Update 7.1.13 (Patreon)

Hi Everyone!

Version 7.1.13 was released just moments ago and will be making it's way to you soon, if it hasn't already!

This update had 3 primary goals:

Make it easier for you to recover from download failures

Implement metrics in the library

Improve and polish the Library and Library Player UI/UX

There are some additional, smaller changes that will also be mentioned at the end of this post, but first...

Handling Download Failures

I've noticed via feedback and posts on social media that users often encounter the same problems over and over. Most of the time, there is a fix by making a few changes in your settings or configuration. The problem is, how are you supposed to "just know" which settings need to be changed to remedy the problem you are experiencing?

Well, version 7.1.13 introduces a new error handling mechanism that will "catch" these common errors and provide easy to read information and options to quickly make the necessary settings changes and restart your download.

These changes apply only to the download you’re restarting. They are not permanent changes. If you find that you are experiencing the same error repeatedly, it may make sense to make the setting change permanent by finding the same setting in your Settings window and changing it there.

Library Metrics

Stacher's Library is intended to allow you to easily import, organize, and search your media. Over time though, as your Library grows, you may start asking questions like, "how much space is all this media taking on my hard drive?", "which files are taking the most space and do I still need them?", "do I have any duplicate files?", etc.

Library Metrics is a new, powerful feature that may go unnoticed if you aren't paying attention. In the bottom right corner of your Library, you will see a button labeled "Library stats". When you click it, a popover will load that shows you various metrics on all the content stored in your Library including how much space it's taking on your machine, the source of most of your media, etc. You can even see which media items have attributes like subtitles, security pins, bookmarks, etc.

If the metrics analyzer detects that you have duplicate files, it will tell you! At the top of the panel, you could see two different types of messages. One is a "possible duplicates" message. This means that Stacher has detected files that seem like they may be the same, but it's not entirely sure. You can click the button to Review the media and decide for yourself.

The other type of message is "certain duplicates". This message indicates that Stacher has detected, without a doubt, that two or more files are duplicates and occupying space on your hard drive.

In addition to informing you of duplicates, Stacher will calculate and let you know how much hard drive space you could free up by removing detected duplicates.

In a world where hard drive space is becoming more and more precious, optimizing it's usage becomes paramount.

Library UI/UX Improvement

The first thing you'll notice is the table and cards have been polished with the intentions of looking less "clunky". Tags are condensed in the table view and the cards are more in line with the rest of the applications UI.

The card view will take better advantage of the screen real-estate and resize accordingly making for a much more response UI experience.

Selecting one or more items in both table and card view is simpler as well with always visible checkboxes.

Additionally, the Library Player has been polished with an updated seek bar and thumbnail preview.

The entire player view has also been polished making the General Details, Notes, Metadata, and Queue tabs much cleaner and easier to digest.

Conversion UI Improvement

As a reminder, Stacher can utilize whatever compatible FFMPEG version you have installed and provides a "quick" conversion tool directly in the Stacher Library! In version 7.1.13, this tool has been slightly updated to improve it's UI/UX. This is nothing crazy, but ideally it will make using some of the options easier to understand with explicit descriptions of what they do.

In case this functionality has gone under your radar, the Convert tool is located in the drop down menu under the library media player.

Quick Configuration Spotlight

Did you know you can quickly make search and change a setting with the CTRL+P or CMD+P keystroke? This feature has been available since 7.1.0 but it's UI hasn't been updated since it's initial concept and rollout.

7.1.13 has an updated UI/UX spotlight that both fits with Stacher's UI patterns but is also more recognizable as a standardized "spotlight feature".

Note: Changing a setting via the spotlight changes the setting only in the currently selected configuration (the same way the settings window works). The currently selected configuration is labeled on the right side of the Spotlight input box. In the example, the current configuration is "DEMOMODE"

FFMPEG on Mac OS

Stacher 7.1.13 has "smarter" handling for ffmpeg on Apple Silicon. Stacher does not bundle or host ffmpeg binaries, but it will help you install ffmpeg with your express permissions. However, Apple Silicon users may have noticed this automation doesn't always work. This is because there are no official pre-compiled ffmpeg binaries (that I am aware of).

Because of this, the best way to install ffmpeg on Apple Silicon is manually via `brew install ffmpeg`.

Version 7.1.13 is "smarter" in that it will automatically find and detect ffmpeg on your system if it already exists somewhere outside of the Stacher Home directory. This should minimize the required steps and configurations for getting ffmpeg installed and configured to work with Stacher.

For step by step instructions on manually setting up ffmpeg on any supported operating system, checkout https://ffmpeg.stacher.io/

As always, a complete change log is always available at https://changelog.stacher.io/

Thank you all for your continued support and Happy Halloween!

🎃