Version History

v1.2.1 - June 6, 2023

• H.265 Video Support #17
  • Aerial now supports Apple's H.265 videos in both 1080p (for lower file sizes) and 4K
• There are now two ways to have Aerial avoid launching when playing other videos: #114
  • Use aerial.scr to install using the system screensaver API (There is a possibility you will encounter high CPU usage and low performance and some app features, like launching with a global shortcut won't work.)
  • Or configure Aerial to run as an administrator
• Minor bug fixes
  • Random text position works #138
  • Start after time can be set to 0 #136
  • .scr file works properly #149
  • Temp folder in video cache won't cause errors

v1.2.0 - March 9, 2023

• Multi-line text (see #26)
  • Text can now be displayed on up to 4 lines
  • Customize each line's type and font
• Multi-monitor text (see #112
  • Choose which monitor a line can be displayed on
• Random/moving text locations (see #124)
• Video Transitions
  • Dissolve, fade, wipe, circle, fade circle, dip to black
  • Randomize the type and direction of the transition
• Improvements to starting and closing Aerial
  • A keyboard shortcut to start the screensaver (see #71)
  • Aerial will not run when the computer is sleeping or locked
  • Aerial will automatically close itself when your computer locks or unlocks
  • You can now set a Aerial not lock your computer if you wake it up immediacy after it starts
  • You can now configure Aerial to not run on battery power
• New Icon (courtesy of @TheFreshPrins)
• New display category: images
• Stretch or crop option for special screen sizes (see #119)
• Font selector now shows all the fonts when empty (see #45)
• Fixed #131 and #132. Both were related to error handling on startup.
• Increased video loading performance. Videos are now preloaded before playing them.
• Added an option to customize the video skip key
• Added a button to access the config files
• Rearranged parts of the config window
• Added a basic editor for video information
• Updated dependencies

v1.1.0 - November 10, 2022

• Added an update notifier
  • Aerial will now send a push notification on startup if a new release is available
  • A notification badge with a link to the GitHub releases page will also show in the config menu
• Added a new (long-overdue) About tab
  • Contains about, versioning, and licensing information
• Added automatic sunrise & sunset times based on GPS coordinates (see #61)
  • This setting can be found under the new Time & Location tab in the menu. It must be set manually
• Added a new text type, Astronomy
  • Display the sunrise/sunset or moonrise/moonset time on your screensaver!
• Added enhanced suspend features
  • Use the tray menu to temporarly suspend Aerial for 1 or 3 hours. Useful for when you don't need your gorgeous screensaver to run every few minutes. (See #114)
• Fixed misc development issues
• Fixed #110 - video not playing on multiscreen. A big thanks to @Alexyoe for finding and fixing this bug!
  • If you were having troubles, check the Alternate Render Method setting under the Multiscreen menu
  • This fix also adds a custom FPS setting when enabled
• Fixed #116 - cannot read undefined error
• Made multiple repairs related to custom videos

v1.0.2 - October 17, 2022

• Fixed a bug where Aerial would re-start after sleeping the computer (fixes #105)
• Shrunk installer size

v1.0.1 - October 7, 2022

• Added a option in the tray menu to suspend Aerial. This makes it easy to turn off Aerial for a short period of time.
• Fixed an issue where having opening a preview window would prevent the screensaver from closing later. (#100)
• Fixed an issue where if Aerial was set to only play videos from a certain time of day it would crash. (#101)
• Fixed the logic to determine what time of day it was.
• Fixed a massive video loading issue that would cause a crash if a low number of videos was selected.
• Fixed an issue where Aerial would crash every time it opened after moving the cache location. (#74 & #90)

v1.0.0 - October 5, 2022

• Aerial is now a stand-alone application. It installs itself, launches itself on bootup, and launches itself after the user is idle (See #36, #65, & #80)
• Aerial also now closes itself. You can choose whether to have it blank the screens or sleep the computer after a set time. (Default: dim the screen after 30 minutes and sleep the computer) (See also #51)
• The new AppleTV videos have been added! Enjoy stunning view of the Grand Canyon, Iceland, Yosemite, and Patagonia.
• The types category for videos has been updated. Every video now has a category and the Aerial category has been split into Cityscapes and Landscapes
• Aerial now has the option to lock the screen when it quits. Let your friends see your awesome screensaver without granting them access to your whole computer.
• You can now launch Aerial by opening the app tray, right clicking on it, and selecting Start Aerial. (Not quite #71, but it's close)
• Aerial now very effectively hides the cursor when it's running. (See #78 & #96)
• Updated logic for displaying on non-16:9 monitors. (See #30) Thanks to @Ivan0xFF for writing the code!
• Added a start up message for first time users
• Redid the video choosing logic to better support the same videos on all screens and not replaying videos across screens.
• Upgraded all the behind the scenes dependencies
• Various other bug-fixes and improvements

Beta v0.5.4 - September 21, 2020

• Added a new type for displaying text over a video: HTML.
• The video cache now updates immediately. (#49)
• Videos now download to a temporary folder that is cleared on start up before before being added to the cache. (#42) This will prevent videos from being half-downloaded and also errors like #39.
• The cache location will not change if cancel is clicked when selecting a new location. (#56)
• Re-write of the logic to display the same video on each screen. (#46)
• Added a preview button to the config menu. (#35)
• Added refresh and reset buttons to the menu. The refresh button will cause Aerial to check all configured values on the next start up and the reset button will remove all configured values. Use if you are getting unidentifiable errors.
• Various bug-fixes
  • Fixed spelling error in video PoIs. (#57)

Beta v0.5.3 - May 16, 2020

• Adds #24. You can now change the max width for displayed text.
• Fixes #25. The scrollbar on the video tab no longer goes out of bounds.
• Updates the radio buttons on the text position selector to show that text has been added to a position
• Various bug-fixes

Beta v0.5.2 - April 18, 2020

• Adds #15. You can now change the cache location
• Improves the fix for #12
• Massive performance increases to address #10
• Fixes #16
• Allows for fallback the HTML video element
• Better handling of unloaded videos

Beta v0.5.1 - April 7, 2020

• Fixes #12 by allowing initialization of variables by version

Beta v0.5.0 - April 6, 2020

• Video selection profiles
  • Create groups of selected videos that you can easy switch between
• Video cache (#8)
  • Videos are download to the cache in the background
  • Choose what videos should be downloaded
    • Selected Videos
    • Videos saved in profiles
    • On a per video basis
• Dip to black transition between videos (same as the Apple TV)
• Add your own videos
  • Played in rotation with other videos
  • Added by folder
  • Can edit the name
  • .mp4, .webm, and .ogv supported
• Option to play videos on on the primary monitor
• Videos will now play regardless of whether Apple's certificate is installed (#5)

Beta v0.4.0 - March 26, 2020

• Display text on the screen saver
  • Choose from 9 placed to put text
  • Choose between text types
    • Static Text
    • Date/Time
      • Format with moment.js string
    • Video Information
      • Name
      • Accessibility label
      • Points of interest
  • Change the font, font size, and text color for all text, or just one position
• Updates to video information

Beta v0.3.0 - March 18, 2020

• Prioritize current time of day
• Use the right arrow key to skip videos
• Play the same video on each screen
• Change the playback speed
• Video now plays on an HTML5 Canvas
• Added Video Filters
  • Blur
  • Brightness
  • Grayscale
  • Hue Rotate
  • Invert
  • Saturate
  • Sepia
• Videos scale properly on non 16:9 monitors

Beta v0.2.0 - March 14, 2020

• Preview Videos in the Config menu
• Select which videos should play
  • Select/Deselect videos based on type

Beta v0.1.0 - March 12, 2020

First Release!

• Cycles through a random Apple TV video
• Displays a different video on each monitor
• Toggle text in the bottom right corner with the date and time