Next Hoster Release

[Wayne White]

MTU..........

When do you expect to make a new release of Hoster available & what kind of improvements are being implemented in it?

My biggest wish is to resolve the conflict Hoster seems to be having with other programs when trying to play Dance Music from the same computer. I couple of weeks ago I asked in a post whether MTU acknowledges that this is a problem and I have not seen a post in response.

If you can't see any reason why Hoster would cause this problem, lot's of us need to be figuring out what is wrong with our computers.

The ability to pull WMA tracks from a file on the hard drive into the Hoster playlist would get us by, but, some nights are all DJ music & it would be real nice to be able to use my other software without the embarressment of songs stopping abruptly.

Wayne

[gduns - with the Lord]

Wayne,
I Had this problem also, but I resolved a few conflicts with irq's and brought the ram up to 1 gig, and now that part works ok I can leave the windows media player minimized when I am playing hoster and visa-versa. they both work well.

[Wayne White]

I increased Ram to 768 with no impact on this problem. I don't think it's IRQ's because the problem didn't exist until installing the Hoster update where MTU sent us the CD. Media Player as well as MixMeister both stop & the start back up intermittently even when I have Hoster closed.

I suppose I could totally remove Hoster from one of my laptops on a slow week and see whether the problem exists with Hoster removed. As many people as I've seen posts from about this, I don't think it's just my configuration.

Wayne

[gduns - with the Lord]

WELL......
I was one of the posters that had that problem. but I had the video card, the sound card, the raid controller, and the network cards all on the same irq. but at the same time I switched from the soundblaster live audio board to the soundblaster audiology board, and up graded from 512mg ram to 1 gig. the problem went away. I dont know which fixed it, but it is gone now.

[Wayne White]

I am glad you resolved your problem Gduns. Unfortunately your solution means little to me. I am working with a laptop with factory installed network,video & sound cards. Unless the XP Service Pack 1 or the new Hoster CD installation changed my IRQ selections, they should be the same as they were when everything was working OK.

The point of my post is to get MTU to respond. I wanna know if MTU thinks the problem is my PC or whether Hoster is causing the problem.

I have thought about replacing the laptop with another system, but, since other people WERE having the same problem, I hesitate to think that this is the answer.

I assume there are still DJs out there that still can't get DJ Software to co-exist with Hoster. Aren't there? Or am I the only one left who hasn't resolved the problem?

Wayne

[pcgumshoe]

Wayne, we are MTU. All the customers helping one another taking the load of the guys and gals that work in or out of an office associated with MTU.

MTU products, for my limited experience, are designed with the same level of compassion that you have for your show. Everybody wants to put on the best show they can, not for the money, but for the fun of it. When I have a GREAT show, I walk away from my day looking forward to the next one and never second guessing why I put up with all the problems associated with the business end of it (Taxes, licensing, technical problems).

I don't know how many people actually work for MTU, but I would guess it isn't much more than 10, maybe upwards of 20 taking into account lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, Mavis who answers the phones and handles the mail (Mavis doesn't really exist, I think )

If I have a point, I think it is this, we all think of the company (whatever one we may be dealing with) as bigger than we are. Some companies attempt to bloat themselves in the image of the consumer so as to insure confidence in there product. MTU isn't Microsoft, but don't think that if Bill had a hair crossed he wouldn't consider engulfing it! Let's all be thankful that Bill doesn't sing karaoke.... but many of those employees do, and I know where

We, those of us menions who answer these posts are the front line (tech 1 and sometimes 2) MTU is the Senior Tech and above but even they don't have all the answers.

This may be my subtle way of saying, give 'em a break. The more we can help each other, the more time they can spend on getting the next version out to us!

Gduns brings up some good suggestions. You might be surprised at how poorly so called "Factory Installed" installations are failed! There are a lot of other things that you can do to increase performance to help reduce the cpu load while switching back and forth.


I want to do the same thing you are doing. Right now I use a CD Mixer, LD Player and CDG player to get my job done. When I get to the computer and have all my songs on it, I plan on having Sound Effects on command, MP3 Music for filler and of course all the karaoke. I will be watching this post as I watch them all prempting my next move.

Let's hope we can find your solution.

[gduns - with the Lord]

........And then you get a SHOW like I did last saturday night, where the singers refuse to lookup songs and bring you their own disks and preprinted song slips. I played the whole show through the jvc. Arrgh......

[Wayne White]

Thanks pcgumshoe for your response, but, once again, not what I'm looking for. I don't need anybody to explain MTU to me. I've probably known them longer than most people who post here. I bought Microstudio years ago.

As far as telling me to give them a break, you are out of line.....

I am not riding anyone or being difficult. I am only trying to get an idea from the COMPANY as to their opinion on this issue, which is not a small thing. IF MTU (the real one not all of the customers) wants to take 1 minute to say "Wayne it's not Hoster you had better start tearing your PC apart & change of the default settings until you find something that works" then I guess I will spend all of my free time (which isn't much) troubleshooting my problem. In the meantime, I don't feel that it is unreasonable to ask MTU (the company) for their opinion.

I'm sorry to bug the rest of you with my inquiries, but this forum is the suggested means of communication.

Wayne

[MTUSUPPORT]

Wayne,
I am unable to reproduce any conflicts with Hoster playing on this Laptop that I use, while also Using Media Player.

What other program are you referring to, that is giving you a problem?


I will let Admin answer about the next release of Hoster, as I have been buried and am not sure what they are working on yet.

GDUNS,
I do know that I have gotten your Songs.mdb to the engineer and have been pushing to get this fixed. It will be fixed in the next release (when that comes).

[admin]

There is no simple answer we can give you Wayne. It is clear that some users are working fine with Media Player, while you and others are not. It's not that we are ignoring you, its that we don't have an answer. So, now I have answered.

This problem is indicative of a system installation problem, not so much a Hoster software problem. The rewrite we have done of the Hoster Player code should have made it easier to work with MediaPlayer. We don't know why it didn't work for everyone. To interpret the RW codes of CDG format songs and regenerate the graphic image from them is not an easy task. It has been the most expensive part of all our Karaoke developments.

This is a deep technical issue that requires a senior software architect. Ours is now finishing up KPro 5.0 (Lord willing!), and then will be addressing several display problems in Hoster and Microstudio. Our goal is to rewrite the Hoster audio player to use MediaPlayer. That will then allow MP3, WMA, KMA, VCD, DVD et al. to be played from Hoster. I think that is the best way to solve a lot of requests with one upgrade.

As to a next Hoster release, there are several bugs that have been worked on the past weeks that we hope to release for beta testing this week if we can. We will post what these are later this week when we have them all fixed. The problem with the Display showing horizontal bars through the words will not be fixed in the next 2.015 release. That will take more time and will be addressed in the Player code upgrade. We need to get the other bugs fixed to prevent some of the problems that users are experiencing.

[pcgumshoe]

"Well here's another fine mess you've gotten us into!"

See, now I won't be able to get my precious KPro 5 that will allow me to make karaoke songs with Duets. That's okay, I have waited this long, I will wait longer if it will get Wayne his answers

We all want to be happy. Wayne, if ther is anything I have noticed it is that MTU and the ADMIN pay more attention to longer threads... Don't quote me on this and don't edit with "ADMIN:" to prove a point. I love these people and I like many others who ALSO don't have much time are only trying to help. We mean no disrespect, just sincere cooperation.

I have seen so many people posting on these forums who have very useful, albeit diverse solutions to problems. If MTU can't come up with an immediate fix, maybe holding a wire hanger in one hand all the while grounding yourself to the chassie may help. Who knows.

It sounds to me that you don't want to use Windows MediaPlayer. What program are you planning on using? I have seen PCDJ and the BMG program. I have experimented with them and like the interface. BMG has a USB mixing console that you can add to the system. I am not a DJ by nature but sometimes by demand. I have to make the best of it.

Gduns: Thanks! Although I am not running a show from Hoster YET, I keep a laptop handy to look up those songs that people refuse to write the track number on. I am planning on moving to a paperless karaoke show and providing people with the ability to email me their rotation order PRIOR to the show. Additionally, I am planning 5-10 PCs around the bar for song search, lyrics search and rotation selection. I waste so much money on printing my new music selections every week!

[pcgumshoe]

We mean to disrespect

That should read: "We mean NO disrespect"

What would Frued say

[Wayne White]

I was content to use Media Player for dance tunes we play occasionally on Karaoke nights, but, it started stopping & starting intermittantly. A song may play fine once & the next night it will stop & start. It's not every song, but, it's every night.

I added Mix Meister Pro 4 in hopes that it would work OK & it does the same thing Windows Media Player does.

Since MTU can't see any reason Hoster would cause this, I think I will remove all 3 programs, defrag the computer & then re-install all 3 & see if any thing changes, I will also look at the resource allocations to be sure there no conflicts (although I don't know why there should be). The trouble is me & the laptops being home at the same time.

Wayne

[George]

PCGUMSHOE,

'taint necessarily so. Quantity takes no preference over quality when it comes to post content.

Matter of fact it's very much the opposite considering they mountains of material they have to wade through to provide support. Brevity has always been effective for me, and as one who tries to help on these forums I appreciate the heck out of it.

George

[jaddams]

Ditto on that one George.

Jon

[pcgumshoe]

Wayne, some suggestions:

This starting and stopping very much may have to do with memory. Imagine that you have Mix Meister running, then you go to get a new karaoke song for the next singer (less than 10 megs on 196k compression), if Windows determines that what you are doing in Mix Meister is not as important as the data you are tying to access (into memory according to windows) Windows may start to write information to the page file, this type of situation may give you a hiccup in sound or a longer pause.

I would try a couple of things. These would be in order of severity and the further down the list you go, the more involved what you are doing will be:

1. Turn off all the extra bells and whistles associated with Windows XP. Transitions, smoother fonts, rounded windows... All unnecessary crap just to make it look different from the past. TURN THESE THINGS OFF! why would you want to allocate ANY ram to something that won't help your show? You are the only one looking at the screen, what difference does it make that your windows are rounded over the classic square? Nothing!

To turn these things off you need to do a couple of things. First, let's get rid of the pictured background. Right Mouse-Click on any empty space on the desktop. Next select, "PROPERTIES" once you have those open select the Desktop Tab and select "NONE" as your back ground. Maybe pick a color that is not so bright, after all, you want your singers to be in the limelight don't you?\

Next, Click on the Appearance Tab and under "Windows and Buttons" select "Windows Classic Style" Apply & Ok.

Next, click on System Properties from the Control Panel, click on the Advanced Tab then under Performance select Settings button. Check the "ADJUST FOR BEST PERFORMANCE" option, apply & ok.


2. Virtual Memory: As you have over 512 Megs of ram, try disabling the virtual memory. This way windows won't try to write to the HDD you are trying to access from stuff that, for all intents and purposes, should stay in ram. For more information on Virtual Memory See Here

Virtual memory can slow your system down. I would feel more comfortable suggesting this if you had 1gig like gduns recommended (I'm with you gduns!). Also, if you are going to defrag, make sure that you move your virtual memory (if you keep it installed) to the outer rim of the HDD... I don't know if there is a free application or a windows tool that will perform this other than Norton. The outside rim of the HDD is the fastest accessed. I have seen some recommendations to disable the virtual memory prior to defragging as well.

3. Last but not least, try some other memory tricks from this site HERE This information is all about tweaking your memory. I know that when some people hear the word "TWEAK" they get nervous, sometimes Bill over at Microsoft doesn't have your best interests at hand, he is thinking of Bubba down in the swamps who just plays solitaire (No offense to anyone really named Bubba ) While you are on this site, check out the section on Windows Services... Have you ever seen how much unnecessary crap is running that you wouldn't need? Be careful to remember and log what you do so you can undo it. IF you are used to the system restore, set a restore point before you start futzing around.

I just want to give you suggestions that may help you over this hurdle, as I think all of us do. Let us know if this helps.

George: I don't disagree with you, I have just noticed that it is often many days after a post that several people have started to help on that MTU gets around to it... I wasn't saying that they don't, but that just like you and me find a new post that has 10 replies and we want to see what all the hubbub is about.

Oh yeah, and if you think I am longwinded in writing, you should hear me talk!

[gduns - with the Lord]

Wayne,
Fwiw, Last night I opened up hoster, mdb2000, access, excel, and media player. I started playing a song in hoster, thenstarted a song in media player, and played them both at the same time all the way through. A month ago I would have said this was impossible. But now it works. Last friday evening I did a complete (4 Hr) show with hoster, mdb2000, and media player all open. I had no problems with switching between them. I always leave the add hd track window open, I just move it around the screen to keep it out of the way. (opening and closing this screen gives you audio drops.

Pcgumshoe,
I am going to try some of the tweaks on that article, especially the bios tweaks. The board Mfg manuals are severly lacking in information like this....... it sounds like I can improve a few things. altho, is nuthings broke don't fix it. Sorry Im a tinkerer. I have 5 machines on a network at home, if I screw up one i'll use another. Thanks, I find your post's very valuable.

[George]

PCGUMSHOE,

It's not a matter of support "getting around to it" when other people are helping early on.

If other members are on top of a problem, frequently support will see no reason to post to the thread, or they will simply confirm that the solution offered is the correct one. It saves them time to operate in this manner.

In cases where the members are missing the mark, then it is necessary for support to step in and offer solutions. In most instances this accounts for any delay on support's part.

TO ANY NEW MEMBERS READING THIS:

Please bear in mind the more verbose the thread, the more material support has to wade through to see the problem, and frankly the more inclined some of us members are to simply skip the entire post. I can only speak for myself on that one.

I only took the time to answer so's new members won't get led into thinking they had to post a lot of filler to attract any attention to their problem. It can work the other way.

I might add also that too often we don't get enough pertinant info to diagnose a problem. Don't go to the other extreme and not give us and support enough to go on.

Take care,

George

[admin]

Originally posted by pcgumshoe
See, now I won't be able to get my precious KPro 5 that will allow me to make karaoke songs with Duets. That's okay, I have waited this long, I will wait longer if it will get Wayne his answers

In the other part of your post... well said pcgumshoe, well said indeed!

I want to report that KPro 5.015 is in beta test now. There are some bugs that surfaced and our programmer is on top of this.

We are expecting to release KPro 5.0xx within several weeks. For the first time ever, I am willing to release with non-damaging bugs still present. We are working on the duet code and Export CDG File command now. Bugs prevent creating a professional song yet. We are almost at the end of the tunnel, not just seeing the light there.

Once we release KPro 5, we will shift major resources back to Hoster. However, getting a Hoster bug-fix release our sooner is asynchronous from releasing KPro 5.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Wayne,
Do you have all of the Windows Updates installed? If not I would first try this to make sure there is not some update relating to either DirectX or Media Player. To be safe I would download all of the updates.

Let me know what you find.