Chapter 8: Version History

= Chapter 8: Version History =
Listed below are some of the changes to SageTV and this document for versions 6.0 and later, shown in no particular order for each version. This change list does not represent every change; it is only meant to highlight some of them. 
== Version 9.0 ==
In 2015 SageTV Version 9 was released to the community as Open Source Software. Changes to the software can be found on GitHub. Discussion of changes can be found on the SageTV forums. There was no public release of Version 8. 
== Version 7.0 ==
Redesigned the user interface, with new
layouts and options on most menus. The default STV file is now SageTV7.xml instead of SageTV3.xml. Use the Options command
to explore the options available on menu. 
Seamless recording/playback transitions between
shows when watching Live TV 
DirectShow demux filter for handling MKV, MP4 and FLV media types 
New 'Effects' rendering system with support for more advanced and easier to use animations (layers are no longer needed). 
Background image loading system allows for
faster loading of thumbnails and other image resources w/out interfering with
UI responsiveness. 
Support added for playback of ISO DVD & BDMV (BluRay) files on all platforms that support non-ISO playback (on Windows
this requires the free application Virtual Clone Drive to be installed). 
New Pan/Zoom style slideshow transition
effects. 
SageTV recordings now have their full metadata
embedded into the file. 
When viewing the list of running processes on
a PC, two of each SageTV process will be listed, so you will see two SageTV.exe, two SageTVService.exe, and/or two SageTVClient.exe processes
depending on how SageTV is running on a PC. 
Added the Plugin
Manager menu and its related menus; used to simplify installing customizations developed by other SageTV users. 
Added the SageTV HD Theater, model STP-HD300, to Appendix M: SageTV Media Extenders.
The list of Supported Media Types has been updated. 
Added support for Blu-ray video playback; see Playing Hard Drive Based Blu-rays.
Added several new options to the Detailed Setup menu, including these options in these
sections of Detailed Setup: 
o General 
Video Recording Path Optimization
Style – Option to affect how SageTV chooses which recording directory to
use to store the next recording. 
Animation Options
– Updated for the new animation system and to enable/disable additional
options. o
Multimedia 
Default Audio
Language 
Default Subtitle
Language 
SageTV Window is Always On Top o Video
/ Audio 
VC1 Video
Decoder Filter 
Media Player for
non-MPEG Files 
HD Audio Decoder
Filter 
HD Audio Output o Advanced 
Automatic Update Checks –
Set options regarding automatically checking for online video, STV, SageTV, and
extender firmware updates. 
o Customize 
Font Size
Limitation Settings 
Online Video Options -
Expanded the set of options to include options for Channels.com online videos and
setting the temporary file storage location for use when playing online videos.
Ignore Leading Articles During
Text Sorting – New options related to ignoring articles at the beginning
of text, such as ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’, when sorting. 
Add ShowID as part of Movie
Favorites – An option to help limit a Favorite to a specific movie. 
Always ask
whether to resume or restart partially watched videos 
Automatically
add converted videos to database 
Number of Days to Schedule
Recordings – Set the number of days SageTV looks ahead when creating a
recording schedule. 
For grouped items: Select opens
options dialog, Info browses into group – Toggles whether the Select or Info command
is used to open the options dialog for a group vs browsing into the group. 
Use
wrap-around scrolling in single column vertical lists Use vertical wrap-around scrolling in the Program Guide grid
Use ‘Fixed
Focus’ in single column non-wrapped vertical lists 
TV Category Background Colors
– Adds another way to access the option to set the background colors for TV
airings; already available via the Setup -> Help submenu on the Main Menu.
Changes to the Favorite
Details menu: 
o   The
Keep At Most setting can now be set
up to 63. o
User-Defined Categories can
be assigned to Favorites. 
o  
The Automatic
Conversion option can be used to automatically convert a 
Favorite after its recording completes. 
o   When
changing the settings for a Favorite, if a change will result in the Favorite
being the same as another Favorite, the change will not take effect and a
message will be shown. 
o   Any
Favorite can have a Keyword added. 
The default scheduling lookahead time is now
14 days. See Scheduling up to 14 Days in
Advance under the Notes about Scheduled Recordings.
The setting can be changed via the Number of Days to
Schedule Recordings option. 
STP-HD200 and STP-HD300 extenders can use
graphical visualizations on the Music Playback
screen. 
Added the More
by People in Show option to the Airing and Video
Options Dialog; used to find more airings by people with credits for a
show or add/change that person’s Favorite. 
Added Edit
User Categories and Edit Video
Information options to the Airing and Video
Options Dialog and Grouped Airings and Videos
Options Dialog; used to edit user defined categories for recordings and
MPAA rating and category for imported videos. 
The Check for STV
Update option in Detailed Setup: Advanced
Settings, used to check for, download, and install updates for the
default user interface, is now available on Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems
even if UAC is enabled. 
Added the Channel
Manager menu, used to enable or disable channels from all lineups in one
place. 
Overhauled the UI theme system; see: Appendix O: User Interface Themes.
The Video Playback
Options Menu and DVD Playback Options Menu
now have options to Jump to Beginning
and Jump to End.
Added Enter
Network Path to the File Browser Options
when browsing a network file system in the File
Browser menu. 
The SageTV Recordings
menu can filter by user defined categories as part of its Filtering Options dialog. 
The number of views on the SageTV Recordings menu can be configured from 4 to 8
via the Number of Views option in
the SageTV Recordings Menu Options dialog. 
The Parental Control
Restrictions menu allows restricting access to setup related menus. 
Added Channel.com
Web Shows to the Online Services menu. 
The Video Browser
menu now has a Category view, which
groups all imported videos by their categories. 
The Video Browser
Menu Options dialog’s Advanced
Options now has an option to choose whether recorded files found by SageTV
in video import directories should be considered to be recordings or imported
videos. 
== Version 6.6 ==
Added the System
Messages menu, where important SageTV system status and information
messages are listed. Alert icons are displayed on the menu header when new
system messages have been added. See Status Indicator
Icons.
The Channel Setup
series of menus have been reorganized and improved. There are too many changes
to be listed here. See the Channel Setup, Remap Channel, Add Channel
to Lineup, and Channel Scan Results
menus for full details about their usage. 
The folder view of the Music Browser menu can now be configured to display the music
import folders separately or combined into a single tree view.  
Added Always start
video playlist items from the beginning option in Detailed Setup: Customize Settings.
Added “Maximum
Results per Search” option in Detailed Setup:
Customize Settings.
Added “Debug Logging”
option in Detailed Setup: Advanced Settings.
Added the “H.264
Video Decoder Filter” option in Detailed Setup:
Video/Audio Settings.
Added the “Reload
last custom STV” option in Detailed Setup:
Advanced Settings.
During Picture
Viewing, use of the Pause and Play commands will also pause and resume music
playback if music is playing while viewing a slideshow. 
Added the “Allow
Placeshifter clients to automatically login” option in Detailed Setup: Server Settings.
Slideshows may be played in random order via
an option available when starting a slideshow on the Photo
Browser menu, or via the “Random Screen Saver Slideshow Order” option in
the Screen Saver Options dialog in Detailed Setup: General Settings.
Added support to recognize Blu-ray (BD) disks
in the Video Browser and other appropriate
places. 
Default recording quality settings can no
longer be set for digital tuners via the “Recording
Quality” option in Detailed Setup: Multimedia
Settings. Also, when trying to configure recording quality settings
there or via the Record Options for Manual Recordings
and Recording Quality for Favorites, the user
is warned if only digital tuners are in use or if there is a mixture of digital
and analog tuners. The warning can be disabled after viewing it. 
Added the Reset
Disabled Warnings option in Detailed Setup:
Customize Settings.
The “Automatically
Enable Channels Newly Added to EPG Lineups” option in Detailed Setup: Customize Settings is also available
on the Channel Setup menu via the Options command. 
When setting a Manual Recording for an airing
that is a padded Favorite, a dialog will ask whether the Manual Recording
should inherit the Favorite’s start and end padding. 
Closed captions are now supported; see Appendix K: Closed Captions.
The Video Playback
Options Menu and DVD Playback Options Menu
now have additional subtitle and closed caption options. 
The Aspect Ratio Mode
selection dialog now has the “ZoomC” and “Fill Wide” aspect ratio modes
for HD Extenders only. 
== Version 6.5 ==
Added the SageTV HD Theater, model STP-HD200, to
Appendix M: SageTV Media Extenders. And, added
references to using the new SageTV STP-HD200 HD Theater as an extender, in
places where only the STX-HD100 had been mentioned. 
Added information for Remapping
Stations for EPG data using ATSC or QAM Digital Tuners as part of the Channel Setup description. 
Added Display OSD
between Playlist Segments option in Detailed
Setup: Customize Settings. Configure whether the OSD will appear on the
playback menu when a music or video playlist changes to a different playlist
item. 
Added RC5 Repeat
Detection option in Detailed Setup: Customize
Settings, for HD extenders only. This option can be used if you have a
customized remote that does not properly toggle the codes for the RC5 IR
protocol. 
The Remote Control
Options dialog in the Source Details
menu now includes an option to set the IR
Blaster Repeat Factor.
Like the Music
Browser menu already did, the File Browser
menu now displays the playback information and controls at the bottom of the
screen only when media is playing; when nothing is playing, the browser content
expands to fill the space. 
Added an option to Clear all Remapped Channels in the Edit
Channel Lineup dialog on the Channel Setup
menu. 
During video playback, if the video contains
multiple subtitle languages, the pop-up Options menu will contain a choice for
selecting the subtitle language to use. 
== Version 6.4 ==
Added more information about the Aspect Ratio Mode selection dialog, where the aspect
ratio mode can be selected during playback and where custom aspect ratio modes
can be created and edited while using the STX-HD100 or STP-HD200 HD extender. 
Added the Revert to
the default STV option in Detailed Setup:
Advanced Settings, used to load the default STV when a custom STV is
currently loaded. 
After choosing the EPG data provider in Source Setup, if the lineup is already in use by
another source using a different physical input type, the user is asked whether
to use the same channel lineup or to copy the channels to a separately
configurable lineup. 
Added a new File
Browser menu, where you can browse the SageTV server’s files, local
files, network files, import library paths, or recording paths, depending on
the available file systems and media paths. 
The General tab on the Placeshifter Settings dialog now has a selection for Local
Filesystem Security, determining the SageTV server’s level of access to files
on the Placeshifter’s computer.  
When available, EXIF information is displayed
when viewing the detailed information dialog for a photo. 
Added a “Regenerate Thumbnail” option to the Options Menu While Viewing a Single Image or a Slideshow
to force the photo’s thumbnail to be regenerated. 
When rotating a photo from the Options Menu While Viewing a Single Image or a Slideshow,
if the photo has camera orientation data, there will be an option to autorotate
the image to its correct orientation. 
Due to changes in the weather.com information
feed, the Weather menu now contains a 5-day
forecast. 
The Favorites Manager
can list all the Favorites sorted by Priority or by Title. 
On the Recording
Schedule menu, added an option to configure the number of tuner columns
displayed in the Parallel schedule viewing mode. 
Added the DirecTV
Fast Serial Channel Changes option in Detailed
Setup: Customize Settings to allow choosing Fast or Normal mode for
changing DirecTV channels via serial cable. 
== Version 6.3-B ==
Fully downloaded online video and audio-only
files may be saved from the Video Playback or Music Playback screen by using the Record command or the Save Downloaded File option in the pop-up options dialog during
playback. The files will become imported media, available for playback from the
Video Browser or Music
Browser.
Favorites can be limited to multiple channels
on the Favorite Details menu, instead of being
limited to only a single channel. 
Imported DVD files no longer need to be in the
VIDEO_TS subdirectory; see: Appendix I: Playing DVDs
and BDs from the Hard Drive.
On the Program Guide,
the Skip Fwd #2 and Skip
Bkwd #2 commands can be used to jump 1 day ahead or back, respectively.
Or, enter a number before using those commands to jump by that many days. 
== Version 6.3-A ==
The trial usage period is now 21 days. 
Added the SageTV HD Media Extender, model
STX-HD100, to Appendix M: SageTV Media Extenders.
The Favorite
command is now available for grouped TV airings or recordings. See Grouped Airings and Videos Options Dialog for more
information. 
Added new options in Detailed
Setup: Multimedia Settings for Output
Resolution and Native Output Resolution
Switching.
Added the SageTV MPEG
Video Decoder uses DXVA (hardware acceleration) option in Detailed Setup: Video/Audio Settings, which is used
to enable or disable hardware assisted video decoding when using the SageTV
MPEG Video Decoder. 
== Version 6.2 ==
Added a new appendix to cover some of the
SageTV differences on the various operating systems which can be used with
SageTV. See: Appendix P: Operating System Differences.
Added a new consolidated Search menu, where you can search for any type of
media.  
Added Instant Search,
where search text can be entered while on a navigation menu before jumping to
the Search menu. Also added the Instant Search mode on
Navigation Menus option in Detailed Setup: Customize
Settings, used to configure how the Instant Search feature works while
on navigation menus. 
The Remote Control
Options dialog in the Source Details
menu now includes an option to set a Prefix
Code, which is transmitted before transmitting the digits for a channel
change. 
The TV Show
Editorials and TV Show Highlight menus
now include markers on the editorials to indicate which shows are scheduled to
be recorded, along with which ones are first runs, watched, etc. 
The YouTube Video
and Google Video content lists are cached for
several minutes, so that the same category can be viewed again without having
to wait for the list to download again every time that category is selected. In
addition, their search results menus have a category bar providing quick access
to some other categories without leaving the search results menu. 
The Music Browser
menus display the playback information and controls at the bottom of the screen
only when media is playing; when nothing is playing, the browser content
expands to fill the space. 
Added the Channel
Entry Options in Detailed Setup: Customize
Settings, where autoaccept after timeout can be enabled and the maximum
number of digits in a channel can be set. 
Added the Optimized
Image Loader option in Detailed Setup: Advanced
Settings; when enabled, the option allows for faster loading of larger
images. 
The Video Detail
screen for imported videos can now display details about a video, if metadata
has been imported along with the video. 
Can jump to the System
Information display from the Main Menu
by using the Info command. 
== Version 6.1 ==
Added YouTube Video
link to the Online Services menu. 
The Placeshifter client can now be controlled
by remote control. It can use an IRMan or USB-UIRT IR receiver, and can respond
to MCE remotes, multimedia keyboards, and commands sent via Windows messages.
See Placeshifter Settings to use an IRMan or
USB-UIRT, and see SageTV Commands for
information about using messages or multimedia keyboards and remotes. 
Added notes about hard drive based DVD
playback to Appendix I: Playing DVDs and BDs from the
Hard Drive.
When a music item is highlighted in the Music Browser, the Play
command can be used as a shortcut to add the music to any currently playing
playlist. Previously, this shortcut was only available when the Now Playing playlist was playing. Also,
when music is added to a playlist, a semi-transparent message is temporarily
shown, confirming that the action has been taken. 
Moved the Server options from Detailed Setup: Advanced Settings to the new Detailed Setup: Server Settings menu. 
The Photo Browser
can now sort pictures by filename or file date, in either ascending or
descending order. 
The Stop
command may be used while on the Channel Setup
menu to stop playback of the channel video preview. 
== Version 6.0 ==
The Online Services
menu is now accessible from the Main Menu, and
has been extended to include links to the Google Video
and TV Show Editorials menus. 
A pop-up dialog has been added to provide
options to be performed on an entire group of airings or videos. See the Grouped Airings and Videos Options Dialog for
details. 
The new Series
Information screen provides more information about a series, such as a
description of the series, its history, and list of cast members. Only
available when a series has such data to be viewed. 
Videos may be converted from one format to
another. The current status of all conversion processes can be viewed on the
new Video Conversions screen. 
During video playback, if the video contains
multiple languages, the pop-up Options menu will contain a choice for selecting
the language to use. 
During music playback, the background
visualization can be changed to show information about the currently playing
song. 
A Photo
Slideshow may be used as the Screen Saver Style setting in the Screen Saver Options dialog in Detailed Setup: General Settings. Also, if music is
playing, the music information will be displayed as the screen saver. 
The settings to be used when a mouse button is
clicked and held over an icon are configured via the new Mouse Auto-Repeat Rate option in Detailed Setup: Customize Settings.
The MVP Media Extender can play imported DVDs
in the video library. See MVP Supported Media Types.
Left-clicking on the video preview window
while video playback is active in that window will cause SageTV to jump to the
playback screen. 
Added the Adjust
Display Aspect Ratio screen to both Detailed
Setup: Multimedia Settings and Configuration
Wizard: General and User Interface Options.
During Picture
Viewing for a single picture, if there are additional pictures in the
same folder as the current picture, you can scroll through the pictures without
leaving the viewing screen. 
The Picture Viewing
screen has been updated to treat all picture viewing as a slideshow. If a
slideshow is started, it will play according to the slideshow option settings.
If a single image is viewed, a slideshow of all images in the current folder
will begin in paused mode, with the selected image displayed. From this paused
state, the Play command can be used to switch to
active slideshow mode. Additionally, the options available while viewing
pictures have been expanded and displayed as a transparent overlay on top of
the current picture. 
The Shift+Ins keystroke can be used to paste
the text contents of the system clipboard into a text entry field. 
When configuring a DVB tuner source, the DVB
region or provider will be selected from a list presented after choosing the
Device Input during Source Setup. And, after
the source has been added, there will be an option to choose the DVB region or
provider on the Source Details menu. 
Additional information has been added for
remapping digital channels. See Remapping Channels for
Digital Tuners.