Video Hoster^® Obsolete Versions 4.09d - 4.000

V4.09d - Released June 23, 2009

1. NEW Instabutton Settings Clear Button - If you have an Instabuttons Settings dialog row that you want to delete the filename, title and color, click that row and click Clear button at the bottom.
2. NEW Intermission View SND Time AM/PM Setting - The Time fields for upcoming Singers were blank in prior versions. Now they appear and update every 60 seconds while the Intermission View is showing and the Singers Names Display is visible.
3. UPGRADED CD/DVD Drive Defaults - If no optical drives are found when Hoster runs, this command dialog doesn't appear and these cannot be clicked: 1) Tools menu CD/DVD Drives Default command, 2) Playlist DISC button, and 3) Import CD Tracks command. If drives exist but their STATUS is set to BAD, the DISC and Import CD Tracks screen are disabled.
4. FIXED Intermission View AM/PM Setting Now Persistent - If you changed it in prior versions, it did not remain, but return to the factory default.
5. FIXED Video Now Plays Out The Selected Playlist Audio Card - You can select which audio port the Playlist uses for Karaoke, Audio and Video files playing. However, Instabuttons .WAV and Video files ONLY play out the Windows default audio card, while .MP3 or .WMA audio files play out the selected port..

V4.09c - Released June 9, 2009

1. FIXED - Importing Chartbuster And Some Older Discs Show Black Lyrics - When we did the multisession repair in 4.09b, we removed a line of code that did not appear to be needed. We restored the prior line and all is well again. If you imported any CDG Discs in Version 4.09b, be sure to play them in the Playlist or Edit Songs dialog to see if the lyrics are present or not.
2. FIXED - Import Hard Drive Files Stopped After First 99 In Batch Mode - When the files on the hard drive you are importing don't have a DiscID in their filenames, and you have more than 99 in the folder or Use Sub-Folders clicked, after the first 99 imported, Hoster would appear to lock up. It wasn't but it took so long it might as well have. We fixed it so there is now a 1-2 second delay and then the next 99 files load into the Track Window and continue importing.
3. FIXED - Instabuttons Filename Field - In prior versions this field could be edited. However, if you entered a bad path/filename that could not be found, things wouldn't work as expected. In V4.09c you can't edit this field, forcing you to use the Select File button to get the file for the button to play.
4. REMOVED Hoster 3.40 Is No Longer Provided - Hoster 4.09c no longer includes 3.40 (identical to 3.321a but installed with a Version 4 Registration Code). Because of theft of our Import Database (Bucket.mdb) that was happening, we were forced to change the security, which prevents 3.40 Import or Edit Songs from working at all. We are confident that Hoster 4.09c is as stable as any software can be today.

V4.09b - Released June 3, 2009

1. FIXED Importing Multisession CD Last Tracks - In some cases, the last track of a multisession disc would not import correctly. A problem was found and fixed. Now all tracks on a multisession disc will import. NOTE: MediaCloq and MSC protected discs from Sound Choice will not import at all. Windows Media Player won't even recognize a TOC exists on the disc.
2. FIXED Show Display Audio DJ View - When a few rare KMA HDAUD (audio only) files were in the Playlist to play next, if the Audio DJ View "Graphic section" was set to Visualization, they would play correctly. It was set to Image, HTML Page or Solid Color the HDAUD file would show ERROR and was skipped.

V4.09a - Released May 28, 2009

1. FIXED Edit Songs Crashing - In this dialog, if a Search found two or more matches, Hoster crashed. This was fixed.

V4.09 - Released May 26, 2009

1. NEW Preview Play In Search Dialog - When a second sound card is available and selected in the Tools menu Audio Controls dialog Search audio card: field, a Preview Play button and volume slider appear in the Search dialog. The slider range does not go to full silence for the most useable range.
2. NEW Visualization Images When Audio Files Play - You can now select to have the current Windows Media Player Visualization image appear in the Show Display Audio view while Audio HDAUD, MP3 or WMA files (not WAV) play.
3. Instabutton Changes
   
   
   1. NEW Instabuttons Now Play MP3 amd WMA Audio - You can now use MP3 and WMA audio files in addition to WAV and Video for your Instabuttons.
   2. NEW Instabuttons Dialog Volume Slider - This new slider allows adjusting the volume separately for Instabutton MP3 or WMA audio files, (not WAV audio or Video files).
   3. NEW Instabuttons Dialog Play/Stop Button - Click this to play the song for the selected Instabutton row below. You can only play when a show is not in progress as it uses the Playlist audio card: assignment. Only MP3 and WMA audio will play with this button.
   4. UPGRADED Allow InstaButton Setup During a Show - In prior versions the InstaButtons dialog could not be viewed or changed during a show. Now, you can enable/disable buttons, and change the files, titles and colors.
4. UPGRADED CD/DVD Drive Defaults Dialog - If a drive is listed as Bad, the button to the right now renames to Good to allow you to try and use the drive anyway. The selection is persistent and will appear until it is changed.
5. UPGRADED Playlist Volume Slider - The Volume slider is back. It does NOT use the Microsoft controllers, but is able to reduce the amplitude DOWN from the maximum Microsoft control setting for all but Video files. You can also set this to max and use your external mixer to balance amplitudes.
6. UPGRADED Playlist Singers Field - We changed editing the Playlist Singers field from right-click to double-click or click to select, then click again to edit.
7. UPGRADED Show Display Graphics - The Graphics section radio buttons now auto-select when any of the buttons to the right are clicked.
8. REMOVED No Longer Play WAV Files In Playlist - Some recent WAV files have MP3 or WMA compressed data instead of PCM sample data. These violate the 20+ year old WAV file standard, and would crash Hoster. Now all .WAV files found in a Playlist when it opens are converted to No Play Status, which are skipped over when playing. Review WAV files in your Playlists and import them to KMA HDAUD files indexed in the Songs Database. You can then add them to your Playlist to replace the original standard WAV files.
9. FIXED Converting KMA HDZIP to HDMP3G - When Hoster runs, if it finds any HDZIP files in your Songs Database, it suggests you convert them to KMA HDMP3G type. In Version 4.08 an error message appeared with some HDZIP files and they didn't convert. All valid HDZIP's should now convert. In Hoster 4.10 with crossfade, HDZIP files will no longer play so convert them now so your show system will be ready. There is no loss of quality, just improved performance.
10. FIXED Marquee Hide Checkbox - In the Show Display your selection was not persistent. Now your setting remains until you change it again.
11. FIXED Skip Button Flashed When Karaoke File Playing - This was fixed.
12. FIXED Search Dialog Column Sort Failed After Extended Use - When using both Search and Singer windows together, clicking on any column in the Search window would not sort correctly. This is fixed.
13. FIXED 1706 Error During Install - This error indicated files were missing and Hoster could not be installed, but when you clicked OK, it would finish and Hoster was installed. This is now fixed.

V4.08 - Released February 26, 2009

1. FIXED Crashes Playing KMA Songs To The End - Found and fixed.
2. FIXED MP3 Audio Files Won't Play - Found and fixed. Very weird as the last Beta version worked fine!
3. FIXED Instabuttons Playing Video - Playing a video from an Instabutton when played twice would not return and required 3-finger salute.
4. FIXED Playlist Can Have Bad Durations - If Hoster or the computer crashed while playing, the duration time for the playing song could be changed. Version 4.08 now even corrects any bad Dur: values after playing the song, and updates the .hst playlist file on the hard drive.
5. FIXED Importing HDAUD KMA Files Could Have Bad Duration - This has been there for some time. Importing MP3, WAV or WMA hard drive files could add a false duration to the KMA file header. Fixed.
6. Fixed Importing ZIP Files With Multiple Sub-Folders - There were several small problems that prevented importing ZIP Hard Drive files under rare conditions.

V4.07 - Released February 23, 2009

1. Playlist Screen
   
   1. NEW A-Stop Track - Press and hold the Ctrl & Shift keys and click the Add Track button in the Hoster screen to add a track to the Playlist that halts playing in Auto Mode. These have 00.0 duration and you can edit their Singer field to add text that appears or not in the Singers Names Display.
   2. NEW Set To PLAYED And Stop - Press Shift and click the Stop button terminates play and sets that Song status to PLAYED.
   3. NEW Set To PLAYED And Play Next Song - Pressing the Shift key and clicking the Skip button terminates the playing Song and sets it's Status to PLAYED. If in Auto mode, play continues to the next available song.
   4. UPGRADED Cue Delay - Cue is much faster playing consecutive tracks in the Playlist. It is slightly slower with the Skip button, or selecting a song and clicking the yellow Play button.
   5. UPGRADED Skip Button - This now can be clicked only when it is safe to use. In prior versions, clicking too soon after certain events could lock Hoster up.
   6. UPGRADED Changes Save Immediately - All parameters now store when dialogs close (not when Hoster closes), unless the Cancel button is clicked.
   7. FIXED Lockup In Cue Status - CDCDG type KMA files now open and play correctly in XP and Vista.
   8. UPGRADED Handle Large Path/Filenames - Hoster's playlist allows adding files from path/filenames up to 384 characters long from the hard drive using the K-oke, Audio and Video buttons.
   9. FIXED Long MP3 Filenames - You can now add MP3 filenames longer than 63 characters to the Playlist.
   10. FIXED 3008 Database Error Message - This message should not appear again while playing. If you have a song that shows this when it plays, delete it and add it again to the Playlist.
   11. FIXED Audio Bugs - Playing audio files should no longer hang Hoster when: 1) Playing Audio then CDG Karaoke, 2) Playing Audio then Audio, or 3) Playing MP3 audio could crash the computer.
   12. FIXED DK Lyrics - DK Discs lyrics should now appear, but not perfectly. Regretfully, on some of their discs their Logo is not readable. They used very old technology that does not conform to current specs. Furthermore, if we fix this perfectly, the Nikkodo SAV series discs won't play at all. Now, Nikkodo lyrics play in sync, but their logo is scrambled.
   13. REMOVED Renaming .HST Playlist Files - Hoster 4 no longer adds "-4" when it opens version 3 Playlists. Hoster 4 Playlists will play in Hoster 3.40 and visa versa.
2. Songbook
   
   1. NEW Wrap-Margin Setting - This allows you to adjust the right margin where long text lines wrap to the next line.
   2. NEW W/Vocal Handling - When w/vocal is at the end of the Artist name it always prints at the end of the Artist(s).
   3. NEW Only Duet Songs Pages - One click now selects to create these special pages.
   4. NEW Only Mux Songs Pages - One click now selects to create these special pages.
   5. NEW Header Title - You can now enter text for a Header on every page. NOTE: You will need to use Microsoft Word (not WordPad) to see and print Headers in your Songbook RTF files.
   6. CHANGED Exclude Tree - We changed this section from being a radio button that is mutually exclusive with all other Songbook creating methods, to a checkbox that now modifies all other methods.
3. Video
   
   1. NEW Video File Types - The Playlist Video button "Open Files" dialog now allows selecting new QuickTime (*.qt, *.mov, *.amr, *.m4v, *.3gp) files.
   2. RESTORED Prior Video Player - The Tools > Options dialog no longer shows the Video Switch: OLD/NEW selector. The New video player had too many problems so we removed it. The Old Video player that has worked for years supports MUX and Key change, but doesn't show in the Preview window.
   3. FIXED Resizing Show Display Video View - The Video View now resizes as expected; going full screen by double-clicking it, or moving by click-and-dragging it.
4. Import Hard Drive Files Screen
   
   1. UPGRADED Batch Mode Continues To Last File - When importing in Batch mode, if any files are found to be bad, they are not imported, their path/filenames are saved in a text file, and only one message appears after all songs are processed.
   2. FIXED Importing Sub-Folders - Files in Sub-folders now correctly import for as many sub-levels exist.
   3. FIXED Import HD Files DiscID Field - Now as you type, the auto-complete fills in with the closest matching entry, but all characters are highlighted and are replaced as you keep typing. This allows entering a new DicsID that was not already in the list for that Brand.
   4. FIXED Change Read-Only Attributes to Read-Write - If any KMA files are found with Read-Only status they are changed to Read-Write and imported. Read-Only status prevents indexing in the Songs Database or editing with Edit Songs as the KMA header must be updated.
5. Singers Dialog
   
   1. UPGRADED Screen Refresh - This now refreshes far less than before.
   2. FIXED "Last Date" Fields - Both fields for Singer and Song now update to the current date each time a Song is added to the Playlist and that Singer sings it.
   3. FIXED Delete Singers - Only the Singers you select are deleted. In 4.06 with a large number of Singers, some were deleted that you did not select.
6. Edit Songs Dialog
   
   1. UPGRADED Artist & Title Naming button - We changed the title to "How To Enter Artist & Title Names" to make it clear what the button does. We also changed the Message that appears to make it clearer how to enter Artist and Title names so your Songs appear correctly in your Songbooks.
   2. FIXED Hide In Songbook Checkbox - This was not being saved in the KMA file header. It now does.
   3. UPGRADED Select Multiple Field Updating - If you don't change the Language or Genre parameters they are not changed with updating multiple songs. However, the Mux, Duet, and Hide in Songbook parameters will be set on all selected songs. We added a red text warning in the dialog near the Apply button to insure you see this every time you might update files. Select only those files that match these 3 parameters so they are set correctly.
   4. FIXED Select Multiple View Batch Canceling - The Cancel button now terminates a batch operation as soon as the current change finishes.
7. General Changes
   
   1. UPGRADED Import Database - Tens of thousands of tracks have been added to this database that automatically fills in Artists and Titles for each track once you select a Brand and DiscID.
   2. NEW Computer Checks - Hoster now performs three checks every time it runs to verify your computer meets the minimum requirements to run reliably. We found this necessary to guide Hoster early users who want to upgrade to Hoster 4. Underpowered computers must be upgraded for Hoster to run reliably. Running other programs with Hoster on computers without enough computer RAM will cause both programs to be unstable.
   3. UPGRADED Vista UAC Check - Vista problems all seem to disappear when the User Access Control (UAC) is disabled. Each time Hoster runs, it checks to insure this is disabled. Behind the message appears the Vista dialog where you can manually disable UAC because Microsoft does not allow a program to change this. Hoster will run with UAC enabled, but disabled will give better performance. WARNING: Since Microsoft is replacing Vista with WIndows 7 in January 2010, we strongly recommend you replace your Vista with "Vista Premium with Downgrade to XP". XP is a stable platform while Windows 7 can be expected to be unstable until SR1 is available.
   4. UPGRADED Playback Offset Command - This was added back into the Tools menu Options command. If your graphics display driver is out-dated the lyrics highlighting can be fast or slow, which this option allows adjusting.
   5. UPGRADED CD/DVD Drive Defaults NONE Option - If no optical drives are found, or all found optical drives are bad, "NONE" appears in the Default Read Drive: list box to allow running Hoster without an optical drive.
   6. UPGRADED Search Dialog K-oke and Audio Buttons - Imported files from a USB Flash Drive a Singer brings to your show now stores them in the same Temp folder as the Disc button. If Hoster crashes, these temporary copied Songs are still on the hard drive and will appear and be able to play when Hoster runs again. They are auto-deleted when played or Hoster is closed normally.
   7. CHANGED Upgrade Windows - While installing, the upgrade Web page URL appears for your Windows XP or Vista. Follow the instructions to upgrade or modify your Windows to use Hoster to run professional shows!
   8. UPGRADED "Karaoke & Audio" Buttons - These buttons are enabled to show their file types. You can disable any to not search for their file types, but your change is not saved when you close this dialog.
   9. UPGRADED Increased BookID Root to 5-Digits - By allowing Audio files to be added to the Songs Database, the available BookID's could be all used. With 5 digits, you now have 99,999 separate BookID root numbers. A new import/indexing operation coming will allow using all 99 tracks for BookIDs, increasing the number of songs you can index to 10 million.
   10. FIXED Unstable Operation - We found several memory leaks that could cause Hoster to crash. These are all fixed and operation is extremely stable again.

V4.06a - Released November 5, 2008

A new 4.06a DEMO file Released November 14, 2008

1. FIXED Playing Files With Long DiscID's - When playing a song with a 12 character long DiscID, sometimes a letter wa at the end of the Track#, which prevented playing the file.
2. NEW Installation Can Remove Registry Keys - Windows or other programs can damage Hoster's Registry Keys causing unexplainable errors. You can now remove the Keys, which rebuild correctly the next time Hoster runs.

V4.06 - Released October 20, 2008

We have worked very hard to repair all problems that could prevent Hoster from running reliably as it has for 8 years. MTU and our Beta Testing Team believe this should be a solid release that can run on XP and Vista computers.

1. UPDATED Video With Mux: and Key Change Buttons - When the Tools menu Options command OLD video player is selected, the Mux: and Key Change buttons work while playing a Video file.
2. UPDATED Installation Program For Vista - Vista with SR1 is NOT designed to run Video and Audio in sync for Karaoke shows. We have warned about this since June, 2007. Hoster 4.06 detects when installing on Vista and displays this instruction page. When you click a checkbox to certify you have made these changes, Hoster will finish installing. When done; Hoster doesn't crash, sync-to-audio is perfect, audio does not dropout, and videos will play.
3. FIXED Lyrics Stay In Sync While Adding Singer's Disc - In prior versions the lyrics in the playing song would get out of sync while importing a Singer's disc track.
4. FIXED Audio Stutter In Vista - When moving the Volume Slider while playing an MP3G song, the audio no longer stutters and the lyrics remain in sync-to-audio.
5. FIXED Pause/Resume Button In Vista - Pause now halts both the audio and the lyrics.
6. FIXED Stop Play Button - Stop now ends the music and the lyrics together.
7. FIXED Playlist Changes Save Instantly - In prior 4.0x versions making a change in the playlist did not save it if you were in Auto mode. All edits and changes now save as soon as they are made; in Man or Auto mode.
8. FIXED Move & Resize Show Display - You can double-click to move the Show Display between #1 and #2 Monitors and make it go full screen or back to a windowed view. When a Lyrics song is playing, it restarts whether you double click it from display #1 to #2, or from #2 back to #1. This clears the buffers and erases all the graphics. Video and Audio songs do not restart the Show Display.
9. FIXED Build Songs Database Cancel Button - This now works as expected and restores the prior database if clicked.
10. FIXED Preview Shows Non-Bold Marquee And SND - The Preview window does NOT show bold in either the Singers Names Display or Marquee because bold letters at its 8pt size are hard to read.
11. REMOVED Audio Slider - The Music slider was removed, and the Main slider renamed Volume. It controls the WAVE volume in XP, and the Hoster Application volume in Vista.
12. ADDED Marquee Scroll Selection - The Scroll direction: list box has a new "No Scroll" option that shows your Marquee messages without moving the phrases.
13. ADDED Popup Messages For "S+", "Mux:" And "Key:" - These say what you must do to use these features when these buttons are grayed out and clicked.
14. UPDATED Video Vocals Defaulted To Silence - Since most VCD and DVD songs have multiplexed vocals on the right channel, Hoster now defaults to play the left channel music only out both speakers. Clicking the Mux: buttons allow playing the vocals on a song if desired.
15. UPDATED Tools > Options dialog Defaults to Old Video Player - Hoster now defaults for Mux and Key change working with Videos. The Preview window does not show Videos, but switching to the NEW player you can have this... but not Video Mux and Key change.

V4.05 - Released September 29, 2008

1. NEW Remove and reinstall Video Hoster without MTU help.
2. FIXED Crashes Before Opening - A bug was fixed that could prevent Hoster 4.04 from opening if you were upgrading a prior version that was set to present the Show Display (Intermission View) Always On option to run with a single display (versus dual display).
3. FIXED Video Randomly Not Playing - A bug was fixed that could prevent a video song from playing either in the Preview Display, or Show Display, or both.
4. FIXED Different Bit Rate Files Play Again - To play under Hoster 4.0x the files had to be imported (or MP3/WMA compressed) at 44.1khz and would not play if they did not use this sampling rate. All files should now play as they did in version 3.3xx. We modified this to support our future Tempo change, which has been upgraded to allow changing these files also when Tempo is released.

V4.04 - Released September 18, 2008

You'll love the performance changes in 4.04 over 4.03! All reported bugs are fixed and "under-the-hood" upgrades make everything run faster. The Show Display (including videos) works much better on single and dual display systems. Lots of Vista improvements have been added. This will be our last release for several months as we work on major new features that require more time to code and test. Enjoy this FREE upgrade for all 4.0x users!

1. UPDATED Local Import Database - Each week we are adding more DiscID's to the Local Import Database. We are now up to 264,668 track definitions in this release.
2. AVAILABLE Hoster Version 3.40 runs on Vista, and is included in Hoster 4.04 to insure your shows continue even if a bug shows up that you can't tolerate. V3.40 is V3.321a upgraded to install and run with 4.04. It uses the same Playlist so you can switch to either within seconds. NOTE: We believe 4.04 users will no longer need the security of the 3.40 version, but are including it just in case we are wrong.
3. FIXED Error 3315 - We believe this is now fixed. When upgrading to 4.0x while building the Songs Database, some users saw "Field 'Songs.Track' cannot be a zero-length string (3315)" Others saw "Field 'songs.MfgName' cannot be a zero length string (3315)." The error checking we now have is catching files imported in prior Hoster versions that could have problems with the Track and/or Mfgr fields in the KMA header.
4. FIXED CUE Delay And Other Slowness - We fixed what was causing the extended CUE Delay and other delays. Now, things really snap!
5. FIXED Import HD Files Screen - This screen now appears much faster. Once you click a Type button and open a folder, the File List Window appears and starts populating with the found files of the selected Type. If you click the checkbox to use sub-folders, as files are added to the list a message appears with an animated clock that activity.
6. FIXED Playlist Video DUR Fields - There were some situations where the DUR field wasn't being set right in the Playlist for Video files. It should now work as expected. It also no longer blinks.
7. FIXED Update Playlist Time Field After Moving A Song - In prior versions the SND was updating, but not the Playlist field.
8. FIXED Key Change Pitches - These were off in 4.03 and are now correct.
9. FIXED DK Songs Logo - Some DK songs have a very different logo that did not draw correctly in 3.321a and prior, 3.40 and 4.03 versions. We have fixed this.
10. FIXED Slow Tools Menu Dialogs - The Edit Songs and CD/DVD Drives dialogs could take tens of seconds to appear as they have code that fills in some fields. We now quickly display the dialog, then run the code to populate the fields.
11. FIXED Adding Multiple Songs From Singers Dialog - Each song now uses its own key change as expected. Before, the key change setting for the first song was used for all songs added to the Playlist.
12. FIXED Black-Green Fields Now Show & - Before, it changed " & " to " _".
13. CHANGED Preview Display Now Duplicates Show Display - The Hoster screen Preview Display now shows what is appearing in the Show Display so you can see what your Singers and Audience are seeing.
14. NEW Preview Window Now Shows Videos In XP - The Preview Window shows the same contents in the Show Display, including video files. In Vista there is an unidentified bug that will NOT always start the activex player code. We have no way to fix this other than the new Video buttons below.
15. CHANGED Updated Add Singers Dialog - After auto fill selects a Singer name in the Singer field, if you press Tab, click outside this field, or press the Enter key (new feature) while still in the field the Song list below updates for the selected Singer.
16. CHANGED Updated Marquee Dialog - When this dialog closes, the cursor (focus) is now placed in the DiscID field (if the DiscID button is selected), or other active field when other buttons are selected.
17. CHANGED Show Display Intermission SND Defaults - The Intermission View Singers defaults are now 3 Singer Lines and 1 Singer/Line, but you can change them.
18. NEW Show Display Intermission Hide For Auto Mode - A new checkbox allows you to disable the Intermission View from trying to appear when the Auto (versus Man) button is selected. If you have a short Auto Play Delay, you should leave this checked so Intermission doesn't appear between changing songs. If you use longer Auto Play Delays you may want to enable it. When Man button is clicked, the Intermission View automatically appears, disappearing when the next song begins.
19. CHANGED Moving The Show Display Can Be Border Outline - This places far less demands on the graphics redrawing and refreshing what's underneath the moving display.
20. NEW Batch Convert KMA HDZIPs in Songs Database - For new features coming such as crossfading. Hoster 4.04 no longer directly plays KMA HDZIP format files. When Hoster 4.04 runs, the HDZIP to HDMP3G Converter requests to run if any HDZIP files are found in your Songs Database. Once you approve converting these, let continue to the end. A flag is then set that tells Hoster that all HDZIP files have been converted.
21. REMOVED Playing ZIP and HDZIP Files Directly - Preparing for new features, Hoster no longer plays ZIP or KMA HDZIP files. Use the Import hard drive files screen to import ZIP files as KMA HDMP3G Type files that will play. You can also manually unzip your files to MP3+CDG pair files and play them with the Audio button.
22. REMOVED Intermission View - When you are playing a song and select another, then click the yellow Play button, the Intermission View no longer appears to speed up playing the new song.
23. POSTPONED TO 4.05 Fix Video Mux Controls - Windows Vista does not give us the same access to the audio part of a video file. Thus, we must add considerable new code to be able to access the audio to control it for Multiplex playing. This is being done in version 4.05, along with other new features.

V4.03 - Released August 19, 2008

1. UPDATED Local Import Database - Each week we are adding more DiscID's to the Local Import Database, and the most recent upgrade is included in 4.03.
2. AVAILABLE Hoster Version 3.40 runs on Vista, and is included in Hoster 4.03 to insure your shows continue even if a bug shows up that you can't tolerate. V3.40 is V3.321a upgraded to install and run with 4.03. It uses the same Playlist so you can switch to either within seconds.
3. FIXED Lyrics Out-Of-Sync - FIXED!
4. FIXED Locked Up in CUE State - FIXED!
5. FIXED Locked Up When Dur: field hit 00 - FIXED!
6. FIXED Song Display Lyrics Restarted Multiple Times - FIXED!
7. FIXED Lyrics Out Of Sync By Selecting a Song While Playing and Click Play Button - FIXED!
8. REMOVED Converting HDZIPs to HDMP3Gs - We temporarily removed the code that wants to convert these files. Some old HDZIP files contain non-english characters report errors when converting that the current unzipper code will not handle. We will research this more and fix it in version 4.04.
9. FIXED Video Countdown Timer Now Halts With Pause - In prior versions, if you paused when playing a Video, the "video counter" did NOT stop. This appeared as random multi-second stopping too early, and lyrics out of sync by the same amount. This problem has ALWAYS been there since Video was added, and it is now fixed.
10. FIXED Lyrics Display Now Fills Display - The Lyrics window now resizes to fill the Show Display area for it, no longer showing black bars beside or above/below.
11. FIXED Reset Display Button Restores Show Display Default Location - It is very rare, but possible for the Show Display to get moved off the screen and not be clickable to get it back. The Tools menu > Options... command Reset Display function now works as it was designed; it forces the Show Display back to the center of the Computer monitor where you can click and drag it where you want it.
12. FIXED Starts Up In Sync - The first CDG song played now starts up with the lyrics in sync.
13. FIXED Double Cue-Play - Cue-Play Sequence On First Song - Songs now show CUE for a shorter time and go right into playing, continuing to the song end or until stopped or another song started.
14. FIXED Pioneer Discs Logo Shows Correctly - This weird logo now draws correctly as it has for years in Hoster and Microstudio!
15. FIXED 3.40 Will Not Play Songs Added From 4.02 - Songs added to the Playlist in 4.02 had a "feature" that 3.40 could not recognize. This was fixed, but you won't need 3.40 any more with 4.03 released.
16. CHANGED Old Songs Database No Longer Reappears - As part of supporting Vista starting in 3.321, we were forced to change where the Songs Database is created. To make it easy for existing users upgrading from older versions, Hoster searched for an existing Songs Database and copied it to the new C:\MTU\Hoster folder. However, this could cause problems in rare cases. This search is no longer done. If it doesn't exist in C:\MTU\Hoster it is automatically created for you.
17. CHANGED Requires Restarting Windows - There are many things that can mess up Windows XP and even more in Vista. When installing Hoster from scratch, or by updating, we now require that you restart Windows to clear out any pre-existing running problems before running Hoster.
18. POSTPONED Video and Mux: Buttons - The multiplex Mux: buttons are still grayed out and do not work while a Video file is playing. In Video Hoster 4.04, we'll ungray the Mux: buttons, and allow importing Video files into your Songs Database. This will allow saving which channel has the vocals on it so it can automatically play without the vocals.

V4.02 - Released August 5, 2008

1. UPDATED Local Import Database - Each week we are adding more DiscID's to the Local Import Database, and the most recent upgrade is included in 4.02.
2. AVAILABLE Hoster Version 3.40 runs on Vista, and is included in Hoster 4.02 to insure your shows continue even if a bug shows up that you can't tolerate. V3.40 is V3.321a upgraded to install and run with 4.02. It uses the same Playlist so you can switch to either within seconds.
3. NEW Options... Command - We moved the "check" commands at the bottom of the Tools menu into this new dialog, found at the very bottom of the Tools menu.
   
   
   1. NEW Options... "Real-Time, High, Normal" Processing Priority Buttons - These mutually exclusive radio buttons allow changing the Windows Process Priority for Hoster. High is the factory default, which is just below Real Time. If Hoster doesn't work right, and everything else has been exhausted, then try changing this. Real Time is not recommended, but may be required for some systems.
   2. NEW Options... "Include Songs Database" In Auto Complete Lists - This check box enables using your imported Songs Database Title and Artist names. When disabled, only the Import Local Database is used to create the Title and Artist lists for the Edit Songs, Import CD Tracks and Import HD Files screens. When disabled, this will present the MTU standard Artist and Title names, and build MUCH FASTER. You still have unique "Auto-Complete" options in the 3 screens to disable building and using the lists at all.
4. NEW Search Dialog - Three new buttons; Karaoke, Audio, and Video (Video importing will be soon) allow selectively searching these types of files.
5. NEW "Auto-Complete Names" Checkboxes - In the Import CD Tracks and Import HD Files screens, these enable or disable creating the Auto-Complete lists behind the Title and Artist fields. The Edit Songs dialog also has this disable checkbox already added.
6. NEW Batch Convert KMA HDZIP to KMA HDMP3G - For new features coming, Hoster no longer directly Plays ZIP or HDZIP format files. You can import ZIP files on the hard drive as KMA HDMP3G Type format. When Hoster 4.02 runs, the HDZIP to HDMP3G Converter requests to run (see below).
7. NEW Convert Playlist HDZIP to HDMP3G - Once the HDZIP Batch Converter has run all the way through, when you open a Playlist, instantly Hoster scans it for HDZIP files. If any are found, they are renamed to HDMP3G to link to the new format files.
8. NEW Remove Warning Message - If you run the Installation program and select to REMOVE, but Hoster can't connect over the Internet to the mtu.com registration script, a warning message appears stating that no Internet connect exists, and that removing will not allow installs again on another computer, with the option to terminate and connect to the Internet.
9. NEW Export Singers/Songs To Print - The Export button takes all Singers and their Songs, and creates a Tab Separated Values list, saved as a .RTF file in the C:\MTU\Hoster folder that you can open in Open Office, Wordpad, or Word.
10. FIXED Lyrics Out Of Sync - The lyrics should now correctly follow the audio in both the Show Display Lyrics View and the Hoster Screen Preview Display. This has been very difficult to perfect on Vista. Make sure all required changes and Computer Requirements are done to insure sync.
11. FIXED Crash After Video Played - Some users reported Hoster crashed after certain video files played. This was identified and fixed. In some cases, the .WMV video file had DRM protection. Hoster does not yet play DRM .WMV files, but no longer crashes when they are encountered.
12. FIXED Lockup In CUE State - When playing, there were unexplainable lockups when the Playlist was in CUE state before that song played. This is fixed.
13. FIXED Dragging Show Display To the LEFT Onto #2 Monitor/TV Crashed Hoster - OK, so no one drags to the left to place the Show Display on the second monitor when using dual displays, but now it won't crash if you do.
14. FIXED Save As Filename - Opening a prior Hoster project automatically appends a "-4" to the end of the filename before the .hst extension. Using Save As to create a new copy of this could append another "-4-4", building a long line of "-4-4-4-4-4". This is fixed.
15. CHANGED Shortened Hoster Screen Width - We removed the Record Section to shorten the Screen width. We added a Record button (grayed out until Record is added in a future version) that will display a dialog to control the recording and saving.
16. CHANGED Shortened CUE time - The CUE delay between selecting a Playlist song and it starting to play is now faster.
17. CHANGED Import HD Files Screen Now Converts ZIP Files To HDMP3G - As part of the conversion away from KMA HDZIP format, ZIP files now import as KMA HDMP3G Type files, which do not require unzipping.
18. CHANGED Edit Songs "Find" Button - Pressing the Enter key now executes the Find button at any time.
19. CHANGED Songbook Dialog Text and Layout - We changed the Select Song Book Contents section to make it easier to understand and use the new "Exclude Items" section.
20. CHANGED Songbook Exclude Section - We changed the TYPE selection to show a Karaoke sub-group, and changed HDAUD to Audio.

V4.01 - Released July 18, 2008

1. FIXED Script Error Line 40 - When you clicked Play, an error box could appear with this error message. It was found and fixed.
2. FIXED Hoster Lite Could Not Install - A problem with the Installation program could prevent installing Hoster Lite 4.00. This is fixed in 4.01.

V4.00 - Released July 15, 2008

1. UPGRADE Import Database with tens of thousands of newer DiscID definitions. Also, the Artist and Title names have been updated to provide the professional alphabetic ordering you demand in your Songbook.
2. NEW Hoster Version 3.40 runs on Vista, and is included in Hoster 4.00 to insure your shows continue even if a bug shows up that you can't tolerate. V3.40 is V3.321a upgraded to install and run with 4.00. It uses the same Playlist so you can switch to either within seconds.
3. UPGRADE KMA Header Format to give you the new features in 4.00. New KMA files can still be used by 3.x Hoster versions. 
    
   
4. Hoster Screen
   
   1. NEW Singers: Fields are drop-down lists populated with every Singer you enter. The list scrolls as you type to show matching entries so you can type 2 to 4 characters and find the name, or type in a new name this time to use from here on. Of course you can still use Hoster without any Singer names by not typing anything in these fields.
   2. NEW Show Button replaces the prior SND button. A single click refreshes the Singers Name Display if ever needed. A double-click displays the Show Display dialog to change the 4 views; Lyrics, Break/Intermission, Audio DJ and Video VJ (same as Tools menu Show Display command).
   3. NEW Marquee Button displays a dialog to quickly change what announcement messages are scrolling in the Marquee window.
   4. NEW Singer (Database) Button displays a dialog to access the Singers Database. Like the Search dialog, it can remain open while using the Hoster screen. Songs mode shows all songs for a selected singer, adding key and tempo changes, deleting, and selecting multiple to add instantly into the Playlist. Singers mode shows all stored Singers and allows Rename, Save As, and Delete for maintaining this database.
   5. NEW S+ Button adds the Singer and Song to the Playlist and the Singers Database. Its easy to add songs for your "Regular Singers" when they come to your show.
   6. NEW Playlist Time Column shows either the elapsed time until a singer is to perform, or the clock time they will perform, set in the Show Display dialog.
   7. NEW Playlist Key Field shows the Key change for each song. Right-clicking the field allows entering a new +/- key change after the song is in the playlist, before it plays.
   8. NEW Playlist Tempo Field is hidden in 4.00. It is just like the Key change field above, but for controlling a Tempo speed up or slow down.
   9. NEW Music Volume Slider adjusts the music volume while playing.
   10. NEW Main Volume Slider adjusts the overall volume of the mixed music and microphone input when Recording is enabled (available in 4.1x).
   11. NEW Audio Button adds Audio files (MP3, WMA, WAV) on the hard drive to the Playlist that are not imported as KMA files. Imported KMA audio files can be added with the BookID, Brand, Search and Singer buttons.
   12. NEW Video Button adds Video files (WMV, AVI, DAT, VOB, MPG, QT, MOV, DVIX, MPEG, M1V, M2V) on the hard drive into the Playlist. In version 4.1x, video files can be imported as KMA files to add with the BookID, Brand, Search and Singer buttons.
   13. CHANGED K-oke Button is the prior MP3+G button expanded to add more Karaoke type files to the Playlist from the hard drive, including; MP3+G, WMA+G, WAV+G, ZIP and even KMA files Singers bring to your show on a Flash Drive or CDROM.
   14. CHANGED Opens All Prior Playlist Files created in 1.x, 2.x, 3.x and 3.40 Hoster versions open in 4.0 where the new advanced Playlist features are available.
   15. CHANGED Hoster's Preview Display now can show video songs, and all other views the Singers and Audience see. It can still be un-docked to move and resize as a floating window.
   16. CHANGED Playlist Singers Field is now the first column. Right-clicking the field will open it to edit, left clicking it or any other field on a Playlist track allows click-n-dragging that track in the Show Rotation.
   17. CHANGED Mux Both, Vocal-L/Vocal-R Buttons are now Stereo and a single No Vocal/Vocal button to make it easier to remove or play the vocals if a Singer is falling behind to help them stay on stage.
   18. CHANGED Key Change Buttons are now + and - buttons and a value field to make it easier to live change during a performance, or setting before adding a song to the Playlist.
   19. UPDATED Hoster's Screen Layout is the same you already know with new features added in available spaces.
5. Show Display Window
   
   1. NEW Beautiful, Flexible, All In One! No more separate Video window or Singers Name Display window. Everything the Singer and Audience see now appears in one incredibly flexible window you click-n-drag to the TV/Display #2. Which view appears is automatically determined based on what is playing... or Intermission view when nothing plays from the Playlist. The Tools Menu Show Display... dialog allows selecting in each view to have the Scrolling Marquee visible or hidden, and the Singers Name area visible or hidden and how many Singers appear, optionally with their song Title and the time (elapsed or AM/PM) they will perform.
   2. Lyrics View appears when playing CDG lyrics or Video files where you set the "Video with Lyrics" flag. Set the background color or an image file. In version 4.1x you can select the song background color to be transparent and have the lyrics appear above your background images or video files playing in background.
   3. Intermission View appears (when separately enabled) when no Playlist songs are playing, such as between songs, and before Singers sign up. You can select the background color or an image file. In version 4.1x you can select between; 1) rotate graphic images while audio files play, 2) play motion videos, 3) show any local or Internet HTML web page such as FOX web site showing the New York's ball drop on New Years Eve, 4) show the Windows Media Player "Visualization" screen doing its thing to the audio playing. Incredible entertainment when you need a break, or for special events.
   4. Audio DJ View appears when audio songs play from the Playlist. You can select the background color or an image file. In version 4.1 you will be able to select; 1) graphic images changing while the audio plays, 2) any local or Internet HTML page, or 4) the Windows Media Player "Visualization" screen doing its thing.
   5. Video VJ View appears when video songs play from the Playlist, or you press an InstaButton assigned to a Video file.
6. Singers Names Display
   
   1. NEW Automatically Appears In Show Display Views When Enabled. No more adjusting window heights or moving around. The SND area can be enabled to automatically appear at the Top, Center or Bottom, individually in any of the Show Display four views.
   2. NEW The Number Of Singers is set from 1 to 15 Singer Lines to show, and 1 or 2 Singers per Line.
   3. NEW Separate SND Views For Lyrics and Intermission. The Lyrics View selection also appears in the Video VJ View, and the Intermission View selections also appears in the Audio DJ View. This allows showing more names during the Intermission breaks and while Audio DJ songs are playing.
   4. NEW Change Colors, Font, Size, Italics, etc. independently for Singer, Song, Time, and select a background color or graphic image.
   5. NEW Elapsed or AM/PM Clock Time shows when each song is scheduled to play. It is updated when each song starts, when a different song is selected to play out of order, and when new songs are added into the Playlist even while playing.
    
   
   
    
   
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