SageTV V7.0.13 Beta is Ready!

[Narflex]

NOTE: Beta .14 is out now, use that instead: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50033

Howdy again all!

We have another beta release of V7 ready for you now.

Couple new features in this one:

-Category view in the Video Browser, with options to edit categories and also parental ratings for imported videos
-Merged SageTVTranscoder with latest public version; should resolve many transcoding issues; we also added transcoding profiles for H264 MKVs
-DVD/BluRay Watched tracking (STV update is needed for UI functionality, will be available soon)

All of the high-level information on V7 can be found here:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=48421

Be sure to read the above post as it contains important information regarding upgrade pricing and new features

As always, report bugs you find here:

http://sagetv.com/bugs.html

Here's the download links for V7.0.12:

SageTV for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_13Setup.exe

SageTVClient for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVClient_V7_0_13Setup.exe

SageTVPlaceshifter for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVPlaces..._0_13Setup.exe

SageTV for Windows Home Server
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_13Setup-WHS.msi

SageTV Media Center for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/server_7.0.13.tar.gz

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/mi..._7.0.13.tar.gz

SageTV Media Center for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa....0.13_i386.deb

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa....0.13_i386.deb

The release notes from version 7.0.12 can be found here:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49685

Below are the detailed release notes for V7.0.13:

SageTV V7.0.13 Beta 8/4/2010

Core Updates
1. Merged code for the transcoder with the latest public version; this should resolve many issues relating to offline transcoding, placeshifter transcoding and thumbnail generation
2. Added optimization to the background image loader so it doesn't use URL objects in one of its Map since generating their hashcode can cause a DNS lookup.
3. Added support for setting DVDs/BluRays to be completely watched. This will never happen automatically for DVDs; but will for BluRays if the whole movie is watched (for DVDs, due to navigation which creates non-linear content this isn't reliably determined). An STV update will be released after this beta that includes the functionality in the STV for this (the Watched command can be used to toggle the state in the new STV)
4. Changes to the property setting for EPG import plugins can now be dynamically changed while SageTV is running and the change will take effect on the next run of the EPG update system.
5. Fixed bug where RF inputs on a fixed channel (i.e. channel 3/4) would still end up creating channel lineups for all possible channels tuned with their external tuner (usually this was either 1000 or 10000 channels)
6. Changed the default value for multipass encoding to be false through the property "transcoder/enable_multipass_encoding"
7. Automatically set the deinterlace option in the transcoder when converting interlaced videos (temporary until the transcoder can output interlaced video properly). This is controlled by the property "xcode_auto_deinterlace" which defaults to true.
8. Fixed bug where the Wiz.bin file would not be saved correctly if there was metadata in an item that exceeded 64k in length.
9. Added support for download timestamp tracking for MPEG2 Program Stream files. (this mainly affects the PlayOn STVI plugin so it now will show the actual download progress of the file just like for other online videos)
10. Fixed bug where certain glyphs had their height larger than the actual font height (this was supposed to be fixed before, but the fix was incorrect)
11. Fixed bug where external process execution wouldn't always wait for the stdin/stdout streams to be completely closed before returning all of the processes output.
12. Added property "enable_converting_imported_videos_to_tv_recordings" which defaults to true. If set to false, then video files imported that have TV metadata will NOT be automatically tagged as 'TV Recordings' and will show up in the 'Imported Videos' section instead of the 'TV Recordings' section.
13. Optimizations to reduce excessive requests for format detection on files who are failing format detection
14. MPEG2 Transport Stream files will now have their thumbnails extracted from the specified offset in the file (15 seconds by default) along w/ searching for an optimized thumbnail. In prior versions MPEG2-TS files always started searching at the beginning of the file due to issues with the thumbnail generator.
15. Performance enhancements to the techniques used to find an optimal thumbnail in a MediaFile
16. Added property "autorotate_jpeg_images" which determines whether or not the core should automatically rotate JPEG images with their orientation bit set when displaying them. This defaults to true; changing it requires a server restart since it invalidates any rotated images in the image cache.
17. Updated transcode formats to use parameters compatible with the new version of the transcoder (this will be required for any custom transcode formats that use H264 encoding)
18. Removed the 'Deinterlaced' transcode formats; this is now handled automatically by the transcoder (it will deinterlace any interlaced video streams now automatically...this is temporary until we figure out how to get the transcoder to output interlaced video)
19. Added H264 MKV transcoding profiles (they're in the MPEG4 sections since H264 is MPEG4 Part 10)
20. Added property "fully_reimport_playlists_every_scan" which defaults to false. If set to true; then every time a library import scan is done; any Playlists that originated from external playlist files will be fully reimported (i.e. the Playlists in SageTV's database will be synchronized with the external playlist files, using the external playlist file as the master)
21. Removed the newly added capability of disabling all transparency in the UI on the MediaMVP since this made certain areas of the UI unreadable (like the EPG w/ category colors)
22. Don't popup UI notifications if there are issues restarting a recording while it is occurring. If the UI is unattended this can stack up dialogs forever which is essentially a thread leak. System messages will still be posted and errors regarding starting a recording at the beginning will still be popped up in the UI.
23. Fixed bug where fonts could end up being loaded multiple times and some glyph sizing information would be invalid due to this.
24. Fixed failure in searching that could occur if "wizard/search_media_formats=true" was set (it's not by default)
25. Added support for extracting the Title and Thumbnail image that exists in some BDMVs. They are retrieved from BDMV/META/DL/bdmt_eng.xml.
26. Various fixes to MPEG format detection code

Linux Updates
1. Fixed regression issue where ATSC/QAM was broken on Linux in the last build
2. Fixed regression issue with slow tuning due to changes made in the last build
3. Reduce the priority of the transcoder process on non-Windows platforms by running it with 'nice' (can be disabled by setting xcode_reduce_process_priority=false)

Windows Updates
1. Fixed bug where we wouldn't always select the highest quality audio track as the default for DirectShow. TrueHD/DTS-HD are now preferred, and then DTS/AC3 and any ties are resolved by the highest number of channels.
2. Automatically add AC3Filter as the audio decoder when playing back video files if no specific DTS decoder has been setup in the properties file.
3. Disable insertion of the CC decoder filter if we're not playing back an MPEG2 TS/PS file since this can cause aspect ratio issues in DirectShow
4. Whenever there are failures in the Direct3D rendering engine; try forever to rebuild the 3D system and don't give up after 3 tries. In Windows 7 there are more situations where this can occur for extended periods of time if the display powers off or the system is going into standby.
5. Fixed potential problem with files not getting removed from the async deletion queue due to the operating system not releasing the file lock quick enough after closing the file.
6. Fixed bug where the stream mappings for the audio tracks for BluRays didn't always match the UI when using DirectShow
7. Fixed bug where switching audio tracks didn't work properly when switching away from and then back to the same track if no audo decoder was specified but an audio renderer was.
8. Fixed issue where digital TV didn't work in 7.0.12 (regression issue)

Extender Updates
1. Update to frequency of buffer pushing to media extenders when the current file is being recording; intended to help with updates relating to DVB subtitles.
2. Fixed bug where switching audio or subtitle tracks with the DVD player on media extenders would cause playback to seek forward 10-15 seconds.
3. Fixed server crash when viewing picture slideshow on extenders (same fix in the ImageLoader patch on the forums from 7.0.12)

Studio/API Updates
1. Updated MediaFile API call GetMediaFileMetadata to also include support for getting the Index # for any specific track. (this is used for interaction with FFMPEG)
2. When a metadata property is set via SetMediaFileMetadata; if no change would result from the API call, then nothing is done (previously it would treat anything as a change and build new objects with those values and update the external .properties file)
3. Fixed exception that could occur if the GetMediaFileMetadata API call was made on a MediaFile object that had a null format object
4. Fixed bug in Studio where STVI Generation and difference creation/application would not use the last defined Widget property name at all (this was the SmoothTracker key currently)
5. Added Airing API call SetWatchedTimes(Airing, WatchedEndTime, RealStartTime) which can be used to set explicitly what the last watched time is for an Airing. Useful if viewing is done outside of the regular SageTV media players (i.e. web clients).
6. Updated Database API call GroupByMethod to support a grouping of type "Categories" which will group all items into coalesced category names. The category names can come from the Category or Subcategory field (it will be listed in each), and if an item has a comma or semicolon delimited list of names that list will be broken apart and the item will be listed in those multiple categories.
7. Added Database API call GetAllGroupingCategories which gets all the possible keys that will result if the new GroupByMethod is used with the "Categories" technique.
8. Fixed bugs where GetFileEndTime, GetDurationForSegment and GetEndForSegment in the MediaFile API didn't return correct values if using the background file download API
9. Added new Utility API call "AreCoreAnimationsSupported" which returns true if animations can be used w/ the current client. They are disabled for the MediaMVP and for placeshifter clients that are not on the same LAN.
10. Added property "studio/save_v6_compatible_stvs" which defaults to false; if set to true then STVs can be saved in the Studio in a format that can be loaded by SageTV V6 (but they must not include any Effect Widgets; the compatability just removes any Widget properties that were outside the range that was used in V6)

Plugin System Updates
1. Don't post system messages about plugin updates if it's a Library type plugin

STV Updates
1. Fixed YouTube video URL-finding issue in STV and online video links properties file.
2. Removed 'Razr' from the preset sort order of conversion formats & renamed the property controlling the format sort order to transcoder/sorting_order2.
3. Can click outside a right-hand slide-in options menu to close it.
4. Added "Edit Video Information" option in imported video & group options dialogs, with ability to assign MPAA ratings and categories.
5. Hidden Extras: Initial conversion of malore menus to v7 format.
6. Hidden Extras: Displayed disk space bar in menu footer. Added config option to set the bar's percent width of the screen.
7. Removed option to turn off video group options dialog because that dialog can be optionally opened by using Select or Info.
8. Allow video group options dialog to open even when the group consists of only DVDs/BDs. Offer options appropriate only for the various types of videos in the group.
9. Advanced Video Browser Options: added option to control whether TV recordings found in import directories are considered to be recordings or imported videos.
10. Fixed filename sorting in video browser's folder view.
11. Change theme tracking property to "theme/currently_active7" so it is different from the one used for the SageTV3 STV.
12. If podcast has no enclosure, try looking for a Link entry instead.
13. Improved handling of empty (no items or all filtered out) media browser views.
14. Forced reset to the default 'Standard' theme if the current theme is 'Standard SDTV'.
15. Fixed Favorite Manager's title sorting so it is case insensitive & ignores leading articles when that option is enabled.
16. When playing a group of recordings, leave the group sorted as-is in order to use the new subgroup sorting option instead of always sorting the subgroup items by their recording dates.
17. Disable animation options on clients where animations are not supported and don't cycle through subgroup items when animations are disabled.
18. Added Category view to Video Browser.
19. Photo Browser: added 'Autorotate JPEG Images for Display' option in Menu Options. After closing the Menu Options dialog, offer to restart SageTV if the option was changed and warns if the restart will affect MR or Fav recordings in progress.
20. Fixed issue where themes failed to load properties from parent themes.
21. Added additional channel scan check to prevent Station ID of 0 & check for inability to add a new channel.
22. Removed "Turn this dialog off" option from video group options dialog, since the Select vs Info option is there instead.
23. Fixed places where Info didn't replicate Select command actions when Info is set to open group options dialogs.
24. Updated Favorite channel limit dialog so that the text saying a channel has airings of the Favorite is not removed or updated until selecting Any or Refresh Channel List. (The markers for channels with airings reflect the channel-limited Favorite's conditions at the time of the dialog opening or the last selection of Any or Refresh.)
25. Fixed issue where scrolling a table would initially display all the scrolling-into-view items using the focused text transparency level instead of the normal transparency level.