Hoster Shutting Down - Stopped Working: Upgrade DirectX and WMP

[Musicman51]

The way you find the latest (WMP, DirectX and more) is to go to Microsofts Update web page (link in your Start Menu) and do the Custom updates. The same way MTU has always said to do it in the instructions for setting up Hoster. This should be done everytime you upgrade Hoster.

I have, and i do...I updated hoster last according to admin, almost 10 months ago. I Haven't done any updates, or upgrades since then. My show computer has been online a total of 6 times since i purchased it.That's exactly why i asked.I had no idea what needed to be done.... You can't assume everyone knows this info, i for one...didn't. No idea what a "BrandX" or whatever it is was. Thanks for the info...

[kod]

Musicman,

Very eloquently put! I am a well versed computer person for an old man, but this is above my basic knowledge. However, I have no problem following instructions written so I can understand them...

Thanks guys for all the postings, but always remember to use the KISS model when writing instructions...

[kod]

Well, I have nothing to Post about my show tonight because it was cancelled at the last minute.

However, before I shut my show computer down to go, I had it running in the "auto" mode checking for "studders." It did it one time after about an hour of continous running.

Also, I loaded six songs from a Disc while it was playing and it "studdered" one time while loading the fifth song. Although it never played a song, I had BA "on" the whole time...

I will now do the other downloads recommended earlier, because I'm presently through until Thursday...

[ddouglass]

When you are in Auto I don't think the BA plays, because Hoster is going from one song to the next.
Musicman, MTU is reminding you everytime you install to go through the checklist which includes the updates. It is part of the install procedure.
Microsoft puts out Security and other updates weekly. Any time I am going to upgrade my show computer I always get the Microsoft updates first before I Install. I recommend you do the same.

[billyo]

i have been thinking about the new upgrade, i think this is a fixed for those who had problems with the prior versions, i for one never had problems with any version till v4.21/22, but anyway i upgraded just to see what the new feature does,and i broke my first rule" not to upgrade a day before my show" ..and i got Hoster to run right just by doing all the recommended changes..my adviced was if you dont' need the new feature and didnt have any problems with what you have now,don't upgrade or if you think you need the new feature go ahead and upgrade but make sure to do all the recommended changes before you do , this will save you a lot of headaches, and i am also thinking that in the coming months and future upgrades, those of us that has an older pc/ laptop won't be able to handle the Hoster requirements...unless playing karaoke is your main source of income and has no choice but to get a powerful pc/ laptop. this is just an opinion...

[Musicman51]

Microsoft puts out Security and other updates weekly. Any time I am going to upgrade my show computer I always get the Microsoft updates first before I Install. I recommend you do the same.

Ok...we have beat that to death dale. I'm computer illiterate i admit. But stupid i'm not. First of all, the security updates are completly worthless unless you go online with your show machine, and i don't. Second, when i upgraded almost 10 months ago, i did the required updates, and the WMP, or activeX or DirectX thingy or whatever it is, wasn't on the upgrade list.

billyo wrote:

my adviced was if you dont' need the new feature and didnt have any problems with what you have now,don't upgrade

billyo you are truly a vision of wisdom in all this sea of misery and despair.... I read, and make use of all your advice, and i have learned a lot from you..thank you. And i agree with you 101%. Also beat to death by many. Our friend Ed Beram also tried to convey the same message in this very thread. It's a trade off. That's why it's been about 10 months ago that i upgraded last. Actually even then, it wasn't necessary.

And now that they're charging for the privilege of upgrading, i bet it will be longer before i do again. Hoster is a fantastic software program, but getting to be so sophisticated that common people can't use it, or make it work. I'm a karaoke show host, not a computer tech. And as you say billyo, if we have to keep upgrading our computer's resources as well...it could also become a very costly karaoke presentation software. I thought hunting bear in the alaska foothills was expensive...lol The "Pay-As-You-Upgrade", now is just the beginning of the cost factor...Been with mtu since 2001 first upgrade i've ever been charged for. What was it that mtu had on their website for years? "Something about the "Privilege of loyal mtu users to upgrade"?

[billyo]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Ok...we have beat that to death dale. I'm computer illiterate i admit. But stupid i'm not. First of all, the security updates are completly worthless unless you go online with your show machine, and i don't. Second, when i upgraded almost 10 months ago, i did the required updates, and the WMP, or activeX or DirectX thingy or whatever it is, wasn't on the upgrade list.

billyo wrote:


billyo you are truly a vision of wisdom in all this sea of misery and despair.... I read, and make use of all your advice, and i have learned a lot from you..thank you. And i agree with you 101%. Also beat to death by many. Our friend Ed Beram also tried to convey the same message in this very thread. It's a trade off. That's why it's been about 10 months ago that i upgraded last. Actually even then, it wasn't necessary.

And now that they're charging for the privilege of upgrading, i bet it will be longer before i do again. Hoster is a fantastic software program, but getting to be so sophisticated that common people can't use it, or make it work. I'm a karaoke show host, not a computer tech. And as you say billyo, if we have to keep upgrading our computer's resources as well...it could also become a very costly karaoke presentation software. I thought hunting bear in the alaska foothills was expensive...lol The "Pay-As-You-Upgrade", now is just the beginning of the cost factor...Been with mtu since 2001 first upgrade i've ever been charged for. What was it that mtu had on their website for years? "Something about the "Privilege of loyal mtu users to upgrade"?

the very obvious reason why MTU has to do these upgrades in my opinion was, a lot of Hoster users asked for these, they wanted to have a sophisticated show so they asked for new features to be added. and MTU is trying their best to do these.i guesed not knowing that these new features being added there will always be a trade off..ie. more memory,bigger hhd.etc. in which most of us who has older laptop can only go up to 2gb. of memory. don't get me wrong i like some of the new features, but BA and removed silence i don't really use, some of Hoster user wanted to have a dj feature/function, in my opinion Hoster is a karaoke program, and that's why i bought it,and that's what i used it for. if i wanted to dj i'll get me a dj program ( i have 4 btw)

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Ok...we have beat that to death dale. I'm computer illiterate i admit. But stupid i'm not. First of all, the security updates are completly worthless unless you go online with your show machine, and i don't. Second, when i upgraded almost 10 months ago, i did the required updates, and the WMP, or activeX or DirectX thingy or whatever it is, wasn't on the upgrade list.

You have to go online everytime you upgrade, so yes those security updates are needed. Additionally it is not just "security" updates that you get by the Auto update. Many of the updates are bug fixes for the operating system and its sub programs. The Custom updates takes this a step further to add in additional version updates for those programs and others that are not critical problems. Those are covered by the first step in that checklist which is to go to Microsoft and do the Custom updates. It may not say specifically but it is there.

Originally Posted by Musicman51

And now that they're charging for the privilege of upgrading, i bet it will be longer before i do again. Hoster is a fantastic software program, but getting to be so sophisticated that common people can't use it, or make it work. I'm a karaoke show host, not a computer tech. And as you say billyo, if we have to keep upgrading our computer's resources as well...it could also become a very costly karaoke presentation software. I thought hunting bear in the alaska foothills was expensive...lol The "Pay-As-You-Upgrade", now is just the beginning of the cost factor...Been with mtu since 2001 first upgrade i've ever been charged for. What was it that mtu had on their website for years? "Something about the "Privilege of loyal mtu users to upgrade"?

First I know this is not the first upgrade you have been charged for unless you were using version 1.? this whole time. Every major version change (any upgrade with a change of the first and second digit prior to version 4 that had so many problems to start off) has always been a paid upgrade. Now they have implemented a 12 month free upgrade without concern for any specific version change. That means if you buy 4.22 today and they release version 5.0 11 months from now that upgrade would be free.

I am not sure where you get or Billy gets that you have to have a super-duper computer to run Hoster. I have a small (Shuttle type computer running XP Pro and have only had to replace the CD drive on it once in 5 years. All I do is do the custom updates before I upgrade to the next Hoster version and have never had any problems with the program.
You know I do not understand this. Everybody was clamoring for all these new features and now are complaining that it requires more to make it work. I disagree with Billyo in that I know it still works on older computers as long as you keep the operating system updated too.

I don't think anyone expects everybody to be a computer expert, least of all me. That is why I try to answer questions and offer ways to fix the problem. If what I offer doesn't fix it, then I push it on up the line to Support and to Admin for them to look at. It isn't easy to tell someone what is wrong if I can't see the computer. I have to depend on your description of the problem and details that usually are not forcoming in the initial posts.

[billyo]

Dale, the reason i said that was, if you look at the upgrades and the new features ,the comp. requirements that is needed to run Hoster right a basic laptop won't be able to run Hoster w/o having any kind of problems. i keep my laptops updated all the time, and i don't have all the problems most of Hoster users get.of all the versions i had i never had a problem that i can't fixed, the only multiple problems i had was with v4.21/22,( rapid stutter, laptop crashing after the rapid stutter stops, out of sync, intermittent audio, etc. ) and that was solved in a few hrs. i read the requirements on v4.22 and if you read item #4 thats where i got confused, i didnt think i needed to upgrade/update wmp, and directx since i'm using xp, and never had a problem with it, i thought those updates are for vista and w7 only..

[muzicman144]

All these comments are very interesting and each has merit on its own. As a one man band, the only feature Hoster has offered since 2.0 that has improved my show is silience removal, but i lost the best feature (for me) which was sound leveling. I could go back to 2.0 and never miss a beat. I fully understand that the upgrades have been a great improvement for all the dj/kj's. I understand the need for MTU to continue to search for ways to improve their products to just keep up with the market, which we all have to tip out hats to. In defense of the problems MTU has encountered in the technical side, especially with Microsoft putting out two unproven OS, one a complete disaster, I think MTU should be admired for the open way they have kept their customers aware of the problems.
My first show computer was HP, 40gbhd, 500gb memory, Plextor writer(only one that would work). For those that need the bells and whistles, you asked, MTU responded. They have given their customers just about everthing they asked for and are working on the rest of your wishes. Sometimes it is hard to realize they are on the cutting edge of a technology where man has not gone. It is certainly frustrating for a lot of us oldtimers to understand it, and it is comforting also to have the layers of support that MTU provides to fall back on.
Bottom line to one that, although i have kept up with the uprades and none have helped me, Keep the faith in MTU, they have always delivered.
muzicman144

[ddouglass]

I know that leveling is in the specs for future. Maybe the next one if they can figure out what went wrong with it earlier. A lot of people have asked for that one and I agree.

[Musicman51]

First I know this is not the first upgrade you have been charged for unless you were using version 1.? this whole time. Every major version change (any upgrade with a change of the first and second digit prior to version 4 that had so many problems to start off) has always been a paid upgrade.

Byu golly...i will be more then happy to send you a complete copy of my store. Or you have my permission to go into my store..i'll send you my password. I HAVE NEVER PAID FOR A SINGLE UPGRADE TO HOSTER i meant to say sorry...are you a betting man dale?

[muzicman144]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Byu golly...i will be more then happy to send you a complete copy of my store. Or you have my permission to go into my store..i'll send you my password. I HAVE NEVER PAID FOR A SINGLE UPGRADE IN ANY..I REPEAT ANY MTU PRODUCT I"VE OWNED!...PERIOD...are you a betting man dale?

Maybe there should be a clarification as to what is considered paid upgrade. I thought a paid upgrade was only when the first digit changed, such as 2.0-3.0 with free upgrades like from 2.0-2.9. How does it work?
muzicman144

[Musicman51]

I corrected my post to mean "Hoster Lite" upgrade..excuse the confusion. But i have had i think...what 4 or 5 upgrades to hoster lite..not a penny was charged in those 19 months. In the early days i've gone as long as two or three years, an upgrade to microstudio was either $10 or $15 dollars.. certainly not every 12 months. And wasn't $30 smackers. I according to mtu have not paid for an upgrade in 19 months...what ever number of upgrades we've had from 4.0...you do the math. And i agree...most of them wern't necessary. But being a newbie at that time, i had no one to tell me any different. Every time i asked something i was told to "upgrade to the latest version of hoster to start with"....

[admin]

Gentlepersons, this thread has run its course and now is onto other topics, which makes it hard to answer. If you want to start a new thread topic, you are welcome to do so.

Part of the problem is that we have had to upgrade our Microsoft Development Studio, converting from a 5 year old setup that has been great... until this year.

Microsoft every once in a while throws us a curve ball. This time,it was DirectX and Windows Media Player. We were forced to upgrade to solve some of the problems we fixed in 4.22. That's where we are today.

Further, I am now handicapped, having lost 50% use of my left hand... and I'm left handed. I can't touch type any more and make MANY typos constantly, requiring me to go back and edit all the time.

The buck stops here. It is my mistake that MTU didn't upgrade our XP, Vista and Win7 "Upgrade Changes" pages. We didn't tell you that you would need to make these changes. With all the stress we were under,it was a relief just to get the blooming 4.22 out the door.

For the MASSIVE number of users, and ALL new users who have the latest DirectX and WMP, they saw no problems. Those of you converting up, are now forced to upgrade IF...you want the bug fixes that came with these Windows upgrades. I'm sorry. We have protected you folks for years, sometimes spending thousands of dollars more, versus require OS upgrades. It was out of out hands this time.

As to upgrades, our $69.99 is a 60% discount off a new copy. We have ALWAYS requested that you buy an upgrade every 12 months, but never enforced it until now. We always changed the Registration Code generator when we did a major upgrade,such as Hoster 3.x to Hoster 4.x. that forced the upgrade.However, our costs have gone up also.

Now, we will next start on 5.0. Tempo change and an improved key change are becoming a major request, and we are loosing some sales to cmpetitors. that gets our attention very quickly. The upgrades you folks pay (when they are paid), doesn't begin to pay for our development costs. It is more to cover our support costs, especially with a release like 4.22 with the aid we are providing to existing customers.

One of my goals for over a year now, is to add a Tools menu command that will have a checkbox by each major feature. If you don't want to upgrade your computer,you can turn them all off, then turn one on at a time, until YOUR computer goes into overload.There is no way we can know in advance that:
1.This processor (AMD is always worse thatn Intel on audio due to patents)
2. This minimum RAM
3. This graphics card with such and so driver version (some work,some don't)
4. This optical drive that may be worn out or not, but it's always MTU's fault
5. Windows XP Home/Premium/Whatever with these upgrades,but not those upgrades
6. Windows Vista with its many permutations that was the suckiest OS there ever has existed, and all its myriad of faults blamed on MTU
7. Windows 7 which is the best Microsoft has done in a long time, but still flawed until SR1 releases
8. 32-bit or 64-bit of XP,vista or Win7 (gag)
.
.
.
1,000,000. The list for combinations on a PC is truly endless and every person can have a totally different problem from the last.

Now, I'm very tired and ask your indulgence on this post. I've triedto set the record straight on why you few have had problems. Each of you are appreciated,and as a result of my realizing we had not updated our instructions, I spent over 4 hours today doing that. I've emailed MTUSUPPORT to review my changes, as he is our resident expert and will know where I goofed... and I'm sure I have somewhere. So,by noon tomorrow, he should have corrected my mistakes and the upgrade pages should be accurate. If you want to wait until then to read and follow our directions,I would suggest you do that to not waste your time.

Again, I am sorry we didn't get the upgrade requirements out earlier. Eventually we fix things so everyone is running.

We are VERY EXCITED about 4.22. We finally had enough data, and the scoop on Directx and WMP to find and fix real problems. We are happy so far that so few are having problems. That is always the risk with a massive change like we did here.

I'm now closing this thread. Dale can decide to reopen it if he feels there is a continuing need to address the original topic. I for one think it has run its course... now with 135 posts on a range of topics.

Good night.