Release Notes

High-level features, fixes, and improvements, grouped by release (AssemblyVersion in Solution Items/CommonInfo.cs). Minor tweaks and cosmetic one-liners are intentionally left out in favor of changes that actually moved the app forward. For the day-to-day format of the on-disk metadata files themselves and the historical narrative behind them, see README.md.

3.0.8.0 — 11-Jul-2026 to 08-Aug-2026

Work resumed on MediaScout in July 2026 after a long hiatus, picking up the 3.0.6.0 baseline and modernizing it end to end: a new metadata-service architecture, a real installer, a settings-loss bug fix, and a full WPF-UI theming pass.

Modernized foundation

• Every project now targets net10.0/net10.0-windows, up from the mixed .NET Framework/.NET Core setup left over from 2022.
• Replaced the old provider-pattern metadata layer (MediaScout.Providers.*) with a new DI-based MediaScout.MetadataService.* architecture for TMDB and TVDB, and migrated MediaScoutGUI fully onto it, including a move to async/await throughout.
• Implemented the full TVDB v4 API surface (the old code only covered v3) and fixed numerous model/deserialization correctness bugs across both TMDB and TVDB integrations.
• Added offline unit tests (mocked HTTP) and live smoke tests for the TMDB/TVDB metadata services, replacing the old ad-hoc BasicTest project.
• Reintroduced on-disk response caching for TMDB/TVDB lookups, restoring performance that had been lost when the old provider layer was retired.
• Consolidated to a single MediaScout.slnx solution file, added .editorconfig/.gitattributes, and reformatted the codebase for consistent line endings and style.

Installation & reliability

• Added a proper Velopack-based installer/updater, replacing the old, stale MediaScoutSetup.vdproj project.
• Fixed a bug where user settings were silently lost every time the app version changed; settings now reliably migrate forward and survive upgrades.
• Fixed and hardened several crash-on-launch and crash-on-open issues across dialogs (actor image, TV banner, "Process All Movies", and others) caused by incomplete DI wiring.

Redesigned settings experience

• Replaced the old, cluttered Options tab with a dedicated Tools > Settings dialog and a proper menu bar.
• Expanded Settings with folder-list refresh, ImagesByName/cache statistics, and a Subtitles panel, plus tooltips explaining each option.
• Removed the legacy "Enable Glass Frame" (Aero/DWM glass) feature, since the underlying OS capability has been gone since Windows 8.

Visual overhaul

• Adopted WPF-UI as the app's theming foundation and centralized all colors and control styles into a single AppTheme.xaml, replacing a patchwork of ad-hoc styles.
• Made the Log panel dockable/detachable via AvalonDock, alongside the Movies/TV panels.
• Replaced blurry raster icons (search/clear, back button, no-poster/backdrop/banner placeholders) with crisp vector equivalents.
• Fixed a long tail of invisible, clipped, or misaligned controls introduced by the theming migration (menu highlights, ComboBox/DatePicker text, dialog buttons, detail-panel layouts), and reworked several dialogs (Select Result, Prompt For Search Term) onto cleaner layouts.

Metadata accuracy fixes

• Fixed TV show ratings always displaying as 0 by sourcing them from TMDB.
• Fixed incorrect Movie NFO director/writer fields and TV NFO actor list output.
• Fixed genre list rendering and a TV genre delimiter mismatch that corrupted saved genre data.
• Scoped "Open In Explorer" for actors to the correct local .actors image folder.

Baseline — 3.0.6.0 — 20-Oct-2022

The version MediaScout was left at before the 2026 restart. A working WPF desktop app that scanned Movies/TV folders, looked up metadata from TMDB and TVDB (v1/v3 era APIs) through the original MediaScout.Providers.* layer, downloaded artwork, and wrote it all back out as Kodi-style .nfo and My Movies/TheTVDB-style .xml sidecar files — built on an older, mixed .NET Framework/.NET Core setup with no automated tests, no installer, and pre-WPF-UI hand-rolled styling. Everything under 3.0.8.0 above builds directly on top of this.