SageTV V6.4.7 Release Candidate is Here!

[Narflex]

Howdy all!

It's time for the next release candidate stage of V6.4. We've got all the builds ready for your testing pleasure. (fingers crossed, this one should become the 6.4 release)

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

-Support for the Hauppauge HD PVR (Official on Windows, Experimental on Linux)
-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
-editing of aspect ratios on the fly for the STX-HD100
-lots of bugs fixes & performance enhancements

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_7Setup.exe

SageTVClient for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVClient_V6_4_7Setup.exe

SageTVPlaceshifter for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVPlaces...6_4_7Setup.exe

SageTV for Windows Home Server
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V6_4_7Setup-WHS.msi

SageTV Media Center for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMac_V6_4_7.dmg

SageTV Client for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMacClient_V6_4_7.dmg

SageTV Placeshifter for Macintosh
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVMacPla...ter_V6_4_7.dmg

SageTV Media Center for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/server_6.4.7.tar.gz

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/mi...t_6.4.7.tar.gz

SageTV Media Center for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa...6.4.7_i386.deb

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa...6.4.7_i386.deb

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

SageTV V6.4.7 Release Candidate 8/8/8

Core Updates
1. Fixed bug when multiple Favorites matched an Airing we wouldn't always associate the highest priority Favorite of those with that Airing
2. Added support for parsing genre information from DVB/ATSC extracted EPG data when present
3. When replacing an existing MediaFile by swapping it with a new one w/ the same filename but different extension; also update the timeline for that MediaFile object.
4. Fixed PowerManagement issue where the system did not reset the idle timeout when new user input events occurred from remote devices
5. Changed property for enfocring recording qualities in the schedule to now be: scheduler/enforce_qualities_in_schedule2 (and it defaults to false now too)
6. Added property seeker/thorough_lib_scan_period which controls how often a thorough library scan will be performed if regular scanning is enabled (thorough scans also check for any changed files not just new/removed files)
7. Fixed power management bug where the system would go to sleep to early after user activity had ceased

Extender Updates
1. Added support for playing back .m2ts (192 byte transport stream) files on the STX-HD100
2. Added support for all the various PCM and ADPCM codecs on the STX-HD100
3. Fixed bug where we'd reset the aspect ratio during playback of DVDs on the media extender during the movie content

Windows Updates
1. Disabled fast mux switching and async tuning when using the HD-PVR at the recommendation of Hauppauge
2. Fixed bug where the audio tracks didn't always have the right labels when played back with DirectShow

Linux Updates
1. Fixed issue with messing up filename case when doing SMB file mappings

STV Updates
1. Channel Setup: For QAM scan w/o a provided channel name, changed physical channel number match to prefer an existing logical channel number, if one exists. If not, continue to use logical number from the scan.
2. Channel Setup: When matching QAM channel names during a channel scan, prefer matches to Zap2it-provided channels.
3. Added STVI Plugin Manager for automating the import process when doing upgrades of SageTV
4. Removed unneeded MediaFile variable for some Stop commands.
5. Favorite channel limit dialog: update whether a channel has airings immediately after it is selected.

SageTV V6.4.6 Release Candidate 7/31/08

Core Updates
1. Added support for parsing category/subcategory specifications in imported video file metadata
2. Fixed bug with setting duration for a show where we'd use a less accurate duration from a format detection sometimes
3. Fixed bug where SageTVClients that connected to the server through any kind of IP proxy/NAT would fail playing back content or doing other server operations
4. If the same channel is enabled on multiple inputs for a capture device, SageTV will now always pick the highest quality input to record from.
5. Reset each capture device at least once every 24 hours to prevent PTS rollovers
6. Fixed bug where scrolling a panel more than one page would result in corrupted animations
7. Fixed bug parsing ID3 headers that were just under 64k in size
8. Added support for handling the MPEG2-TS: H.264 + AC3 files output by the HD-PVR
9. FIX: Format dection mistakes MPEG2 as MPEG1, as MPEG headers cross a boundary.

Mac Updates
1. Various bug fixes & performance enhancements

Linux Updates
1. Limited Hauppauge HD-PVR support (you may experience some issues due to driver limitations)

Windows Updates
1. Updated installer to be more Vista-compatible
2. Major performance enhancement to image loading for DirectX9
3. Changed property for allowing DX9 to load compressed images itself to be: ui/enable_d3d_compressed_loading_new (it now defaults to false since our loading technique is much faster now)
4. Fix crashing on ATSC channel setup previewing
5. Added support for Hauppuage HVR-2200 and HVR-1950 and HVR-1250
6. Integrated with latest HDHR release
7. Fixed bug where if any of the output pin renderings failed on a source filter we'd bail; now we continue if any succeeded (some MS-DVR files would fail this way)

Extender Updates
1. Fixed bug where switching audio tracks on MPEG2-TS files didn't work properly on the HD-100
2. Updated beta firmware: version "20080804 0"

Studio Updates
1. Fixed bug with relative child layout sizing in scrollable panels
2. Fixed GetWorkingDirectory API call so that it's local and not server-based
3. Added Utility API calls: GetUIRefreshLock() and ReleaseUIRefreshLock() (online docs have beeen updated)

STV Updates
1. Added code to handle UI Refresh Locks in various places where it is needed.
2. Removed STV Update option in Detailed Setup when using Vista with UAC enabled. The option can be forced to be on via the version/allow_Vista_STV_updates=true property setting.
3. Checked all online video feeds & removed or fixed bad links. Added a few feeds too.
4. Channel Setup: QAM scan can match channel names to channels on other lineups, if the channel is not on the current lineup.
5. Source Setup: if user chooses to not use guide data for a source, if the source's existing lineup contains remapped channels, ask user whether to clear all remaps.
6. Channel Setup: Updated logical mapping during QAM digital channel scan.
7. Always use the STV version from the STV file instead of the property to prevent a re-installation from thinking the STV is already up to date.
8. STV Update check: if the current STV is not the default STV & an update is found, offer user the option to load the default STV. Also added option in Detailed Setup -> Advanced to revert to the default STV if a custom STV is in use.
9. DVDs are prevented from being added to playlists, since DVD playback doesn't end.
10. Channel Setup: Updated logical mapping during digital channel scan.
11. Online videos: if a feed has no content, don't cache its data so that the feed download is tried again when reselected.
12. DVB-S LNB file creation: always add the LNB line, using 0 for any of the LOF values that are not defined.
13. Changed use of gCustomSTVInitParams for CustomSTV parameter so that it is used the same way the default STV receives it w/o adding it as the only element of an array.
14. Channel Setup: fixed channel scanning mapping issue.
15. Fixed dozens of rendering/animation artifacts that could occur in various situations by using the new Get/ReleaseRefreshUILock API calls

SageTV V6.4.5 Beta 7/10/08

Core Updates
1. Optimized scheduling algorithms when choosing between multiple channels for the same favorite so that shows on higher quality tuners are preferred over shows on lower quality tuners (this solves the problem of SageTV recording shows with SDTV tuners instead of HDTV tuners when the shows were on two different channels and the show wasn't marked as 'HDTV' specifically)
2. Reduced file system access required when browing menus w/ thumbnails
3. Optimized file system access for loading of thumbnails
4. Fixed bug where we didn't stop EPG data scanning on a capture device before freeing it if we were going into standby
5. Fixed bug with switching between certain types of transport stream files during playback
6. Optimized going to the next/prev song when not in a music playlist
7. Fixed bug where if you selected a single song to play (which plays through the now playing playlist) that you couldn't go track up/down
8. Fixed bug where the UI didn't re-render itself correctly if 3D failed to load
9. Fixed bug where we didn't track mouse dragging properly when it went outside of our component's bounds
10. Expression evaluator optimization for constants, variable lookups and simple assignments
11. Fixed parsing of duration in RSS feeds when it's specified as 'x sec'
12. Fixed bug where we didn't properly strip solitary \n characters from XML descriptions in RSS feeds
13. Fixed language detection of audio streams for the MPEG parser

Mac Updates
1. Added support for forced DirecTV serial fast channel changing on Linux/Mac; it's done by creating a file called 'DTVSERIAL_FAST' in the working directory for the SageTV server component
2. Fixed 720p HD playback on Mac Mini Core Duo so it no longer stutters

Linux Updates
1. Added support for forced DirecTV serial fast channel changing on Linux/Mac; it's done by creating a file called 'DTVSERIAL_FAST' in the working directory for the SageTV server component

Windows Updates
1. Fixed bug on Windows Vista where digital TV tuning would no longer work in V6.4 but it did work in V6.3.10
2. Added experimental property for capture device inputs 'delay_to_wait_after_tuning' which will cause a capture device to wait for that many milliseconds after doing a tune request before it actually starts capturing video. This delay is synchronous and may cause temporary hangups in the UI if used.
3. Fixed initialization of 'media_player_uses_system_volume' property setting on Vista
4. Fixed SageTVPlayer volume control on Windows so that it's more linear
5. Fix HDHR tuner clear QAM channel 68 limit
6. Fix HD HomeRun QAM channel scan crashing
7. Fix: drop DVB-S channel as duplicated channel during channel scanning
8. Fixed bug in Windows DVD playback that could cause the application to hang
9. Increased JVM heap size default to be 256MB instead of 192MB

Extender Updates
1. HD Extender CRASH BUG IS FIXED!!! Update your firmware!!
2. Fixed bug playing back MPEG2 files on the extender where the PTS rolled over during the file
3. Added property 'miniclient/disabled_audio_codecs' which allows disabling of specific audio codecs for an extender/placeshifter which will then require the server to transcode that format (i.e. you want to disable DTS pass-through)
4. Fixed bug where the Audio button didn't switch audio tracks on the extender for MPEG files that were not DVDs

Placeshifter Updates
1. Fixed bug where HD PVR recordings played w/ the Mac placeshifter wouldn't display at the proper size

Studio Updates
1. Added auto cleanup feature for STVI imports. SageTV will automatically delete the 'STVImported' hook and all of its children if the STVImported hook sets the 'ReturnValue' variable to be the string "AutoCleanupSTVImportedHook" This is done by default when using the 'Generate STVI' feature now.
2. Added 'Mouse Transparency' option for Text & Image widgets
3. Added EXPERIMENTAL (as in unsupported, but we've been using it internally and think it's nifty) "3-way" diff technique for STVs. If you hold 'Ctrl' when selecting the UID diff option; then it'll give you 2 file dialogs. The first one is for the 'old' file. The second one is for 'their' 'new' file. The STV open in the Studio should be 'your' 'new' file. Your and their new file should both be derived from the 'old' file. The diff list will show the diffs between the two selected files and then you can selectively apply those diffs to the loaded STV.
4. Added ability to have mouse dragging on a UI component move around the window. To enable this add an Attribute to that UI component that evaluates to true named: MouseMovementControlsWindow
5. Added Global API call: SetEmbeddedPanelBounds which takes relative positions/sizes as its arguments
6. Fixed bug where you could import an STVI and end up with duplicate symbols
7. Bug fix for not saving symbols correctly when files are exported

STV Updates
1. Removed the Detailed Setup -> Video/Audio tab on Macs, since no settings there apply to Mac installs.
2. Added use of gCustomSTVInit and gCustomSTVInitParams when a custom STV calls the default STV, to enable calling a custom initialization method.
3. For online video feed content, show description for individual items when the title is the same for all items in the feed.
4. Use the screen_saver_wait_time/backup property to save the current screen saver timeout setting & then always restore using that property if it still exists.
5. Modified playback screen to reduce possibility of showing a different video when stopping/deleting the current playback.
6. System Info: Added info saying whether auto-online updates are enabled.
7. Fixed slow-down issue for HDTV category in the Browse by Category menu.
8. Fixed handling of DVB-S LNB filename and creation of file contents.
9. Write automatic online video feed names using UTF-8 encoding for easier conversion using Java's native2ascii tool.
10. Added ability to use single Google, YouTube Video, or YouTube Channel feeds as individual podcast feeds.
11. Fixed issue where Favorites Manager was not able to re-order Favs.
12. Renamed icons for transcode formats so they'll display on Linux

[Opus4]

An updated Sage.jar file is available in this zip file:

<File link removed; install the SageTV V6.4.8 Release Candidate instead>

Changes:

This updated JAR enables the use of the new STVI Plugin Manager feature in Detailed Setup -> Advanced, discussed here


To install this update:

1. Close SageTV and stop the service, if it is in use.
2. Make a backup copy of your existing Sage.jar file at <SageTV install path>\SageTV\Sage.jar.
3. Copy the Sage.jar file from the zip file to <SageTV install path>\SageTV.
4. Restart SageTV.

- Andy

[Opus4]

A new beta version of the STX-HD100 firmware is now available: version "20080812 0".

- Andy