SageTV V6.4.3 Public Beta is Ready

[Narflex]

Howdy all!

Time for another beta update.

Some of the major additions (for V6.4, not specific to this build):

-Support for the Hauppauge HD PVR
-Automatic STVI Generation in the SageTV Studio
-EXIF metadata/thumbnail support for JPEGs
-new file system & network browser
-H.264 videos from YouTube
-High definition photo display on the STX-HD100
-File transfers to/from Placeshifter clients

Submit any bugs you find to here please: http://sagetv.com/bugs.html

Here's the links:

SageTV for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V6_4_3Setup.exe

SageTVClient for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVClient_V6_4_3Setup.exe

SageTVPlaceshifter for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVPlaces...6_4_3Setup.exe

SageTV for Windows Home Server
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V6_4_3Setup-WHS.msi

SageTV Media Center for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMac_V6_4_3.dmg

SageTV Client for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMacClient_V6_4_3.dmg

SageTV Placeshifter for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMacPla...ter_V6_4_3.dmg

SageTV Media Center for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/server_6.4.3.tar.gz

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/mi...t_6.4.3.tar.gz

SageTV Media Center for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa...6.4.3_i386.deb

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa...6.4.3_i386.deb

And here's the detailed release notes for you all.

SageTV V6.4.3 Beta 5/19/08

KNOWN ISSUES:
1. High definition photo display does not currently work on the STX-HD100 while music is playing

Core Updates
1. Added optimized delayed image loading support for album art from music files
2. Added DVB frequencies for "Norway-Oslo"
3. Fixed i18n message formatting for H.264 quality name
4. Added user event time tracking so we can better optimize delayed image loading
5. Fixed bug where file downloader wouldn't always work right with the placeshifter
6. Fixed bug when trying to playback MKV files w/ multiple audio tracks using the SageTVPlayer
7. Optimized delayed image loading support for video/picture thumbnails
8. Use generic images when we're in the process of delayed loading a MediaFiles thumbnail
9. Don't do data scanning on a device if it isn't loaded yet
10. Only redetect format on the TV recordings when the flag to reindex is set (not on every startup)
11. Added support for 'Album Artist' tag in media files (with a space)
12. Updated weather plugin to use a SAX based parser instead of DOM
13. Disable TSParser and Passthrough data when changing channel.
14. Reimplemented PTS fixing logic used by the TS->PS converter

Linux Updates
1. Fixed detection of Composite/S-Video inputs for IVTV capture devices on Linux; it will now properly detect them by querying the driver rather than being hardcoded/property based
2. Fixed HDHR crash

Windows Updates
1. Added support for Windows clients playing back DVDs from a Linux/Mac servers as long as the server used SMB paths to import them
2. Updated taskbar icon tooltip on SageTVClient so that it shows what the server is currently recording

Extender Updates
1. Optimized connection failure detection for extenders/placeshifters so that the server drops the session quicker once the connection is dead

Studio Updates
1. Fixed issue with setting the scrolling position where it wasn't always accurate in tables
2. Fixed rounding of pad x/y variables in the UI when the renderer has an integer coordinate system
3. Fixed bug where the image wasn't cleared when a component was reused
4. Added Channel API call: SetChannelMappingsForLineup
5. Fixed bug where newly created widgets weren't put into the symbol map initially

STV Updates
1. Removed old user input timeout code used to delay thumbnail display since the core now handles that.
2. Added Detailed Setup -> Customize option for "User Input Timeout before loading thumbnails", controlling how long after the user's last input SageTV will wait before loading the actual thumbnail instead of a generic filler thumbnail.
3. Added automatic updating of online videos properties files -- those properties files are downloaded when updates are available.
4. Added online videos properties file version number to System Information.
5. Added STV file set version number to System Information.
6. Added option to download STV updates at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.
7. Favorites Manager can sort by priority or title.
8. Added horizontal scroll bar to the parallel recording schedule view & the ability to configure the number of columns to display.
9. Channel scan: don't disable the rest of the channels if no channels were found in the scan.
10. When setting up a new source with a lineup that is already in use by another source with a different connection type, added option to copy the already-used lineup to a separately configurable lineup for the new source so that different channels can be enabled. If the "epg/force_ask_to_copy_lineup" property is true (default: false), then the user will see this option when a lineup is already used, even if the connection type is the same.
11. Fixed picture transition issue in photo viewer.
12. Changed weather to handle the new 5 day forecast limit.

SageTV V6.4.2 Beta 5/8/08

KNOWN ISSUES:
1. High definition photo display does not currently work on the STX-HD100 while music is playing
2. The config wizard will be shown the first time this version is used even if it's already been ran before

Core Updates
1. Set the 'HD' bit for files that are imported that are of HD resolution
2. Fixed bug where TV recordings that were in TS format that needed a format redetection weren't getting it
3. Fixed bug where we'd use the wrong server address for the media format detection
4. Fixed bug where transcoding into AAC format no longer worked
5. Don't create lineups w/ 1000 channels on them of nothing when the user selects no epg source (this can be reverted by setting: epg/dont_create_full_channel_list_for_non_tuner_inputs=false)
6. Fixed bug in Scheduler where it would loop for an extremely long time trying to resolve certain scheduling conflicts that may not be resolvable. There's now a check for this and it'll terminate that search after 30 seconds. This is controlled by the folowing property: scheduler/max_time_for_smtsp
7. FIX: PTS-fix problem for a TS stream that has no PCR, or PCR is indicated to a wrong pid.
8. Fix: formatdect crash on Danmark DVB-T (more than 8 service TSID).
9. Added flow control for EPG data from TS sources

Windows Updates
1. Fixed installer so that it doesn't fail on the non-fatal psisdecd.dll fix error
2. Fixed bug where HD photo display didn't work properly on STX-HD100 due to the wrong file version in the installer
3. Fixed bug on Vista SP1 where SageTV would crash trying to start up
4. Fixed bug w/ not detecting Composite+SPDIF input in new HD PVR driver

Extender Updates
1. Fixed bug on HD extender where a JPEG image that failed to load would corrupt the high-definition image cache

Studio Updates
1. Fixed bug where dynamic H/V alignment of images did not work

STV Updates
1. Config Wizard: if the server has not been fully configured yet (ConfigWiz/ServerFullyConfigured is not true on the server), then any type of client will perform all major configuration options, such as source config, recording & import dir config, etc.
2. The Search menu item on the Schedule Recordings menu always searches TV airings instead of the last media type searched & was renamed to "Search for TV Airings".
3. Updated recommended HD100 firmware to version "20080505 0"
4. Right arrow acts as Select when navigating the new File Browser menu.
5. Added Info icon to the help line in the File Browser when a folder is highlighted. Used to get to the pop-up Folder options dialog.
6. Added warning when running an HD100 with a firmware older than the recommended version.
7. Slideshow transitions are enabled by default.
8. Separated iPod and iPhone in the list of conversion format options.
9. Fixed random positioning of images for screen saver slideshow.
10. Fixed fade transition of screen saver slideshow images on HD100.
11. Added photo description/details to the photo Info dialog.
12. Photo viewer's overlay menu has an option to regenerate the current image's thumbnail.
13. Photo viewer's photo rotate overlay menu has an option to autorotate the image, when autorotation is possible.
14. Config Wizard: Skip UI overscan setup if a desktop UI. Skip option to generate all picture thumbnails.
15. Added ability to use NTE when entering passwords when managing Placeshifter users.

SageTV V6.4.1 Beta 4/29/08

KNOWN ISSUES:
1. High definition photo display does not currently work on the STX-HD100 while music is playing

Core Updates
1. Updated SageTVTranscoder by merging with a more recent version
2. Added full EXIF parsing for JPEG picture files (extracts metadata and thumbnails; also manages thumbnails for rotations)
3. Fixed bug where switching between ATSC & QAM tuning for a single device didn't always work properly
4. Fixed bug where DirecTVSerialControl tuning could hang the main capture thread; it's now done asynchronously
5. Fixed bug where if a string was longer than 32k and we attempted to store it in the DB then we could corrupt the DB
6. Fixed issue with SageTVPlayer not selecting the primary audio stream for playback
7. Fixed MP3 parsing bug where we sometimes wouldn't properly parse the format due to an error parsing the bitrate
8. Fixed bug where recurring timed recordings would shift by an hour when daylight savings time changes occurred
9. Added code for supporting playback of media files on the network that aren't in the database and also for playback of files from the server that are not in the database
10. Added .properties file metadata importing support for DVDs
11. Changed MediaServer's readahead optimization to only be enabled for certain file types. By default this is an empty list. It's controlled by the property: media_server/readahead_optimized_file_extensions
12. Fixed exception that could occur when a raw image was trying to be scaled because it's initial resource didn't exist
13. Added support for loading images from smb:// URLs on all platforms
14. Added encoding profiles for the iPhone/iPodTouch specifically
15. Fixed bug where Windows firewall would sometimes block the discovery of SageTV servers
16. Fixed bug where file path characters weren't handled correctly for internal API calls between clients & servers that are on different OS's (like Win vs. Linux)
17. Added support for specifying smb:// paths for video recording directories on Mac/Linux
18. Reimports all of the picture files as part of this upgrade so that the EXIF data gets parsed
19. Optimized library scanning to reduce file system interactions
20. Fixed bug in advanced file recovery where it wouldn't work if the database went from Windows->Mac/Linux
21. Fixed Prev. Channel command so that it works properly after watching a show to its conclusion on a channel
22. Added core support for not enabling newly added channels by default. It's controlled by the property: epg/enable_newly_added_channels
23. Added property: wizard/max_search_results which allows increasing the default search results limit (1000 is default)
24. Optimized clock display so that it only causes a refresh when it's actually visible
25. Updated animation lock system so that animations will only end early if they are interruptable and there was user interaction that occurred (i.e. an event)
26. Added Dutch to the default languages
27. Fixed PID extraction from TS files in the external format detector
28. Added fast Matroska file format detection
29. Updated for new FFMPEG AAC format description
30. Fixed bug where some fles got tagged with a major format of 'Audio' instead of their actual container type
31. Fixed bug where we didn't use the Artist & Genre tags from ID3V1 tags
32. Add support for the video only or audio only recording. there is a TV station (ATSC) boardcasting video only stream (no audio associated); the music channel recording is a audio only recording.
33. Various fixes for ATSC/QAM/DVB stream parsing and recording

Windows Updates
1. Added support for Hauppauge HD PVR capture device
2. Updated bundled DirectShow MPEG filters to their latest version
3. Fixed bug where uninstalling SageTV would break BDA
4. Added property "mmc/enable_cc_for_hauppauge_cards" which can be set to false so SageTV doesn't set the registry value for enabling CC on the Hauppauge cards
5. Added ArcSoft & PDVD8 decoders to selectable audio/video filters list for MPEG2 decoders on Windows
6. Fixed bug when 'always_use_dshow_player=true' is set; online video playback would end after only a few seconds.
7. Added ability to specify the audio or video decoder used for any specific media format in DirectShow. This is done in the properties file under videoframe/codec_audio_decoder_filter or videoframe/codec_video_decoder_filter where 'codec' is replaced by the media format name. These properties will get created as media with a new format is played back.
8. Fixed issue where SageTVPlayer would sometimes hang when it was closed for 30 seconds
9. Fixed bug in media format detection for the source filter in DirectShow where we wouldn't use the registered type if it had no subtype defined
10. Add DiSEqC support for DVB-S
11. Added playback support for MPEG2-TS H.246 / AAC files
12. Add audio format supporting AAC-HE(DVB/LATM).
13. Add DVB-S2 support and DiSEqC support for FireDTV DVB-S2 tuner
14. FIX: DVB-C tuning problem that fails on either QAM256 or QAM64 with Technotrend tuner
15. Fixed bug where video rendering would fail sometimes due to automatic insertion of another renderer
16. Fixed optimization where SageTVClient can access the file directly instead of going through the server

Macintosh Updates
1. Implemented new renderer that uses Quartz
2. Improved performance/stability at higher resolutions (e.g., full screen 1920x1200)
3. Updated the HVR-950 driver to work with the new el gato USB VID/PID (and correctly sets the IR receiver frequency)
4. Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro (model 800e, USB VID/PID 0x2304/0x0227) support
5. HDHomeRun working better now
6. Fixed drawing surface never being resized with animations off
7. Added non-32 bit color depth warning on Mac OS X

Placeshifter Updates
1. Fixed the placeshifter showing only a black window under certain conditions on Macintosh
2. Implemented new Quartz renderer on the Macintosh
3. Fixed issue where the EventRouter would process remote mouse commands on the calling thread instead of the event thread
4. Added remote filesystem support for placeshifter clients (placeshifter clients can now upload/download files while connected to a server)
5. Added hotplug storage device detector for the Placeshifter on Mac/Windows
6. Added local filesystem security options to placeshifter since the server now has the ability to access its filesystem
7. Fixed bug in Placeshifter where it would startup w/ an empty server list sometimes even though there were servers on the network

Extender Updates
1. Added support for MPEG2-TS playback on the STX-HD100 w/out remuxing it on the server side
2. Added audio stream selection for MPEG2 PS files when being played back on the STX-HD100
3. Fixed crash bug when trying to playback an MPEG file w/ an invalid duration (i.e. PTS ends lower than it starts) on an extender
4. Fixed 32-bit overflow issue when finding the last PTS in a file and then end of the file wasn't proper MPEG2
5. Added support for high definition photo display (it can now render photos at up to 1080p; this is a higher resolution than the user interface)
6. Fixed timing issues related to DVD playback
7. Fixed navigation issues with some DVDs
8. Disable use of the 'Aspect' button the HD extender when playing back DVDs and in a DVD menu
9. Fix problems with multiple angles on DVD playback
10. Added playback support for MPEG2-TS H.246 / AAC files

Studio Updates
1. Added support for using the FileDownload API calls with smb:// paths that are relative to the server
2. Fixed bug where SageTVClient couldn't access files outside of the server's import/lib paths when using the FileDownload API calls
3. Updated 'FileDownload' API calls so that when used with a remote client it'll download to the client's filesystem if the client supports that feature
4. Added support for using the FileCopy API calls with source smb:// paths that are relative to the client (or server if using a remote UI)
5. Updated 'FileCopy' API calls so that when used with a remote client it'll upload to the server from the client's filesystem if the client supports that feature
6. Fixed GetThumbnail(MediaFile) API call so that it works properly with music files
7. Added Utility API call: DeleteLocalFilePath(File) which is used to delete a file on the local filesystem of a client
8. Added UIDs for Widgets
9. Added ability to edit the Widget UID prefix directly in the Studio (from the Tools menu)
10. Added ability to view all of the Widget UIDs in the Studio (Tools menu)
11. Added new UID diff functionality to the Studio which relies on the Widget UIDs to do a complete & thorough diff
12. HUGE: Added 'Generate STVI' functionality to the Studio; this is accessible as a button when you do a UID diff on 2 STVs
13. Enhanced STVI generation so that it will log anything that it can't properly patch (it gives the widget/property names/values and symbols for any failed operations)
14. MAJOR Performance optimization to the Studio. All refreshes are now MUCH faster. This affects a lot of operations. Yeah!
15. Added support for using '*' for the Widgt name in the animate API calls which means match all widgets regardless of name (mostly useful for AnimateVariable)
16. Added 'Undistorted' option to Animation names which will cause no scaling to be used; only useful with Morph and Smooth
17. Updated GetFileSystem return support so that it gives you back strings on Linux instead of hex codes
18. Added Airing API calls: GetRealWatchedStart(Airing) and GetRealWatchedEnd(Airing)
19. Fixed bug in 'Sort' API call when reversing the order of the sort it wasn't stable
20. Added Global API calls: GetRemoteClientVersion() and GetRemoteUIType()
21. Fixed IsServerUI API call so that it doesn't always return true for headless linux servers
22. Added new MediaFile API calls: CanAutorotatePictureFile(MediaFile), AutorotatePictureFile(MediaFile) and RegeneratePictureThumbnail(MediaFile)
23. Added MediaPlayerAPI call: WatchLocalFile(File) which is used to play a file from the local file system of a client
24. Added Utility API call: GetFileExtensionFromPath(String)
25. Added Utility API call: HasLocalFilesystem(), GetFilePathSize(), GetLocalFilePathSize() and GuessMajorFileType()
26. Added new Utility API calls for browing the local filesystem of a client: LocalDirectoryListing, GetLocalFileSystemRoots, IsLocalFilePathHidden, IsLocalFilePath, IsLocalDirectoryPath, CreateNewLocalDirectory, GetLocalPathLastModifiedTime
27. Added new Widget API calls: GetWidgetSymbol(Widget) and FindWidgetBySymbol(String)
28. Added support for maintaining persistent primary references in the Studio

STV Updates
1. Added support for playing back H.264 videos from YouTube
2. Optimized Dir & File browsers to cache last-read directory so they don't have to read it again for a simple screen refresh.
3. Detailed Info for TV shows now shows Parental Rating or just the Expanded Ratings, if a show is not Rated.
4. Allow selection of currently invalid directory paths as an import directory. (They could be valid later when a drive is connected or a disk inserted.)
5. Updated calls for local file access to use new API calls.
6. Added additional feeds for the online video Entertainment category.
7. Enabled animated slideshow transitions when 3D Acceleration is disabled.
8. Photo browser: be sure to preload next image before sliding to it.
9. Added themed images for horizontal scroll bars.
10. Updated upper OSD info for DVD status to match GetDVDCurrentDomain() docs.
11. Fixed default option of 'No' for group Watched/Don't Like/Archive confirmation dialogs.
12. Added Oprah "A New Life" feed and HBO's YouTube channel.
13. Updated podcast feed properties to allow defining the URL and the feed's categories on a single property line and converted existing feeds to use the new format.
14. Added additional provider configuration options for DVB-S.
15. Added new and improved File Browser menu.
16. Added option in Detailed Setup -> Customize to control whether newly added channels are automatically enabled.
17. System Info displays the file system type for recording & import paths, when that info is available.
18. Do not show video preview window or BG video while downloading an online video.

[Opus4]

It is recommended that the STX-HD100 beta firmware version 20080519 0 be used with SageTV v6.4.3.

Use the remote's number pad to enter the code 2382 ('beta') on the HD100's firmware update menu in order to tell it to look for the beta version. For help about how to update the firmware, see the HD100's manual or this FAQ.

The main changes in the beta firmware are:

• Fix DVD audio dropping or out of sync (Server needs to be 6.4.3)
• Fix playback of some h264 in mp4
• Fix missing audio in some m2t

- Andy

[Opus4]

STX-HD100 beta firmware version 20080523 0 is now available for testing.

Use the remote's number pad to enter the code 2382 ('beta') on the HD100's firmware update menu in order to tell it to look for the beta version. For help about how to update the firmware, see the HD100's manual or this FAQ.

The main changes in the beta firmware are:

• Updated drivers to latest version
• Fixed placeshifter connection to server using names
• Fixed mpeg audio in transport streams
• Fix decoding of some specific H264 video streams

Edit: removed for further testing. The above version, v20080519, is the current version for now.

- Andy

[Opus4]

STX-HD100 beta firmware version version "20080604 0" is now available for testing.

For information about the changes see: beta firmware "20080604 0".

Use the remote's number pad to enter the code 2382 ('beta') on the HD100's firmware update menu in order to tell it to look for the beta version. For help about how to update the firmware, see the HD100's manual or this FAQ.

- Andy