Hoster 4.03 Singer list and multiple sessions

[Dmarti29]

I thank everyone at MTU for getting most of the issues quickly resolved with the new release. I do have a couple issues though.

1. Singer List. Its a great tool, but I have some singers with over 100 songs that they sing. Each time I open their list it seems to take an eternity to get the list up and then the same amount of time to close it. Seems to have to resort and rebuild the list each time. So, whenever I look up a singer with only 5 songs, the same long build time seems to be needed.

2. Before 4.03, I was able to run multiple sessions of Hoster. Up to 5 actually. I would have one running the show, one with just my playlist loaded for my songs and one for my singing partner. It worked great and I could quickly change from one to the other while someone was singing. The tv display would remain with the song playing and my desktop on my Acer 3000 Aspire, with plenty of memory and disk space and process speed, would allow me to cue up the next song from my list.

Not with 4.03, when I shift the laptop to the other Hoster session, the tv changes as well.

Any Ideas?

Lastly, and I am going to place this request on the enhancement list, could anyone out there use a separate field that could be assigned to the singer for the current show that numbers them so you can keep a proper rotation and see that they are all listed in numerical order. I used to put the number in front of the singers name in prior versions but now with the singers database, that won't work. A simple 2 digit field added next to the singer would allow us to keep a good, clear, and unquestionalble rotation.

thanks for reading this and look forward to any replies...

[ddouglass]

1. Unfortunately the bigger the database the slower it will get as it has to search the entire database to find all the songs for each individual. Only suggestion I can make is for those who have over 100 go through it and pick out the oldest least sang songs and delete them. Just because they sing it one time doesn't mean they will again. And if they do then just add it back.
2. You should be able to open each copy and set the display the same for each. That should keep them set the same.

The Rotation control is still on the list to be added. May not be real soon, but they are going to add it.

[laddie]

Originally Posted by Dmarti29

1. Singer List. Its a great tool, but I have some singers with over 100 songs that they sing. Each time I open their list it seems to take an eternity to get the list up and then the same amount of time to close it. Seems to have to resort and rebuild the list each time. So, whenever I look up a singer with only 5 songs, the same long build time seems to be needed.

I have experienced the same. I started a thread,
Slow refresh for Singers list. but didn't get any productive feedback

I submitted a ticket to MTU and sent them a copy of my singers db.

Dale , it doesn't have to be 100. 15 or better will do the same thing. I am sure that the larger the DB the longer the search. But, It only does this with the singers db. The songs db has infinitely more records than the singers and it works fine.

[ddouglass]

Without getting into long technical explanations, in a nut shell the Songs database has all the information in one table thus only has to search one list to find the requested information.

For the singers database there are two tables. One has the singers names and the pointer for the song (don't remember if it is the bookid or dickid-track and don't have a copy with me) and the other uses that pointer to list the song information stored there. So the singers database has to perform two searches to retrieve the information. The more singers and or the more song files added the slower it will get.

In order to speed it up MTU may need to revamp the way the tables are set-up to maybe include all the information into one table. Don't know if that would help the 100+ but would help if you have a lot of singers in the database.

[Dmarti29]

No one made mention of no longer being able to have multiple sessions of Hoster running during the show, without disrupting the singers tv monitor. Not sure why that changed. It worked fine in as late at 4.02. Don't get me wrong, 4.03 is wayyyy better.

I have my songs in the singers database as well as my wife's songs. It was the only way I could think of that would allow me to choose the next songs for she and/or I to sing next as the rotation goes around. Problem is the amount of time as you have already discussed.

If anyone comes up with another idea, please let me know.
thanks again...

[ddouglass]

2. You should be able to open each copy and set the display the same for each. That should keep them set the same.

I did mention it. There was no change between 4.02 4.03 in how the display settings are done.
Try opening one copy, set the display the way you want it, then close it. That will save those settings. Then open one and then a second and see if they are not the same.

[laddie]

[quote=Dmarti29;80870]No one made mention of no longer being able to have multiple sessions of Hoster running during the show, without disrupting the singers tv monitor. Not sure why that changed. It worked fine in as late at 4.02. Don't get me wrong, 4.03 is wayyyy better./quote]



You are correct, in the past I have had to run two sessions as a work around did not have a problem with displays.
I don't think I understand how you are set up. Is your computer capable of duel display? I add to the play list, search for songs and look thru the singers dB( I know its really slow)... all while the singer is singing. Are you set up differently or is running multiple sessions just a personal preference?

[Skybird74]

Don't forget, they also said that 4.03 uses a lot more resources than previous versions. I always run 2 copies at the same time also - one for the Show and the other to get to my playlists of personal songs. I believe MTU recommends at least 1G RAM even on XP. (just in case you hadn't thought of that yet)

[Dmarti29]

Thanks. Yes I have plenty of horsepower. The issue is before 4.03, I could move between sessions exactly as you did, to see your playlist etc. I actually had 4 running. One with my songs, one with my singing partners songs one for the show and one for DJ music. Never had a problem.

I was able to move from one to the other while a song was playing on the singers monitor and the monitor would remain uneffected. Now, however if I move to a different session on my laptop, the monitor changes as well and shows the marquis for that other session, and the singers lyrics go away.

So the only time I can move to a different session is after the singer if finished and even then, the monitor shows that I have moved away from the live show.

I think its something that changed in 4.03 that has caused this. Its just somehow we need to get our buddies at MTU to take a look at the issue.

Pass it around and lets see if we can get this hidden feature back.
thanks...

[laddie]

Originally Posted by Dmarti29

Thanks. I actually had 4 running. One with my songs, one with my singing partners songs one for the show and one for DJ music. Never had a problem.

...

Open all 4, select any of them except the one for the show. If the singers display is full screen, double click it. This will reduce the size. Use your mouse to resize it even smaller. Grab the display with your mouse and slide it over to your computers screen, put it down in one corner. Do this until you have but the show instant done. Now you should be able to work with the other three instants without effecting the singers display.

[ddouglass]

Try setting up the other three with the Intermission screen off. That should keep them from interfering and then if you play a song from one of them the Lyrics screen should override the intermission screen of the primary one.

[laddie]

Try setting up the other three with the Intermission screen off. That should keep them from interfering and then if you play a song from one of them the Lyrics screen should override the intermission screen of the primary one.


Didn't think of that Dale. A much simpler fix.

[bigjohn]

yes they made it work for vista and it is a new screen that plays all formates in same window so there will be problems for a while hope they do fix that i would like to have at least to programs open. as for the singers list lets hope they can fix that because the lists will get bigger and we dont need anymore slow downs do we.