Mtu, I Love Your Product But.......

[crazycarl]

Admin you closed my last post, and that is understandable. I know you read them and responded. But i fear you have not heard. I do not mean to critize, but hoster as the product I need is not progressing. As far back as I can trace "Hot Buttons was requested in 2005 by Digital Party, Singer data Base also in 2005 in these NFR. I think you have (had) the best product on the market. Your support staff excellant(brian). Forum members the smartest most helpful anywhere in the world.

But in my world, where I make my living doing karaoke, I am falling behind the competition, Oh I have more music than them, and I have the newest songs. But I do not have the bells and whistles. I can't make the show personal to them.

After reading your responce to my posts, Hot Buttons are still 2+ years away. That will be 2010 or 2011 5 to 6 years after Digital Party requested them. Maybe I am mistaken but from what I read in your responce. As I understand you, you are saying that: Mine and My Customers karaoke experince will not be enhanced to much degree in the next 2-3 years. I am so sorry to hear that, I have been a loyal customer but i may have to go elsewhere. I do love your products, but I feel like time Tom Brady in the super bowl. My Offensive line is tired. And Hoster you are my offensive line.

Thank You Doug
Thank You so much Brian
Fellow Hosterers You guys are just wonderful and sometimes funny(rarely)
Crazycarl

[Beavis]

i agree with carl.

i have always wanted the advertizing feature. i think i remember asking for it in 2002.


plus i like all your other requests. im not sure if there is no call for the upgrades here because everyone is just sitting and waiting for new stuff to be added.


admin, i know all the additions are complicated, but is there a way to have another program run along side of hoster with some of the new features ?????

[crazycarl]

You know through the years, I would read the NFR. but never bothered to second the Idea. So a lot of this just might be my fault. When ever I saw that ADMIN had responded to a post, I thought enouh said. I whish I had been more active.
Carl

[ddouglass]

There is a program that you can run side by side with Hoster that will do those bells and whistles you are asking for. It is called Messageoke.
Personally I would rather see Hoster be the best and easiest karaoke program to use for actually running the show rather than have MTU spend all their time programming in the bells and whistles. Yes Bryant I agree with you that the SND needs so background options instead of just black, but beyond that let me have the best quality sound and video outputs.

[crazycarl]

I owned a copy of messageoke, then I changed computers (upgraded) and they never responded to over a dozen emails and numerous phone messages asking they send me a workable key number.

[ddouglass]

I agree they are not the easiest people to work with, but I don't think anyone else has a separate program like that one. Maybe that is what MTU needs to think about instead of trying to add it into Hoster.

[crazycarl]

You are correct the other programs available have them all built into them. It is just so fustrating to me that my hoster program is basicilly the same as it was 5 years ago, and from what Admin says it is going to be that way for years to come. I read somewhere that MTU won't post what upgrades they are working on, for fear of being copied. My thinkin is Mtu should sneek a peek at what else is available and try to add nice touches. If you own a 63 ford, you can put a million dollars under the hood, but you still got a 63 Ford.
Carl

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

There is a program that you can run side by side with Hoster that will do those bells and whistles you are asking for. It is called Messageoke.
Personally I would rather see Hoster be the best and easiest karaoke program to use for actually running the show rather than have MTU spend all their time programming in the bells and whistles. Yes Bryant I agree with you that the SND needs so background options instead of just black, but beyond that let me have the best quality sound and video outputs.

i agree dale.

thats why i wish MTU would build a seperate software to do this, at least we wouldnt have any conflicts with hoster. plus support would be the best here in the forums.

[admin]

I've been answering posts all over this Forum trying to explain some of the Hoster 4.00x features we ARE NOW WORKING ON. So, here goes a better answer for you, starting from what you haven't read yet of what we HAVE done for you recently.

BTW: Hot keys have been in Hoster for years! Read the manual every once in a while. Forgive me, but you are sitting on the features and don't know it because you didn't bother to read what changed - a separate topic in every manual I have ever released.

Originally Posted by admin

1. We were secure using Plextor drives. However, talking with Plex at the VP of New Products level, it was made known to us they were removing the hardware chip that did the CDG (RW lyrics/graphics codes) decoding. Without this, Microstudio would die... and Hoster soon after. ZIP support was added JUST IN CASE we didn't get our own software error correction fixed before there were no more Plextor drives with CDG decode. BTW: All other CD/DVD drive makers had long since removed the CDG decode. So why do I HATE ZIP? MANY ZIP users have bootleg files. They have no clue what OR WHO created them, what compression was used (Tricerasoft uses MAX that even WinZIP and Windows Media Player can't open - but Hoster 3.3 now can), and they get them on CDROM which imports as READ-ONLY that can't be deleted after played, and about 11 other errors that we have solved one customer at a time. If we could get the errant ZIP file, we could and did solve IT'S problem.

2. It took us 3 calendar years to perfect our software error decode. This was a VERY expensive and engineeringly complex endeavor. You know MTU strives to be the best in the world. It now, from our testing, gives you the best quality CDG lyrics of any product. That, carl, is a MEGA new feature.

3. Support drives that never before were usable for CDG importing or burning. MTU has sold and supported CDR drives since 1992. We FULLY understand the problems of supporting drives. We used to upgrade Microstudio and Hoster to support new drives about 4 times a year. However, the day after a new drive was available on the market, we started receiving DEMANDS (many were very nasty) to provide support for it. It was depressing. We tried two different ways to accomplish this task. We now identify all installed drives, auto-test them for CDG so you don't need to, and allow you to select WHICH CD/DVD drive you want to use (our Tools menu > CD/DVD Drives Default command). We have the most automated and flexible drive support on the market, and Microstudio's closest competitor is $80 versus $50 for ours.

3. Windows Vista... what can I say. Microsoft literally stopped selling XP for a few months. NO MTU products would run with Vista. We got there, but in a non-Microsoft approved way; disable the User Access Control, which is part of their security. It worked though. With Hoster 3.320, we now believe we are fully complying with Microsoft's "Vista standards". Your Songs Database, Playlists, Error/Bad-file lists, KMA files are now spread in vastly different paths. It is nearly impossible for us to say how to backup your KMA files IF you put them in the Default Folder Vista DEMANDS you use. Put them on an external USB drive and be safe. PERIOD! We found one point Friday that is not up to "MTU Standards". When you are upgrading Hoster from any prior version, our programmer goofed. After the install, he is looking for Songs Database in the new Vista compliant folder, but YOURS is still under \Hoster\Databases where it has always been. So, when Hoster first comes up, all the Add Track fields (BookID, Brand, Search), are blank and you'll think MTU ***** you again. If you run Tools > Build Songs Database, which creates it in the new Vista compliant path, everything appears and runs normally. We will have 3.321 out Tomorrow, Lord willing, that will automatically detect an existing Songs.mdb in the old path.

4. Loosing KMA Files - How can 65,000 files disappear in a few seconds? The Windows NTSF (old FAT) table got messed up. How did Hoster do that? Beats us!!!!!!!!!! As part of our ZIP support, we must unzip the CDG and MP3 files before we can play them. Afterwards, we have to delete those unzipped files so the next ZIP can play. Well, Microsoft won't allow us to delete them quickly, and it turns out if the ZIP was loaded to the computer using a CDROM given to you by someone else (you do understand the implication don't you), the MP3 and CDG files are set by Windows to READ-ONLY and NO Application program can ever delete them. So how do we free them up after being unzipped? Delete the \Temp folder Windows default unzips them into. OK. Sounds reasonable. Little did we expect that Windows uses the \Temp folder, for example by Word, in a way that if the \Temp contents are deleted, whatever files that had been accessed there... the MASTER files... are auto-deleted by Windows. So how do 65,000 songs disappear? They were ALL ZIP FILES, and had all been unzipped to convert them to KMA format to index in our Songs Database. Never... NEVER in my 40 years of developing ~140 products have any of them EVER deleted a single user file, or even lost as much as a single edit! I can't say that ever again. This was the worst nightmare to ever hit MTU. We found and fixed the problem in 3.320.

5. The BIG new features that you refer to being requested year after year all require CORE ARCHITECTURE upgrades. You're not aware, but Microstudio 4 has our new SoundManager architecture upgrade in it that is also in Hoster 4.000. We have been "proving" this player architecture upgrade for months now, in preparation for Hoster 4 using it FREE OF BUGS... or as free as is humanly possible. FYI: This allows:

A. Cross-fade - This required playing 2 songs simultaneously, in sync. SoundManager allows up to 10 to play in sync; a very complex job to do, bordering on writing our own Audio Operating System.

B. Selectable Output port - Hoster 1, 2 and 3 are "hard wired" to the default port. Microstudio 4 now has selectable ports (part of the new SoundManager) and Hoster 4 will shortly.

C. Preview Play - Everyone "told" us they wanted 2 playlists. Why? So they could crossfade and preview play. Well, our Playlist is the heart of Hoster. It saves everything you do instantly so even with a computer crash you can be right back at the same point in your show within seconds to minutes (if reboot is required). If we created 2 playlists (like carts in other programs), suffice it to say it would double our work at many times. I tested the concept of adding Cross-fade into our Playlist and everyone screaming for 2-carts, said "that'll work". I tested the concept of adding Preview Play into the Add Track Search dialog box so you could find a song, and listen to the audio while the Playlist continued unimpeded. Everyone said "that'll work". So we are adding it.

D. Tempo Change - We almost have the audio code ready to go. Once it is, then we must make the Lyrics rendering code follow the speed-up and slow-down. The audio Tempo change has been under development since August. We are now getting to the "final bugs" point that every new feature must reach before we know we are "almost there". It's been real touch and go for half a year on this feature. MEGA... you bet!

E. Improve Key Change Quality - Only about 2-3% of Hoster users complain, but we know we can do better. With the new audio stream processor, it is expected to be better. To do Tempo change holding Pitch constant (i.e. not "Speed change"), requires Key changing in proportion to the Tempo change. Thus, these two features go hand in hand. Once Tempo quality is there, we'll address Key change quality, which should go quickly.

6. If you look at the Hoster Version Upgrades page, I believe you'll see 69 upgrades since 3.310. Of those, 47 are classed NEW, meaning 22 are bug repairs. NO OTHER Competitor adds new features to "bug repair" releases. They hold them all up and make you pay for them. Don't be fooled by their "lifetime free upgrades". They change the product every year and you must buy a NEW version next year to get anything new. Not MTU, and having been with us since 2003, you know first hand that I'm telling the truth. With rare exception, those 47 were requested by Hoster users. We've been trying to get to 4.0 for almost 2 years. Finally I said ENOUGH! We're now solidly on 4.0, between finding why KMA files disappear, moving to full Vista compatibility and a few other problems that shook our world.



So what's coming in Hoster 4.00x over the next year, we hope? Well, you'll have to wait a little while longer because I'm going to be late to Sunday School if I don't stop now. I'll return later today and post more.

OK, heres a synopsis of 4.00x (X cause they won't all be released in 4.000, but should be in 2008):
* Tempo change
* Crossfade between 2 songs
* Add Singer's Database of songs with key/tempo changes they regularly sing with easy ways to add to the Show Rotation or Playlist
* Preview play so you can hear a song (headphones or non-show speakers) before adding to the playlist (no lyrics display for preview)
* Record while singing, eventually allowing separte input and output for the recording so you can use external mix console, yet we can create a mixed wave file to burn to a CD when it is legal
* Allow Select From Multiple Audio Cards (in Microstudio 4.006 now)
* Replace Bucket.mdb Database and provide means to upgrade via downloading or via CDROM
* Create new Songs Database to incorporate new KMA header changes
* Allow converting Audio (MP3, WMA) files and Video (all supported formats) files to KMA so they list in the Songs Database, and in the Songbook
* Show Remaining "Time Until Singer Up" in Play List and/or SND Screen
* Add Tools Menu “Rotation Control” Command - Mega new feature
* Add Random play function
* Add "Hot keys/buttons" to trigger preset audio files
* Modify the Singer Names Display dialog to allow showing Track times by each song
* Auto-detect and set Start-End pointers in the new KMA header to cut out Title and Credit page dead air time, and modify Edit Songs dialog to allow playing and adjusting each point. This will allow more singers/hour to perform.
* In Import HD Files Screen, Add Support When Importing SCDG Hard Drive Tracks
* Allow Changing Fonts/Colors in SND for Singers and Songs and Background
* Allow adding up to 128 custom Language entries
* Allow adding up to 128 custom Genre entries
* Allow setting a "Hide in Songbook" flag in the KMA header of duplicates you don't want to print
* Change Video Type playing so it drives the Singer’s Display, no longer the separate Video Display
* Add Tool Tips
* Add Skinning for eye candy
* Modify Skip Behavior based on Man/Auto Button mode
* Modify Songbook to support "w/vocal" as a separate field
* Modify Prepare Songbook To Handle "Hide in Songbook" Flag in KMA & Songs.mdb
* Modify Songbook to Allow Excluding Groups of Songs
* Add player code to play VCD files
* Update KMA Header with new features
* Add Check for Hard Drive Available Space
* Select video images to appear behind the lyrics screen while songs play
* Other.......

I haven't scanned the New Features Forum for several months. We will add in other requests as we always have.

Originally Posted by Beavis

hey admin,

any idea what time frame you might release 4.0 ?

and so everyone doesnt get let down, maybe put up a number that the upgrade will be no less than $$$

i have a feeling that some people might think it will be a $39.99 upgrade

We are trying to get Hoster 4.000 out in April-May with enough new features to justify upgrading.

Hoster is a NEW PRODUCT. We will offer an upgrade, but it will require installing over your existing Hoster if you do upgrade. If you buy new, you can install on 2 new computers.

Price...................... considering $249 to $299 based on competition.

Upgrade cost........... considering $120 to $150. Those who have bought an upgrade since 1/1/08 will get $49.99 credit towards 4.000.

Auto-update of bucket.mdb file will be a separately priced option if you want it.

We may split the Songbook out of Hoster and keep Hoster at $199, and make the Songbook a separate product as one of our competitors does. They get $289.98 for the combination.

Originally Posted by admin

1. Scrolling name display for next singers[/b] - We also have been asked for MORE singers in the list (which is expandable now), different colors, point size, etc. AND... time until each song is expected to start. So... adding a scrolling single line display would hamper the above requests, IMHO.

I'm waiting for you to give FACTS aboutt what you want? Did you mean HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL scrolling? What do you want it to look like?

Originally Posted by admin

2. Fun Buttons ie... applause, Boos, Happy Birthday - Assigning hot keys/buttons to pre-assigned audio files is in our spec for 2+ years now. Just isn't enough demand in the Forums to offset the BIG features many are asking for.

I did not mean it will be 2+ years before they will be implemented. I meant it has been in our spec for OVER 2 years to do. We just have so few users requesting this. Go to the Hoster New Features Forum and find the existing thread and add your vote... along with any facts you care to submit.

Originally Posted by admin

3. Advertisment screens - my company's name at top be able to type in messages so they show during breaks in songs - That's a totally new screen, or do we add it above the SND? When would you trigger it? Carl, the VAST majority of Hoster users are asking for features to get MORE singers on stage per hour. This request is directly in opposition to this. Go post this ONE (#3) feature in the Hoster New Features Forum and see who else votes for it. I currently perceive there are so few who would want this that it would truly waste our time. However, if a number of votes come in, I'll change that belief.

I answered you with facts. You are giving me emotions and threatening to go elsewhere. Give me facts that YOU want to see. Post in the HNFF so others can vote with or against you. If you want it, say something about it, don't just complain!

Originally Posted by admin

4. Random song button - We could add this relatively easily. Where do you want us to put the "Random" titled button since our screen is rather packed now? Do you want us to force you to use Hoster at full screen? Again, this needs to be in the New Feat Forum to get others comments/critiques.

What have you given me as facts in answer to my questions? Others answered, but Crazycarl hasn't posted anything. Do you want it or not? If you don't have any desire to help us spec it, it must be meaningless to you.

Originally Posted by admin

5. Singers data would be real nice - What data? What are you looking for? We could do nothing but gather and present data for the next years. In fact, there was a company well financed to do just that. They went out of business years ago. Again, post this one item in a separate New Features Forum thread and see who else adds to it. Tell enough about your desired data so others can understand what you want. I don't. There is already one Thread there about singer statistics (I think), so please find it and see if you should be posting under that Thread. We will have the ability to acquire statistics. I don't plan on generating pretty graphics and charts. We can export as an excel or word format doc and let you do the formatting This is NOT Karaoke... but then MANY of the features we have added over the years don't seem to fit your def of Karaoke either. We have a very diverse customer base that we try to keep everyone happy. Posting your new feature request in that forum will get your ideas notices by others... and MTU.

Again, what have you given me as facts in answer to my questions?

Originally Posted by admin

Just put them in the NFR Forum and expand on each so it is very clear what you are asking for. Include how to execute the function (Tools menu command, button, etc.) and any related data such as how to assign audio files to "Fun" buttons or hot keys. If you don't suggest something, others (if they post) may expand on it. I'll ask the same questions there if you don't think them through.

These are all good ideas that just need to be finished suggesting YOUR request.

Carl, I'm not going to spend more hours answering your requests. I have done so twice now and you have not given us a single fact to work with. Some of your requests are in my 4.00x list above. If they never get asked for in the HNFF by others, they'll keep getting skewed as we ad power features others want. Take charge and initiate the HNFF Threads - one per feature - that you want and post enough FACTS about what you want that others can understand and answer too. The more users are requesting in a Thread, the more "votes" there are for MTU to spend our resources doing THAT thread request. Understand?

There are 2 camps of Hosts:
1. Those who want more singers on stage per hour. That group is HUGH.

2. Others want to have some singers, but run ads to take up more time that singers could otherwise have. IMHO, Messageoke is a valid way to do this.

Originally Posted by ddouglass

There is a program that you can run side by side with Hoster that will do those bells and whistles you are asking for. It is called Messageoke.
Personally I would rather see Hoster be the best and easiest karaoke program to use for actually running the show rather than have MTU spend all their time programming in the bells and whistles. Yes Bryant I agree with you that the SND needs some background options instead of just black, but beyond that let me have the best quality sound and video outputs.

We have a number of scheduled upgrades to the SND display.

Originally Posted by crazycarl

I owned a copy of messageoke, then I changed computers (upgraded) and they never responded to over a dozen emails and numerous phone messages asking they send me a workable key number.

Forgive my bluntness. They didn't answer your requests because either they are out of business, or they expect you to BUY another copy to put on another machine!

Originally Posted by crazycarl

You are correct the other programs available have them all built into them. It is just so fustrating to me that my hoster program is basicilly the same as it was 5 years ago, and from what Admin says it is going to be that way for years to come. I read somewhere that MTU won't post what upgrades they are working on, for fear of being copied. My thinkin is Mtu should sneek a peek at what else is available and try to add nice touches. If you own a 63 ford, you can put a million dollars under the hood, but you still got a 63 Ford.
Carl

I can't believe you wrote this. I truly can't. Just open up http://www.mtu.com/upgrades/hoster.htm and read what we have added. Then, consider taking my list of 4.00x features above, and reordering them to what YOU feel would make you happy. I'll consider your priorities along with others who are voting.

If you simply continue to say MTU hasn't added anything to help you in the past 5 years, and the 4.00x doesn't get your juices running, then maybe you could tell us exactly, factually without emotions what you want. If you don't know, we will simply continue adding the features others ARE helping us design into Hoster. If not, I don't see how we can meet your needs.

I've been up since 2:02AM answering this post. Does that say anything to you?