GridStream Productions

[Gridfan]

GridStream Player is a custom player created for the purpose of easily tuning in to GridStream Productions Internet radio broadcasts. It is very minimalist, simple to use, and has several GridStream specific features that will enhance your enjoyment of tuning in. It is basically just a moveable loudness/VU meter, combined with a status icon residing in the notification area of your taskbar.


Installation is simple, just go to the GridStream Website click the "Get GridStream Player" button or "Launch Stream" button, the download link is in the stream launch window. After installation the player will inform you of any future updates, in addition this thread will also be updated with details about new updates of the player.

Preview of the included VUMeter skins are at the: Skins thread

If the installer tells you this version is currently installed, but you are sure that the player informed you earlier that a new version was available, then make sure you flush the cache in Firefox (might want to double check your preferred browser as well) as it does tend to cache even executables/installers.

Requirements:

• Windows 5.x (2000/XP/2003/Media Center XP) or 6.x (Vista/Win7) or compatible.
  
• DirectX 3+ sound card/onboard sound and DirectX 7+ graphics card/onboard graphics.
  
• 64kbit+ Internet connection (128kbit+ advised). IE4+ files installed on system for Station Info window feature.
  
• 8MB+ available RAM (4MB average use, 1-8MB depending on what features are used, hidden state and OS version).
  
• Pentium/Athlon 400Mhz+ or better CPU. 1MB available disk space.
  
• Speakers/Headphones if you want to hear music, plus a sense of humor!

Features:

• Multitasking friendly, optimized for low CPU/resource/memory use.
  
• Roaming profile compliant. XP and Vista/Win7 Admin or Standard user compliant.
  
• Should be able to take advantage of multi core CPU's, several features of the player have their own threads.
  
• All program windows has desktop clipping, moving them outside the screen will snap them to the edge when let go.
  
• Preferences window allowing you to customize several of the player's features.
  
• Alternate state trayicons (normal,connecting,stopped,muted) making it easy notice what is going on.
  
• Songinfo balloontip when clicking on tray icon, also support automatic mode so it appears when a song changes and has a adjustable timeout.
  
• Automatic station name updating which can be disabled/enabled, and optional checking and fetching of special notices/announcements from GSP, adjustable update timer.
  
• Adjustable FPS for program/vumeter, ranging from 20 to 1000 FPS, tweak it until it "feels" perfect (a high FPS needs more CPU). If player/vumeter is hidden then the vumeter is put in a sleep mode to conserve even more CPU.
  
• Accurate dB (decibel/loudness) indicator on vumeter of the stream audio, 0dB being max/full volume. Can be turned on or off.
  
• About window with details like days/hrs since the player was started and last connect/reconnect, achieved FPS rate, and more. The position, size, and open state of window are remembered.
  
• Song History window, position, size, and open state are remembered. Advanced details mode that can be turned on or off, shows playtime, and when a song was started.
  
• Splash window at startup with Loudcity logo and GridStream blurb, takes you to Loudcity if clicked. Plus technology logos related to the player.
  
• Automatically (re-)tunes to the stream, no need to keep track of that tune in link any more. Will also retry each stream server 3 times before trying the next, if they all fail the playlist is re-fetched in case the servers have been changed.
  
• Version check at player start (optional), with download prompt, manual check also possible with prompt/result.
  
• Stream Recorder, never miss a show again just because you couldn't be there. Start time and end time selection, and even instant manual record. Choose save path, stream is saved raw, in the same format as it's broadcast. Datestamped filenames. Can be played directly in latest Winamp.
  
• "Listening to" AO script feature, will automatically be created and updated at song change, the script can be called ingame by typing /gsp
  
• Simple tray and player context menu. Volume presets in context menu. Manual, GridStream Website can be launched from the context menu.
  
• Asynchronous reconnect, the player can be used while it's still connecting.
  
• Built in (mathematical) VUMeter, and a selection of over 40 VUMeter "skins" created by the GridStream and Anarchy Online community.
  
• Quick installer, if previously installed (in case of updates) the shortcuts and folder do not need to be reselected.
  
• Improved Uninstaller, if detected you may be asked if you wish to keep the player preferences.
  
• Takes advantage of Window XP and Vista features like transparency for the VUMeter.
  
• Custom stream url supported through shortcuts/program argument.
  
• Multiple soundcards support.
  
• VUMeter toggle, Sticky Window, Hide Player, Mute Volume, 32Bit audio processing, and much more...

[Gridfan]

Changes:

v2.2 (update 2) - 15th August 2009

• The auto update and the player had conflicting version numbers, auto update version check should now work properly.

v2.2 (update 1) - 15th August 2009

• Changing skins should now be shown immediately, like they used to, no need to restart the player to see them.

v2.2 - 13th August 2009

• If the playlist can not be re-fetched after loosing the stream/server it will try again using the current playlist instead of failing fully.
  
• The VUMeter no longer allows a maximum FPS higher than the refresh rate of the monitor it is on, so if you have more than one monitor and one is 60Hz and the other is 80Hz then setting it to 80FPS and moving the VUMeter to the 60Hz monitor will change the max FPS to 60Hz. After all, there is no point in drawing more frames than you can actually see, this saves CPU as well. Note that you may not be able to set it to exactly 60FPS due to the way the timings work, it will show as 58.82 FPS instead. Setting the FPS to a lower value is still possible if you have 40 FPS set and move it between a 80Hz and a 60Hz monitor then it will remain set to 40 FPS.
  
• Removed Display VUMeter from context menu, as it was also in the Preferences window this was redundant, also moved Mute from the main context menu into the Volume sub-menu, this should make the main menu less cluttered.
  
• Fixed a bug with the station info web window, the embed IE browser triggered a stream re-connect message for some weird reason. The way the re-connect state is checked is now changed, so there should be no more message conflicts.
  
• Changed the way the player starts up, now the GSP server will tell the player which url to listen too, previously the tune in url was hardcoded, now the GSP server can override the default, this should prevent the pain of having to wait for an updated player if the tune in url should change in the future.
  
• Rewamped the way the VUMeter is displayed, now it has seperate and independent background and skin transparency sliders allowing even more customization for your system, Display VUMeter preference removed as the same effect can be achieved by setting Skin transparency to 0. Accidentally clicking through the VUMeter is also no longer a issue.
  
• Some improvements in the way the player fetches info for the Station Info browser window, plus some other misc tweaks here and there in the player.
  
• The About window has had the Audio decoding CPU use removed, instead a new Dynamic Range info have been added, the higher the value the better, classical and movie scores tend to have a dynamic range of around 20dB, modern pop music only have 4-5dB dynamic range. High dynamic range means more color in the music, a low dynamic range is flat. A dynamic range of 0 dB would be almost equal to static noise.
  
• Compiled using PureBasic v4.31 (x86), BASS updated to v2.4.3.7.

[Gridfan]

I'm not planning any major changes (well at least not currently). I like it small simple and as minimalistic as possible, so major feature requests will probably not be added. Tips for tweaks and improvements are always welcome though.

If you have technical issues or problems with GridStream Player, please post here and I will do my best to do fix them. Try to be as detailed about why/what/when it fails and how if possible. If I get enough information, or can pinpoint, or replicate the issue I can probably fix it.

Feature requests and problem reports will be pruned when/if they are added or fixed, and they will be noted in the CHANGES post above and in the documentation of the player.

Although I'd love feedback like "The player rocks" this is a technical thread, so it'll be more strictly moderated as mentioned above. Make a new thread/post in the Tech forum instead as that is more suitable for general discussions about the player. And when it comes to GridStream Player Skins use the official skins thread for that

====================== Welcome to the: GridStream Player - Official Support Thread ======================

[Gridfan]

GridStream Player v2.2 (update 2) has just been released.
Choose Version Check from the player menu to update,
or if you have automatic version check enabled it will do so the next time you start the player.

Changes from v2.2 (update 1) to v2.2 (update 2) is in the 2nd post in this thread.