MTU Programs crashing on Writing KMA, WMA or importing from CD – Windows 10 Anniversary Edition only

If you are having issues with Crashing with any of our Products, while using the latest version of Windows 10, this is the cause.

Microsoft has removed support for WMA in the way we were using it in our products in the latest version of Windows 10.  You can either Import as MP3, MP3+G or zip and no longer have any issues, or do the following.

  1.  Download this file Here
  2. Extract the files to EACH MTU program you have installed on your computer, such as for Video Hoster C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Hoster.  Put the 2 files in the above zip file in that folder.  Then it will work fine.

Microstudio –  C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Microstudio

Keyrite –  C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Keyrite

Karaoke Home Producer (KHPro) – C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\KHPro

Vogone – C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Vogone

Vogone Easy – C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Vogone Easy

Songverter – C:\Program Files(x86)\Micro Technology Unlimited\Songverter

MTU Video Hoster 5.41.03 Showing Played when clicking Stop

Changing the following setting will not show a song as Played, until a certain number of seconds have been played through:

  • Select Tools -> Settings… from the menu bar
  • Click the Playlist button
  • Select any value greater than zero (0) for the third item: Set this value to be the number of seconds… ( 30 is recommended, but it’s up to you)
  • Click the Apply Button then the Close button

Video Hoster 5.41.02 is released!

Ready for the Very latest Version of Video Hoster? Read about all the Changes to the software located here.

  1. NEW – Copy Song To… – From the following dialog windows, you can now choose “Copy Song To…”
    from any entry or entries, and the Song file(s) – along with any corresponding .cdg and .lrc file(s) – will be copied to the location that you specify:

    • Playlist
    • Singer’s Current Song List (from Rotation)
    • Search & Singer’s List
    • Edit Singers
    • Edit Songs
    • Background Audio

    Note: If the Song file is already in the selected folder, the Copy will fail.

  2. NEW – Hot Keys: – We added the following functions to the 12 Function keys on your keyboard:
    • F1 = Open / Hide the Search Window
    • F2 = Play / Pause the Background Audio Player
    • F3 = Volume Down (-10)
    • F4 = Volume Up (+10)
    • F5 = Live Sync Timing Backward (-0.25 sec)
    • F6 = Live Sync Timing Forward (+0.25 sec)
    • F7 = Restart the Playing Song
    • F8 = Play / Pause the Playing Song
    • F9 = Stop the Playing Song
    • F10 = Toggle Show Display Full Screen
    • F11 = Go to Next Song in Singer’s List
    • F12 = Go to Next Singer in Rotation

    We also added Ctrl + I to play the first song or video in your list of InstaButtons. This will allow you to set the one InstaButton that you
    want to be able to play quickly in the top row of your InstaButton definitions.
    Then in Hoster, just press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the I key to quickly play this song or video.

    Note: We also added a new button to the Help > View Hot Keys… window. Pressing this button will swap between the
    Keyboard and F-Keys Hot Key lists.

  3. NEW – 3-D Buttons – Hoster will now display most buttons with a 3-D effect. You can choose to display your buttons
    the previous way by un-checking the new check box in Tools > Settings… in the General section.
  4. NEW – Sorting Columns in Search and Edit Songs – If the song list is rather large, it can take a few seconds (or longer)
    to sort each column when you click on the column header. If you attempt to sort one column while another sort is taking place, your results may be unexpected.
    To avoid this, Hoster will block the second sort request, and you will see a message pop up that says: “Please Wait. Still sorting.”
  5. NEW – “No Songs” Indicator – If you manage your Singers in a Singers’ List, you will notice a new
    indicator in the list. A warning icon will be displayed if the Singer has no Songs in the Playlist. Also, if you have chosen to use colored fonts, the Singer’s Name will appear in yellow.
  6. NEW – <Please Pick a Song> – When you manage your Singers in either a Singers’ List or a
    Rotation, if one or more of your Singers does not have a Song in the Playlist, you will now see <Please Pick a Song> next to
    their names.Note: This only shows if you have the Show Song Title check box checked in the Tools > Show Display…
    window.
  7. NEW – “Sync Adj” Column – We added this column to both the Edit Singers
    and the Singer List windows.
  8. NEW – “Path” Column – We added this column to the Edit Songs
    and the window to display the full file path of each Song in the list.
  9. CHANGED – Defaults in Tools > Options… > Playlist:
    • Keep Songs After Play will now default to unchecked.
    • Manage the Singers in a Singers List will now default to checked, along with all three check boxes below this selection.

     

  10. CHANGED – Removed “Always on top” – Having the Show Display and un-docked Preview Display
    set to “Always on top” causes problems with viewing other windows. The recommended setting is “On top when playing”.
  11. CHANGED – Default in Search and Edit Songs – We changed the default for Search and Edit Songs to be a “Words”
    search, instead of a “String” search, since the results from a “Words” search are usually more in line with what is expected.
  12. CHANGED – Default in Import CD Tracks – We changed the defaults in this dialog to be the best
    compression ratio (320k for MP3, and 192k for WMA), and to Zip the audio and cdg files.
  13. CHANGED – Set Focus on Main Window – Whenever you click on the Show Display or the undocked Preview Display,
    focus was removed from the main Hoster Window. Now, each time you click on either of these windows, you will see the Focus return to the main window.
    This facilitates the use of Hot Keys, including the new ones mentioned above.
  14. REMOVED – “Auto Stop on Rotation” – This was the last check box in the Tools > Settings…
    window within the Playlist group. Since Hoster plays its Rotations in any order, based solely on the order of the Singers, the “Auto Stop” concept
    has no meaning. We removed this check box to clear up any misconceptions the user might have.
  15. REMOVED – Singer Color in Rotation – If you mark one of your Singers Inactive, the text of the
    Singer’s Name will no longer be displayed in a different color. This was done because Hoster also displays green, yellow, and red icons in front of each name,
    based on the current status of that Singer.
  16. FIXED – Time Column in SND – The Singers Name Display had a problem where the Next Time to Sing would have
    an incorrect value if a Singer was listed with no Songs. This happens when you list the complete Rotation, and one of the next Singers has not turned in a request for a new Song.
  17. FIXED – Singer’s Songs Columns – These have been fixed to be wider & visible by default.
  18. FIXED – Show Display at Startup – Allowing the Show Display to be Fullscreen when Hoster launches can cause problems.
    To avoid this, Hoster will place the Show Display window at its last known location in non-Fullscreen mode.
  19. FIXED – Launch SongbookDB at Startup – Customers who selected “No, thanks” still saw this dialog
    at startup. This has been fixed.
  20. FIXED – Volume in InstaButtons – Some customers were getting very strange Volume values for their InstaButtons.
    The code has been fixed to limit the volume to be always between zero and 100.
  21. FIXED – Invalid Playlist – When customers open an invalid Playlist file, they are left not knowing what state Hoster is left in.
    Now, they will know that a “New” Playlist has been created for them.
  22. FIXED – Select Singer or Song – It was discovered that clicking a Singer in the Rotation would not select his or her first Song,
    or clicking a Song in the Playlist would not select the associated Singer. This has been resolved.Note: This is only applicable when the Show is not playing. While the Show is playing, selecting a Singer will not alter the selected Song.
  23. FIXED – Bug in Preview Window Size – We fixed some issues with the undocked Preview Window, when reopening Hoster
    and when double-clicking on the Preview Window to quickly enlarge it. You should see expected behavior from the Preview Window now.
  24. FIXED – Live Sync on Restart – Live Sync was always being reset to 0.00 when Restarting the same Song.
    In the case of a Restart, the Live Sync value should remain unchanged.
  25. FIXED – Removed Delays in Edit Singer Database – The window that opens when you click Singers
    in the main Hoster window allows you to make changes to your Singers Database. We found and removed some unnecesssary delays in this window, especially when you
    Add a Song to your Hoster Playlist.
  26. FIXED – Key Change Set Wrong on Next Song – At the start of a new Song, the Key Change would sometimes be set
    to the modified Key Change from the previous Song. This has been fixed.

Get it Here!

Video Hoster Music and Lyrics out of Sync in Windows 8.1 or 10

This issue is not Video Hoster or Windows, the problem is actually the video card drivers in your computer not updated to work correctly with Win 10.

Make sure you know which video card you have.  Here is how you can find out by going to  Control Panel, then left click System and security, then left click on System.  Left click Device Manager on the left side of this page, now find and left click Display Adapters.  This will show you the model  number and video card that you have.

You need to get the very latest Video Drivers for your system, if you have an ATI Radeon on NVIDIA card you can get the updated drivers from these links below.

ATI Radeon Beta Drivers http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx

NVIDIA GeForce Drivers http://www.geforce.com/drivers this one you must select your model, etc…. Once you do this, you should see an option for the Beta Version, download the very latest one.

Download and install their software using their default settings.  Then once you have done this, Reboot the Computer as needed.

MTU Hoster Karaoke Software Error: Incorrect Parameter

For those running into a random Error stating “Incorrect Parameters” while running Hoster, make sure you do as stated in this Knowledge base article from Microsoft.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3041857

If you still have issues, then please let us know.

Video Hoster Audio Playing through HDMI Port to Tv

We keep having more and more customers asking “Why their Audio is going through the HDMI Port to the Tv?”  So we figured what better item to make a FAQ on than this question!

Here is how you can fix this, so it will go through the output on the computer instead of through the HDMI port.

  1. Open Video Hoster
  2. Click on Tools\Settings then click the Audio Button (Version 5.40 and higher) or Tools\Audio Controls (below version 5.35)
  3. Click Playlist Audio Card
  4. Select your Normal output, not the HDMI Sound output.
  5. Click Apply, and Ok to Exit.

Now your Audio will no longer play through the HDMI Port to the Tv.

How to Disable the Marquee in Video Hoster

To do this, Click on Tools\Show Display in Hoster.  Each Section will have a button, Intermission, Lyrics, Audio, Video.  You will see a checkbox under Marquee on all of these items, where you can left click to Hide it.

Apply these changes, and you now will no longer see the marquee in that view.

You can also hide it across all of them temporarily by clicking the Green Marquee button below the small screen on the left in Hoster. When set to Red, it will not show the Marquee in any view.

MTU Video Hoster 5.40 Singer Rotation Notes

Rotation notes and tips

To turn on Rotation in Hoster 5.40 do the following:

1) Open Hoster

2) Click on Tools\Settings

3) Click on Playlist

Different Options and what they will do.

1) Manage the singers in a Singers List, show the List on the, left or right – This turns on the Singer List, and must be on for any rotation features to work. If you only check this one Box, it will work as a Notepad List with More features as you can still right click on the Singers names, etc… while keeping all the stats for them  through the show.

2) If you turn on “Let Hoster Determine Initial Placement for new Songs added to the Playlist.” it will do as stated below:

Example – Singer 1 gives you 3 songs so they are the only one in the Playlist right now.

Singer 1

Singer 1

Singer 1

Singer 2 now send you 5 songs, now your playlist will look like this:

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 2

Singer 2

Singer 3 Now sends you 5 songs, now the playlist will look like this:

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

(Singer 1 only had 3 Songs so far)

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4 Now sends you 5 songs,  now the playlist will look like this.

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

Singer 1

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

(Singer 1 only had 3 Songs so far)

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

Singer 2

Singer 3

Singer 4

3) Run Your Show as Rotation – When checked, your show will be run by the Singers Names/Rotation instead of by  the Playlist.  You can left click any Singers name and hit play to play their next song in their list.  If you  do not have this Checked, it will play through the Playlist from the Top to the Bottom, of course this is only  when Auto is selected.  If you are in Manual you would need to click play to start playing after a song had  finished. This Option being turned on will always show you the NEXT Song as Blue, if following the Rotation, this will be shown in Manual or Auto Mode.

4) Auto Stop at Rotation Markers – You can right click in the Playlist to set Rotation Markers, by left clicking  on them.  Once you have set these where you wish to take a break, etc… then your show running in Auto Mode  will stop at these Markers.

Right Clicking on a Singers Name in Singers List Options

1) Mark Inactive/Active – When you select this item on a singers name, it will Mark that singer as Inactive, turn them to a Red Color in the Singer’s list and then set their songs in the playlist to SKIP.

2) Show Current Songs – When selecting this, it will show you every song that singer has in the Playlist.  You can then move their songs up or down in the list, which will then change the order of them for that singer in the Playlist.  Click Update to make your changes to the playlist. This would be used if they want to change say Song 2, to Song 4, and vice Versa.

3) Show Song History – This will let you see all Songs that you have saved for that Singer in their Singers Database, when they sang them last, how many times, and what key they wish to use.  You can also use this to add a song very fast for the Singer, once it has been saved in their Singers Database for future use.  There is a new Setting in the Tools Menu\Settings under Playlist and named “When adding songs, automatically add the Singer Name to the Singer Database.” – This allows saving all Singers/Songs to the Singers database when they are added to any Playlist. If you do not have this turned on, then you must manually add the Song to the Singers database by using the S+ button in the Search dialog to add the song to the Playlist/Rotation.

4) Remove Singer – This will give you a message to make sure that you wish to remove this singer and ALL their songs from the Playlist.  It also gives you an option on the dialog to just set them as Inactive.

5) Clear – This gives you 2 options to clear the Singers List items for this Singer’s Name. 1) # of Songs Sung by Singer X – If you left click on it, it will Reset it Back to 0. 2) Last time Sung for Singer X – Left clicking this will set Last Column for this singer back to blank.

6) Add Singer – This allows you to Add a New Singer to the Singers List to keep their Place, without having any Songs Added at the time.

Other Notes and Tips

1) Font Changes – Click on Tools\Settings Under the General Button you will see the Fonts.  They will work as follows “Set Playlist Font” will change the Size of the Text in the Playlist only, NOT the Singers List, this allows you to have 2 different Fonts for the 2 lists. “Set Search Font” This sets the Size of the Font’s in the “Search” dialog and the “Singers List” allowing you to control the size of the Font’s you wish to use. “Set Print Font” changes the Size of the fonts that you will be using for the “Export” Button located in the Singers Database, or Song History Dialog. This allows you to Export the Singers History into an HTML file, that you can then Print for them, or Email to them.

2) Countdown Timer in Marquee for Playing Song – We have added a Countdown timer to show for the Host, if they are out in the Audience, so they can see how much time is left on a playing song.  This shows the Host when to get back to the computer! To turn this On, select Tools\Show Display and set the Marquee to Countdown it will then show when you play a Song in the top right hand corner.

3) Singers Name Display – There are many settings for this, and some new ones were added.  We have added where you can set this to the Left or Right side of the Screen instead of only at the bottom.  When set to the Left or Right, you can now see the Number of Songs beside a Singers Name (from the Singers List/Rotation) they currently have in the Playlist.  If they have no songs, it will show 0, so they know they need to add songs.

There are different settings for each Display type in the Show Display.  Here are what each button does.

Lyrics Button – Click this Button to Make changes to what the Singer will see when they are Singing a Karaoke Song. In this view you may want to click the Checkbox beside Hide, for Marquee and Singers Names Display. The reason for this, it would allow the Lyrics to cover the Entire Screen.

Intermission Button – This is where you make changes that  show when there is no Karaoke Song or Music Video Playing. This display shows when a Singer is leaving the Stage and now Karaoke Song is playing, or you have the Background Audio playing Music. This screen most people would want to have the Singers Names Display and Marquee turned on (HIDE NOT Checked on this Page) if using these features. This way it does not distract the singer, and their customers can now see the screen.

Video Hoster Audio/Graphics out of Sync or distorted audio -FIX

If you upgraded to Video Hoster 5.35, and now you are experiencing audio/sync  issues, then this will fix your problems:

1) If you do not Use Tempo – then you can turn off the Tempo Play Mode.

  • In Video Hoster 5.40 and newer versions this is located at the Tools Menu\Settings\Tempo Mode Button. Change this to Normal Play Mode, then apply and save it.
  • In Video Hoster 5.35 and Older versions this is located at the Tools Menu\Tempo Mode Change this to Normal Play Mode, then apply and save it.

2) If you use Tempo Mode – then you can fix it this way.

  • In Video Hoster 5.40 and newer versions this is located at Tools Menu\Settings\Audio Button.  Find the Prevent Audio Dropouts change this to 10, then apply and save it.
  • In Video Hoster 5.35 and Older versions this is located at Tools Menu\Audio Controls.  Find the Prevent Audio Dropouts change this to 10, then apply and save it.

This should fix the problem, if not then please let us know.