SageTV V7.0.15 Beta is Ready!

[Narflex]

Howdy again all!

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

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 V7.0.15:

SageTV for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_15Setup.exe

SageTVClient for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVClient_V7_0_15Setup.exe

SageTVPlaceshifter for Windows
http://download.sage.tv/SageTVPlaces..._0_15Setup.exe

SageTV for Windows Home Server
http://download.sage.tv/SageTV_V7_0_15Setup-WHS.msi

SageTV Media Center for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/server_7.0.15.tar.gz

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/mi..._7.0.15.tar.gz

SageTV Media Center for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa....0.15_i386.deb

SageTV Placeshifter for Linux - Debian Package Installer
http://download.sage.tv/linuxbeta/sa....0.15_i386.deb

The release notes from version 7.0.12 can be found here, .13-.15 are below:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49685

Below are the detailed release notes for V7.0.15:

SageTV V7.0.15 Beta 8/11/2010

Core Updates
1. Fixed bug where we did not preserve the current title # when storing watched information for DVDs and BluRays. (it was broken when watched tracking for DVDs/BDs was updated recently)
2. Fixed bug where transcoding files with subtitle streams would fail sometimes (subtitles are now disabled by the transcoder)
3. Fixed issues with embedded audio streams inside of HD audio streams being detected by the transcoder
4. Added server based property "seeker/num_recent_watches_to_keep" which defaults to 2 and controls how many recently watched shows are protected from deletion. This has always been there; but now the setting is configurable in the properties file.
5. Fixed bug related to new watched tracking for DVDs/BluRays where resuming playback of a DVD would cause exceptions to occur and loss of playback control.
6. Fixed regression bug where disallowing adding a channel with a zero station ID would prevent creation of the internal zero-station ID channel used for all imported content.
7. Fixed bug where transcoding from AVIs did not work properly
8. Added Italy-Genova DVB-T frequency
9. Fixed bug where live TV from network encoders was missing the video stream in format detection

Windows Updates
1. Fixed bug where we didn't always select the right audio decoder to use in DirectShow if all the audio tracks didn't have the same audio format.
2. Fixed bug on Windows with 3D rendering where if SageTV was started on one monitor and then moved to another monitor with a larger display size, then part of the user interface would be cutoff at full screen.
3. Changed the default setting for the autodial property to be false since this sometimes causes issues on Win7/Vista.
4. Fix: if a channel is missing a tune entry in frq on windows 7, there is trouble tuning an ATSC channel, ERROR (-4,0x8007001f).
5. Fixed bug with DirectShow DVD Player where selecting a subtitle language didn't automatically turn on subtitles as well
6. Fixed bug where the audio tracks listed in the UI didn't always match the actual ordering used
7. Regression fix for exiting FSE and trying forever to reset the D3D device

Linux Updates
1. Fix: linux crash when EPG scanning. after fflush fifo empty, the push data thread tries to use empty buffer in fifo (thread racing issue)
2. Fixed bug where seamless file switching would wait forever until it found the transition point, which is bad if there's no signal

Extender Updates
1. Disable DVB subpicture selection for the HD100 since it doesn't support display of them.
2. Send a command to disable subpicture display for MPEG2-PS files to avoid hangs on media extenders that cannot display DVB subpictures properly
3. Fixed bug where bd-xxx subpicture PIDs were not properly parsed (these were used for DVB subs inside MPEG2-PS files)

Studio/API Updates
1. Added new Widget API call "ExecuteWidgetChainInCurrentMenuContext(Widget)" which is similar to ExecuteWidgetChain but instead of using an empty variable context it will execute within the currently loaded menu's variable context.

STV Updates
1. After selecting an audio language or subtitle in dialog during playback, wait up to 500 ms while checking to see if the change occurred before refreshing the list & marking the currently active language or subtitle.
2. Allowed use of Watched command to set/clear Watched status for DVDs & BDs.
3. Updated Standard theme preview image.
4. Updated preview images for playing video as menu background or in preview window.
5. Hidden Extras: Fixed display of alternate view names in malore menu slide out options.
6. Hidden Extras: Added malore menu options to 1) draw separator lines between items, 2) draw outlines around Manual Recordings & Favorites, 3) draw airing category background colors always, not the default category color, or never.
7. Hidden Extras: Updated malore menu focus highlight image - MaloreHighlight.png
8. Hidden Extras: Updated malore menu font styles for right-side episode lists & upper info area. Bold titles for Fav/MR; Italic for Watched; Plain text for all else.
9. Hidden Extras: Solved excessive refresh issue when using a malore menu for the first time.

SageTV V7.0.14 Beta 8/5/2010

Windows Updates
1. Fixed regression issue on Windows where QAM tuning didn't work right on Windows 7/Vista

Linux Updates
1. Fixed regression issue where SageTV would crash doing an ATSC EPG data scan

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.

[Opus4]

The following downloadable STV update is available for v7.0.15:

New STV version: 7.0.15.2, file set 2010081501

1. Added ability to tag Favorites, Manual Recordings, or individual recordings with 'User Category' tags.
2. Added User Category filtering to the SageTV Recordings menus.
3. Added "Random Slideshow" item to the Photos submenu on the Main Menu.
4. Added link to TV category color configuration dialog at Detailed Setup -> Customize -> TV Category Background Colors.
5. Updated Photo viewer's tip and options areas to v7 style.
6. Added ability to define a theme description in theme.properties. The description is shown in the theme selection dialog.
7. Fixed width for display of recording group count.
8. Most menus that offer to return to the Main Menu do so via the Home command so that if the menu was loaded from a custom STV, returning to the Main Menu may return to the custom STV, depending on how that custom STV configured its jump to the default STV.

You can either wait for the system message telling you the update is available or get it at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.

Based on testing earlier in the v7 beta, the downloadable STV updates should work on Windows Vista & 7 even when UAC is enabled, so a manual download & installation of this update should not be needed.


The new User Category feature can be discussed in the Testing New Feature topic.


- Andy

[Opus4]

The following downloadable STV update is available for v7.0.15:

New STV version: 7.0.15.3, file set 2010081601

1. Combined Category and User Category selection dialogs and merged category filters to process the overall category + user category lists at the same time.
2. Added option to set the number of views on the SageTV Recordings menu, value can range from 4 to 8; default: 4.
3. Hidden: Set max # of malore menu views to 8. If reducing view count, change to max view if current view no longer available.
4. Hidden: Fixed use of multiple user category filters in malore menus.

You can either wait for the system message telling you the update is available or get it at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.

Based on testing earlier in the v7 beta, the downloadable STV updates should work on Windows Vista & 7 even when UAC is enabled, so a manual download & installation of this update should not be needed.


The new User Category & configurable recording view count features can be discussed in the Testing New Feature topic.


- Andy

[Opus4]

The following downloadable STV update is available for v7.0.15:

New STV version: 7.0.15.4, file set 2010081801

1. Fixed SageTV Recordings subgroup menu to correctly handle the new recording view settings.

You can either wait for the system message telling you the update is available or get it at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.

Based on testing earlier in the v7 beta, the downloadable STV updates should work on Windows Vista & 7 even when UAC is enabled, so a manual download & installation of this update should not be needed.


The new User Category & configurable recording view count features can be discussed in the Testing New Feature topic.


- Andy

[Opus4]

The following downloadable STV update is available for v7.0.15:

New STV version: 7.0.15.5, file set 2010082001

1. Added Channels.com Web Shows to the Online Services menu.
2. Updated GeekBrief.TV podcast feed to the GeekBeat.TV feed.

You can either wait for the system message telling you the update is available or get it at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.

Based on testing earlier in the v7 beta, the downloadable STV updates should work on Windows Vista & 7 even when UAC is enabled, so a manual download & installation of this update should not be needed.


The new Channels.com Web Shows feature can be discussed here:
New in Online Services: Channels.com Web Shows

- Andy

[Opus4]

The following downloadable STV update is available for v7.0.15:

New STV version: 7.0.15.6, file set 2010082601

1. Added once-per-day check for new installer & firmware version upgrades after jumping to the Main Menu. If an upgrade is available, a System Message is generated.
2. Added options in Detailed Setup -> Advanced to configure whether 'Automatic Update Checks' are performed.
3. Added ability to append or remove categories when editing user categories for multiple TV items.
4. Added ability to append or remove categories when editing categories for multiple imported videos.
5. When editing video categories or TV user categories, can use Delete to remove user-added category names. If the category name is still in use, it will still remain listed after the deletion.
6. Fixed Channels.com item on Main Menu so it will work the first time it is selected.
7. Check for & handle youtube.com video link in a podcast feed.
8. Removed Main Menu's Online -> Google Videos link. (It is still available in the Online Services menu.)
9. Can specify a path when selecting a destination folder for video conversion.
10. Right-hand airing info: added year to 'Aired On' line and added 'Original Airing Date'.
11. Hidden: Can use numbers 1-0 to jump to % position in list for SageTV Recordings, Search Results, Interleaved & By Day Recording Schedule, Favorites Manager, and Browse by Category menus.
12. Hidden: Don't include channel previews when updating the Disk Space Bar.

You can either wait for the system message telling you the update is available or get it at Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Check for STV Update.

Based on testing earlier in the v7 beta, the downloadable STV updates should work on Windows Vista & 7 even when UAC is enabled, so a manual download & installation of this update should not be needed.

- Andy