Problem with HDZIP/HDMP3G

[cadonnyv]

Just down loaded 4.03 and seem to be having a problem. When cueing a HDMP3G file, get an error message and cannot delete the file. When you close and reopen the specific playlist, you can delete the HDMP3G entry. Adding the song again with the search function will open it in the playlist but as a HDZIP file (which will play). If you close and reopen the playlist once more, the same file will show as an HDMP3G and you get the same error problem as in the beginning.

Having to continually reenter files for each session is a hassle as my playlists are often long. Checking the manual about conversion of files indicated that ZIP files would be converted and played as HDMP3G files. Version 4.03 seems to be doing the reverse.

I reinstalled 4.01 since I have a show this weekend and the problem disappeared. Any help or fixes on this would be appreciated.

Donnyv

[GMANN]

Donnyv,
I had same problem with 4.03.

First Hoster 4.03 session:
I loaded all my zip songs to the play interface, and they would play just fine. Then I would shut down the 1st session of Hoster.

2nd Hoster 4.03 session:
Any zip song in the play list not played in first session (but left in the play list from 1st session) would come up in the second session as "ready". As soon as I went to play them in this second session, ALL zips returned "error" status and you could not delete them from the play list (additionally, any new zip songs added to the play list in the 2nd session would play just fine). To get rid of the "errored" zips in the second session, you had to shut down and re-start Hoster).

OK, bear with me as we are now in the 3rd Hoster 4.03 session:
The zips that were "error" in 2nd session now said "ready" and I was able to delete them. Any zips I added in the 2nd session (but did not play) also had a "ready" in the status, but when you went to play them, they "errored' and could not be deleted. Again while in 3rd session, any new zip songs added to the playlist during 3rd session played finer than frog hair. I am sure this would have perpetuated through a 4th, 5th, 6th....etc. sessions.

Solution (at least for me):
I had enough fun......So, here is what I did. I went to the Edit feature and deleted ALL my zip files from the songs database. Then I imported ALL the native zip files (which I have stored and backed on several hard disks) through the 4.03 interface. All the resulting kma files from the new zip import were made, and I rebuilt the songs database. Works fine now from session to session on all those files. I have not been able since to re-create a single glitch zip related or otherewise. Stability is rock solid.

This may not be a solution for everyone; there may be a more elegant way. This is how I dealt with it however.

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by GMANN

Donnyv,
Solution (at least for me):
I had enough fun......So, here is what I did. I went to the Edit feature and deleted ALL my zip files from the songs database. Then I imported ALL the native zip files (which I have stored and backed on several hard disks) through the 4.03 interface. All the resulting kma files from the new zip import were made, and I rebuilt the songs database. Works fine now from session to session on all those files. I have not been able since to re-create a single glitch zip related or otherewise. Stability is rock solid.

This may not be a solution for everyone; there may be a more elegant way. This is how I dealt with it however.

Did either of you install and run 4.02? It should have converted all zip files at startup. Then there shouldn't have been any zip files left to error out.

[GMANN]

Mark,
You got the idea. You see, for me, 4.01 ran beautifully, I never ran into any issues with it. So I went from 4.01 DIRECT to 4.03. Now, with that said, and having read quite a few issues related to problems with 4.02 (especially zip conversion), I expected a conversion (or associated problem with the zips) when I installed and used 4.03.

So when I first started 4.03, I thought hmmmmm all zips seem to be playing quite nicely....and they did. I only found the problem after closing and opening Hoster again with zips still in the play list.

So you are right, had I gone to 4.02 first, it would have made the conversion process upon startup. However, I had a working system with 4.01 last week leading up to an important show and I could not see upgrade to 4.02 as viable late last week.

As it was, I re-imported over 140 zips in 4.03 and it took only a few minutes; back in business! 4.03 is rock solid for me. There may be many others that are "jumping revisions" for similar reasons....so I posted. Or it may just be an anomally that does not necessarily show up with all like-minded "version jumpers" like myself

Hoster rocks!

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by GMANN

So you are right, had I gone to 4.02 first, it would have made the conversion process upon startup. However, I had a working system with 4.01 last week leading up to an important show and I could not see upgrade to 4.02 as viable late last week.

Don't quote me on this because I didn't write the code, but what I assume is when you load a zip file to the playlist in 4.03 it does the conversion then. If you re-open and use the playlist as is, it only points to the file. Since it is not an HDMP3G, you get the error. The nice thing about doing the conversion in 4.02 is it weeds out any problem zips you might have. My suggestion would be to create a songbook listed by book ID in 4.01 or 4.03, install and run 4.02 to weed out any bad files. Then create another songbook listed by book ID in 4.02 to determine what files didn't convert, then re-install 4.03 and re-import the bad zips. You could assign the old book #s when re-importing and save yourself from having to change any book IDs.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by marklwood

Don't quote me on this because I didn't write the code, but what I assume is when you load a zip file to the playlist in 4.03 it does the conversion then.

4.03 does the conversion when you import zip files into Hoster using the Import Songs feature.

Jim

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by madjim

4.03 does the conversion when you import zip files into Hoster using the Import Songs feature.

Jim

Yes, but it will still play existing zip files previously imported if you didn't run the conversion in 4.02.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by marklwood

Yes, but it will still play existing zip files previously imported if you didn't run the conversion in 4.02.

Correct.

Jim

[ddouglass]

Version 4.02 had the initial conversion utility in it. This was causing problems for some in trying to convert the files. So for 4.03 and until they can fix it to convert all formats, they disabled it. If you import new ones then it will convert them but that is the only conversion going on currently.
If you are having problems still with these files, replace them with your back-up copy (you do have a back-up....don't you) and they should play. Zip files are being allowed to play for now from your database, but cannot be temporarily imported from a singer's disc.
Hope this clears up the misconceptions and questions.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by marklwood

Yes, but it will still play existing zip files previously imported if you didn't run the conversion in 4.02.

mine didn't last night

[cadonnyv]

Thank all of you for your quick replies and inventive ways of overcoming the problem. I too had gone from 4.01 directly to 4.03. However, I don't feel that a user upgrading should have go and download 4.02, convert all original files again, and download 4.03 and go thru the installation process a third time.

Moreover, the problems I have been having are with KMA files from already converted ZIP files (and even unzipped files in mp3g format.) I may not understand the process correctly but I thought that KMA was a proprietary compressed format of its own. Does it use the original formats to make up KMA files?

I still think that the workarounds are a problem that will hopefully be addressed by MTU. Backwards compatabilty (within reason) should be a reasonable expectation from long-time MTU/Hoster users.

[gd123]

All MTU did to an imported Karaoke ZIP was to add a header "Wraper" and rename the .ZIP to .KMA.

To convert this back to zip, just rename the .KMA to .ZIP

So, this is not the TRUE proprietary KMA that comes from a DISC Import or a .CDG/.BIN HD Import.

I rip to the HD as Karaoke ZIPs, for storage, and convert the MP3+G to BIN and rename to .CDG for HDCDG import. This way, I get the KMA "proprietary" format and I only need be "concerned" with ONE hoster PLAYER CODE from one version to the next.

[BANDL]

I just wanted to add my frustation with 4.03. I am having the same problem with HDMp3g files (they won't play when the "type" is HDMp3g, but if reloaded and the type reads HDZIP it will play). I did not skip 4.02.

Is this going to be fixed?

[laddie]

You must not have converted all you zip files in 4.2. how many zip files do you have?

[BANDL]

I have about 10,000 Zip files. Here is what I am afraid of: If they are all converted to HDMP3g using 4.02, would they play with the back up copy og 3.4?

[ddouglass]

All the conversion did was to unzip the files and change the format listed for them in the database to HDMP3+G which was their native format inside the zip. The reason for this is to eliminate zip files in Hoster that cause delays because they have to be unzipped to be played which took extra time before the song would start.
They should play fine in 3.4 but you may have to re-enter them in the playlist if you are using a pre-existing list. That is because 3.4 doesn't know about the conversion and doesn't fix the playlist.

[marklwood]

I was doing a little comparative analysis between my older computer that I haven't upgraded and my newer one that I am now running 4.03 in my shows.

I had problems with files playing some time back in 4.02 that were tagged as CDCDG files in the database. I know for a fact that I didn't have any of those for reasons previously discussed.

On the 3.321 machine, the files in question were marked CDCDG also in the old database but still played even though I know they are zip files. I can only assume I made some type of error when I imported that batch of files, tagging them incorrectly. I just made a list (over 600 files) and re-imported them. Now most of them work fine, although I had to re-rip 2 CDs that didn't/wouldn't re-import from zip.

Just thought that this might help some of you that are dealing with zip file problems.

[zzeliminator]

Hello. I am using Vista and I upgraded from 3.321 to 4.03. I am having the same issue as Candonnyv and GMANN explained in the beginning of this thread.

Using 3.321, I import probably 15000 songs directly from CD. I import probably 6000 from zip files.

I upgraded to 4.03. I open Hoster 4.03 and it automatically started to build the database and the data base found 21,642 songs. I got the window that said "Some KMA HDZIP files were built into your database. These files must be converted to KMA HDMP3G files. Please close and reopen Hoster now to make this happen". I close this window. I close Hoster. I reopen Hoster. Question: Was something suppose to happen on its own???

I tried removing hoster 4.03 and reinstalling....same things occurred as described above.

If I search for a song and put it into the playlist and if this song show a type of HDZIP, it will play but then it changes into a HDMP3G which won't play as the gentlemen explained at the beginning of this post.

I am overseas and I didn't bring a single karaoke CD with me, so I can't delete songs as many users have mentioned in various threads.

I did backup my 21000 kma files on a external hard drive before upgrading to 4.03.

I did print the entire 4.03 manual and I am trying to make sense out of its directions of converting, but I guess that I am missing something out of its explaination.

Please comment, Kelly

[zzeliminator]

Morning. Im 8 hours ahead of you for the most part. I have been though the manual and these threads back and forth with no luck. Still getting the same results as mentioned above. Please help. Kelly

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by zzeliminator

Hello. I am using Vista and I upgraded from 3.321 to 4.03. I am having the same issue as Candonnyv and GMANN explained in the beginning of this thread.

Using 3.321, I import probably 15000 songs directly from CD. I import probably 6000 from zip files.

I upgraded to 4.03. I open Hoster 4.03 and it automatically started to build the database and the data base found 21,642 songs. I got the window that said "Some KMA HDZIP files were built into your database. These files must be converted to KMA HDMP3G files. Please close and reopen Hoster now to make this happen". I close this window. I close Hoster. I reopen Hoster. Question: Was something suppose to happen on its own???
I tried removing hoster 4.03 and reinstalling....same things occurred as described above.

If I search for a song and put it into the playlist and if this song show a type of HDZIP, it will play but then it changes into a HDMP3G which won't play as the gentlemen explained at the beginning of this post.

I am overseas and I didn't bring a single karaoke CD with me, so I can't delete songs as many users have mentioned in various threads.

I did backup my 21000 kma files on a external hard drive before upgrading to 4.03.

I did print the entire 4.03 manual and I am trying to make sense out of its directions of converting, but I guess that I am missing something out of its explaination.

Please comment, Kelly

Kelly version 4.02 had a conversion program in it that was supposed to convert (unzip) any zip files you had to MP3+G. In 4.03 this is disabled because of problems that appeared. Unfortunately they missed a couple of parts of this.
The message you get when you rebuild is for you to re-open Hoster to trigger the conversion program. Minor glitch that it was left in there but not a problem. Just click ok and go on.
The changing of your playlists to HDMP3G from HDZIP was also part of this to correct existing playlists so they would play the converted files. Unfortunately this means anytime you want to play those files you will have to enter them into the playlist fresh instead of being able to play from the existing entry until they can fix this.