Release Notes

• The prior SnapKast Version 1323 delivered SnapKast installer bundled with Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 6 Update 11. Unfortunately, this may cause performance issues manifested with display rendering and recording pen stroke challenges. Version 1328 reverts back to JRE 1.6.0u7 to resolve those performance issues.

• If you encountering these performance issues or if SnapKast does not start properly, please review these details about the appropriate Java version for SnapKast.

• We suggest that you do not allow your PC to upgrade to newer Java versions beyond Version 6 Update 7 until SnapKast has been certified with a newer JRE version.

• No changes have been made to SnapKast in this release.

• Resolved an issue where Edit > Options > Files > Change... could cause the SnapKast Media Center to freeze for some folder locations.

• The SnapKast installer is bundled with Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 6 Update 11.

• If Help > Check for updates... does not open Software Update webpage in a browser, then users must download SVN 1323 or greater directly from the web site and install this new release. From that point forward Help > Check for updates... should be used to look for new releases.

• The method used to look for new SnapKast software releases has changed. Users still select Help > Check for updates.... However, now a webpage is opened in a browser with details on whether an update is available with instructions.

  In order for this new update method to work, users must download SVN 1322 or greater directly from the web site and install this new release. From that point forward Help > Check for updates... should be used to look for new releases.

• Resolved intermittent issue where Format would not work on a fresh SnapKast install.

• Improved installer to deal with computers that have had more than one version of Microsoft Offie installed.

• Improved PowerPoint conversion program.

• Resolved where SnapKast failed to work with PowerPoint 2007 files using "Picture or texture fill" on the Slide Master.

• MS-Office PPTX and DOCX files now work as expected without any user intervention on WinXP PCs with MS-Office 2003 and SnapKast.

• Resolved an issue where PowerPoint or MS-Word files that contained an ampersand ('&') as part of the file name would produce a confusing error message. Now, the error says that ampersands are not valid in file names. The solution is to rename the file removing the amersand and trying it again in SnapKast.

• The SnapKast installer allows one to change the default installation folder. Changing this may cause the installation to fail with an error code 3 which will prevent SnapKast from working with PowerPoint files. Until this is resolved in a future release, please do not change the default installation folder.

• Release 2.2 SVN Version 1301 had a problem with Help > Check for updates.... This has been resolved. However, anyone with SVN 1301 will need to get SVN 1302 or greater directly from the web site as Check for updates... will fail.

• SnapKast is now supported on Microsoft Vista (32-bit only, a release for 64-bit will be later).

• For Vista we strongly recommend that SnapKast be installed directly logged into a user account with administrative privileges. For non-admin standard Vista users, please temporarily change the user to an administrative type account, install SnapKast, and change back to a stand user upon completion. The details for a non-admin user installation on Vista can be found here.

• SnapKast now supports the MS-Office 2007 PPTX file format.

• Your manual assistance is currently required to open a PowerPoint file with the new MS-Office 2007 PPTX file format with SnapKast on WinXP PCs with MS-Office 2003. Please follow these steps:

  1. When attempting to start a recording session with a PPTX file you may get an "Open With" window.
  2. Please select "Microsoft Office PowerPoint" in that window and click "OK".
  3. You will then taken into PowerPoint with that file.
  4. Select "Print" in the "File" pulldown menu.
  5. In the Print window that appears, select the printer named "SnapKastSVG".
  6. Click the "OK" button in this Print window.
  7. You will prompted with a window asking "Do you want to save the changes you made to file.pptx?". Click "No".
  8. You will exit PowerPoint and be brought back to Snapkast.
  9. Click the "Start Recording" to begin your recording session.

• This version supports a beta release that allows Microsoft Word files to be used in the recording sessions in addition to PowerPoint. Since Word pages are typically set to a portrait layout (vs. landscape in PowerPoint slides), the content may be small during recording since the recorder displays the entire page. You may want to increase text font sizes in the Word file before recording in SnapKast.

• You may now right-click on the audio and video files shown in the "Select Media Files" panel in the Play tab and select the "Copy File Location" item int he pop-up menu. This allows you to then conveniently paste the full file path when publishing files on the web (e.g. to YouTube).

• Fixed scenario where occasionally fields on the "Create RSS" tab where sized too small to allow data entry.

• Fixed the 640x320 video resolution to produce that size. It previously produced 320x240.

• Added support for the 480x320 iPod Touch resolution in the Format tab "Video Settings..." button.

• The Podcast Publish tab now says "Drag-and-Drop to FTP or Network Place Window" to make it clearer that you may simply drag a SnapKast created podcast folder to the desired hosted destination.

• Improved visual fidelity for larger videos:
  The Format Video Settings now provides the ability to adjust the bit rate. Higher bit rates do produce larger video files. However larger video resolutions (e.g. 1024x768) will have better visual fidelity when encoded with higher bit rates. When you change the video resolution the bit rate will be auto adjusted. You may re-adjust the bit rate if desired; however in most cases, the auto selected bit rate will suffice.

• Added 800x600 to possible video resolutions to create in the Format phase.

• Space key now maps to Next slide in the Recorder. Note: if you hit the Tab key it will traverse the control buttons and the Space bar will then activate the current button which has focus.

• Improved error codes for the installation steps.

• SnapKast now supports Java Runtime Environment (JRE) versions 1.5 and 1.6. The SnapKast installer will attempt to install JRE 1.6 if 1.5 or 1.6 is not found on your computer.

• Key mappings have been improved to control the events in the Recorder as follows:

  Event	Keys
  Previous Slide	P | p | LeftArrow | UpArrow | PgUp | BkSp
  Next Slide	N | n | Enter | RightArrow | DownArrow | PgDn
  Insert Blank Slide	Ctrl-i

• It is now possible to reformat a session as many times as possible, allowing multiple resolutions to be formatted easily. Please review the "Formatting" section in the User Manual for details.

• Users now have the ability to change the look and feel (skins) of the SnapKast Media Center. See the "Look and Feel" section in the User Manual for details.

• Session chooser added to make selecting session on the Format and Play tabs easier and more flexible.

• User may delete video or audio files on the Play tab.

• Podcast RSS tab now includes a list of previously created podcasts. Selecting an item from this list loads the podcast properties used when this RSS was created initially. This makes it easy to recreate podcasts which is needed if the media files changed (e.g. added a new video format).

• Session properties dialog contains information about which video MP4 resolutions have been formatted for that session, as well as if the audio MP3 has been formatted.

• Drag-and-drop of a PowerPoint file on the Record button works again.

• Improved format process when My Documents resides on a network drive.

• You may now change the default location of your SnapKast folder from My Documents to another location. This is accomplished by selecting the Edit > Options menu and clicking on the Files tab. More details are found in the User Manual "Options" section. You can get the User Manual on the web or in SnapKast via the Help > Contents menu.

• A new "Troubleshooting" section has been added to the User Manual.

• PCs using the older Microsoft FAT32 file system have a limit on the number of files permitted in one folder. The SnapKast Format process has been improved to allow sessions of about 2.5 hours (using the default 7 fps setting) to be formatted. This limit shall be further expanded in a future release. PCs using NTFS can format SnapKast sessions up to 395 hours (at 7 fps assuming there's enough disk space).

• The demo version recorder restriction was extended from 30 seconds to 5 minutes to allow prospective purchasers to have more time to assess the recording tool.

• Some confusing terminology (e.g. snapped, unsnapped) has been changed to more common terms.

• The index.html page produced for SnapKast RSS feeds has been improved with a single set of video or audio feed icons at the top of the page. This provides quick access to the most common RSS feed types. Additional protocol types are provided below that if required.

• "Editing Recorded Sessions" instructions have been added to the User Manual (Help > Contents). Currently SnapKast allows audio or video editing with third party editors. Users may drag-and-drop the audio mp3 or video mp4 file from the SnapKast Media Center, edit them, and drag-and-drop them back into the Media Center when complete so that can be bundled into an RSS podcast.

• SnapKast now supports sessions of any length (limited by your disk space).

• The Format progress bar tracks progress in more detail. The bar is deterministic during the frame generation step.

• Formatting multiple resolutions is fixed.

• Installation now works properly when My Documents is mapped to a network disk.

• Formatting of very short sessions works well now.

• When requested by the SnapKast Support team there is now a memory monitor to help diagnose issues.