Settings

Open Settings from Settings > Options. The Options window contains the main application preferences for playback behavior, updates, ingest, local automation, licensing, decoder selection, encoder capabilities, object detection, and overlays.

Most settings are persisted by the local backend in the STView application configuration file under the current user's operating-system config directory:

ImpleoTV/STView/config.json

Settings are saved when you press Save. Some runtime options are also applied to the native player after saving, such as audio decoding, decoder selection, ingest behavior, timeout display mode, and object detection configuration.

Many controls are editable only while playback is stopped. If the player is playing or paused, the Options window shows the current playback state and keeps those controls disabled. Stop playback before changing decoder, detection, overlay timeout, ingest, or automation settings.

Application Options

The Application tab contains general behavior that affects the whole app.

Check for updates allows STView to check the configured release repository for a newer version. When enabled, STView checks during the session and then periodically while the app is open. If an update is available, the update UI shows the version and install action. For more detail, see Update.

Ingest media controls whether local file sources are indexed into STView's local media-ingest database. Ingest builds the data used for faster review and metadata-derived session summaries. Ingest Sessions to Keep limits how many stored ingest sessions STView retains; the value is clamped from 1 to 200, with a default of 10.

Decode Audio controls whether STView decodes and plays the first available audio stream along with the video. Turn it off when audio is not needed, when you want to reduce decode work, or when an audio stream causes playback trouble. When it is enabled and the current source contains audio, a speaker icon appears at the far right of the playback status bar. Its slider controls the global playback volume from 0% to 100%. Volume changes are saved automatically and restored after restart; they do not require pressing Save in the Options window. Disabling Decode Audio hides the volume control.

Allow automation enables the opt-in local REST automation API. Automation is off by default. When enabled, STView exposes the v1 automation base path and a bearer token workflow. Use Regenerate token to create or rotate the token, and Copy to copy the newly generated token. When automation is disabled, the backend clears queued automation commands and automation requests are rejected. For endpoint details, see Local Automation API. For LLM and agent client setup, see MCP Server.

License

The License tab shows the current licensing state and the local node information used for license validation. Apply the license information you received from ImpleoTV here.

Without a license, STView runs in demo mode and some capabilities may be restricted. Recasting, recording, and object detection require the Recast, Record, and Detect license options respectively. Replacing or removing a license applies its verified options immediately; restarting STView is not required. When a feature is unavailable, STView shows a license warning instead of silently enabling it. For the licensing workflow, see License.

Decoder Options

The Decoder tab lists decoders reported by the native media runtime. The list is split into:

• Video HW for hardware-accelerated video decoders;
• Video SW for software video decoders;
• Audio HW for hardware-accelerated audio decoders;
• Audio SW for software audio decoders.

Each decoder row shows the display name, decoder ID, media type, and whether it is hardware or software. You can select a specific decoder for video or audio, or leave the selection as Auto.

Auto is the default video and audio decoder preference. It lets STView apply the decoder policy appropriate for the codec and platform. For example, STView prefers software decoding for MPEG-2 on Windows when no decoder is explicitly selected.

Use Prefer HW or Prefer SW when you want to override Auto and prefer a decoder family without pinning a specific decoder ID. Select Auto to remove the override. Selecting a specific decoder also sets the matching hardware/software preference.

Use hardware decoding for normal playback when the system supports it. Use software decoding when troubleshooting driver issues, hardware-decoder artifacts, unsupported codecs, or performance problems caused by GPU resource contention.

Decoder changes affect future playback. Stop and reopen the source if you need to confirm that a different decoder is being used.

Encoder Information

The Encoder tab, immediately after Decoder, lists the video encoders reported by the native media runtime. Use Video HW and Video SW to view hardware-accelerated and software encoders separately. Each row shows the encoder display name, GStreamer factory ID, video media type, and encoder family. This page reports the encoders available for features such as Flywheel; it does not change Flywheel configuration or select a specific encoder.

The list is a capability snapshot from the GStreamer runtime loaded by the current STView process. Restart STView after installing or removing GStreamer plugins so the runtime can rescan its plugin registry. The HW/SW label is informational, and a listed factory may still be unsuitable for a particular codec, pixel format, resolution, or output protocol. Use the Flywheel or Recast error message when diagnosing whether an encoder can satisfy a specific output configuration.

Detection Options

The Detection tab configures ONNX object detection. It includes the enable switch, model path, provider, input size, FPS limit, confidence and IoU thresholds, box thickness, class filter, per-class thresholds, and draw-overlay setting.

Detection depends on a compatible .onnx model, ONNX Runtime, and the Detect license option. Choose the model explicitly for reliable operation. For a complete explanation of ONNX, model selection, provider choices, class filtering, thresholds, and monitoring, see Object Detection.

Overlay Options

The Overlay tab controls the app-level overlay system.

Enable overlay allows STView to show composited overlay tools and to open the overlay editor. Turn it off if you want a plain video view without overlay composition or if you are troubleshooting overlay-related behavior. When overlay is disabled, overlay editor controls are unavailable.

Timeout overlay mode controls what STView displays when a stream times out or video input is temporarily unavailable:

Mode	Behavior
Keep last frame	Keeps the last frame visible and shows the timeout spinner.
Black screen	Replaces the video area with a black offline view.
Color bars	Shows color bars. This is the default.
Custom image	Reserved in the UI and currently disabled.

Overlay layout, layer visibility, layer opacity, HUD positioning, marker state, and ruler state are managed from the overlay editor and stored in the same application configuration. For editing details, see Overlay Editor.

Saved State

STView persists more than the visible Options tabs. The same config file can also contain the current media, Open Stream dialog state, overlay layout, snapshot defaults, object detection settings, decoder selections, window size, automation token metadata, and the license token.

The config file is written atomically by the backend. If you are backing up or resetting STView preferences, close STView first, then copy or remove the config.json file from the ImpleoTV/STView config folder.

Troubleshooting

If a setting appears disabled, stop playback and reopen Settings > Options. The Options window polls playback state and only enables editable controls when the player is stopped.

If decoder changes do not seem to take effect, stop the current source and open it again. Decoder selection is applied to the native context, but an already running pipeline may need to be recreated before the selected decoder is used.

If automation remains unavailable after enabling it, save the Options dialog and check that you are using the current bearer token. Regenerating the token invalidates the previous token.

If update checks do not appear, confirm Check for updates is enabled and see Update for the manual download path.