0.3.14 Beta 17 - source picking and scrub previews fixed, built-in usenet, smoother scrubbing and next episode

Install this over any earlier build. Beta 17 closes out the whole "known issues" list from Beta 16: source picking and scrub previews are fully fixed, and seamless next episode, scrubbing back and forth, and frame drops on very large files are all improved (with the last of each best confirmed on your own hardware). It also adds a real new source type: on-device usenet with your own provider, no debrid required. And it fixes an add-on install trap that quietly left some add-ons loading nothing. It builds clean on every Apple target; please test and share logs.

What's fixed

Source picking no longer sticks to a worse source on later episodes. After you picked a source by hand for a show, later episodes could keep using that exact choice even when a better cached debrid or usenet source was available. Now a remembered pick yields to a materially better source, a higher-tier debrid or usenet, a cached hit, or a better resolution, on later plays, Continue Watching resumes, and the next episode in a binge. A genuine mid-episode manual pick still stays put for that episode, and a binge still holds its source through trivial differences so it does not hop around for no reason. Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Scrub previews stop reading "previews unavailable." Dragging forward past the part of a title you had already watched, on a title with no community preview sheet, used to fall straight to "previews unavailable" even though the app had captured frames. The preview now resolves to the nearest available tile, from this session's own captures first, then the community sheet, in either direction, and only says unavailable when there genuinely is nothing. Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Pasting a configuration page link no longer installs an empty add-on. Some add-ons hand you a /configure page where you sign in and enter a debrid key, and only then give you a personalized install link. Pasting the /configure page itself used to "install" successfully but load no sources, because it was a placeholder with no key. VortX now recognizes a /configure link and walks you through setup instead, so you paste the real personalized link and your sources load. Normal add-on links install exactly as before.

Also improved (device-gated, please test)

Seamless next episode warms more of the next source on the libmpv lane so the jump is closer to instant. Scrubbing back and forth now recovers a wedged buffer refill in seconds instead of tens of seconds. Frame drops on very large files are reduced further: the read-ahead ramp now backs off when it sees a drop burst and caps its depth by the stream's bitrate, while keeping the full read-ahead otherwise. These are tuned from real-device behavior, so logs from your Apple TV help close the last of them.

What's new

On-device usenet with your own provider, no debrid needed. If you have your own usenet provider account, you can now play usenet sources directly on device, the same way torrents already play, with no debrid service in between. Add your provider in Settings > Usenet provider (host, port, username, password, connections), and usenet sources resolve through it automatically. The existing TorBox usenet path is unchanged, and if you do not add a provider nothing changes for you at all. This is on the full Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Mac builds (the Lite Apple TV build stays debrid only). It is brand new and best proven with your own provider account, so please try it and report back.

Known issues, being worked on next

• The three "also improved" items above are better but not fully cured on every source and device; device-reported tuning continues.
• On-device usenet has no article repair (the underlying engine detects but does not repair missing segments), so a usenet source with missing or incomplete articles will fail to play rather than recover. A clear message is shown rather than a spinner.

Android

Android is not attached to this build. A large second parity wave has landed on the trunk, downloads queue, live TV, full profile management, deeper Trakt and SIMKL sync, Google Cast, an Android TV cinematic home hero, and adaptive playback tuning, on top of the existing spine (accounts, sync, debrid, phone and TV shells, playback engines, IPTV, torrent serving, source ranking, Picture-in-Picture, MediaSession). What remains is the rest of the parity breadth, real on-device playback proof, and a stable signed-install identity. Full parity stays the target; a preview APK returns in a later build.

Please test

• Binge a series on Apple TV and confirm later episodes pick the best available source rather than sticking to an earlier hand-picked one, while a manual pick still holds for the episode you set it on.
• Scrub forward past where you have watched on a fresh title and confirm the preview shows the nearest frame instead of "previews unavailable."
• Add-ons: paste an add-on's /configure page link and confirm you are guided to set it up rather than getting an empty install.
• Usenet: with your own provider set in Settings, play a usenet source and confirm it streams on device. Share the diagnostics log (Settings > Diagnostics) after any failure.

Install

Mac (.dmg, easiest, never expires). Download VortX-macOS-v0.3.14-beta.17-ci.dmg, drag VortX into Applications, then clear Apple's one-time quarantine: open it once, click Done, then System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway (or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/VortX.app). Full guide: Install on Mac.

iPhone, iPad, Apple TV (sideload the IPA). The IPAs are unsigned, because VortX is open-source and distributed outside the App Store with no Apple Developer ID yet, so you re-sign them yourself with Sideloadly, AltStore / SideStore, or Signulous. No jailbreak. For one-tap updates, add the VortX source to AltStore / SideStore or your sideloading service so new builds appear automatically: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VortXTV/VortX/main/altstore/source.json. Full guide: Installing on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

Each Apple asset lists a SHA-256 checksum (SHA256SUMS-ci.txt) so you can confirm your download matches what the public GitHub Actions workflow built from this code.