Hoster 4.05 - The Factory Status - Released 9/29/08

[admin]

I will update this Thread several times a week.

Please come here for the latest status on Hoster 4.00. I will not be answering "where is 4.0" in other Threads, only here.

Vista has taken much longer to get working. There are a few problems we are still ironing out, but we are getting down to the final release for testing.

Current target for release is Monday June 9th.

[admin]

For those of you who are thinking maybe you should go back to XP from Vista, I'd recommend it, and you better do it ASAP. Microsoft will REMOVE XP retail packages from the market June 18th.... you have 8 days from now to get it.

That's one reason we're working so hard to get Hoster behaving on Vista. What a bear... never in my 40 years as a product developer have I or my engineers ever had to deal with such a mess!

We hope Beta 35 that went out 30 minutes ago for testing will solve the Vista problems. Thirty-five beta versions!!!!!!!!!! Never before have we had that much testing on any development, and our testers are STILL NOT in seeing the same results. We take each report and nail the problem. We made some major breakthroughs today. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

[admin]

For those who want to know... last Monday we stopped trying to get Hoster 4.00 to work correctly with XP and Vista. What works for XP, fails with Vista! We commented out the "Vista patches", and our Beta Testers are now able to play KMA files correctly in XP.

We are now on Beta 39, scheduled for Wednesday evening. It handles all the weird problems some Karaoke producers have created over the decades, that Hoster 3.321 and prior handles correctly. We couldn't upgrade our rewritten code until the lyrics sweep worked.

Current target is to release Hoster 4.00 for XP on Monday, June 23rd or Tuesday the 24th.

For those who want to know, as soon as 4.00 is released, we will work on version 4.01 to run on BOTH Vista and XP. We have learned much about how Vista really works over the past 10 months, so we hope this will happen quickly.

FYI... Hoster 4.00 Beta 38 contains Hoster 3.40 also, which is Hoster 3.321a upgraded to run with 4.00 Registration Codes. If you find something wrong in 4.00, you can drop back and run your shows with 3.400 until we release a fix. We want everyone to upgrade to 4.00.

Hoster 4.00 has a major security upgrade. Some of you know MTU has worked hard over the years to make our security invisible to you. However, the worst problem we hadn't overcome is when your show computer dies and MTU must intervene to allow you to install on a third computer.

In 4.00 you will be able to remove Hoster from one of your 2 computers, and install it on another WITHOUT MTU HELP. In addition, you will be able to install 4.00 on 3 computers to replace loosing one to a failed computer that it can't be removed from. Initial testing shows this is working perfectly.

Vista is here to stay. We have to accept that fact, and spend much longer than ever before to make applications work on Vista.

Is MTU happy? NO!

Is XP more stable than Vista RIGHT NOW, YES.

Will Vista be stable within 12 months? I DON'T THINK SO.

What do I recommend? You must make your own business decision. Vista will continue to have problems running programs for some time. We'll do our professional best to make Hoster "behave" on Vista.

Microsoft is again forcing Computer Makers to install Vista ONLY in 2 more days. Last time they tried this, computer sales dropped to ZERO. No one wanted Vista then. Can they pull it off this time? Wait 2 weeks and we'll all know. If XP resurfaces again, Microsoft failed again to control the Earth's personal computer users.

Personally, I hope they fail and reverse this poor decision.

[admin]

First the good news... The problem we have been striving with... the lyrics screen blanking when errors in the imported song are found... is now fixed. We have 5 test files and they play to the end now. THIS... was preventing us from releasing.

We are adding a few cleanup items, and hope to finish Tempo tomorrow. The audio changes fine, but the lyrics need to be tweaked to remain in sync. If we can't get this done tomorrow, we may remove all Tempo change controls and add them back in version 4.01. If we are "almost there", we may delay 4.00 release until Wednesday next week.

We are currently targeting release on Monday, June 23rd. Tomorrow we'll have a better idea, and Monday we can say YES or... not yet.


Now the bad news... On Vista, the changes we made cause 4.00 to crash and the lyrics are out of sync with the music. Thus, we will prevent installing version 4.00 on Vista.

We will start working on 4.01 to run on Vista as soon as 4.00 is released. We expect this to be a free upgrade for 4.00 owners. The problem with Vista is that things can be going great, then you hit a snag and are side-tracked for weeks. We'll get it done.

[admin]

After the Beta Testers reports tonight, and not finishing Tempo change last week, we will not be releasing Monday June 23rd.

We want to release as much as you folks want to get 4.00. However, there are some areas such as the lyrics sync to the music that are not yet behaving with all our Beta Testers. We'd like to see 100% approval from them.

Tomorrow we should be able to establish a new target release date.

[admin]

Hoster 4.00 is gettig cleaner. We found last night that Windows Media that is part of our player code version 9.0 is very different from 11.0. We are now integrating changes to work with 11.0, which is what most of you now have due to the Windows Updates delivering it.

Until we get this part running, we can't do another Beta Test. Things are going well so far so I'm confident we'll get Beta 42 out either today or tomorrow.

Our current target for release is either this Friday or next Monday.

[admin]

We just released Beta 44 for testing tonight. Beta 43 had a number of random problems reported by single users, and a few had duplicate reports. If testing goes well tonight, 4.00 will release this week.

It is getting cleaner with each Beta Version. Some of the reported bugs are old (never been reported before), so our testers are really wringing it out! We are all ready to release, but want it to be clean.

To insure you will be able to continue a show, even if 4.00 fails for you, we have compiled 3.321a into 4.00 as a separately runnable 3.40 version. Thus, you can use 4.00 unless you find a problem you don't want to deal with, fire up 3.40 with the same playlist, and keep running. The playlists and KMA files are compatible. You can even run a copy of both at the same time, so cutting over could be very fast.

We are finding that Microsoft XP and Windows Media Player 11 or 12 consume almost all of 512MB RAM. Hoster 4.00 can run with them, but we just don't have much RAM to use, causing slowdowns and sporadic, unexplainable problems. If you have 512MB RAM, upgrade your systems to at least 1GB, and I'd recommend 2GB while you are at it to save time and money.

We will start on 4.01 to run under Vista the day we release 4.00. We are now 99% confident we know why Vista was giving us such heartburn. We estimate it will take about 40 hours to recode, then testing begins. We expect 4.01 will release in July.

[admin]

I chose to delay release of 4.00 as we are hopefully within a week of releasing 4.01. We currently expect to get a Final Release Candidate out tonight for testing on both XP and Vista.

Hoster requires Internet Explorer 7 to run reliably. This is standard with all Vista versions. For XP users, upgrade now so you will be ready to install and run Hoster 4. The new Show Display with 4 views (Lyrics, Intermission, Audio DJ, and Video VJ) runs from a customized version of Internet Explorer, free of all cluttering controls.

Some of our testers also found that XP SP3 makes Hoster run better. You can download and install this over the Internet free by clicking your Windows Start button, then the "Windows Upgrade" link. Select "Custom" versus "Express" and allow it to find everything you need to install before installing SR3.

We have used the latest technologies available to make Hoster the most advanced product on the market today.

Current target release is Friday, July 11th, or Monday July 14th.

[admin]

Hoster 4.00 is expected to release Monday, July 14th and that looks solid right now.

Hoster 4.00 Beta 45 is out for testing tonight on Windows XP. It does not run properly on Vista, but we have more knowledge what we must do.

[admin]

We are down to fixing the minor problems that always surface as we move toward final release.

Beta 47 just went out to our testers. It is very clean........

We expect to release on Monday, but over the weekend we will get more reports so I RESERVE the right to change this.

We now EXPECT... to release Monday on XP only.

Vista is back-burner as it has already cost us over 8 man-months of time and we are now on new features, not Microsoft mistakes. Hoster 4.x is EXPECTED to work with Vista, but we have no idea right now when that will be.

I should mention again that Hoster 4.00 includes Hoster 3.40, which is 3.321a running with the new 4.00 RegCode, and able to co-exist with Hoster 4.00. IF you run into 4.00 problems you can quickly shift to 3.4 and keep running. We will be repairing any reported problems VERY FAST and free upgrades will be available as we fix bugs.

[admin]

Hoster 4.00 released July 15th for XP.

It includes Hoster 3.40, which is identical to Hoster 3.321a, but recompiled to run with a Hoster 4 Registration Code, and with Hoster 4.0x. Version 3.40 DOES run under Vista so you can start now with this, and when we release 4.02 running on Vista you can upgrade. Your choice...

[admin]

Hoster 4.01 released July 18th.

There were two bugs fixed (view here).



We are now testing Hoster 4.02 Beta 2 for Vista. This includes a number of upgrades, bug repairs and a few new features. We expect today to release Beta 3 as there was still a bug reported. We are getting closer to finally releasing for Vista.

[admin]

We just sent out Hoster 4.02 Beta 3... for Vista.

We hope this is the Final Release Version!

[admin]

OK.... here we go.

In my 31 years with MTU, we have NEVER experienced what we are now going through. We are months behind on new features as we struggle with the problems of Vista.

I hope everyone has installed 4.02. It fixes more reported problems. However, it is not perfect either. We had a long Engineering meeting yesterday and are embarking on a new direction. With all we now know, we can say that using Windows Media Player and IE together is NOT a good combination. The flashing, crashing, flckering, etc. you are experiencing, we can't get rid of. We have our most sophisticated programmer on this, and after at least a man-month of trying this, and that, and tuther, and other... we've exhausted all KNOWN fixes for WMP+IE. There may be something else, but we're no longer looking for it.

Today, we're taking a new... yet old... direction. It is CLEAR that our older Lyrics player from Hoster 1.000 to 3.321a IS in sync with the audio, did not flicker, did not crash when Duration hit 00:00, and IS as stable as the Rock of Gibraltar! That my friends, is what MTU has always delivered in the past, and our driving desire to deliver with Hoster 4.0. We won't quit until we attain stability again.

Mind you, the ONLY problems with our older code was it couldn't handle Tempo SPEED UP more than about +8%. It went down to -52% without a glitch, but was too old-a-code (not based on DirectX) to go faster. Also, as you know, video files played in a separate window that we are trying to also make into one Show Display. Well, as the President, yesterday I made a "judgment call" after an extended Engineering meeting with my staff.

First, very, very few Hosts or private users have ever asked for Tempo change.

Second, NO ONE has ever asked for SPEED UP. Those who are out for a good time and thus inebriated with "spirits", and older folks... both want to SLOW DOWN so we can see and respond to the slower music.

So, we now expect to retain all the beautiful Show Display 4-screen flexibility, and the Marquee, Singers Names Display, Instabuttons, and Video playing and return to using our older tried and true "Lyrics Render" code that is rock solid.

It doesn't use Microsoft DirectX at all.

It doesn't use Microsoft Windows Media Play at all.

It doesn't use Microsoft Internet Explorer.

It DID work, and it WILL work again in 4.0, including playing videos.

Lord willing, our Beta Testers will see its performance early next week. Like you, we want to regain stability. I can't sleep at night knowing my customers aren't using perfect code! I WILL restore the faith you have always had in MTU to deliver perfection!

Microsoft is in trouble, IMHO. They should have never FORCED the world to use their "infantile" Vista. It is designed for computer newbies. After 9 man-months WASTED..... yes, WASTED.... we still don't know how to make its components work together!


Hopefully next week we'll have our old code running again... and stable... with the new functions still there.

We have been working on Tempo since last November...on and off mind you. We were trying to bring it to you in 4.03, but alas, it is delayed again to solve the sync problems.

We are working hard and WILL give you a Hoster we can all be proud of again.

Watch for 4.03 coming soon to you, our honored clients!

[admin]

GREAT NEWS!

Hoster 4.03 Beta 2 just went out to our testers. Beta 1 proved the lyrics are now in sync to the audio and the Show Display and Preview Display are playing in sync together.

We have a few more gremlins to work on before Monday. Depending on what the Beta Testers find, we may be able to release Monday or Tuesday.... in sync for Vista, Vista 64 and XP.

We haven't sacrificed any features; everything we have added in 4.00 and 4.02 is there. Even bugs that have been around since the beginning are being found and fixed. Version 4.0x is really going through the testing "ringer"!

[admin]

We expect to release Hoster 4.03 on Wednesday.

The lyrics are back in sync just as MTU has always provded... now for XP and Vista, and Vista 64.

The crashing bugs some users experienced are fixed.

We have temporarily suspended the "request" to convert your KMA HDZIP files to HDMP3G. You can again play KMA HDZIPs in the Playlist. Importing new ones will still convert to HDMP3G. You still cannot add ZIP files directly to the Playlist with the K-oke button.

We know how to fix the "bad" ZIP files some of you are seeing, but it will take more time than we have now. It is critical that we restore Lyrics Sync for everyone... and 4.03 does that and retains all the new Show Display features.

Look for the 4.03 announcement on the web site, and we will be sending out and email notice to all Hoster owners.

[admin]

Hoster 4.04 just released. It is a free upgrade for all Hoster 4.0x users.

Download it from the Hoster Upgrades & Downloads page.

There are 22 new features, upgrades, changes and bug fixes total. This fixes all problems that we are aware of. Hoster 4 should now perform up to MTU standards, on both XP and Vista.

We HIGHLY RECOMMEND all 4.0x users download and install it immediately.

Hoster 3.40 is still being included, and will through 4.05 to give everyone a safety blanket.

Version 4.05 will provide our new Sound Manager (required for a number of new features), Video Multiplex and any bugs reported in 4.04... although none are expected. We are "targeting" to release 4.05 by the end of October.

After 4.05, we will work on 4.10 which will have mostly NEW features that we had to postpone to get Hoster running on Vista. Depending on how many New Features we add, we are hoping to release 4.10 by December 31, 2008.

[admin]

Hoster 4.05 released on Monday. It is a free upgrade for all Hoster 4.0x users.

Download it from the Hoster Upgrades & Downloads page.

There are 3 bug fixes that make Hoster 4 run as stable as 3.321a... we think, but I'm sure someone will report another bug.

This fixes all problems that we are aware of. Hoster 4 should now perform up to MTU standards, on both XP and Vista.

We HIGHLY RECOMMEND all 4.0x users download and install it immediately.

Hoster 3.40 is still being included, and will through 4.05 to give everyone a safety blanket.

Version 4.05 does NOT include our new Sound Manager (required for a number of new features), and Video Multiplex is still not available. We tried 3 ways to get Windows to give us the audio stream while playing a video with Windows Media Player. NO GO! We are writing very difficult code now to snatch the audio stream from Windows so we can perform MUX on it.

We are again working on Hoster 4.10 which will have mostly NEW features that we had to postpone to get Hoster running on Vista. We expect to release 4.10 in early 2009.