Release Notes

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V.r 2.34

April 24, 2018
• Redesign of Marquee System. This release contains a significant upgrade for Marquee operational capabilities and enhanced visual presentation.
  • Change - Separation of Marquee and Marquee Style - Visual styling (fonts, colors, etc) and screen location of the Marquee has been separated out into a Marquee Style class. This should increase editing productivity by eliminating duplicate work. The Marquee itself holds the text content and some operational settings. And changes to a Marquee Style will be inherited by all Marquees that reference the style. (Learn more )
  • New features - Visual Presentation - The look/feel of Marquees is significantly enhanced with new Marquee Style defintions (Learn more ).
    Key styling improvements:
    • Opacity allows for the video behind the Marquee to show through to varying degrees.
    • Marquee box can now use color gradients or images. Also can be transparent or translucent.
    • Marquee Text now can use: Outline, Drop Shadow, Opacity, color gradients, and more.
    • Marquee Border can now apply rounded corners and use Opacity.
    • Marquee content formatting allows for aligning content to left, right or center.
    • Marquee content spacing is enhanced with Padding settings. Allows for exact pixel distance positioning of content if needed.
    • Check out the visual sample images at this link. Learn more.
  • Enhancement - Reuse - All Marquees and Marquee Styles are available across all Media Lists. Eliminates duplicate work.
  • Quick Start Instructions - See this link for step by step instructions on using the new Marquee design. (Learn more )
  • Migration - Existing Marquees will be migrated to the new design. However, old Marquee styling attributes (fonts, colors, etc) cannot be translated to the new format. Review migrated Marquees before using them at a live event. You will likely need to create one or two new Marquees Style definitions and apply them to existing Marquees. Recommend: Take screen shots of your existing Marquees before upgrading so that you know the styling each will need. We regret any inconvenience due to migration neccessities.
• New feature - Video Subtitles are now supported for the popular SRT Subtitle file format. This is designed to use with any Marquee Style you create. (Learn more )
• New feature - Timed Messages - This is a special form of Marquee that can display sequential, multiple messages to the Media Screen at a timed interval. The messages are sourced from a simple text file. Each line in the file is treated as a new message. (Learn more )
• New features for Playlists (M3U) Import/Export .
  • New feature - Create a Playlist in Automator on Import - when importing an M3U Playlist, you can optionally have VideoMill create a new playlist in the Automator (as an automation Script ready to be played). (Learn more )
  • New feature - Export Scripts to M3U Playlists . Either 1) One script via File Save dialog for complete control; 2) Or for productivity, use Quick Export for multiple scripts in just a couple clicks. See Automator > File menu. (Learn more )
  • New feature - Name Default for Playlist. Helpful for national language customization. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Miscellaneous user interface improvements.
• Removed feature - Synchronize by 'Time of Day' - This feature is removed with this release (not compatible with new Marquee design). It allowed for syncing multiple videos based on the 'time of day' the videos were recorded (creation date/time stamp). Users of this feature should not upgrade to this release. The related menu item Create Play Position Readout Media Item is removed from the Edit Media Item menu. If this is a critical need, please contact support for potential future plan.
• Bug fixed - Infrequently, an error message popup occurs, "Unhandled exception - Index Out Of Range". It is a rare, edge condition that can occur when opening and closing a lot of Media Screens (especially when using the Automator.)

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V.r 2.33

March 13, 2018
• New feature - Import/Export Playlists (M3U, M3U8 or WPL) added - These playlist files can now be imported either by File Browse dialog or drag/drop. (Learn more )
• New feature - Automator > Create Simple Playlist - New menu item creates a Script of Play Steps from a selection of Media Items. You can then edit it like any other Script. (productivity) (Learn more )
• New feature - Import Folders - Search Subfolders - You can now specify the search option when importing folders -- to either include Subfolders, or not. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Miscellaneous IPC UI and log improvements.
• Enhancement - Some UI dialogs have productivity improvements.
• Enhancement - Automator Menus - Toggle (show/hide) menu strip added to View menu.
• Enhancement - Import media files no longer imports hidden files. (typically album art files.)
• Bug fixed - Error occurs when Media List is empty and Windows Desktop is then extended (from non-extended mode).

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V.r 2.32

December 23, 2017
• Text Screens Enhancments - This release provides significant new functionality in visual presentation of Text Screens. (all editions)
• New Text Screen visual features for Text - Filled with 2 or 3 color gradients, outlined text, softer drop shadow with opacity, and more. See Text Samples at this link.
• New Text Screen visual features for Screen Background - Filled with 2 or 3 color gradients, linear or radial gradients, outlined Background, screen rotation and scaling, and more. See Screen Background Samples at this link.
• Updated feature - Text Screen Theme Editor. - New settings for new function mentioned above. (Learn more ).
• New feature - Render Attributes Editor - Provides controls to select visual rendering attributes. (Learn more).
• New feature - Tri-Colors Editor - New rendering gradients are applied using a Tri-Color group (set of 3 colors). You can create and save Favorite Tri-Color for reuse. (Learn more ).
• Migration of old Text Screen themes is done automatically. Some old formatting technics have been replaced with new cleaner approaches (ex Outlining). It is recommended that you test any migrated Text Screens before a live event.
• New feature - Preview Text Screen Theme - You can now preview a theme without leaving the Text Screen Theme Editor. (productivity) (Learn more ).
• Option removed - Default Text Screen Size is removed from the Media Items Options. No longer needed.

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V.r 2.31

November 17, 2017
• New feature - Ad Hoc Shortcuts for hand held remote controller devices. Each of these shortcuts plays/runs a specific Media Item or Script so you can kick off various automation sequences using a remote controller. (Ultimate edition, using the Automator) (Learn more )
  • New feature - Enable/Disable Shortcuts - Can now turn on/off Actions Shortcuts and/or Ad Hoc Shortcuts. (Behavior menu - Learn more)
  • New feature - Enable Remote Controller Special Keys Some keys need special handling because Windows uses them for navigating controls (ex. Arrow keys Up, Down, Left, Right and a few others). You can enable processing these with this menu item. (Behavior menu - Learn more )
  • UI change - Menu Items Shortcut Keys items have been moved to a separate sub-menu to avoid confusion with other Shortcut types. (Behavior menu - Learn more )
  • UI change - "Favorite Actions Shortcuts" is renamed/simplified to "Actions Shortcuts" in menus and Help files.
• New option - Escape Key (Esc) Toggles Full Screen Mode - when checked, if you mouse select a Media Screen (or it is currently the focused window), pressing the Esc keyboard key will toggle the screen between full screen and normal mode. Previously, this was always enabled. Now it can be disabled. (Learn more )
• New feature - Bring to Front automation step type added for use in Scripts. The step will bring the specified Media Screen to the front of other stacked Media Screens. (Learn more )
• New option - Keep Record of Recent Displays - This allows you to keep or remove recent extended displays from the saved list of known displays. (Learn more )
• Bug fixed - In the Automator, Actions Shortcuts would stop working after pressing any of the Automator large Run control buttons. When these buttons had focus, they consumed the remote controller key signals.
• Bug fixed - A Media Item marked to Loop or Use Multi-Play would not end when the Stop button was pushed. It would only stop the current playback iteration, then replay the video.
• Bug fixed - When using Auto-Fade-Out, Videos set to Repeat Loop or Multi-Play could intermittently stop looping due to race condition.

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V.r 2.30

October 08, 2017
• New feature - File Entry Dialog is added that allows you to paste a File Path or Web Link from the Windows clipboard. It also has a Browse toolbar button to open a File Browse dialog. This replaces most file edit buttons that previously only opened a File Browse dialog. (Learn more )
• New feature - Slide Show Setup - Settings for running the Automator as a slide-show app (similar to MS PowerPoint) are automatically set via this new menu item. (Learn more )
• New option - Link Background Video/Audio Position to Scrubber Bar and Go-Tos - Syncs a Media Item's Background Video (if any) with the Play position scrubber bar and the Go-To buttons. (Learn more )
• New feature - Set Image/Text-Screen Post-Delay to Background Video/Audio Length menu item. A productivity function that supports the previous new option. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Adhoc Audio, Volume buttons are added to the Adhoc Audio toolbar: Mute Audio Toggle, Volume Change. This makes volume control for Adhoc Audio totally separate from Media Screen volume control -- for easier management of both. (Learn more )
• Bug fixed - In a certian case when the Media fails to open, the Media Screen did not close and could not be manually closed with the Unload button.
• Bug fixed - Display Mirror Tool crash on tool open when previously mirrored display is not extended and Auto-Start mirror is checked.
• Bug fixed - Audio file (ie Mp3, etc) would not load/play after the first time it was played. Only applied to web linked audio (ie http ) or network link files.
• Bug fixed - Image file that is sourced from a web link (ie http ) did not display on first playback (image size was not acquired early enough in the display process).

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V.r 2.29

September 15, 2017
• New feature - Adhoc Audio - provides a quick and simple utility to play frequently used sound effects (ex. buzzers, chimes, canned applause etc.) or common announcements or theme music -- Really any audio files that you commonly use. (All editions) (Learn more )
• New feature - Marquee - Numeric Counter - The counter displays simple numbers. Example "Items remaining: 25". The counter can be operated manually or can count automatically (at any specified speed). (Ultimate editions) (Learn more )
• Bug fixed - Marquee Clock/Timer was not always located in correct position when aligning the Marquee along the right side of display/screen.
• Bug fixed - Automator, when using a Load Template or Cross-Fade, program focus was not returning to the Automator window which disabled the use of Script keyboard shortcuts for Next or Previous Step.

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V.r 2.28

August 29, 2017
• Enhancement - Net Comms support - This release adds support for the new Net Comms Tool add-on. This release is required if you want to use Net Comms with Video Mill .
• New feature - Create Cue List for Net Comms menu item added to Tools > Automation > IPC menu. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - IPC Commands - Three new commands added for IPC usage: StopScript, PauseScript, ResumeScript.
• Bug fixed - IPC message receive exception caused when the IPC command had leading space(s) (ex. " Play" instead of "Play").

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V.r 2.27

August 05, 2017
• New option - Make Video Frame-1 Visible when Play Ends or when Stop button is clicked. When un-checked, the Media Screen will go to a blank screen at end of play which is the previous behavior. (Learn more )
• Change - Make Video Frame-1 Visible On Pre-Load Screen is moved to the Screens(1) Options > Visibility section.
• New feature - New Media Item - New menu items added: 1) Media Item From Existing Media File (via File Browse dialog); 2) New Text Screen and Create New Text File (creates a new Text Screen Media Item and creates/opens its associated text File). (Learn more )
• New feature - Text Screen Theme Margins - This setting makes it much easier to position the block of text within the Text Screen and provides for pixel point accuracy in the text block placement. (Learn more )
• New option - Text Screen Default Size and Default Theme Margins used when a new Text Screen Media Item is created. (Learn more )
• New feature - Text Screen Drop Shadow Type - Single or a new Solid shadow can be selected. Previously, only the Single shadow was available. (Learn more )
• UI change - Text Screen > Multiple Item Edit menu item has been removed. This operation can now be done with the Paste Attributes Selection into Media Items Selection menu item.
• New feature - Open Media Item File with Associated App - This menu item will open the media file linked to a Media Item with whatever App you have associated with its file type. For example, you may want to edit the text file linked to a Text Screen. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Create Basic Load Templates - You can now create any number of the Basic templates in one operation. Previously creation of each style of template was a separate set of mouse clicks. (productivity)
• Enhancement - Some productivity buttons added to edit dialogs..
• Bug fixed - Text Screens were not preserving the Media Screen Dimensions Location/Size after playing the Media Screen.

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V.r 2.26

July 11, 2017
• New feature - Load Sync Interval - This setting provides a smoother Load/Play experience. You can tune the Load process to eliminate a momentary 'stagger' (slight pause) during the first second of video playback. It can be adjusted to match your system speed. (All Editions) (Learn more )
• Behavior Change - Make First Video Frame Visible On Pre-Load checkbox is moved to the Media Screen Load section of the Options > Screens(2) tab (more logical placement). When unchecked the entire Media Screen is invisible on Load. Previously the only the Media Screen video was invisible but the Media Screen background would be visible. (Learn more )
• Behavior Change - Clicking the Load button when Options Screens(2) > Resume Video On Fade-In is enabled would start video playback. It no longer begins playback. Now simply use the Play button for this behavior.
• UI Change - Start-At/End-At controls are now disabled for Image and Text Screen Media Items. These values were always ignored for these Screen types anyway so disabling the set controls simply avoids confusion for the Media List designer.
• Enhancement - A few minor user interface refinements.
• Bug fixed - Cross-fade when used with an Automator playlist caused a program exception in certian cases.
• Bug fixed - Use of Background video or image file caused a program exception in certian cases.
• Bug fixed - When clicking the Load or Play button, the video was not always aligned on frame 1 of the video.
• Bug fixed - Play position readout not always reset to :00 at end of media or when unloading Media Screen.

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V.r 2.25

July 02, 2017
• New feature - IPC Encryption Password - This adds more protection from network hackers trying to interfere with IPC network communications. (Learn more )
• New feature - Identify Displays - Opens an Identifier popup on each display that you select. This will help you map VideoMill display identifiers to physical displays. (Learn more )
• New feature - Media Screen Dimensions - Two new quick set buttons are added to set Location,Size: Set to Set to Natural Media Size and Set to Target Display Size. (Learn more )
• New feature - Show Both Time Remaining and Play Position - menu item was added to the View menu. Toggles between show both readouts or just one. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Time and Date Edit Dialogs now have Copy and Paste buttons so you can set an attribute value from a copied value. (productivity)
• Enhancement - Text Edit Dialogs now have Copy and Paste buttons. (productivity)
• Enhancement - Numeric Edit Dialogs now have Copy and Paste buttons. (productivity)
• Enhancement - Marquee Editor timer settings have changed to add more flexibility for controlling time formats displayed by the Count Up/Down timers. Two additional Time Formats are added. Checkboxes for Suppress Zero Hours and Suppress Zero Minutes are replaced with one checkbox named Suppress Leading Zeros. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Display Mirror Tool now has an auto-start option. When enabled, the mirror will start mirroring as soon as the tool window is opened. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Play-on-Double-Click - Changed the app refocus code so that when a user is using Play-on-Double-Click, the MediaList selector panel is refocused after playing a Media Item. So the Spacebar or Enter Key will continue to work without having to mouse-click the MediaList selector panel. Requires that you check the Screens(2) Options > "Refocus Program Window After Media Screen Loads". (Learn more )
• Bug fixed - Several issues related to use of the Move Screen To Display-X, Full Screen Toggle, and Restore Normal Window Size buttons. Issues generally related to starting video Play is in full screen mode, then using these function buttons.
• Bug fixed - With certian conditions, Media Screen could get resized to a 1x1 size (single pixel). Thus the Media Screen was virtually invisible to the viewer, but video/audio would continue to play.

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V.r 2.24

June 09, 2017
• New feature - Virtual Displays provides MediaList portability from venue to venue. It allows you to create Virtual Displays that map to physical displays. The mapping can be changed at any time. Virtual Displays can be used where ever you select a Target Display. (Ultimate Edition). (Learn more )
• New feature - Screen Swap - New behavior option, Swap Brings Screen to Front. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Media List Validation now checks for Media Item Target Displays that are not extended on the Windows Desktop.
• Enhancement - Report Options, MediaItem Attributes can now be selected in a more granular way. You can now select individual MediaItem Attributes Groups to print in a report. Previously all MediaItem Attributes would print making for an extremely verbose listing. (Learn more )
• Change - Primary Display has been removed from the Target Display selector list. If you used Primary display in a MediaItem, reassign the Target Display to a physical display or a Virtual Display.
• Change - Load Templates > Multiple Item Edit menu was removed (as redundant). This operation can be done via Edit Media Item > Paste Attributes into Media Item(s). (Learn more )

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V.r 2.23

May 21, 2017
IPC: Inter-Process Communications

• New feature - Encrypt Messages - When option is checked, IPC messages sent across the network will be encrypted. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - New IPC commands supported: Play, Stop, Pause, Resume, StopAll, Msg, and Ping. Previously only the RunScript command was supported. (Learn more )
• New feature - Send Adhoc IPC Command tool now has a picker dialog to select commands. (Learn more )
• New feature - IPC Log - A separate IPC Log can be viewed to see Send/Receive traffic and errors. Useful as a debug aid if IPC is not working as expected. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - IPC Restart - The Start IPC action now handles restart in one action. It no longer requires that you Stop IPC, then Start IPC.

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V.r 2.22

May 09, 2017
IPC: Inter-Process Communications

• New feature - Send Adhoc IPC Command is now a separate tool that can stay open to issue multiple IPC commands over time. It allows you to select the remote client to send commands to and has a recall command feature. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Video Mill to Video Mill IPC is now possible. Previously only Video Mill to Sound Mill comms was possible. (Learn more ).
• Enhancement - Number of Remote Clients is now virtually unlimited. This allows you to create a networked group of Video Mill instances for applications like Video Walls. One Video Mill instance can be the master to control timing of video play on the other instances. (Learn more )
• Bug fixed - IPC connections could, in some cases, time-out after a few minutes.
• Developer's Note - Sound Mill will be updated soon with these IPC enhancements. However in the meantime, the current release of Sound Mill will work with the new Video Mill IPC enhancements.
• New feature - View Extended Displays Diagram - Creates a block diagram showing the relative position of all extended displays on the Windows Desktop. (Learn more )
• Expanded feature - Paste Attributes Selection into Media Items Selection - Attributes groups were added to this editing productivity tool for: 1) Screen Layout, 2) Video Geometry and Filters, 3) Start-At/End-At, Fades and 4) Volume, Balance. (Learn more )

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V.r 2.21

April 27, 2017
• Feature Modification - New Methodology For Target Display - The old method of assigning secondary names (Secondary.1, Secondary.2 etc) to Target Displays has been replaced. The old method had an issue of losing its binding to extended displays in some cases. (Learn more )
• Migration Consideration for Target Display - Each Media List will be automatically migrated to the new method when you open it. Check the Target Display setting for all your Media Items and Load Templates to ensure they were migrated as needed. Because of the flaw in the old method, some Media Items may not be set to the Target Display you need. There is a new feature added (next item below) that will allow you to reset Target Display on multiple Media Items in just a few clicks. (Instructions here )
• New feature - Paste Attributes Selection into Media Items Selection. You select several attributes, then select a set of Media Items to recieve the attributes. Previously it was only possible to set all attributes in this manner. (Learn more )
• New feature - Display Editor allows you to set a logical name for each display device. These names are used for menu selection dialogs. (Learn more )
• New feature - Abort Load if Target Display is not found. Previously load would always default to Primary display when the Target Display was not found. (Learn more )
• New feature - On Media Item selection, show media info option. When checked, the Media Item's media file is shown on the status bar with its size and time duration. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - View Extended Displays now shows more display information. (see menu Tools > Displays)
• Enhancement - Stretch Across Displays - Video can now be stretched across multiple displays horizontally and vertically. The Stretch Editor has been simplified and has more error checking. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Go-To Markers have been significantly enhanced. You can now set as many Go-To Marks as desired and manage them. A button is added to the Go-To toolbar to give you click access to all Go-To marks. The first 5 Go-To Marks are applied to the A-F buttons for convenience of frequently used marks. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Full Screen Toggle icon was changed to a Microsoft standard icon.
• Enhancement - Streaming media indicator has been replaced with an industry standard icon.
• Enhancement - Time remaining indicator has been replaced with an hour glass symbol. Previously it was the letter "R".

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V.r 2.20

December 21, 2016
• New feature - Automation Script - Step Types - Three new Step types are added for Scripts: "Unload All Screens" ; "Halt All Scripts"; and "Wait On Script". (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Pause/Resume Video on Screen Visibility Change and Mute/Unmute Sound with Screen Visibility Change are now available for all editions. Previously these options were only available to Ultimate edition. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - Video Visibility button on the Screen Manager tool bar now works with the Visibility options above. Previously these options only worked with the "Show Screen" and "Hide Screen" buttons. (Learn more )
• Enhancement - UI - Some minor user interface dialog enhancements.

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Version 2 Releases 0 to 19, Release Notes

Release Notes for Version 2 Releases 0 to 19.

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Version 2 Customer Upgrade Considerations

See things to consider and feature changes before upgrading from Version 1 to Version 2.

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Version 1 History Archive

Version 1 change history is archived here.

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