Hoster 4.2 and windows 7 disaster - FIXED in V4.22

[ddouglass]

Ed I don't understand your hesitation to try 4.21. The only thing they did was to fix some code errors that were causing the problem of Hoster stopping at the end of a song and the others were having. Nothing else was changed or touched. There is absolutely no difference between 4.20 and 4.21 otherwise. This was not an upgrade with new added functions but a fix only of existing code.

[Ed Beram]

dale, please take a look at bryans latest post, this is why i'm always a little gun shy. you can see that it still is not ready for prime time just yet. not trying to be smart a-- but it simply isn't reolved yet.

[ddouglass]

But since nothing else was changed and no one has reported any additional problems AND it has fixed the problem completely for some, maybe you should try it and see if it helps you. You will never know unless you try. Just my opinion.
Just because it didn't completely fix the problem for everyone doesn't mean they are not looking into this further to see if any more can be found.

[Roy Dennis]

providing you keep a copy of the original install file you can always go back to your previous version if you are not satisfied with 4.21.

Roy.

[Ed Beram]

okay, i did save the original 4.20. i think i would like to upgrade, though, to the full hoster version instead of keeping the "Lite" version since i am missing out on a few features like BA. i already uninstalled one of the two licenced lite 4.20 versions when i sold my last laptop (vista). if i uninstall the second one, will i be able to download the latest 4.21 full hoster at a reduced/upgrade price? if so do i contact the sales office by phone or another method to straighten the purchase out with accounting?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Ed Beram

okay, i did save the original 4.20. i think i would like to upgrade, though, to the full hoster version instead of keeping the "Lite" version since i am missing out on a few features like BA. i already uninstalled one of the two licenced lite 4.20 versions when i sold my last laptop (vista). if i uninstall the second one, will i be able to download the latest 4.21 full hoster at a reduced/upgrade price? if so do i contact the sales office by phone or another method to straighten the purchase out with accounting?

There used to be an upgrade from Lite to the full version price on the web page but don't see it now. So I would submit a Support email to MTU. For department you need to choose Sales instead of Support. I don't know if they are not doing that anymore, but Sales should be able to tell you.

[admin]

Originally Posted by Ed Beram

james wheat did you switch to? I have been using hoster for 6 years and have been reluctant to change never knowing if going to another brand will have problems of a different nature. i must say over these years that between my band ( i use tracks and comp keyboard around them ) giutar player alsoweaves in and out of the tracks. it has always been bitter sweet with hoster. on one hand it gets the job done but on the other the release of new versions has been to frequent for my taste . how bout not releasing anything till its perfected and all bugs removed. the use of this forum is nice but i have rarely gotten to talk to a tech. rather a momma - pappa kind of operation i have always thought but as i say i get through it. xp of course had fewer problems but how many years can hoster go on blaming vista and windows 7...find a way to make hoster work with these operating systems or don't waste customers time with all the bugs. just do it right the first time then release it. i have had my frustrations but remain loyal since i have made decent income from my music work and don't have to carry sheet music along for the vocals etc. i just wish they were a bigger more sophisticated company that's all. i'm now having problems with windows 7 which they gave thumbs up to last year and thats why i just spent a thousand bucks on a w7 laptop which is shutting down me and many other hoster customers. i truly hope that they soon get thier software to come up to speed with the times and lets quit blaming windows or vista.if your program doesn't work well with them don't sell hoster to us at all. is this too harsh a commentary on mtu?

Ed, there is no way we can remove all bugs for every form-shape-type of PC/Windows computer. You have examples in this Thread of users who don't have a problem. I admit, it is our software and we ARE working on removing these recently reported bugs.

Please read this Post, and this Post.

These give our current assessment of the problems, and what we are working on to solve them.

Originally Posted by Ed Beram

no, ifeel your pain. this is getting old to many of us.i also don't want bash hoster just to be mean. i have said that it has worked well in past versions. i still think it is very important if for no other reaso as a long time customer to keep the issue published on this forum. i don't really believe the mtu folks are sitting back on some sunny beach in mexico and laughing at this series of problems but the point to be made is that when customers invest money in their product it should work right.. end of story. if it hasn't been run through the wringer a thousand times to make sure there are no problems, then DON'T RELEASE IT FOR SALE!!! get it right and let us praaise the product and recommend it to fellow KJ's not tell everyone we know to stay away from the product. i personally am not going to download the "bug fix" until there is sufficient kudos from a lot of hoster users.

I am appalled at you stating you have been crashing since 3.321a. Why haven't I seen Threads like this one before? Maybe you did post a complaint under another Thread - off topic - and I missed it. Those of you that have been with MTU for years (Hoster 1 released Aug, 2001) know when we clearly know of a crashing bug, we stop all new developments and fix it. We are doing that right now... since it is clear some of you are crashing. Again, out of tens of thousands of Hoster users, based on this Thread, there is a handful of you that are crashing. It simply hasn't come to our attention before, and I apologize for that... if we have been notified. Again, the vast majority of users are NOT experiencing this crashing. In 4.21,we did find and fix a bug that could cause a crash at the end of a song. We can't force you to upgrade, and I'm glad to read that you are now upgrading.

Originally Posted by Musicman51

I don't have the lyric sync issues you guys are having, and sorry to hear you are.

But speaking of "upgrades". I am using hoster lite, and on the version i have, it has all the bells and whistles, that hoster has....silence feature, the player, everything hoster has, the whole nine yards. But mtu saw in their wisdom to take all the features away from us hoster lite guys. So actually an "upgrade" for me, would be a downgrade in features. So, it wasn't like that when i purchased hoster lite, only main difference was the songbook feature. I don't run two rigs, just a small one man week-end warrior operation. But i think they should have kept the hoster lite features, like it originally was.

Thanks for voting as one of many who don't experience this reported problem.

As to Hoster Lite shipping with the features enabled that were reserved for Full Hoster, that was a gross oversight on our part. Our web site page clearly states these features are not available in Lite. We discovered this recently and that is why they are now removed.

Originally Posted by Ed Beram

dale, please take a look at bryans latest post, this is why i'm always a little gun shy. you can see that it still is not ready for prime time just yet. not trying to be smart a-- but it simply isn't reolved yet.

ADMIN = Dave (me). MTUSUPPORT=Bryan.

I reference my answers above to your quoted post. MTU has been in business since March, 1977. We have developed some of the best software in the world over those years. However, Windows Vista and W7 have taken their CONSIDERABLE toll on our code base. In the past, we kept upgraded on Microsoft's latest DevStudio that we use, and many users complained they were required to upgrade Direct-X and WMP (examples). Well, we now believe the out-of-sync and crashing are a direct relationship to our using a back version of DevStudio. We are in the midst of upgrading, and we "expect" you will be required to upgrade your Windows components.

Originally Posted by Ed Beram

okay, i did save the original 4.20. i think i would like to upgrade, though, to the full hoster version instead of keeping the "Lite" version since i am missing out on a few features like BA. i already uninstalled one of the two licenced lite 4.20 versions when i sold my last laptop (vista). if i uninstall the second one, will i be able to download the latest 4.21 full hoster at a reduced/upgrade price? if so do i contact the sales office by phone or another method to straighten the purchase out with accounting?

Originally Posted by ddouglass

There used to be an upgrade from Lite to the full version price on the web page but don't see it now. So I would submit a Support email to MTU. For department you need to choose Sales instead of Support. I don't know if they are not doing that anymore, but Sales should be able to tell you.

Ed, click the "My Account" navigation button at the top right of any mtu.com site page, log in, and you "should" see the "Lite to Full" upgrade (I say "should" because we added this back in last week and it may not be fully functional yet). This now appears only to those who onw a Lite version. If you don't see it, call our office and push 203 for Sales. If Lynne is tied up or away from her desk, leave a clear message with your name and phone number (repeat it twice please), and what you want to do.

Please note: You will need to uninstall your Lite before you can order and install the upgraded Full version.

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by Beavis

honestly, anyone who does this professionally, should be running windows xp pro !

Hey Bevis, I don't recall MTU advising everyone to use Hoster with XP PRO. Did I miss something?

[bryant]

Originally Posted by WaltR

Hey Bevis, I don't recall MTU advising everyone to use Hoster with XP PRO. Did I miss something?

I think at one time when Vista first made its entry it wasn't very useable w/o lotsa problems on a lot of programs, and most on this site at the time strongly suggested that if you have XP, keep using it as long as you can, as I have.

[Musicman51]

As to Hoster Lite shipping with the features enabled that were reserved for Full Hoster, that was a gross oversight on our part. Our web site page clearly states these features are not available in Lite. We discovered this recently and that is why they are now removed.

Dear Admin

Not going to harp on this issue. But when i ordered "Hoster Lite" several months ago. I purposely chose the "Lite" version for two reasons only. The deciding factors in purchasing hoster "Lite" over the "Hoster" version were simple. #1 The two programs were identical in features, except the notebook feature and #2, i am a small independent user, have absolutly no use for two copies of hoster. So "Lite" was made for me so to speak. It is not that way any longer. In midstream you choose, to change the layout of hoster "Lite", therefore forcing us users who purchased hoster lite some time ago, to either stay, with what we have under the "Old" formate and pretence, and loose all future upgrades. Or spend money on a product i do not need. A "gross oversight"? i think not. Sounds more like a marketing decision. But what's done is done. I think in good faith, the very least, very least mtu could do. Is to offer the hoster lite users who have purchased their version earlier, to be "Grandfathered" in to the upgrades without loosing the features, in my opinion we paid for in good faith. Kinda put's a bad taste in my mouth....but, what's done is done....we move on.

Thanks for voting as one of many who don't experience this reported problem.

Ummmm...admin. Don't count my vote just yet. The reason i don't have this problem, is because i am not allowed to upgrade to this version or i loose all my software features! I am stuck in this version forever!

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by bryant

I think at one time when Vista first made its entry it wasn't very useable w/o lotsa problems on a lot of programs, and most on this site at the time strongly suggested that if you have XP, keep using it as long as you can, as I have.

Bryan,
Not to belabor this issue but Bevis post referenced XP PRO. I wasn't refering to just XP version.

Walt

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Those who are having to use so much offset try using DXdiag and lower the acceleration for your audio. That may bring them back closer together.

Dale,

What is DXdiag???

Walt

[billyo]

Originally Posted by WaltR

Dale,

What is DXdiag???

Walt

it's a tool to diagnose/ troubleshoot video and audio related hardware problem.

[ddouglass]

It is a tool for DirectX.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by WaltR

Bryan,
Not to belabor this issue but Bevis post referenced XP PRO. I wasn't refering to just XP version.

Walt

Gotcha, sorry about that the.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Anyone that is having any Out of Sync Lyrics problems, Please Post in this thread located HERE.

Once you have posted in here, I have a file to send you to see if we have fixed it or not. We think that we have fixed the Sync Issue, I now need customers to tell me so, by testing it for us.

[admin]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Not going to harp on this issue. But when i ordered "Hoster Lite" several months ago. I purposely chose the "Lite" version for two reasons only. The deciding factors in purchasing hoster "Lite" over the "Hoster" version were simple. #1 The two programs were identical in features, except the notebook feature and #2, i am a small independent user, have absolutly no use for two copies of hoster. So "Lite" was made for me so to speak. It is not that way any longer. In midstream you choose, to change the layout of hoster "Lite", therefore forcing us users who purchased hoster lite some time ago, to either stay, with what we have under the "Old" formate and pretence, and loose all future upgrades. Or spend money on a product i do not need.

A "gross oversight"? i think not. Sounds more like a marketing decision. But what's done is done. I think in good faith, the very least, very least mtu could do. Is to offer the hoster lite users who have purchased their version earlier, to be "Grandfathered" in to the upgrades without loosing the features, in my opinion we paid for in good faith. Kinda put's a bad taste in my mouth....but, what's done is done....we move on.

George, forgive me, but you ordered Hoster Lite on October, 31, 2008. That was 19 months ago. I too have the "forgetful" sickness, but I have the benefit of our Customer Database for facts.

The new features were introduced in Hoster 4.10, released September 23, 2009, 13 months after your purchase. If I am right, your decision to buy Lite was made based solely on your needing one copy and no song book, and the right choice I might add. The new features were a free upgrade for you 13 months later.

I assure you our programmer made a mistake by not adding the "conditional compile" code around the new features so they would not be available in the Lite product. It also was my and MTUSUPPORT's fault for not testing that these new features were not available in the Lite version. We are not conniving "Marketing" people. As I stated before, it simply was a gross oversight.

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Ummmm...admin. Don't count my vote just yet. The reason i don't have this problem, is because i am not allowed to upgrade to this version or i loose all my software features! I am stuck in this version forever!

I hear you on your use and needs. We cannot afford to produce a "special Lite" version for prior Lite users only. Also, even though we have said if you ordered more than 12 months ago, you need to buy an upgrade. Now our web site scripts enforce this requirement.

Lynne (sales) will be in touch with you today to allow you to order the full Hoster at a significant discount.

[admin]

Originally Posted by MTUSUPPORT

Anyone that is having any Out of Sync Lyrics problems, Please Post in this thread located HERE.

Once you have posted in here, I have a file to send you to see if we have fixed it or not. We think that we have fixed the Sync Issue, I now need customers to tell me so, by testing it for us.

Bryan is asking for those who are experiencing out-of-sync lyrics to post in the thread he set up to collect involved users. Our Beta testers have been nothing shy of elated with the results of 4.22 Beta 2 being in sync. Here are some quotes:

Tester L: "Initial tests a-ok! Installed fine - no error messages, no crashes in the first few songs, lyrics are FINALLY in sync for the first time (since 4.X came out) without changing offsets at all on my Vista 32 machine - was pretty excited about this one had to post first few song results. Will load on my Vista 64 backup laptop & XP Pro show computer when I get to work tonight. Back to more testing , looks good initially though!"

Tester M: "I've tried everything I can think of to break it but it's working like a dream on my Vista laptop. Even cooked a DVD whilst running BA and not so much as a glitch. I haven't experienced any problem whatsoever with it so far - despite my best efforts to make it crash"

Tester S: "Everything works GREAT (on my Vista) !!!!!
In-Sync - WORKS, but still means -5 (which is OK with me).
BA w/Visualizations - Can't make it crash, no matter how many times I "Stopped" a song to do something else.
Import Singers' Disk Tracks - That appears to be working better also! I imported while BA was playing (w/Visualization), as well as when playing from the Playlist, with mp3, cdg & video. After importing 10 songs, Hoster still did NOT CRASH. (Writing KMA went to 100% 3 out of 10 times & still did not Crash.)
(one strange thing - when I first started Hoster, my first test was to import from a Disk with a song playing in the Playlist - after only 3 imports, Hoster crashed. I re-opened Hoster & then continued importing, as stated above & yet I couldn't make it crash again. "

We also fixed several other bugs that have been biting some (not all) users. And, we upgraded our Development Tools to the latest Direct-X and Windows Media Player (which requires users to upgrade to the latest versions). This removed some other problems, proving Microsoft is forcing their "developer vendors" to use their latest tools, or our programs won't run correctly on Vista and Win7.

Now, are you interested in helping us test... putting your money (i.e. time) where your mouth is, or are you going to leave all the testing to "others" who don't have your problem? Come on guys, post in the other thread. We currently expect to release on Monday, so this is as solid as it gets for testing. If you don't help us test on your computers, please don't come back and say "MTU didn't test well enough before release."

We have XP 32-bit, Vista 32-bit, Win7 32-bit and 64-bit systems with Intel and one AMD Athelon processor we test on. But we may not have your processor, or graphics card with upgraded (or not) drivers, or your Windows installation (it can be installed good or bad) with or without Upgrades, or your extra programs that can damage Windows or Hoster... ad infinitium. We CANNOT test on every computer.

Please... help us test before release... expected next week!

[admin]

Originally Posted by WaltR

Dale,

What is DXdiag???

Walt

1. Click the Start button.

2. Click Run.

3. Type dxdiag in the field and press the Enter key.

4. Select the Sound Tab to see its "screen".

5. You will see a Hardware Sound Acceleration Level: slider. If it is at "Full", you may have better results with it at "No" or "Basic" settings (slide it to the left for these). Select "No Acceleration", close Dxdiag, and run Hoster to see if things are more stable. If not, do the same steps and try "Basic Acceleration".

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by WaltR

Hey Bevis, I don't recall MTU advising everyone to use Hoster with XP PRO. Did I miss something?

did i say MTU advises everyone ??

all i know is i dont have the problems everyone has and i run 1/2 the minumum requirments MTU requires in my computer.