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Showing posts from December, 2021

You Shouldn't Have To Keep Reinstalling Software (SAM Broadcaster Pro)

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One of the BIGGEST bug bears I have about SAM Broadcaster Pro is that when something goes wrong it goes BADLY WRONG. When SAM goes Boom & Bust you have to prat around uninstalling and reinstalling the software just to get it to function. Almost ready to go LIVE again SAM Broadcaster reinstalled Database rolling and adding music files & Jingles AGAIN I witnessed SAM Broadcaster do a disappering act many a time in my 10+ years of using the software. Because SAM Broadcaster Pro doesn't come with a database backup tool you have rebuild your song database and categories. Googling the error suggests a Delphi problem SAM is written in Delphi The fact it is still happening in the 2021 versions should be sounding alarm bells to anyone thinking of purchasing SAM. This little nugget was recently shared on the Spacial forums: SAM Broadcaster Pro crashed after four hours of use Just for the record the record Uptime for Radio

SAM Broadcaster Won’t Open After Reboot

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I recently saw a post on the Spacial Audio SAM Broadcaster Forums SAM Broadcaster Pro won't open after reboot! When I restart my computer SAM Broadcaster won’t open SAM Broadcaster going wrong is nothing new its been an issue for over 20 years. In the past I've had to uninstall and reinstall SAM Broadcaster after the program went wrong. What causes SAM Broadcaster and it’s program files/database structure to become corrupted during a reboot of the computer is anyone’s guess. This has happened on different operating systems from XP to Windows 10 Another SAM user said it turned out to be an issue with the core or GUI XML being corrupted by an improper shutdown of the software. The SAM Broadcaster database tables became corrupted after a reboot of the computer which required a reinstall of the software. I was having to reinstall SAM Broadcaster at least once a Week The problem was even worse if your PC was s

SAM Broadcaster Product Activation Offline

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Saw this in amongst the search terms on Google analytics recently… SAM Broadcaster Product Activation Offline The Spacial Audio activation server fell over recently which in turn left users struggling to get SAM Broadcaster activated. Users having issues getting SAM Broadcaster activated are nothing new. The activation system says that SAM Broadcaster is activated on 3 PC’s When the user has deactivated the software before they went to reinstall The activation servers have been causing users grief ever since Spacial Audio changed how people have to unlock the software. Before users just needed a key code to unlock all the features in SAM Broadcaster Spacial Audio introduced Software Activations in September 2009 to cut down on the amount of pirated versions. Activation errors have meant some radio DJ's missing their regular online shows. Things like that should NEVER happen with radio playout software. It’s j

Memory Leaks Are An Inherent Problem SAM Broadcaster Pro

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As the title of the post SAM Broadcaster Pro suffers with Memory Leaks. More so If you are running PAL = Playlist Automation Language Scripts. Memory Leaks are an inherent problem of how the PAL engine is designed If you design bad PAL scripts you get memory leaks It's easier to design a bad PAL script than to design a good one It's not like Memory Leaks were an unavoidable problem They've had years to get the code in SAM Broadcaster Pro BUG FREE give or take a few GUI changes its the same as it was 20 years ago. When I first tried running PAL scripts in 2002 SAM would regularly do a disappearing act or it would stutter and FREEZE. This is a from a user who is having issues with the latest 2021 version. [CORE] Unhandled exception (Out of memory while expanding memory stream) I stopped some of the scripts and the problem still occurred The memory leak PAL Script crashed SAM Broadcaster The PAL Scripting inter

Taken For A Ride Year after Year? (Spacial Audio)

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Its nearly the end of 2021 and YET again Spacial Audio haven't done a lot with their software this year. This is the 2021 SAM Broadcaster Changelog: -v2021.6 (13 December 2021) * Fixed issue with PRO DJ Keys. * Updated several URLs to use HTTPS. * SAMReporter can now be started with /INSTANCE={instance_name} for multi-instance installations. v2021.5 (10 November 2021) * Upgraded build chain. v2021.4 (20 July 2021) * Fix read of BPM from tag and updating of BPM field in database when changed. * Updated dates and information on various windows. v2021.3 (18 June 2021) * SAM Reporter now detects best port to use. (Ports tried in this order: 80, 81, 8080, 8081, 10080) * SAM Reporter improved support for MariaDB. * Auto-updater support for secure downloads & certificate checks. v2021.2 (7 May 2021) * Updated digital signatures to SHA256. 2021.1 (25 March 2021) * Improved MariaDB detection and installation. As you ca

The User interface Gives Me A Headache (SAM Broadcaster Pro)

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A user recently put in a feature request on the SAM Broadcaster Forums. I'm using Sam Broadcaster and I am getting very tired eyes from the White background of the interface. I Would appreciate a DARK MODE The interface of SAM Broadcaster Pro has always been hard on the eyes. I couldn't stare at the Interface for long periods myself without getting a headache. This where RadioDJ is better because in the 2.x.x. versions you can change the colours of the Interface. This is a theme I came up with a dark barkground with Geen and Red I don't find myself getting eye strain and can look at the RadioDJ interface for longer than I ever could SAM. The user complaining about eye strain won't be getting a dark skin for SAM Broadcaster anytime soon. Its RARE Spacial Audio introduce new features into their software. They DON'T listen to their user base. So i