Release Notes
Userful v10 and v11
Introduction
Video walls and digital displays are vital tools for a variety of business needs—from process automation and operational productivity to improved customer engagement and internal communication.
A visual networking platform is used to seamlessly deploy, connect, and manage the displays and video walls throughout an organization.
Since 2015, Userful has been a visual communications innovator and today offers the world’s most advanced Visual Networking Platform. It is a software-based solution that meets the flexibility, security, and central management needs of corporate IT as they integrate complex AV applications over the IP network. Display any source on any screen at any time for communication and collaboration enterprise-wide.
Userful 11.3.4- June 3, 2024
Userful 11.3.4 is available as an update to 11.x deployments. This release addressed two main issues. Automatic updates are disabled from version 11.2.2, so you can now upgrade to the latest versions based on discretion. We've fixed the issue that prevented content from resuming in Decisions when the displays restarted. See Change Log to know more about fixes in this release.
Userful 11.3.3-April 5, 2024
Userful 11.3.3 is available as an update to 11.x deployments. This release focuses on fixes and a few enhancements, see the Change Log for more details.
Key Highlights
Userful's Visual Networking Platform version 11.3.3 is a release focused on optimizing for deployment on enterprise networks. Development to support SSL for EC based certificates, and enhanced configurations in proxy networks.
Userful 11.3.1-January 18, 2024
Userful 11.3.1 is available as an update to 11.x deployments. This release focuses on fixes and a few enhancements, see the Change Log for more details.
Key Highlights
Userful's Visual Networking Platform version 11.3.1 is a release focused on enriching the user experience, optimizing streaming, and increasing platform stability. It is packaged with development to support synchronous video wall playback, upgrade the uClient application to relevant updates, and much more.
Userful 11.3- July 19, 2023
Userful 11.3 is available as an update to 11.x deployments. This release focuses on fixes and a few enhancements, see the Change Log for more details.
Key Highlights
The following issues were fixed as a part of this release:
Userful Rebranding- all logos, naming, and default video assets have been modified to reflect the new Userful logo.
Introducing session restore even after the web browser is closed as a part of the persistent session functionality.
Fixes for the monitoring dashboard to view system updates.
Enhanced Interactive viewer stability.
Userful 11.2.1- July 13, 2022
Userful 11.2.1 is available as an update to 11.2 deployments. This release focuses on uClient stability, see the Change Log for more details.
Key Highlights
The following issues were fixed as a part of this release:
The uClient application does not crash if there is no update.
On-prem servers on v11.1.1 can now get updates seamlessly.
The pairing of all the neighboring displays now works as expected.
LG webOS displays part of the video wall play images as expected.
Userful 11.2 - April 6th, 2022
Userful v11.2 contains general improvements, stability, and feature enhancements. This release focuses on general issue resolution and the addition of two new Applications in BETA. Keep an eye out for future releases with new Applications!
Key Highlights
Added uClient DNS Discovery functionality (Phase I): This functionality allows uClients on different subnets to leverage a DHCP service and identify accessible on-premise servers without requiring access to the internet. Please reach out to your sales engineer if you require this functionality as it is not provided in the base software.
Enhanced stability of Connect servers to protect against log spamming (Connect server-side and uClient side).
Userful 11.1.1 - January 6, 2022
Userful 11.1.1 is a hotfix update for Userful 11.1, which addresses the log4j vulnerability and fixes an issue in the "Report a Problem" function that prevented it from properly submitting tickets.
Key Highlights
Updates log4j to 2.16.
Submitting a ticket via Report a Problem no longer results in the Upload Failed message.
Enable uClient watchdog on LG WebOS - this feature restarts the uClient app in the event the app exits without user input.
Fix for FTP configuration persistence.
Userful 11.1 - November 1, 2021
Userful 11 is the same On-Premise platform ported to a new Linux-based distribution, CentOS Stream. This includes an updated kernel, expanded driver compatibility, and several product fixes.
With the migration to a new central platform, we have also been able to strengthen our core components and update processes, eliminating several common issues that would occur when running and updating older versions of Userful.
Userful 11.0 was an internal-only milestone release. 11.1 is the first version released to customers.
Because of the base OS change of Userful 11, there is no direct upgrade path from Userful 10. Users must back up their settings and perform a clean reinstall of any severs. Click here for our migration guide.
Key Highlights
New Activity Log
Updated the visual theme of Userful Control Center and Userful Manager.
Enhanced hardware support and longer-term support with the new CentOS Stream base platform.
Expanded Audio support for uClients.
Expanded available Blackmagic capture resolution support and reliability with uClients.
Enhancements to LED Media Commander setup.
Ability to reboot a uClient Adapter from UCC or Global Manager.
Significant enhancements to uClient video sync and stability.
Improved reliability of Forward & Store.
See the Change Log for a more detailed list.
Key Features
Unified browser-accessible Control Center
Media playback on a variety of displays including LG webOS
Ability to preset video wall zones
GPU-Assisted Decoding of video playback and interactive content
GPU-Assisted Acceleration for 3D rendering – vastly improved performance for dynamic content (HTML5, WebGL, and Flash)
Intuitive browser-based Layout Manager with the bezel correction ability
Integrated color calibration for color correcting video wall displays
Support for Artistic Video Wall layouts that can be configured using a free layout of display position and rotation (including an intuitive browser-based drag and drop GUI for positioning and any degree rotating displays)
Support for a wide range of interactive video walls including Cloud desktop, Linux desktop, and touch screen Kiosks
Integrated various Content Management Systems (CMS) to create and schedule the signage content (Dynamic HTML5 pages, presentations, tickers, widgets (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds)
Support for Streaming Protocols (RTP/RTSP) to broadcast security camera or conference feeds, or for delivering content over IP network on the video wall
Support for a variety of Blackmagic DeckLink capture cards
Support for a broad range of PC hardware and touch screens
License Agreement
This product includes commercial software that is licensed, not sold and is governed by an End User License Agreement (EULA). By installing, copying, or using this software you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Agreement, and agree to be bound by this EULA's terms and conditions. The EULA terms can be viewed online or from the file included in your download.
Trial Version
Userful™ will operate as a trial version until you purchase an appropriate license for your system. You may purchase the license from your Userful representative or from Userful.com – see the Licensing Guide for details.
Limitations of Trial Version: The Userful™ trial software is fully functional, but will display a brief license reminder on all attached displays every 10 minutes or so. Customers who are considering buying the software and are presently evaluating it can do so in the trial mode. Such customers will receive limited technical support lasting up to 30 days after which an appropriate license should be purchased. For more details, contact a Userful account manager.
Language Support
All features of Userful™ are translated in the following languages:
Arabic (ar)
English (en)
Brazilian Portuguese (pt_BR) †
French (fr)
German (de)
Italian (it)
Japanese (ja)
Korean (ko)
Nepali (ne)
Persian (fa)
Romanian (ro)
Russian (ru)
Spanish (es)
Simplified Chinese (zh_CN)
Traditional Chinese (zh_TW)
Turkish (tr)
Thai (th_TH)
Ukrainian (uk_UA)
† The language selected must be specifically "Brazilian Portuguese"; if simply "Portuguese" is selected as a system or session language, then all Userful user interface strings will be in English.
Userful 10.6.3 - June 16, 2021
This release focuses on network bandwidth reduction options and stability and recovery for HDMI capture sources. See the Change Log for more details.
Fixes
Improved network bandwidth usage with targeted fixes for low-bandwidth scenarios:
Ability to set a reduced frame rate on some sessions.
Smart Frame Update can compare the next frame to the current frame and skip sending if they are exactly the same.
Ability to blacklist output ports on Zero-Client endpoints to reduce network traffic.
Improved stability for BlackMagic capture cards when the source device resets.
Added the ability to schedule a restart of sources in Command and Control.
Added the ability to clear uClient device storage from the UCC Displays screen (individual or multiple devices).
Provided uClient latency control options for better synchronization.
Added “Lock Task Mode” for Userful uClient Adapter - When active, this will disallow users from exiting the uClient app. (Inactive by default).
Userful 10.6.1 - April 12, 2021
Userful 10.6.1 builds on our highly successful 10.6 release, adding functionality and polish to a robust feature set.
New Sources
The all-new Engage CMS brings native CMS capabilities to Userful.
uClient Local Browser allows offloading Web Browser sources from the server to uClient.
Quality of Life Improvements
uClients paired to On-Premise servers now support audio in single-screen scenarios. Video Wall and Mirror Group support is in the works. (uClients paired to Cloud servers have always had full audio support).
Forward and Store has been improved, adding:
Gapless playback (no black frames between playlist items)
Improved video wall synchronization at 60FPS
A GUI option to clear the local server's media cache (client cache is handled in Displays)
A progress bar shows the process of chopping and forwarding content to each display.
The Displays page now has a toggle to show or hide displays that are currently offline.
Feature Parity
uClients now work with Failover.
Userful 10.6 - January 26, 2021
Userful 10.6 brings a number of exciting new capabilities to the Visual Networking Platform.
*Important Notice*
Users upgrading to 10.6 may encounter one of the following issues.
Zone Numbering
When creating a new Zone, there are occurrences where the numbering for the Zone does not automatically increment. To correct this, please manually input the Zone Number.
Role-Based Access Control and LDAP Authentication
We are investigating issues with user accounts not allowing logins after updating. Users with accounts created in Role-Based Access Control and with LDAP authentication should wait for updates on this issue before updating.
Blackmagic Capture Firmware Upgrades
We are investigating issues encountered after updating to the latest Blackmagic driver and applying the accompanying firmware updates for some models of capture card. Users should be prepared to completely power off their servers after updating to allow the cards to be re-enumerated on the PCI bus of the system. Waiting for updates on this issue before upgrading is recommended.
Userful On-Premise
uClient ubiquity
uClient support comes to On-Premise servers! The Userful uClient Adapter is now supported with Userful On-Premise servers as a replacement for Zero Clients.
LED wall support
You can now use a Userful On-Premise server to power a multi-controller direct-view LED wall with flawless synchronization.
Forward-and-Store
You can use a Userful On-Premise server combined with uClients to deliver display signage video walls that consume minimal network bandwidth and server utilization. Find out more here.
More capture feeds
Through the magic of software optimizations, we have doubled the amount of Blackmagic Capture sources that a Userful system can process, with no hardware or other configuration changes needed.
Smooth playback of 1080p sources was capped at roughly 12, now 24 per server
Smooth playback of 4K sources was capped at 2, now 4 per server
These numbers are very general and can vary depending on server type and use case, and require servers with adequate PCIe capacity. please speak to a Userful Sales Engineer for assistance planning your deployment.
System Monitoring
We've added a helpful new tab to On-Premise servers that allow for at-a-glance monitoring of system resources and load, helping you to identify bottlenecks in a server that is not performing properly.
Other On-Premise Improvements
Added an option to view individual source names in Command & Control
Added a list of upcoming events to the Events screen
Mute and volume audio controls in Display and Zone Settings
Adjusted how UCC and C&C Web Browser sources handle persistent sessions to make them more consistent with each other
Made documentation available to an offline On-Premise server
Updated the base OS and applications to CentOS 7.9 (Chrome, Firefox, LibreOffice, etc.)
Updated Blackmagic driver to 11.7
Updated Nvidia driver to support the new 3000-series GPUs
General Improvements and Enhancements
This release adds stability and improvements to our media engine, media player, cloud-based management GUI and on-premise control center GUI. It also enhances the security of Userful Cloud deployments.
Userful Cloud and uClient
The Display5 CMS for Cloud has been improved.
We've added a new "Lite" licensing tier for Cloud devices. Cloud servers licensed as "Lite" will only have Signage Player licenses.
With uClient version 2.0 for WebOS and the uClient Adapter, the Userful uClient Adapter now supports pairing with On-Premise servers, touch screens, DPMS sleep/wake, and USB webcams. Much work has been done on stability and synchronization as well.
Userful 10.5.3
Userful 10.5.3 is primarily an internal release paving the way for the Userful uClient Adapter, with focus on the Android app and Userful Cloud servers.
The user experience, synchronization, and adding long-awaited CMS functionality are the core elements of 10.5.3.
The notes below describe the major and noticeable changes in the Userful uClient Adapter and Userful Cloud experiences. Other bugs mentioned are generally behind-the-scenes technical and regression fixes.
With this release, the version of uClient for Android is 1.9.0 and users will be able to update directly from UCC.
See the Changelog for detailed information.
Userful uClient Adapter
4K Output We recommend using the HDMI output for most applications. It is capable of 4K, 60FPS video output. The DisplayPort is capable of 1080p, 60FPS output. This device ships with an updated and secure version of Android 7.1.2. Connections Wired Ethernet connections are recommended at this time for all deployments. Support for Wifi connections is coming in 2021.
Userful 10.5.2
This release fixes some issues we've identified in streaming and display features
Userful On-Premise
Sessions with a bad data connection returning to the Welcome screen
A green line appearing at the bottom of some displays in video walls
Issues with session handling when closing the Interactive Viewer
Timing issues in complex system-level sequenced commands
Live Update stream from C&C was not closing when the browser window was closed
Excessive logging when streaming Command and Control to Cloud
Userful 10.5.1
Userful On-Premise
Adds stability to Userful media engine and media player
Adds support for virtual displays with wider resolution e.g. Banner style video walls
Adds support for additional authentication context settings
Improves Android uClient's synchronization
Fixes bugs and brings improvements to your installs
Userful 10.5
New Hardware Support
Lenovo ThinkStation P330 i7-9700, HP Z1 Tower G5 i7-9700 and Dell Precision 5820 Tower servers
Nvidia Quadro P2000, DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder and Aquantia AQtion 10G Pro NIC
Virtual Displays
10.5 adds support to create Virtual Displays to support the use cases of Virtual Operation Center. This eliminates the need for new screens or video walls to be installed, just a server running at your premises allows you to remotely and securely access all sources. Learn more.
General Improvements and Enhancements
This release adds stability and improvements to our media engine, media player, cloud-based management GUI and on-premise control center GUI. It also enhances the security of Userful Cloud deployments.
For a comprehensive list see the change log.
Userful 10.4.1
Fixes the Userful Manager issue where some functionality for 10.3 servers doesn't work as expected
Fixes the Report a Problem issue
Userful 10.4
LDAP and SAML 2.0 integration
LDAP and SAML are being used in the enterprise to centrally control access to functionality and applications within an organization. Integrating these mechanisms with the Userful system enables IT administrators to utilize existing user directories, minimize administration and maximize security. Please refer to the following links to learn more about LDAP and SAML integration.
Role-based Access Control - Resource Permissions
System administrators now have the availability to control grant or remove user access to specific resources within the Userful system. See User Accounts and Role-Based Access Control for more information.
Source Name Overlays
This feature adds the ability to display the name of its source on a video feed within a control room, which is especially useful when working with a large number of sources. Find out more here.
Custom Content Overlays
Through Picture-in-Picture and Command and Control GUI users are now able to layer graphics with transparent backgrounds on top of other content. This is extremely helpful in cases where signage requires custom text or a logo on top of the background or to brand a video.
Command & Control Layout Switcher
Similar to source and preset switchers, users are now able to use the Layout Switcher to access and switch between available control room layouts on a dedicated web page.
For a comprehensive list of changes, see the changelog.
Userful 10.3
Userful On-Premise uClient solution for LG webOS displays
Role-Based Access Control to configure and manage user groups and permissions
Option to configure the IP Camera for the Launch Camera viewer
Ability to view the user activity log
Ability to configure Command & Control layouts as events
New hardware support including new Blackmagic Decklink capture card and Nvidia Quadro GPUs
Miscellaneous new features, GUI improvements, and bug fixes. For a comprehensive list see the changelog.
Userful 10.2
Userful v10.2 brings Events and Scheduling that provide you the ability to create and schedule events within the Control Center GUI.
Miscellaneous new features, GUI improvements, and bug fixes. For a comprehensive list see the changelog.
Userful 10.1
Command and Control Module
Userful 10.1 brings the Command and Control Module that provides operators with drag and drop GUI for control room video walls to iteratively re-size and arrange sources in real time within the video wall canvas
Control Center (UI) Improvements
Added card view for in the Mapping page
Updated Settings page
Updated Support page
Core Enhancements
Improved the Failover process to enhance its usability
Updated nhci driver to version 0.9.56.86
Updated Google Chrome to version 73
Updated Firefox to version 60.5.0
General stability improvements
Miscellaneous new features, GUI improvements, and bug fixes. For a comprehensive list see the changelog.
Userful 10
Userful 10 comes with exciting new features and improvements, including:
New Hardware Support
Added support for 8th Generation Intel® "Coffee Lake" processors
Added support for Nvidia 20 series offload cards (e.g., RTX-2080)
New Licensing Tiers
Introduced "Enterprise" software license including all the high-end features like Preset Switcher, Interactive Viewer, Picture-In-Picture and Multi-Window source etc.
Renamed the existing license tier Professional to “Professional+” thereby increasing the video wall zone limit to 6
Screen Capture
Added Screen Capture feature to view the actual playing content from GUI
New Source
Added Persistent Session source to keep the interactive sessions (e.g. Web Browser, Linux Desktop etc.) alive even after making the changes to a session
Video Wall Enhancements
Added support for 8k@60fps output for smoother video playback
Streamlined Video Wall Calibration UI
Improved performance of Multi-Window and Picture-In-Picture source
Improved feature under Video Wall Zone Settings to render content more clearly with the "Optimize for Text" option
Control Center (UI) Improvements
Updated the UI for smaller screen devices
Userful Cloud Enhancements
Added two new event types: Stop and Play Video Wall Zone
Added permissions control to allow remote partner access to the servers
Added UI option to open Control Center in an integrated view
Streamlined Userful Cloud interface
Core Enhancements
Updated base OS to CentOS 7.6
Improved the Failover process to enhance its usability
Updated SMSC driver to version number 2.11.15
Updated nhci driver to version 0.9.35.84
Updated Nvidia drivers to 410.73
Updated GStreamer version to 1.14.1
Updated master pdf editor to version 5.1.68
Updated Google Chrome to version 71
Updated Firefox to version 60.3.0
Performance improvements to Userful's video wall engine
General stability improvements
Miscellaneous new features, GUI improvements, and bug fixes. For a comprehensive list see the changelog.
Older Versions
Older versions of Userful are not supported.
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