If now release the Rec and Stop buttons, so all the recording on the card will be erased (physically the recordings are not erased but the pointer moves into the beginning of the card). After this the recorder will switch over to the Active mode. Note. When you erase recordings by the mentioned above method, so physically the recordings are not removed from the card. In this case you just set recorder to start new recordings over the old one. Thus if you make decoding of the card content without doing new recordings, so in result you will get the old records, which you wanted to erase. To physically erase the recordings from a card it is required to initialize the card. Time setup In the Active mode simultaneously press and hold the Rec and Stop buttons (during this time both LEDs go on simultaneously), in 9 seconds both LEDs will go on constantly again. If now release the Rec and Stop buttons, so time will be set up, which was recorded at the CF card initialization. After this the recorder will switch over to the Active mode. If time is incorrect, that can happen at the first power on, so the recorder automatically set time 00:00:00 01/01/04. Take a note, that exactly those time and date will be set which were displayed in the field “Time, time correction, date” of the mAVRManager program at the moment of the initialization start. Thus it is required to set exactly that time in this field when you will set up time on the recorder. I.e. at the card initialization it is required to calculate in advance the period of time required for time set up.
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Accessories to mAVR The accessories are optional, not included into the shipment and can be purchased separately: External microphone with integrated compressor (+/- 6dB) and remote control unit This optional device is intended for use with the audio video recorders mAVR. The device is external microphone with compressor integrated with remote control and video input. External microphone smoothes audio level when recording is carried out from sound sources at close and distant ranges. Thus this enables to avoid overload when recording is realized at close distance and amplify the signal at distant ranges. Flexible cable enables to arrange the microphone at the suitable-to-record place and remote control unit simplifies recording process. The unit connects to the recorder socket and automatically switches over the built-in microphone. Usage of the unit allows improving quality and dynamic range of the recording audio. The remote control provides the possibility to easy turn on / off recording (see Recording mode by the external switch Start). It is worth to note that record does not start immediately after switching on the remote control, but in 7-10 seconds. This time is required for switching over the recorder from stand-by mode to record mode. Video camera power supply unit The voltage converter for video camera is designed to be connected to mAVR video recorders. The unit is a voltage converter, which allows the video camera to be powered from the mAVR power source, and generates voltage of 12 V (200 mA) on its output. The output has a connector for the video camera. Besides, the unit includes an input connector which completely replicates the one on the video recorder, and makes it possible to use an external microphone and remote control. Therefore, the user may have a stand-alone system to record video and audio without using any additional power supply units for the video camera. Note, usage of the converter results in the battery life reduction proportionally to a camera current consumption. Car power supply unit 12 V The car battery charger is designed for connection of the mAVR video recorder to the car on-board power supply system or any other power source with voltage 7-28 V. The unit provides complete mAVR battery charge within 5-6 hours or its recharge during recording. The unit includes two LEDs to indicate the charging process and a cable to be connected to the power supply. Besides, it has a USB mini-B connector, which fully replicates that on the video recorder and enables various mAVR accessories (e.g. an external microphone and remote control) to be used with the unit.
Software and its updates To look through the made recordings, for video recording profiles setup, the following programs are installed on a computer: - CF card Initialization program - mAVRmanager - Program for audio video recordings decoding - mAVRdecoder - Program for video verification - mAVRchecker These programs are supplied on a CD and located in the folder mAVR. Description of how to use the programs is also located there. For the programs installation simply copy the folder mAVR onto your HDD. New software versions are available from our web site www.ts-market.com . There is the possibility of the firmware update. See the supplied manual on the disk for the detailed instructions.
Technical support Technical support is provided by e-mail:
[email protected] To simplify the diagnostics, together with a problem description please send versions of the used software, computer configuration and operational system type.
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The possible faults and ways of resolving 1. mAVR does not react on the keys pressing, LEDs do not go on. – Charge the battery 2. mAVR reacts curiously on the keys pressing, indication is strange – press Reset button on the recorder. It should be noted, that pressing the Reset button resets the current time and thus it is required to synchronize it again. 3. The recorded video image can be still during play back – the used CF card is too slow. Change the card for a card with bigger data transfer rate index. 4. During play back distortions appear on the recorded image – CF card resource is exhausted (bad blocks arose on the card), replace the card with a new one. 5. Recorder cannot identify a compact flash card – Recorder does not support this card. Please check the list of supported cards and try to use another compact flash card which is marked in the list as supported. Attention! In the case of the recorder malfunction please do the following first: 1. Read the manual carefully once again. 2. Visit our web site and check for new software or firmware which might resolve the problem. Check the FAQ part on our web site. Likely there is already the answer on your question. 3. Ask your questions by e-mail or telephone. If there is a need for return, please contact us for the return instructions.
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Mode LED indication Mode
Indication
Stand-by
Green LED blinks with interval 3 seconds
Battery discharged
Green and Red LEDs blinks with interval 3 seconds
Profile choice (1...8)
Green LED blinks 1...8 times without a break with frequency 1 time per a second. Red LED does not go on.
Active mode
Green LED blinks with interval 2 seconds, Red LED (battery discharge indication) blinks 1...4 times without a break with interval 2 seconds.
Recording
Green LED blinks with a frequency relative to frame frequency, Red LED (free space indication on the CF card) blinks 1..4 times without a break with interval 2 seconds.
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Warranty policy Company provides free warranty service within one year from the date of sale (but not later than 2 years from the production date). Warranty does not cover the following cases: - without the presented warranty talon, - with no seller marks, - with marks of mechanical damage of the case, connectors, cables - with marks of an aggressive liquid influence, high temperatures and other negative factors. - with damaged rechargeable battery as a result of the deep discharge or the use of extraordinary charging units. Company does not carry any liability for the possible CF card damage or information on it. Company does not guaranty the mAVR software operation on the non-license operational systems.
Guaranty talon Number _________________________ Quality control date _______________ Date of sale ______________________ Seller____________________________
□Model 1
□Model 2
Our address: 124489 Zelenograd, Sosnovaya alleya, B.10-1 Tel.: (495) 530-1001, 531-4840 Fax: (495) 535-0491 E-mail:
[email protected] Web site http://ts-market.com
□Model 3M
