BabelSoft / 博语软件

Here's a new thread to hold everything pertaining to the new public beta cycle for the incoming v1.5.0.
Contrary to the previous cycle, each beta version will get its own version id, so uninstall anything before upgrading to the latest beta version is NOT needed anymore !

1.4.4.468-beta

New stuff since 1.4.3:
Core:
- Fixed potential crash with video and audio cover processing
- Fixed potential memory leak with video stream processing
- Better handling of CMYK jpeg files
- Added Level 2 thumb cache
Config Tool:
- Fixed state memorization of "Include Network Drives" and Recursive checkboxes

People are complaining that Windows 8+ is always wiping out the thumb system cache, making the cache useless. With this beta, Media Preview now comes with its own Level 2 cache, backing up the system cache whenever needed. This L2 cache is currently hardwired to be created as C:\MediaPreview\MediaPreview.cache but the path will be configurable in later versions.
I need people to test this beta and give me feedbacks about any unusual slowness while browsing files. Everything is working fine on my PC, but my machine is quite powerful, so feedbacks and suggestions are quite welcome.

I did 2 runs of testing:
1/ Browsing folders manually. Results: around 7,500 video files and a L2 cache size of 225 MB.
2/ Using the "Fill Up Thumbnail Cache" feature with "Force Update" checked on. Results: 12,500 video files and a L2 cache size of 2.08 GB. In this case, the L2 cache got really fat because the config tool asks to generate thumbs into 2 different sizes (96*96 pixels and 256*256).

Download:
http://www.babelsoft.net/bin/MediaPrevi ... ta.sfx.exe

Thank you very much. Testing now. Using a 256GB 840 Pro SSD drive. Running just as quick as without the L2 cache.
I will report any issues.

Found a possible issue here. A thumbnail isn't generated for this .png image: http://www.sendspace.com/file/zk33zu

A question. If I backup this .cache file, when restored, will it be used? Like moving it to another system that shares some of the same media files. Will those thumbnails need to be re-generated?

You can indeed back up the .cache file and then at a later time replace the currently used .cache file with your backed up version. Media Preview will simply use and update any .cache file without any fuss.
But moving a .cache file from a machine to another is useless. The .cache file isn't only using filenames to identify media files, so Media Preview would probably start from scratch without erasing the old content...

A problem here. After a BSOD (a very rare one at that). All thumbnails previously generated have disappeared. I still have a 500MB cache file which isn't growing when showing the files, so obviously it is using the cache but it's just as slow as if it was re-generating them. Some videos show fairly quick but most videos and all images are slow. Did you check the image I sent you?

The image file isn't a png file but a jpg file, simply rename it with the good extension and it will work. It seems that pictures saved from sharing websites are sometimes downloaded with the wrong extension...

It seems that the BSOD has corrupted most of the cache file content... Can you try to wipe out the system cache after a while (using "Clear Thumbnail Cache" for instance) and, after a system reboot to ensure that the system cache has been cleared, see if it's still slow to regenerate thumbnails?
Do you know if the BSOD you got is related to Media Preview or something else? If it's because of Media Preview you should be able to reproduce the BSOD by browsing to the same folder when you got it. But the cause of the BSOD is really unlikely to be Media Preview as it operates in a special mode that will let the system catch any errors coming from Media Preview and alert the user with a simple message box.

I see, I changed the extension and it works fine now. I'll wipe my systems thumbnail cache and delete MP cache and start over again. Not really sure about the BSOD, it happened as I was shutting down. It could be related to a RAMDisk I have recently set up, not sure.

edit: Another BSOD just now when trying to shutdown. I'll start over again without a RAMDisk drive to see if it could be MP.

You can start from scratch by wiping out both system and MP cache when you have determined where is coming your BSOD. But it would be also good to try only wiping the system cache out without touching the MP cache.

Wanted to say that so far its working well for me havent had an issue that i have at least seen. the icons aren't being remade after boot.
Windows 8.1

Working fine now without the RAMDisk. No more BSOD.

@kocchi96x @theoneofgod good to hear that everything is working fine
@theoneofgod Anyway, I don't see where is the advantage of enabling RAMDisk when you already have a SSD. With SSDs, you already have speed and data persistence, while with RAMDisk you achieve speed but may lose data if any errors araise.