Are EZH disc's a problem?

[MTUSUPPORT]

This will be looked at in the future, not sure when. Currently our engineers are all on tight deadlines for other developements.

[Kate Hurrell]

Can I Have A Refund on Hoster then please?

Originally I wanted a program to back up all my songs in case of disc damage or other unexpected problems and was persuaded to purchase Hoster.

Afterwards I found that:

1) Hoster can not be used as a backup program as no other MTU program can read the KMA format! Nor does MTU have any plans to do this!

So I try running my show with Hoster -

2) Hoster can not read/record all the disc's that MTU claim it can read on their pre-installed song list! Plus MTU can not tell me when to expect a solution!

So why do I have Hoster???

[nreel]

FYI

The pre-installed Song List (Bucket.MDB) is only a TOOL that one MAY USE (NOT, MUST USE) to make Importing easier. That is to say, it only makes it easier, when one is importing a Disc, and, one chooses to use the Bucket.MDB as a means to "Prefill" the Artist and Songtitle information in order to SAVE one from having to TYPE IT ALL IN.

I don't see where MTU has represented that the Hoster Database contains all Song information that Hoster ALLOWS Importing.

A case-in-point would be any SoundChoice Mediacloqed Disc. SoundChoice provides Track information on these Discs but these discs will not Play in a Pioneer 888 Player.

The Bucket.MDB contains Disc/Track information on SoundChoice's Mediacloqed discs but Hoster cannot Import these Discs because the CDROM, which has nothing to do with CURRENT Hoster Programming, will not read these Discs.

Now, with that said, have you tried reinstalling Hoster? Sometimes this helps.

Are the discs, which are taking alot of time to read, scratched? Badly scratched discs can take an unbelievable amount of time to read, if at all.

Are you sure that your Reading Speed is set to MAX, for your CDROM, in the TOOLS/CD-DVD Drive Defaults Menu?

Have you installed any other BURNING Software that may have caused your CDROM to slow?

Does your CDROM read at the correct speed when Importing any other BRAND or when using any other BURNING Software?

[mindonstrike]

You say these EZH cdg's have copy protection but not multi-session. What kind of security is it?

I would think that if this is a good quality brand as you report, there would be other EZH/Hoster users having problems with them.
Based on the fact that yours is the only report of a problem with this brand, and I know of no problems with the other brands you mentioned, I'm inclined to think it's a hardware problem as nreel suggested and/or possibly a poor media quality problem

IMHO
Sam

P.S. I was going to purchase one of these to check out but they don't seem to be available in the U.S.

[admin]

Originally Posted by Kate Hurrell

1) Hoster can not be used as a backup program as no other MTU program can read the KMA format! Nor does MTU have any plans to do this!
2) Hoster can not read/record all the disc's that MTU claim it can read on their pre-installed song list! Plus MTU can not tell me when to expect a solution!

Kate, I don't have an immediate solution for you. As has been said, no other UK or other user has reported any problem with Essential discs. One of our workstation users in the UK records and mixes the music for Essential. I'll ask him what he can find out about this EZH series.

As to your questions above:

1. We are adding support for KMA format files converting back to CDG into our Microstudio software. It will be out this summer. This will allow taking KMA files and writing them to a CDG disc, in CDG format.
   
   
2. Right now, we are adding new CD Reading code into Hoster that should allow importing any standard disc on almost any CD/DVD drive. It has already been proven to allow importing Multisession protected discs. This should be beta testing by the end of this month. We expect to release it late June to early July. This really needs 3-4 weeks of testing to insure it is safe to release.

We can say that many Sound Choice users have reported 20 - 30 minute per track import time. It turns out if you make a backup copy of the same disc with Microstudio USING QUALITY MEDIA, then import it in Hoster, it takes only tens of seconds per track to import. In this proven case, it is the low quality media that was used by the producer. That is a fact, but I don't know if it applies to your EZH series.

We will try to buy one of these discs next week, as UK businesses are closed at this hour.


Here's a possible work-around:

Do you have any other software that can read these discs into MP3+G or ZIP files? That is what you would be using if you don't use Hoster. Well, Hoster 3.108 can import these files into KMA formats that add to our Songs Database and our Playlist, and our Song Book. So, try another import program and see if they can read these discs. If not, you got stuck with a new protection that won't import to any PC software.

Don't throw out the baby with the water. Try another import program to get MP3+G or ZIP files.

Another player (aka Hoster playing competitor) won't do you any good unless you have some way of ripping the discs into a compressed format that any of us can use.

This is a unique problem so far, which historically tells us all it is your computer setup. Work with us, not against us and we'll all try to get you running.

Have you made ALL Windows updates on your computer? If not, that might be the reason.

[admin]

Non standard problems take longer to diagnose. Your's is a unique one-of-a-kind and we all are trying to help you. The more you try to make Hoster work, and post what you have tried, the faster we will come to an understanding of what is wrong. It may be these discs have a new, unique protection. I doubt it though. I think as the others do that your system has something wrong with it.

Do you have MTU's Microstudio or any other CD Reading and Writing sofware? If so, please try to make a backup copy of the EZH discs. If this fails, it may be a new protection. Use Mitsui or Song CDR media.