New in Version 1.7.1

• Printing styled text restored.
• Very few Macintoshes might have a problem with the current printing options so a "fallback" option is provided. If you experience problems printing with Spike, select Print while holding down the option key.

New in Version 1.7

Compatibility:

• Mac OS 8.5 compatibility
• Appearance Manager compatibility.

New track types:

• Spike now handles "music" (MIDI) tracks. Due to the low datarate of music tracks, this option makes most sense when working in bytes rather than kilobytes.

Calculations:

• Audio and MIDI data are now correctly factored in with all datarate calculations and reports.

Interface:

• Added an Audio/MIDI menu (lower right) that will eventually be expanded to access other types of tracks.
• It is now possible to "Append" batches to existing batches (earlier versions required overwriting the existing batch)
• New about box
• The option to presort with MCP logs has been removed.

Printing:

• Printing options have been repaired under system 8, 8.1, and 8.5. However, we intend to change the way printing is handled in the next version too.

New in Version 1.6

• This version addresses Mac OS8 and OS8.1 compatibility issues, most importantly it repairs the "finder reload" problem which occured when the program was run with one or more Finder windows open to list view.
• Fixed a problem which made it unable to display the full graph of certain movies with over 3000 frames (this would sometimes result in the subsequent loss - forever - of the 5 horizontal indexes in the graph window). Note: in analyzing long movies and particularly long movies, the spinning cursor may initially not spin for a minute or two, this is intentional (to speed up the data being read into memory).
• Fixed a problem which caused some movies of regular (non-variable frame durations) frame rates below 1 fps to display their datarate graphs in k-per-frame rather than k-per-second.

New in Version 1.5

note: versions 1.3 and 1.4 were not publicly available.

Compatibility:

• Spike has now been tested with and confirmed to process movies created with QuickTime 1.0 through 3.0
• Spike 1.5 introduces several new datarate algorithms to achieve much greater accuracy
• Many typical PAL and NTSC framerate reductions are detected and processed accordingly

Movies with variable frame durations:

• Variable frame durations movies (unrelated to NTSC frame-doubling) use datarates per second rather than per frame
• One or two closing frames of unique duration will not cause a movie be considered to have variable frame durations
• A certain degree of aperiodicity is tolerated to accommodate edits

Movies with frame rates lower than 1 fps:

• Movies with framerates of less than 1 fps now display their datarates per second rather than per frame
• Movies with framerates of less than 1 fps now display their datarates much more accurately
• Decimal frame rates are always displayed when the fps is less than 1

Sound-only movies:

• Sound-only movies now display their average and peak datarates

Graph:

• The graph window now includes a heading indicating whether the datarate is displayed per second or per frame
• The data rate now centers on the frame region unless the frame indicator is dragged with the optionKey down
• The graph window now centers even the first time it is opened

Interface:

• New "Select Files" button allows custom batches of any number of files from any number of folders
• New "Select Files" menu item identical in function to Select Files button
• After "Select Files" the progress bar is based upon the number of files rather than file content
• "Analyze" button and menu item renamed to "Analyze Folder…"
• After "Analyze Folder…" in registered versions the progress bar is based upon file content
• "Display decimal frame rates" is now an option and a preference
• Help items now appear under the Apple Help menu to speed access to help

Display:

• When the displayed fps is actually an average frame rate, this fact is indicated by the abbreviation "av."
• KeyFrameRates may now appear in parentheses if an otherwise regular keyFrameRate is terminally interrupted

Miscellaneous:

• Problems displaying the compressor vendor and name have been fixed
• Printing of the main report field has been restored
• Memory problems with very large batches of very large files have been resolved
• Correct frame is now displayed for movies of less than 1 fps when clicking on the datarates list
• Registered versions and unregistered versions will ever expire

Lite (unregistered) version:

• Lite version batches limited to 2 files at a time
• Lite version now also allows option to "Display Decimal Frame Rates"
• Lite version no longer allows working in bytes
• Lite version will never expire
• Lite version's menu items will no longer progressively disappear

New in Version 1.2.7

• Spike no longer asks if you want to overwrite a batch when the report field is empty.
• Fixed a bug in Spike's writing of a new preferences file when user erased preferences file (Spike was writing a version 1.2.5 preferences file for version 1.2.6 which has a slightly different format)
• Fixed problem that some versions of Spike indicated they had "expired 275 days into 1997" and did, in fact, expire on this day (October 1, 1997).

New in Version 1.2.6

• "Display decimal frame rates" button added for movies with frame rates over 1 fps (note: the functionality of this option will become clear in version 1.3 of Spikes).
• Data rate list label now switched to "Sec" for movies with less than 1 fps frame rate.
• Corrected problem of Spike's status display counting all movies with bullets in their names as having passed when displaying the total movies passed.
• Status field is no longer emptied when it shouldn't be.
• "Play Movie" button is disabled when non-movie files are clicked upon.
• Can't find movie file alert (for re-loaded batches) has been enhanced.
• Printing Help no longer prints the first section twice.
• About box problems fixed (alert occurred when registered users returned to About Box more than 12 times).

New in Version 1.2.5

• All internal calculations are now done in bytes (previous versions only calculated in bytes if you were working in bytes). This means that all data in the details portion of the screen will be more accurate.
• Due to rounding, audio percentage of datarate can differ by 1% when working with kilobytes instead of bytes. Working with bytes is always more accurate (unless the values are identical for both cases).
• Audio percentage is now accurate even when audio is greater than 99% of the bandwidth but less than 100% of the bandwidth (a rare scenario which caused problems in some earlier versions).
• An alert will now appear upon an attempt to view a graph of greater than 7936 frames.
• Option-Command-Escape will exit the program.

New in Version 1.2

Note: Versions 1.2.1 thru 1.2.4 fixed some minor last-minute bugs in version 1.2

Compatibility:

• Spike can now handle "data-fork-only" movies.
• Spike can handle movies without a moov resource including flattened and/or cross-platformed movies.
• Spike can now handle movies with frame rates of less than 1 fps (rounding to 2 decimal places).
• Spike can now handle files with moov resources with ids other than 128 (certain versions of Premiere sometimes create such moov resources).
• Spike will now analyze movie files created with early versions of QuickTime (some very early versions of QuickTime may still be listed as errors).
• Invalid QuickTime files are now ignored instead of searched.

Graphs:

• Graphs of low-datarate movies are now scaled up for easier reading (previous versions only scaled high-datarate graphs down).

Sound:

• Spike now handles "raw", "twos" (AIF), "ima4", and MACE (3:1 and 6:1) sound formats.

Speed:

• Faster loading and saving of Batch files
• Faster retreival of individual movie analyses.
• Faster Batch processing in general.

Interface:

• Spike provides additional feedback during processing.
• Better handling of missing or moved movies when reloading Batch files.
• It is now possible to use Tolerance settings in kilobytes while working in bytes.
• It is now possible to use Tolerance settings in bytes while working in kilobytes.

Display:

• Long numbers are not truncated or wrapped in analysis fields and graphs.
• Long compressor names are no longer truncated.
• Better display of other analysis "details".
• Better formatting of Spike Lists and Spike Alerts.
• Tolerance settings in Batch and Current boxes are now displayed in the same format as the target datarate setting (kilobytes or bytes).

Apple Events:

• Quiting from the Finder now quits Spike.

Miscellaneous:

• Status field will only empty when appropriate.
• Status field contents now saved with batch files.
• More automatic file-naming.
• Accurate path names for nested folders.
• Printing from main window now prints current info field instead of status.
• Averate datarate is more accurate when working with bytes instead of kilobytes.
• Audio datarate percentage is now correct when working with bytes instead of kilobytes.
• Minor bugs fixes too numerous to mention here.

New in Version 1.0.5

• Resolved problems that were introduced in version 1.0.4 when processing certain movies with soundtracks. These were that some movies individual frame datarates were not displayed nor was it possible to view their graphs. This only effected certain movies with soundtracks.
• Display of bytes or kilobytes now correct (this was a cosmetic problem and had nothing to do with functionality)

New in Version 1.0.4

• It is now possible to Paste your registration code in the registration dialog. This won't affect anyone who is already registered but it was requested by many of the people who had already registered. Additionally, if you are a registered user your name will appear in the About Box.
• Some registered users were unable to access their Pre-sets menus (the 63 pre-set configurations available at the bottom of the Threshold Settings window) even after registering. This has been fixed.
• Spike now offers a choice between working with kilobytes or bytes. Working in bytes is much more accurate when using Spike to help prepare movies that are destined for playback via the World Wide Web. Additionally, Spike now permits working with kilobytes including decimals.
• Spike can now graph movies of much greater frame lengths: up to 7984 frames which is about 9 minutes at 15 fps and over 13 minutes at 10 fps (earlier versions of Spike would only graph the first 1000 frames even though the datarate list displayed values for all frames). Additionally, version 1.0.4 of Spike can now generate its graphs more quickly than before.
• It was reported that certain types of movies with variable frame lengths were occasionally being reported with incorrect frames-per-second (a round-off error that could potentially skew the accuracy of the spike list). The source of this problem has been identified and fixed.
• One user reported an occasional "type 1" error on launch. This source of this problem has been identified and fixed.
• Spike's Preferences file has a new format so updating will replace your old Preferences with a file in the new format. This was necessary to support the addition of the Bytes/Kilobytes preferences. If you urgently need to save any preferences or profiles that are stored in your current Preferences file, make a copy of the Preferences file before updating Spike. Then contact Bytehoven@yav.com for instructions on how to merge your old Preferences file with the new one.