XXHighEnd Model 0.9x-7 (new remote commands + better AIFF support)

[PeterSt]

Download is at the bottom !

The following changes have been applied :

• In a previous version the switching of file formats was changed because it didn't work anymore. However, it appeared that some situations were not covered for. If all is right, now it is. Be careful though.
  
  
• In rare situations the Sound Device for Engine#3 could not be selected (or no sound was coming from it anyway). This has been solved.
  Please report if you still have problems with it.
  
  
• A new Remote (Keyboard) Command has been added : Alt-L. This will jump to the next Album in the Playlist Area. Note that "Album" in this case is denoted by the path changing.
  Do not forget to load the new withgoing XX.ahk file for it (for Unattended that is) as well as the XXWiFiRemote.cfg for those who ever got a remote for WiFi going. For the latter : also load (start) the withgoing latest version of XXTCPSrv.exe.
  
  For Attended Playback a new button besides the old Next button has emerged for this. Both the old Next (Nt now) and new Next Album (Nal) are smaller than usual, in order to let them fit.
  
  Note that at skipping to the next Album a possible Selection of tracks is respected.
  
  
• Similarly a new Remote Command has been added which loads the next Album from the Library Area : Alt-F.
  This may be not so easy to understand;
  Suppose you have a pile of Albums (but could be Tracks as well) visible in the Library Area. The last one *visible* at the bottom is the base for this. Thus, using Alt-F and the item after that one is loaded into the Playlist Area.
  
  This is only useful (if at all ) at Unattended Playback ! (and Alt-F is not active at Attended).
  
  Sidenote : Currently the use case of this may not be all that logical or useful, and it is merely the new principe of operation that is (or could or will be) interesting;
  
  What happens here is that during playback - and without playback interruption - Albums/Tracks can be added to the Playlist, and they will be respected for playback once it's their turn. Think of the Alt-L above too ...
  
  So, during Unattended Playback, in the background all will be done which normally is a kind of obvious, but now it goes without notice. This includes conversions and all when necessary.
  
  In the future other "gadgeds" can be thought of, like loading an album randomly (you will never know what comes next), or a newer one in (rip) time, etc.; The mechanism is there now, so it is a matter of thinking of something useful, and it will be in with not all that much effort.
  
  
• It was discovered that the Demo version did not quietly quit when the demo time ran out, but ended up in a couple of nasty "DragDrop Registration" error messages.
  It may have been for a year like that, and nobody ever told ! Luckily, afterall, Telstar did.
  
  
• A debug message "Nothing" could popup. This has been removed now.
  
  
• It was found that using the Alt-N shortcut (or Remote Command) stopped the sound and when XXHighEnd was brought up again the volume would be at -120dB. Solved.
  
  
• At using Alt-E (Pause) and Alt-P (Play) the OSD Time would not show aymore. Solved.
  
  
• Changing the volume from / to -0dB would cause static. This has been solved by not allowing the volume to change from and to -0dB.
  When Volume Up/Down is used at Unattended (Alt-U / Alt-D) and the protection is triggered, a message about it will popup.
  
  
• Using Next at Unattended (Alt-N) will go more fluently, since the services won't restart anymore, and the OSD Time will stay on now (if set On of course).
  
  
• A new shortcut Alt-Y has been created for the Library Button. This was Alt-L before. Note though that this is not seen as much useful, and that no Remote Command for it is supported (but you could make it yourself of course).
  
  
• When a Share Name is used instead of a drive letter, an error would occur when the Share Name contained spaces. Now spaces are allowed.
  
  
• While the latter incurred for "ChangeWP" errors, ChangeWP could error out more often, but for the same reason : spaces in the -what it comes down to- path. Now, spaces cannot occur in the path anymore, because they are virtually eliminated. Currently it is unknown what the effect of this is, because when ChangeWP is fed with spaces for sure something cannot be found.
  Please report any ChangeWP errors you bump into.
  
  
• It was found that at using Remote Control Commands (or keyboard shortcuts) at Unattended, converted files would get deleted. The occasions where this happened went unnoticed, but under the hood the conversions had to take place again (which just happened). This has been solved now.
  
  
• When within the Playlist a switch had to be made (during playback) from a Cue File album to a next album (type unimportant), XXEngine3 could end up in a "Stopped working". Most probably this has been there forever, and now it is solved.
  
  
• It was found that certain 88K2 files (from BSO / James Levine) -which are AIF files- contain a header which is again different than so far encountered (hey, if every producer keeps on doing this ! ). However, the anomaly (expressing itself as "Format Change") in the end was caused by a bug. This has been solved.
  Because of the same strangeness in this header data another new situation occurred, which situation urged for tag data being present in the header, while it really is not, or not recognizeable otherwise. This has been solved too.
  
  
• Similarly a certain type of WMP rip caused an "Unsupported Format" error, that by itself caused by again another bug. Also solved.
  
  
• It is now possible to explicitly convert from AIF(F) to WAV. Rightclick on a Library Item - Physical Copy - Copy AIF(F) to WAV.
  
  

A repeat of some importance from earlier release notes :
Very important : Only when AutoHotkey has been installed, and is at least working to the extend XXHighEnd can be startup with a hotkey (default is Alt-X), it is allowed to tick this checkbox. See AutoHotkey Install. When this is not done, hence XXHighEnd can not be brought up with a hotkey, at Unattended Payback - no desktop icons will be visible, no Taskbar will be there, no Startbutton will be around ... nothing. So, you will not be able to do anything, except for listening out the playlist concerned, and wait until that finishes and XXHighEnd will popup automatically, which by itself will bring back everything.
A reboot is a solution as well.

This all sounds more dangerously than it really is, and with the hotkeys available there is really nothing to fear.
And remember the objective : better Sound Quality.