MediaPortal 1.7.1 HotFix released
MediaPortal 1.7.1 HotFix
Today we present to you the MediaPortal 1.7.1 HotFix. 
This release supersedes the 1.7 Final release and includes a few bug fixes. Please report any problems in the bug reporting section of the forum.
Highlights of this release
We discovered a few issues with our 1.7 Final release which we addressed in this replacement, the 1.7.1 HotFix release. The most important change comes from a SubsystemVersion bump (MP.Externals.BASS to be specific).
Attention Plugin developers! If your plugin references to the MP.Externals.BASS SubsystemVersion, your plugin will show up as incompatible as of the 1.7.1 HotFix release, and an updated version is needed.
Besides the SubsystemVersion bump, we updated the Bass ASIO binary and fixed a possible crash if you ONLY installed the BassBox visualisations. There has also been some work done on the WMP visualisations.
And last but not least, we fixed some potential freezes which were caused by using an obsolete Album View (Music) setting in Shares View.
Full list of changes
You can review the complete change log for MP 1.7.1 by using the link below:
Compiled Plugin related changes
Community Plugin Developers should have a look at the following page to find out about the changes which will effect their extensions.
Some of these changes are mandatory to become 1.7.1 compatible:
Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback
Installation
With MediaPortal 1.6.0 we switched to .NET4 so you need to make sure you have .NET4 installed on your computer (not needed if you are on Windows 8 because it comes with .NET4, but you NEED the .NET 3.5 features enabled!). Otherwise you are not able to install MediaPortal and the installer just quits.
Download-Link: Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Standalone Installer)
Aside from that when doing a clean installation of 1.7.1 there is nothing else special to worry about.
Upgrade
Upgrading from 1.2.x, 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final, 1.4.0, 1.5.0, 1.6.0 and 1.7.0 to 1.7.1 HotFix
All MediaPortal 1.2.x, 1.3.0 Alpha/Beta/RC/Final, 1.4.0, 1.5.0, 1.6.0, 1.7.0 installations can be upgraded to 1.7.1, without losing your settings.
Plugins:
If you are running MediaPortal 1.7.0 or earlier, then it is possible that some of your previously installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.7.1! Whether or not a plugin is incompatible depends on the MediaPortal subsystems the plugin uses, but for this HotFix only Music plugins should be affected.
Skins:
Warning! Due to the new features and changes introduced in 1.4.0, none of the 1.3.x skins are compatible with 1.7.1!
Please contact the author of the skin you use for further information and updates.
Upgrading Extensions:
The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer, and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version.
Upgrading from 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier to 1.7.1
All MediaPortal installations starting with 1.1.0 RC1 can be upgraded to 1.7.1, without losing your settings.
If you are running MediaPortal 1.2.0 Alpha or earlier, then none of your extensions (plugins and skins) will work after the upgrade to 1.7.1! You must update your extensions after the upgrade!
So, please make sure that 1.7.1 compatible versions of your extensions are available before you start the upgrade!
General note about Upgrades
Manually stop TV-Service!
On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped.
For upgrades to 1.7.1 we recommend that you manually stop the TV-Service and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the "all users" option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade.
Custom TV-Service properties
If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options), then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service.
Feedback
Bugs
If you think you found a bug then please post a detailed report in our Bug Reports Forum.
Make sure your report includes all the required information. Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean.
Download
Finally - the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes.
If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a small donation!
The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release!
