Using Hoster 4.0 KMA files with Older versions of Hoster

[KaraokeJohn25]

Let me first say that i had trouble with Hoster 4.O on my laptop and I reinstalled Hoster 3.108 back on it and Like the way it performs. I basically could not get the MTU Certified CDG Player to work. For some strange reason on my laptop Hoster 4.O would not recognize it. I bought new version of Hoster and Certified CDG Player to be able to import some disks that would not import with older version of hoster.
I have since installed Hoster 4.0 on my desktop and along with the Certified player it is working. I still don't like the Singer display on Hoster 4.O, I am used to having a single screen that shows lyrics, and then shows singers names and songs that are on the show list. I definately don't like the Marquee feature and Having the screen split in three sections. I'm telling you this so you will understand what I want to do.
Is it possible to import files to a external Harddrive using Hoster 4.O & the new CDg reader, hooked up on my Desktop and then Play them using an older version of Hoster such as 3.108 or 3.110? Also will I need to rebuild the Data Base on the harddrive when I use That Hard drive on my Laptop? Can I Uust rebuild the data base for that drive with out messing up the songs already on the C drive where most of my songs are? Finally would It be easier to Move all my existing KMA's on C drive to The New External Drive and then rebuild the Data base? I am looking for a good easy solution to this query.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
John

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by KaraokeJohn25

I have since installed Hoster 4.0 on my desktop and along with the Certified player it is working. I still don't like the Singer display on Hoster 4.O, I am used to having a single screen that shows lyrics, and then shows singers names and songs that are on the show list. I definately don't like the Marquee feature and Having the screen split in three sections. I'm telling you this so you will understand what I want to do.

Just FYI you can turn the extra sections off & display only the lyrics on the singer display screen.

[swany]

kma files are the same and will work with any version.

You can go to tools and merge the files you import no matter where you put them, what I do is first get my kma files in a folder don't make any difference how many.

When you locate it through the merge tool, do double click it and be in the folder or it will merge all files on the drive.

Make sure the drive letter remains the same each time you plug it in, become adapt at changing that drive letter if it does not.

[KaraokeJohn25]

Dear Swany:
Thanks for that Info, The Older version of Hoster that I use on my Show Computer does not have a Merge function or at least I don't find it. It doe's Have a rebuild database function. Will that work If I just have the External HD and Songs folder listed in the rebuild database field? I have been able to import some disks using Hoster 4.0 that I could'nt with 3.108. I still like the more simple older version for shows. I guess I am used to It. I may try it using the rebuild database function and see what happens. I just don't want to mess up my existing database's.
Thanks
John

[mindonstrike]

Originally Posted by KaraokeJohn25

Dear Swany:
Thanks for that Info, The Older version of Hoster that I use on my Show Computer does not have a Merge function or at least I don't find it. It doe's Have a rebuild database function. Will that work If I just have the External HD and Songs folder listed in the rebuild database field? I have been able to import some disks using Hoster 4.0 that I could'nt with 3.108. I still like the more simple older version for shows. I guess I am used to It. I may try it using the rebuild database function and see what happens. I just don't want to mess up my existing database's.
Thanks
John

Why don't you just use The Hoster 3.4 that came bundled with 4.0 ? It has the look and feel of 3.108 it also has merge and your cdrom will work with it.

And a host of other reasons (pardon the partial punn)

Sam

[KaraokeJohn25]

Thank You I never thought about using the Hoster 3.4? I guess It might be worth a try.
I did try rebuilding the database funtion on 3.108 using the files I downloaded with version 4.O. It worked and They will play but it used the ID number that 4.0 used. Which I guess might play havoc with my songbooks when I eventually reprint them. But that is minor since most of the time I use the search by song feature.

John

[KaraokeJohn25]

I just popped in the Hoster CD that I got from MTU and can't seem to find the bundled version of 3.4 that some people have eluded to. What is on the disk is a version of Hoster 4.0 and Hoster Lite 4.1. I also checked to see if it might possibly have been in the MTU Hoster file already on the computer but don't see it there either. Where else should I be looking? I would love to have the merge funtion and the new Optiarc MTU Certified Drive working on my show computer.
Thank you for any help you can give.
John

[hwheeler43]

It shows up in one of the hoster folders when you install 4.0. I think it is mtu/hoster. Not positive about that but it is an executable file named something like hoster34.exe It will be in one of the mtu folders on your hard drive. Works great by the way.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Hoster 3.40 is located here:

C:\Program Files\Micro Techcologies Unlimited\Hoster\Hoster34.exe

It is installed with 4.0X.

Jim

[KaraokeJohn25]

Ok I went ahead and installed version 4.0 on my show computer and found the bundled 3.4 and both are working.
Here's Why! I tried importing on my Desktop computer and then transfer files to my laptop. It didn't work because I ended up with duplicate Id numbers I have about 9000 songs on my laptop and had none on my Desktop. When I tried to rebuild database using 3.108 It did not change the numbers and would not put them into the database because it recognized them as duplicates. So hence I fiddled with the new versions and got the merge function to work. My new drive is also working well too on either computer. I guess it pays to ask for help. I have a week or so to work out the bugs and get used to the new version. Hope you all have a great day

John

[KaraokeJohn25]

I have been playing with Hoster 4.0 and found this one little problem. It takes that program a long time to load from the desktop and once it does the function buttons have a few seconds delay before they actually do anything. example play and stop buttons take 3to5 seconds before actually doing anything its like they are stuck. The same with all the buttons. I guess this version uses a lot more resources. When I use the bundled version of 3.4 it performs normally with no unexpected delays.
What can I do to help this situation with Hoster 4.0? Any help will be appreciated.

[ddouglass]

Make sure you have all the Custom Updates from Microsoft.
Defrag the hard drive.
What processor and how much memory on this computer?
What is the size of your hard drive and how much free space is left?

[KaraokeJohn25]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Make sure you have all the Custom Updates from Microsoft.
Defrag the hard drive.
What processor and how much memory on this computer?
What is the size of your hard drive and how much free space is left?

I am have SP3 on this computer I have not Defrag'ed the Hard drive. The machine is a Sony Vaio VGN A-290 with Centrino 1.73 gighertz and has 1 gig of memory and a 80 Gig HD that has 30 gigs left on it I am now putting all songs on external drives A 40 gig with 36 gigs left on it and will eventually be using a 500 gig When I start importing Chartbuster E6, and Soundchoice Bricks.
As I said earlier the bundled version of Hoster 3.4 works with none of the problems mentioned about Hoster 4.0 I will try the Defragging however I recently just had the operating system reloaded and all the updates put on. Oh and by the way version 4.O works on my Desktop fine with no delays and It is much older and slower than my laptop.

John

[ddouglass]

John,
You mention SP3, do you also have Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11 installed. Both programs are used and though you don't have to have the upgraded versions it does work better with them.
There are major differences between 4.0 (I assume you have got the latest 4.03) and the 3.4 version. The displays are produced with totally different components so it is like comparing apples and oranges.
Your C drive works the best and fastest if you try to keep around 50% of it free. The other drives don't need to have this much free, but they do need at least 25-30% free to be able to defrag them.
When your operating system was reloaded did they defrag the drive after that? Windows XP has one of the worst loading operating system Microsoft has ever produced. The fragmentation is so bad that even they recommend you defrag after loading.

[KaraokeJohn25]

I went ahead and defrag'd the Harddrive, and downloaded IE7 and media player 11. version 4.0 is responding better, with a couple of little quirks though. When I load a song on the song list and play it the graphics will be behind the music, this straighten's up if I stop the song and then start it again. Usually the first time I play any song, after that it seems fine, unless there is a long period between songs. I also have noticed that the key changer will not always be right. I have a deeper voice than what most songs are recorded in and rely on the key changer to put it low enough for me to sing. It will sometimes be higher than what it is saying it is. I checked for these little quirks in in the bundled version 3.40 and they did not appear. I will probably use that version for my shows till I get version 4.0 debug'd with Y'all's help. I could not find anything in the manual about these problems. I am hoping they are just something simple like the other stuff was. I really like the new import features of the 4.0 versions. I have been able to import some disc's that I was not able to with version 3.108

Thank you
John

[marklwood]

If you can hang on a couple more days, the problems you are having are being addressed in the newer version due out on monday. It will be version 4.04.

[admin]

Originally Posted by marklwood

If you can hang on a couple more days, the problems you are having are being addressed in the newer version due out on monday. It will be version 4.04.

4.04 is now scheduled for release Tuesday... at the earliest.

Turns out with Vista, playing a video on the Show Display Video VJ View, and it being coped in the Preview Display in the Hoster Screen, sometimes (on Vista) it won't play on one screen or the other, sometimes neither.

It is Vista that is NOT LOADING the video activex code so we can play.

We are adding 2 new buttons in the Tools menu > Options command.

These two buttons switch between video players.

The "Play Video + Preview Display" button should work fine with Windows XP. With Windows Vista it may not show the video in both the Show Display Video and Preview Display every time.

If you run Vista and sometimes Videos don't appear in the Show Display Video view, then click the "Play Video In Show Display Only" button. When you play a Video file, this will not show the Scrolling Marquee or Singers Names Display, and will not play the Video in the Preview Display. This is the older "player" used in Hoster 3.40, 3.321a and prior. There is no Marquee or Singers Names possible with this view... when playing a Video.

When playing CDG or Audio or Intermission Views, you can have the Marquee and Singers Names... unless you disable them in some or all of these Views. All graphic content (Lyrics, video, graphic images, etc.) play in the Show Display AND the Preview Display.

It is only the Video view that is affected by these buttons that "switch" which video player is in use. Again, only Vista has the problem.

Another proof that Vista was NOT READY for release to the public, or even to developers. More wasted time... more complexity to make Hoster work on XP and Vista.

[Skybird74]

Admin,
Will the MUX button now work with Videos?

[admin]

When we are in the "Old Video Window" mode, we may be able to provide that as we had it before. I'll talk to our programmers tomorrow about it.

If not (and with our "full video mode"), it is coming in 4.05. Vista doesn't give us separate access to the audio stream with a video, which is what we must have. We have to add our new SoundManager code to be able to separate the audio and perform the mux'ing operations on it.

[Skybird74]

Admin, please forgive me if this is a stupid question
For months now I've bee reading how some things that work on XP won't work the same way on Vista and the constant difficulties you are having getting Hoster to work the same on 2 different systems.
Why not offer 2 versions of Hoster 1 for XP and 1 for Vista
Everyone was happy with Hoster before Vista