It’s always a hard decision on when to put the version 1.0 seal of approval on commercial software, but we just did it. Graboid 1.0 is now available on our website. It is more stable and easier to use than previous versions, but if you’re using 0.95 (the beta) and are fine with it, then there is no need to upgrade. Version 1.0 removes the capability to stream files > 1GB so if you use that functionality a lot, definitely don’t upgrade unless we force you to. That said, both versions can co-exist on your PC quite nicely, so you can install 1.0, see if you like it, and use 0.95 instead whenever you prefer that.

Just one HUGE caveat – do not set your file destination folders for the two versions to the same locations, or they WILL interfere with each other.

Now that most everything technical is handled in our community forums, we’re going to start using this blog as an area to just discuss TV and movies in general, as well as developments in the viewing of such – but we’ll stay away from commenting on Graboid itself unless we feel absolutely compelled.

I saw the news today on Slashdot that Netflix and LG are coming out with a new piece of hardware for watching downloaded shows on your TV. Kind of like Apple TV, but likely to be even less successful. I already hate my DVD player just because it has its own remote control that I have to dig out of a drawer every time I want to use it, and the default volume setting on it is 2x that of my settop box, so when I play a DVD I have to remember to instantly lower the volume or risk blowing out an eardrum.

Who the heck wants another box? If Apple can’t make one that enters the mainstream, then LG is going to do it? Lately I’ve been distracted from this techno stuff because a new Famous Players (Canada’s big theatre chain) has opened up near my house and it has a bowling alley! I guess the idea is to make movie theatres nicer so people will be ok with the $8.95 popcorn and $14 tickets. Now with $100/barrel gas I have to choose between seeing a movie and making my monthly mortgage payment. But ahhh, that bowling alley beckons.

Tonight I’m trying to decide if I should watch “I am Legend”. That’s a big-screen movie if ever there was one. Or stay at home and play World of Warcraft. Hmmm.

To anyone who downloaded the app today, 0.936B, from the site – after you install and launch, you’ll see that there’s been an update already to the software. This fixed a small bug this morning that resulted in the status update bar being invisible until you resized the application window. Make sure you click ‘update’, which will take you to 0.937B.

We’re not posting much on this blog lately because our launch of the Graboid Community has had such success. If you haven’t already, visit the forum at www.graboid.com/forum and post/comment/complain/praise to your hearts content. Our intent is to make the Graboid Community the destination for anyone who loves videos. Something has to come after mySpace and Facebook….

We’re looking for a batch of avid Graboid users to beta test the next-generation of Graboid software. This new version is coded from scratch, and incorporates a built-in media player, a refined web-based interface, auto-updating, and many more exciting new features.

UPDATE: E-mails to accepted applicants have already gone out (be sure to check your spam/junk folders for an e-mail from beta@graboid.com). We are no longer accepting new beta testers.

On some computers, when installing Graboid 0.96 for the first time, there will be an error during preference setting, indicating that the directories could not be changed. The application will then leave preferences and then not buffer properly. Restarting the application will fix this, and the directories will be set properly.

If you haven’t already, visit our new Graboid Community Forum.  

There are a few people who’ve experienced a problem with downloading/buffering after downloading update version 0.96. We’ve testing upgrading internally with no issues, so we’re trying to figure out what is causing the problem for those users.

If you’ve experienced a problem with the update, first try closing Graboid, waiting 5 minutes and restarting it. This should reset any existing connections to the service, which should then clear up any connection issues. But if the problems persist, please e-mail us here and include your Graboid log files. You can find these log files in your download directory, in a folder called “Graboid Temp”. The files are called “graboid-debug.log” and “graboid-simple.log”. In case you don’t know where your download directory is, you can find out in the Graboid application under “File -> Preferences”.

If you are experiencing any of these problems and want to revert back to the previous version, you can download it here.

There is no problem with the Graboid Video service in general – all servers are up and running.

In the course of developing the new version of Graboid, we discovered a simple fix for some problems in the current version. That’s the reason for the minor release 0.96 you’ll see today when you launch GraboidTV. It’s not mandatory, but it may fix a few of those nilObject exceptions.

We’ve been hard at work on the next revision to Graboid Video, and we’d like to give you a sneak peek at one of the most exciting new features: playback INSIDE Graboid. In this screenshot, you’ll also get a glimpse of the new graphical design and layout of Graboid — the look and feel may change before release (around Christmas), but we hope you like what you see.

* The content depicted is not representative of any file you might find using Graboid and is for demontration purposes only.

The commentary on our last posting has been, uh, voluminous to say the least. But things have gotten a bit out of control and the tone of the posts isn’t something that benefits Graboid or its users. We thank all of those supporting Graboid by saying nice things (i.e. most of you). For everyone else, here are the rules:

1. We respond to all customer emails. ALL of them. If you send us an email and don’t get an autoresponder immediately confirming we’ve received your message, then we didn’t get it. Make sure you check your spam folder for the response.

2. If you can’t get ahold of us by email, then by all means post a *polite* comment here to that effect and your concern will go to the appropriate people.

3. For any other posts, if we don’t think they’re appropriate or beneficial to other users, we’ll remove them.

The recent service outages are regrettable to say the least. Graboid doesn’t make a profit from this service (although we’d like to). So the comments implying that we’re taking advantage of our users hurt our feelings. We’ll keep working on making Graboid better, but yelling at us won’t do any good, and neither will demanding that 80 cent refund. We did feel terrible right after the failed upgrade attempt last week, and responded a bit too quickly that we’d have a formal ‘make-up’ of some sort.

We’re spending all of our time creating a more stable version of the software. ALL of our resources are going toward that right now. If you don’t like the software, you don’t have to use it. If you paid for premium service and didn’t get what you expected/wanted, then just let us know and we’ll address your concern.

Thanks for using Graboid Video. We like you too.