ok riiight, im pretty interested in svetta as mediasource is stupid but...

[Qwaz]

id like to clear up a few things

at the moment all my music is in a folder system, that ive used to sort it, its just a big folder full of albums where the folders are named "artist - album title", in wav format with no ID3 (as this is the only lossless format the zen will accept)

what i am planing to do is to use DBpower amp to convert all my wavs to flac files and then use a ID3 tagging program to tag them (any suggestions).

then i hope to use svetta to make some lame encoded mp3s to put striahgt onto my zen xtra. what i was wondering is what version of lame does svetta use and should i update it, also how can i tell lame to prioritise quality over speed when encoding, and set options such as use joint stereo.

[LtData]

You can use the Tag From Filename utility codec to tag your mp3 files after you conver them. http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-utility.htm Do note that you need the PowerPack to use that codec.
As for mp3 settings, open up dMC, select the files, and you'll see how to set the options for LAME once you pick the LAME(mp3) codec. dMC r11.5 uses LAME 3.96.1 I believe.

[ChristinaS]

The utility codec "Tag from filename" after encoding to Flac (or mp3) should give you the ID tags. Make sure you have the kind you want in dMC Configuration for the particular format you're encoding to.

Why not encode to mp3 directly? You can select the settings you want in there for bitrate, channels and frequency.

Set the conversion priority to below normal when the dMC window comes up showing the progress of the encoding. It won't affect the quality (that's strictly from the bitrate settings) but it will make the process run smoother and actually faster.

[Qwaz]

i see all the settings i would like to see...

joint stereo, CBR320, same output freq as origional file, CRC checksums, the only thing i dont see is the optimisation option (choice between speed/quality/neither)

how can i use that, or is it in some of the presets?

[LtData]

There is a quality slider in the Advanced Options. I assume if you lower quality, the speed increases. The middle is probably the best of both.

[ChristinaS]

i see all the settings i would like to see...

joint stereo, CBR320, same output freq as origional file, CRC checksums, the only thing i dont see is the optimisation option (choice between speed/quality/neither)

how can i use that, or is it in some of the presets?
I cannot think of any optimization option. The only thing is priority of conversion.

The quality depends on the compression settings chosen. The speed of encoding for those settings depends on the priority of conversion (below normal ends up being faster). The resulting quality is unaffected by that, just the time it takes to achieve it.

When dealing with ripping by dMC Audio CD Inout, however you have a slow ripping which may help achieve higher quality rip compared to faster ripping, for the same settings. I don't know if this is what you're referring to.

[Qwaz]

commands for lame, id like to use with sveta to get all of my flac files on my zen at highest possible quality

mode - i can see how to set this in DBpoweramp
-m j = Joint Stereo

optimisation - Cant find this option! (thats my problem)
= normal
-f = Speed
-h = Quality (takes longer but gives better results)

bitrate - easy to select
-b 320 = bitrate 320kbps

checksums - found the tickbox :D
-p = include CRC checksums

my problem is i cant set the optimisation, isnt a massive problem but surely you should be able to do this...?

ps - isnt the slidebar for variable bitrate

[Wayne]

You could try using the lame.exe codec which uses the lame program instead of the dll to perform the conversion. Using the program lame.exe allows specify those options not directly supported by the lame codec supplied with dMC.

Wayne

[xoas]

I am not at all sure that you need to worry about this, especially at the 320 kbs. bitrate if you use alt preset insane. I refer you to the HydrogenAudio Wiki page for Lame settings (3.94 and above) here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums...showtopic=28124

This has quite a bit of information that you will want to look over but toward the end of this page is the following:
About the old --alt-preset system:

The revolutionary --alt-preset system introduced in LAME 3.90, is replaced nowadays by the preset system, which is already substituted by the above explained settings -V x system. You don't need to worry anymore about quality, settings, switches, presets, if you stick to the recommendations of this topic, all will be fine and even optimized. If you select nowadays in LAME 3.97 either --alt-preset xy , preset xy or corresponding switch xy, you will always get the same, simply stick to one of the recommended switches of the table or described here in the text.
E.G.: --alt-preset cbr 320 is the exact same thing as --alt-preset insane etc.:
--alt-preset insane = --preset insane = -b 320 = --preset 320 = --preset cbr 320
Bottom line, the presets are already optimized.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bill

[LtData]

You are correct. I just checked the dMC help files and, lo and behold, the Quality slider IS just for VBR files. Whoops.
But as Wayne mentioned, you can go to Codec Central and get the "mp3 LAME CLI" codec, download the LAME .exe and then use all the LAME options the built-in codec doesn't expose, but still be able to use dMC to convert your files and tags.

[Qwaz]

done a dew tests

tried alt preset insane, took about 8 seconds to encode a track

tried "very high" at 320kbps with joint stereo - took around 20, and took a similar time without joint stereo

from this i would conclude that using the "very high" preset in DBpoweramp switches on the quality optimization

(am i right)?

[Spoon]

If you want the highest quality, just Insane should give that (it will CBR @ 320Kbps, with joint stereo, should be highest).