VodMax 0.6.14

VodMax 0.6.14 adds an M3U playlist from a file or from a Google Drive or Dropbox link, and makes the first sync of a large catalog about three times faster, with a progress count, so it no longer looks stuck on slow TV boxes.

Playlist from a file or a cloud link

• From a file: in Settings → Subscriptions, an M3U playlist now takes either an address or a file (.m3u, .m3u8, up to 64 MB). In the Android app the Android file picker opens, and on a phone it also shows apps like Google Drive. The file is checked before it is saved, stored compressed and encrypted on the server, never sent back by the API, and included in backups (a backup restore now accepts up to 256 MB).
• Updating a file: Edit → Replace the file uploads the new one and syncs at once. Titles still in the new file keep favourites and progress. A file is not re-read every night, as nothing can change it; "Sync now" re-reads the saved copy without contacting anyone.
• From a cloud link: paste the share link of Google Drive or Dropbox in the playlist address, as "Copy link" gives it. The file must be shared with "anyone with the link"; no Google or Dropbox account is needed. VodMax turns it into a download link at every sync, so the nightly sync picks up changes made in the cloud. Drive's "can't scan for viruses" page for large files is handled.
• Not supported: OneDrive (it gives no download link without signing in: download the file and upload it), Drive and Dropbox folders, and Google Docs. VodMax says so when the link is saved.
• On Android TV and Fire TV boxes without a file picker, and in the LG TV app, the file field does not show up: use a cloud link there.

Faster catalog saving

• On a catalog of 245,000 titles, the "Saving the catalog" step of the first sync goes from 33 to 11 seconds on our test server, and a sync of an unchanged catalog from 6.6 to 2.7 seconds. On slow TV boxes, where it took several minutes, it should now take about one or two.
• The step now shows how far it is ("Saving the catalog (45,000 / 220,000)"), then "Updating the search index" and "Applying the catalog selection". Before, it showed 0 channels and 0 films until the very end.
• After a large sync or guide update the server gives back the memory the database used, which matters on TV boxes running the app on their own.

Also

• On a phone in a language VodMax does not have yet (Portuguese, Dutch, ...), the first screen of the Android app (the server address) is now in English instead of Italian, like the rest of the interface.

Updating

vodmax-update on a server, the new image for Docker, the new APK on Android (the file picker and the English first screen need it). The database changes (a new table for playlist files): vodmax-update keeps a copy of the old one in <data>/pre-upgrade/. To go back to 0.6.13, put that copy back before installing it.

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In breve

Con la 0.6.14 una playlist M3U si aggiunge anche da un file (fino a 64 MB, salvato cifrato e compreso nei backup) o da un link di condivisione di Google Drive o Dropbox, senza account; OneDrive no. Il salvataggio del catalogo alla prima sincronizzazione è circa tre volte più veloce e mostra quanti titoli ha salvato, così sui TV box lenti non sembra più bloccato. L'app Android, in una lingua che VodMax non ha, mostra la prima schermata in inglese. Il database cambia (una tabella nuova): vodmax-update tiene una copia di quello vecchio in <dati>/pre-upgrade/.