Blue Orchid

I have been meaning to post this question for a long time. When I launch Blue Orchid, it takes at least 30 seconds for it to start up before the program starts searching the MP3 folders for additions/deletions/changes. I get a blue screen during this 30 second period. It then takes 30 additional seconds to read through the directory, which is to be expected since I have over 12,000 MP3 files. I have run the logging report, and it does not "log" the 30 second period with the blank screen. Instead it shows the 30 seconds of activity as it reads through the additions/deletions/changes.

Do you have any idea what is causing this initial 30 second delay? I have not attempted a re-install.

Scott

I noticed this too. In my case it was due to Blue Orchid "counting" the music files. In order to display the status bar for certain file operations as it's starting up, it needs to know how many files there are, so it actually traverses all the folders to determine that number. In my library (25,000+ files), that takes a considerable amount of time. So, I added a new feature (unreleased yet) that shows the status bar moving as its counting files. The status bar counts backwards from 100% down to zero, then back up to 100%.

Have you tried starting with "FileScanMode=0" ? I would be curious to know if that reduces your startup time. This setting turns off the scanning operation that looks for new files and/or deletes missing files. The obvious disadvantage is that it won't see any new files you add. But, you can just turn it on when you add new files, start Blue Orchid so it recognizes them, then set it back to zero.

I will try and get the new version out as soon as possible.

Yes, this is actually what I have been doing to eliminate the 2nd 30 second waiting period. When I add new MP3 files, I turn the FileScanMode to "1" for that one instance of Blue Orchid, before resetting it to "0" immediately thereafter. Unfortunately, with "FileScanMode=0" I still experience the 1st 30 second delay.

I am eagerly awaiting your newest version. Let me know if you need a beta tester.

BTW: BeyondTV has pulled even with you as my favorite HTPC software (now that it records HDTV and re-encodes in DIVX). However, your software is still the better bargain.

Thanx for the support I just put the new version out there so you can get it now. I really hope the new slideshow stuff works for ya.

To help with the bug you're describing here, I've added some timestamps to the session log. So, if you can take a peek in there and help me determine where the delay is, maybe we can get that reduced. I fear it's either one of two things: counting the number of gallery images you've got, or (worse) actually 'loading the interface'. I can fix the delay around counting the gallery images, but speeding up the interface load is not going to be easy. The issue is that trying to load thousands of track names into that album list on startup takes a lot of time. I see a 3 second delay on my laptop (Sager NP9760, AMD FX-60 processor, 2GB memory). Still, there are options...