1.94.144 was released on 19 November 2023.
This is a free update for 1.94.x license holders and for legacy OtsAV DJ Pro-Classic+ licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the relevant OtsAV buy pages.
This release contains important fixes — especially if you're running Windows 11 — and is recommended for everyone.
- Fixes for Windows changes since Windows 11 that under some circumstances could affect timing stability and/or performance.
- (Video-only) Fixes for Windows changes since Windows 11 that under some circumstances and/or with certain GPU hardware could cause the Video Overlay to fail to sync at 60 Hz.
- (Video-only) Modified and inverted the meaning of the "Video -> Video Card Overlay Output -> Preferred Overlay Mode -> Do Not Use Hardware Overlay" menu option and made default to not use/try it given its legacy and largely irrelevant status today (and the fact that using this option when not needed causes overlays to take slightly longer to launch and with some noticeable pre-flicker).
- (OtsAV Radio, TV & DJ Enterprise-only) New audio device command-line option "/AIRDEV=<some_unique_portion_of_device_desc>" to override the on-air audio device used for a given instance. This ability has been requested by various customers and is useful for those running multiple instances of OtsAV on a single system (eg. several independent radio streams) using individually customised shortcut launch icons.
Added command line option "/AIRDEV=" to allow specifying a specific "on-air" audio device override to be used at program initialisation rather than preferring whatever value has been cached within the registry. The specified string is (case-sensitively) searched for within the description of each enumerated "System" audio device at startup and if a match is found the override occurs, otherwise the __DEFAULT_OUTPUT__ device is selected but *not* enabled (ie. application will run, but no audio will be output unless other mechanisms are also in play, eg. Shoutcast). If an empty string is specified, the __DEFAULT_OUTPUT__ device is selected (and enabled). It is not possible to target non-"System" device types with this option (eg. ASIO, Legacy).
- Improved the experience when using the "Help -> About -> Licensing Information..." dialog to be less potentially confusing, particularly after using the "Remove all licenses" option or when using the 'x' widget to close the dialog.
Note: We have not at this stage re-issued the OtsAV trial versions with recent functionality — the next OtsAV update will address this and re-unify all trials with release versions.
Reminder since version 1.94.140 regarding introduced high-DPI support: if you have previously fiddled with the compatibility settings for the OtsAV executable, ie. right-click: Properties -> Compatibility -> DPI settings -> Override, you will need to remove such settings in order to not interfere with the application's native behavior.
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.94, please see our buy page here.
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1.94.140 was released on 14 March 2023.
This is a free update for 1.94.x license holders and for legacy OtsAV DJ Pro-Classic+ licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the relevant OtsAV buy pages.
- OtsAV is now a high-DPI compatible application! If you are running on a modern 4K or other high-DPI screen, you will no longer get the blurry mess that formerly greeted you. We have put a lot of effort into updating OtsAV internals in order to bring you this release and strongly recommend this update for all users. Please note that you must be running at least Windows 10 Creators Update (v1703) to get the full benefit from this release.
- Most text (including the playlist, media library, etc), all dialog boxes, and the video monitors are significantly sharper and clearer on high-DPI screens and you will find working with this version markedly better if you have your screen/screens set to a scaling factor greater than 100%.
- The application also correctly handles mixed-DPI scenarios and instantaneously responds to being repositioned between monitors of differing DPI. We still have work to do—not all graphics assets have been updated to higher-resolution versions yet—but this is a huge step forward and the most important things are already covered.
- (Video-only) When running at scaling factors greater than 100%, the main video output (not just the monitors) is now clearer and sharper, as an additional rescale by Windows is avoided. This is most noticeable on higher HD resolutions.
- (Video-only) We also stabilized the video ticker speed to be more consistent between resolutions. We prioritize smoothness over speed, so it's still not exactly the same when changing OtsAV's internal resolution, but it's fairly close within a factor. Former versions of OtsAV made no attempt to tightly regulate the ticker speed and consequently it became slower as the video subsystem internal resolution was increased.
- This release re-unifies all product editions (OtsAV DJ, OtsAV Radio & OtsAV TV) and is available to all OtsAV 1.94 license holders. It includes the new 1080p functionality (OtsAV TV Broadcaster licenses only) released late last year and the new OtsAV API beta released last week (Radio Broadcaster & TV Broadcaster licenses only). We have not at this stage re-released the OtsAV trial versions.
- Important: if you have previously fiddled with the compatibility settings for the OtsAV executable, ie. right-click: Properties -> Compatibility -> DPI settings -> Override, you will need to remove such settings in order to not interfere with the application's native behavior.
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.94, please see our buy page here.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
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1.94.136 was released on 8 March 2023.
This is a free update for 1.94.x Radio Broadcaster and TV Broadcaster license holders. This release is not for and will not work with non-Broadcaster licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the OtsAV buy pages.
This release introduces the OtsAV API (beta) to our mainstream products. The API has been used for a period of time by some of our OEM/SP customers and allows more easily controlling OtsAV from external systems such as web apps and other integrated solutions.
Although the API is at a beta status (and as always we welcome your feedback) it is perfectly useable in production depending on your goals and an understanding of the various limitations at this time.
Using the OtsAV API (beta) you can already do the following:
- Query categories within the Media Library
- Query current status of OtsAV, including such things as time, playing state, deck states, Auto DJ and ABM status, Live Input, Scheduling, library size, deck states, list states, etc
- Query and iterate all items within the Media Library, including reading fields such as Title, Artist, Length, Comment, Video, CD+G, Karaoke, Year, Rating, BPM, Categories, Number of Plays, Cover Art, Album object, etc
- Query and manipulate lists (Playlist, History and Preparation Area), including adding to, or removing/replacing arbitrary list segments
- Full Media Library search capabilities, including combined text and OMQL-based queries (all fully integrated with the Media ID functionality recently introduced)
- Control over global transport (stop, play, previous, next, pause), decks and other triggers/states (Auto DJ off/on, Automated Beat Mixing enabled/disabled, Live Input off/on, etc)
- (OtsAV TV-only) Video settings, such as enabled/disabled state, overlay (head), resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio mode, test pattern and graticules
- (OtsAV TV-only) Full control over video ticker text and settings
The API subsystem is self-documenting as it hosts its own docs and uses an innovative system of in-band help for arguments/parameters as appropriate, making learning and development faster and easier.
To start playing with the API, upon having a validly licensed product, simply enable the RAC Server (Options -> Remote Access Control -> RAC Server Enabled), check the box labelled "API enabled" in the RAC Server Configuration dialog, and then launch a browser (we recommend Firefox) on the same machine to: http://127.0.0.1/api
Be sure to read the docs fully and bear in mind the current limitations. All constructive feedback is welcome.
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV Radio Broadcaster or OtsAV TV Broadcaster 1.94, please see our buy pages here.
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1.94.133 was released on 22 November 2022.
This is a free update for 1.94.x TV Broadcaster license holders. This release is not for and will not work with non-TV Broadcaster licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the OtsAV TV buy page.
This release adds 1080p Full HD to the entire OtsAV TV pipeline, including decoding, de-interlacing, all processing, composition, assets-handling, and output. Frame rate handling remains at a true 50 or 60 (~59.94) Hz and everything works exactly the same except for the ability to operate at 1080p if you choose to (and have sufficiently powerful hardware).
All previous releases of OtsAV are capped at either 720p or lower (depending on OtsAV edition/version) due to the sheer amount of bandwidth and processing power required. This release makes 1080p Full HD possible while retaining all of the established benefits of OtsAV including the legendary smoothness, stability, high frame rate (not "fake" 25/30 fps* when 50/60 is the real deal), superior transport control - adjusting speed/pitch/tempo/direction with instant response, handling mismatched source material seamlessly, intelligent ARC (aspect ratio correction), etc.
In short, there are no compromises whatsoever to the full functionality of OtsAV when using 1080p Full HD in this release - though you will need a decent machine as 1080p is twice the bandwidth of 720p and four times the bandwidth of our Enhanced Definition mode and this hits harder than one may intuitively think due to CPU cache line sizes, etc. PCs today can handle this, though you will want fairly modern and decent hardware. It's difficult to note down precise specifications, as there are so many factors at play. The bitrate of your source material (especially when encoded at 1080p) also has a large bearing. In general, if your system can output 720p with OtsAV without breaking a sweat (and handle source material encoded as 1080p), then it should be capable of smoothly running the full pipeline at 1080p. You can also do various things, such as using only simple video transitions and refraining from playing songs significantly faster than their original speed in order to reduce the burden somewhat if you are close to the limit.
"1080p? Why is this a big deal in 2022? My PC has been playing 4K for years!" There is a world of difference between simply playing a file/stream using a player like VLC/watching a video on YouTube and the intricacies of engineering in what OtsAV does. OtsAV intentionally does not rely on the video card for anything beyond the basics, as this introduces huge points of failure, quirks, unreliability, inconsistent results, breakage after driver updates, etc. (If you're a PC gamer, you'll know all about this!) Furthermore, OtsAV is not merely playing a file. It is playing multiple files simultaneously, seamlessly standards-converting them, allowing low-latency manipulations across several domains (pitch/tempo/direction/etc) combined and in realtime and in freeform on them, transitioning between them, intelligently handling aspect ratio, adding ARC embellishments, titling animations, etc - all while maintaining smoothness and stability, and outputting at a full and true 50/60 Hz. Many solution providers around the world use OtsAV to power their music video services and other streaming solutions because of this unique mix of proven quality, power, reliability, dependability and repeatability. Introducing 1080p Full HD to this combination is a welcome and powerful advancement.
* 25 and 30 fps are real frame rates and are used by some sources. They are not ideal targets for mixing and composition from multiple combined sources, however, as they are very low and most source material is not even recorded at exactly these rates, making highly visible juddering inevitable in many cases. Most original material is either at the TV rates of 50 or 60 (~59.94 or 60000 / 1001 to be precise), or at the film rate of 24 (or ~23.976) fps. Therefore mixing and composing to 25 or 30 fps rarely makes sense if temporal quality and smoothness is important unless you are working in a highly constrained environment (eg. you are only playing source material which is encoded at exactly that rate and only that rate - and you are never playing it at anything other than its precise native speed).
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV TV Broadcaster 1.94, please see our buy page here.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
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1.94.128 was released on 12 October 2022.
This is a free update for 1.94.x license holders and for legacy OtsAV DJ Pro-Classic+ licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the relevant OtsAV buy pages.
- Miscellaneous compatibility fixes
- Updated bundled Ots Studio to version 1.03.014
- Additional functionality has been merged from our OEM/SP releases:
- addition of mID (media ID) and year enhancements to OMQL, album/item info, etc (matching Ots Studio bundled version)
- more info available here
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.94, please see our buy page here.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
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The latest free OtsAV 30-Day Trial versions also contain most of the above features/enhancements.
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1.94.027 released on 18 June 2017.
Ots Labs is proud to announce the immediate availability of the OtsAV 1.94.027 release.
This is a free update for all licenses purchased on or after Jan 1, 2017 (more info), and for legacy OtsAV DJ Pro-Classic+ licenses. Information about upgrade purchases is available at the relevant OtsAV buy pages.
For a limited time, Ots Labs is making available upgrade licenses at a special rate. Please visit the OtsAV buy page to take advantage of the current offer.
(IMPORTANT: This version requires as a minimum Windows 7 (SP1). Windows 8.1/10 recommended.)
- New codec support! The Ots Media File format, Ots Studio (now version 1.02.001) and this release of OtsAV now support the following additional codecs as first-class citizens: VP9 and VP8 video, and Opus and Vorbis audio, as used in the WebM media format from Google (and used extensively for YouTube). You can now natively import WebM files, as well as Ogg Vorbis and Opus audio files to Ots files without any loss of quality, and the file sizes will even be slightly smaller than the originals and offer all the benefits of Ots you've come to love and expect such as full and fast seeking support, time-scaling, reverse-play and scratching, non-destructive editing in Ots Studio, etc. It's now easy and efficient to encode/store HD video within Ots files at high quality while keeping file sizes very reasonable. You can now store a music video that typically would have required at least around 200 MB in as little as 40 MB—that's one-fifth—for the same visual quality! Click here for important further information about the new codec support.
- Building on the above new codec support, you can also now import MP4, MOV, MKV, etc files directly with Ots Studio and have them encoded on-the-fly to VP9 video and/or Opus audio (via FFmpeg being present on your system) to much more easily create Ots media from H.264 or other source material non-native to Ots (even other audio-only formats, such as M4A, WMA, etc may be processed in this manner). Click here for important further information about the new codec support.
- Video overlay enhancements. Although the traditional hardware overlay is still used preferentially (as it undoubtedly provides the best performance and stability on the majority of systems - even in 2017!), other techniques have been developed and are now automatically employed if the hardware overlay is unavailable and the OS is Windows 8 or higher. Of special note, AMD video cards under Windows 10 (only) do not support a hardware overlay as AMD has thus far decided to not include this feature in their drivers (unlike nVidia and Intel), which meant video output could not be used in this case. This is no longer an issue. Additionally, for our solution provider customers who often require running multiple instances with video from a single system, the new methods open up a lot more possibilities. If you're using Ots in a solution provider scenario and require multiple outputs, you may contact us for implementation details (Windows 8.1+ strongly recommended, though Windows 7 is also supported through special flags).
- Numerous miscellaneous fixes. Examples: Screensaver, monitor power-down and system sleep is now properly prevented while the video overlay is operating. Focus for the overlay when the main OtsAV window is not on the primary output of a multi-monitor system is also better handled now. Ots Studio is more well behaved now in a multi-monitor environment and preserves its last window size and placement and no longer has a tendancy to mysteriously move when the "Ots Studio Visual Output" window is launched.
- Performance improvements. This release contains many. As always, we periodically optimize and re-architect things as appropriate. Additionally, setting the base supported OS to Windows 7 has helped make certain things possible and/or cleaner and will continue to allow us to make further improvements into the future.
- New edition: OtsAV DJ Enterprise. This is a new product that includes everything in OtsAV DJ Pro, plus 720p HD support for the video pipeline (previously you needed OtsAV TV Broadcaster for this), and of special note it includes in its license terms the right to have a second copy installed and ready to go on a backup system (not for simultaneous use), so you don't need to buy another license if you're maintaining a backup rig. See the OtsAV DJ buy page for full details.
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.94, please see our buy page here.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
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The latest free OtsAV 30-Day Trial versions also contain most of the above features/enhancements.
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1.90.044 released on 31 July 2015.
Ots Labs is proud to announce the immediate availability of the OtsAV 1.90.044 maintenance release.
This update is free to all OtsAV DJ, OtsAV Radio and OtsAV TV 1.90-licensed users (including Pro-Classic+ licensed users).
For a limited time, Ots Labs is making available licenses (including upgrades) at a special rate. Please visit the OtsAV buy page to take advantage of the current offer.
(Please note that not all points apply to all license types.)
Windows 10 is here!
Today Ots Labs has released a maintenance update for all OtsAV editions, version 1.90.44, as an interim measure before our next feature release.
This update has been tested with and works well with Windows 10, including all video related features, on both desktops and tablets.
Even for non-Windows 10 users, the update contains significant performance improvements under the hood, particularly relevant for video. You may find that machines which previously were right on the verge of being able to handle a given internal resolution smoothly are now able to do so. Even for audio-only use, this version is faster and uses less resources - regardless of whether you're running Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7 or even XP. (Please take note that this update requires a processor with at least SSE2 support - pretty much any machine manufactured in the last decade will satisfy this, however if you're running a very old Athlon CPU, for example, you may not be able to successfully run the update.)
Concerning Windows XP, the next release for OtsAV will very likely be the last one supporting this old OS. If you haven't yet upgraded from XP we strongly suggest you do, even if only for the security benefits alone.
Although today's 1.90.44 release is not a feature release as such, it does contain an additional feature that will be of interest to tablet users who are playing video for their own enjoyment. While OtsAV is displaying fullscreen video, you can now swipe left, right, up and down to skip forward, back, or play and pause the current playlist. And as before, you can double-tap to escape from fullscreen mode. Although primarily intended for tablet users, these new gestures work with any touch screen regardless of whether the output is on the primary monitor or a secondary. In fact, even if you don't have a touch screen at all, you can still test the gestures with your mouse by left-click and dragging on the OtsAV fullscreen output.
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.90, please see our buy page here.
Read more about the Esperance / OtsAV 1.90-series of releases.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
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The latest free OtsAV 30-Day Trial versions also contain most of the above features/enhancements.
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1.90.014 released on 21 July 2013.
Ots Labs is proud to announce the immediate availability of the OtsAV 1.90.014 maintenance release.
This update is free to all OtsAV DJ, OtsAV Radio and OtsAV TV 1.90-licensed users (including Pro-Classic+ licensed users).
(Please note that not all points apply to all license types.)
To upgrade other licenses to OtsAV 1.90, please see our buy page here.
Read more about the Esperance / OtsAV 1.90-series of releases.
IMPORTANT: You must already be a licensed user or the package will not work.
| Continue to licensed version download page » | |
The latest free OtsAV 30-Day Trial versions also contain most of the above features/enhancements.
Free OtsAV 30-Day Trial Download »