Can't change MP3 encoding to variable bitrate

[emmfan]

When I go to convert a CD or any file to MP3, I click the Advanced options to change to variable bitrate, but after I click ok, it's always stuck at constant bitrate. I tried the presets and it always reverts back to constant bitrate. Anybody know how to fix this?

[LtData]

Are you sure its stuck at CBR? Don't you have two sliders after you select VBR?
Make sure your using the latest version of dMC, dMC r11.5. Your version numbers are stored at Start Menu --> Programs --> dBpowerAMP Music Converter --> Configuration --> dMC Configuration.

[ChristinaS]

Maybe use No Preset, since various Presets disable the use of other settings.

[xoas]

Also, be aware that if you set to No Preset and VBR you may see on the bitrate/quality bar what appears to be a single slider. If it is set correctly you actually have two sliders superimposed on one another. Use the left-click of your mouse to set the slider for the lower level of your vbr setting. Use the right-click of your mouse to set the upper level of your vbr range.

Best wishes,
Bill

[emmfan]

Ok, I tried setting No Preset and then selecting Variable Bitrate, then when I hit ok, it shows Constant Bitrate with only one slider. I tried the right-click and left-click but just moves around the constant bitrate single slider. I am using 11.5 registered version. Any ideas?

I thought about re-installing the MP3 Lame encoder but from what I could tell, it is build-into dbpoweramp's main install. I re-installed dbpoweramp and even tried the beta and still the same problem.

[ChristinaS]

Are you not seeing something like this?

[emmfan]

Yes, except Encoding says: Constant Bitrate, and there is only one slider. Even after I select Advanced Options and change it to Variable Bitrate, after I hit Ok, it just reverts back to Encoding: Constant Bitrate.

Maybe I should try uninstalling and reinstalling dbpoweramp completely.

[emmfan]

I did a complete uninstall of dbpoweramp, restarted and reinstalled. Still the same problem :(. It encodes Monkey's Audio fine, but just won't let me select variable bitrate for MP3 Lame...is there another MP3 codec I should try, would that work? I've been using dbpoweramp for so long with MP3 Lame, don't know what else is out there. Kind of bummed that it's not working for me on this machine.

[ChristinaS]

When you click advanced, do you see this?

Then when you click OK, you get back to the other screen I posted before wher eyou have 2 sliders. They may well be side by side or one on top of the others but they are there. If you look carefully it should say Encoding Variable bitrate, and under that, right over the slider Min Bitrate and Max Bitrate. If the 2 sliders are one on top the other and to the right, the entire strip is green. If tehy are one on top of the other and fully to the left then it's all blue. Otherwise it's green on teh elft and blue on the right.

[emmfan]

Yes, I see the Advanced Lame Options, where I select Variable Bitrate and No Preset. But when I hit Ok and go back to the Convert To box it shows the Encoding: Constant Bitrate with only one slider, I tried the right-clicka nd left-click on the slider bar to "separate" the sliders but there's only one.

[ChristinaS]

Ok, now for what I don't think we asked: what OS do you have? What version of Windows Media Player? (no idea what that would explain, but let's try exploring).

And while we are at it, what version of Lame does it say in dMC Configuration that you're using?

I'm thinking maybe you have an old version of the mp3 encoder codec that doesn't know anyhting about VBR - if there's ever been such a version.

[xoas]

I'm thinking maybe you have an old version of the mp3 encoder codec that doesn't know anyhting about VBR - if there's ever been such a version.
Emmfan has a registered version of dMC 11.5, so that's not an option.

...is there another MP3 codec I should try, would that work?
Yes. There are a number of alternate mp3 encoder codecs available at Codec Central, the most popular being Blade. Still Blade is considered, for most purposes, inferior to Lame. Might be worth seeing what would happen however.

I did a complete uninstall of dbpoweramp, restarted and reinstalled.
Did you follow the following directions for a "complete" uninstall discussed and described here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=6828 ? If not, you might want to give that a try.

Best wishes and keep us posted.
Bill

[emmfan]

ChristinaS: I am running Windows XP Professional with Windows Media 10. The Lame version 3.96.1

xoas: like you said, I would prefer to get the Lame codec working rather than have to settle on a "lower" quality mp3 codec. I followed the directions for a "complete" uninstall, and then re-installed and still have the same problem.

Thanks for the suggestions, I sure hope we can figure this out.

[ChristinaS]

Do you have all your latest Windows XP updates and patches? SP2?

Did you install everything to c:\Program Files \ Illustrate\dBpowerAMP - i.e. the default folder? While being logged in as an amdin? Ar eyou running logged in as admin?


Do you have any other isntance of dBpowerAMP components installed elsewhere on that pc?

Last suggestion: try to do a search on your pc for any files named lame*.*. See what comes up.

[xoas]

A few other ideas:
Do you have the Lame.exe (CLI) codec (which allows command-line interface) installed? Have you used it? If so, you might want to try either erasing your settings for the CLI codec or removing that codec altogether. (I do have the CLI codec installed as well but I have not ever used it, I really don't think it should interfere with the standard Lame codec but it seems to be worth a shot.

If you select, instead of No Preset, one of the vbr presesets (like alt preset standard or alt preset extreme), will your window show/will your files convert to vbr?

If you go My Computer>Program Files>Illustrate>dBpowerAMP>Compression, do you have more than one sample of Mp3(Lame).dll? (If so, try saving version 6.4.0.0 and deleting the rest).

And, assuming nothing comes from the above, for diagnostic purposes, can you try another mp3 codec (such as Blade) and tell us if it will allow you to convert to vbr?

Best wishes,
Bill

[emmfan]

ChristinaS: Yes, I do have all the latest XP updates and patches installed including Service Pack 2. I installed everything into the default folder as an administrator. I do not have dbpoweramp installed anywhere else or under any other accounts.

On your suggestion to search for lame*.* files, I came up with some additional instances of lame_enc.dll for Ahead Nero, Pinnacle Studio, and Winamp. I have the same applications installed on my desktop without any conflicts, but I wonder if it has to do with the order the applications were installed or if somehow one of the other lame_enc.dll instances is overriding the dbpoweramp version. Is there anyway to force the dbpoweramp lame_enc.dll to be used, or do I have to try and uninstall and reinstall all those applications again, which may not guarantee that the registry settings will be cleared out.

xoas: Nope, I do not have the Lame CLI codec installed. Never tried it before, even though I did see it while looking for an updated Lame codec.

I did try selecting one of the vbr presets and after I hit Ok, it always reverts back to constant vbr and still converts to constant vbr.

I checked for the Mp3(Lame).dll and there is only one file, but the version shows as 6.0.0.1. How can I get the 6.4.0.0 version?

Thanks for all your guys help, hope we can get this nailed down!

[xoas]

but I wonder if it has to do with the order the applications were installed or if somehow one of the other lame_enc.dll instances is overriding the dbpoweramp version.
If that were so, I would think you could maybe check your mp3 settings in each of those programs (or at least Nero and WinAmp, don't know if this would be possible for Pinnacle for sure) and set any of them that are set to cbr to vbr (if there is more than one instance it would be useful to change the setting one program at a time and checking back with dMC after each change to ry to nail down the culprit-should there be one).

When you have done your re-installs, did you re-download dMC or re-install dMC from a saved installation file? If you have only re-installed from your saved dMC installation file, you could try downloading a fresh dMC installation file (which might help if there was some corruptiion in your saved installation file). This might also help with updating the Mp3(lame).dll file. My last dMC install was downloaded from here:
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/bin/dMC-r11.5.exe

If that does not work, perhaps Christina or others could help identify a source for the Mp3(Lame).dll.

Best wishes,
Bill

[Wayne]

How can I get the 6.4.0.0 version?
This comes with dMC version 11.5 download from here (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm).

Are you sure that you have version 11.5 installed?

Wayne

[emmfan]

My mistake, you're right, I do have version 6.4.0.0. Any suggestions on the multiple lame_enc.dll in different program directory's, could they be causing a conflict?

[emmfan]

I uninstalled all the applications that had other instances of lame_enc.dll in them and removed their registry settings. I then re-installed dbpoweramp and it still doesn't work. When I go to convert a file, I can't change the encoding setting away from Constant Bitrate. I think I'm getting to the point of giving up, but I really don't want to have to. Any more suggestions?

[ChristinaS]

OK, stupid question: do you have some program that disallows changing regsitry values? like some anti-virus or anti-spyware progams that may be too ambitious for its own good?

[emmfan]

No, I don't think so. I have McAfee Viruscan Enterprise installed. But I was able to remove the dbpoweramp registry settings when trying a "clean" reinstall.

[ChristinaS]

Well, I don't now. But it sure looks as if something doesn't want you to have the latest values set anywhere. But it's one thing for the program nto to remember your latest settings and simply revert to some default settings and quite another not to be able to change them in order to run the program. Something may be more protected than it's healthy.

Have you rebooted at all after all these installations?

Have you tried to disable that antivirus altogether for a bit just to try to run dMC ?

[emmfan]

Yes, I re-booted after each uninstall and re-install.

[xoas]

Here are a few things to try. These are to try to isolate the source of this problem.

Try using Lame with an Average bitrate (in advanced settings use either No Preset and ABR or use the ABR preset). There will only be a single slider. Can you encode to abr with Lame?

Try one of the other mp3 codecs, can you encode to vbr with that codec?

Try one of your other programs, (say Nero) and try encoding to mp3 vbr. Does that work?

Try one of the other dMC codecs that support vbr (wma, ogg, musepack, m4a/mp4). In these cases their interfaces are different from Lame but see if you can set and encode to a vbr in one of these other formats. Does that (or do they) work?

Best wishes,
Bill

[emmfan]

I was able to use MediaMonkey to encode at Variable Bitrate setting. Thank you for your help thus far. I think I'm just going to try MediaMonkey for the time being, even though it's cumbersome to have to use another program just to encode MP3s.

[xoas]

I understand your desire to get on with your project completely.

Perhaps if you have the opportunity at some point in the future, however, it might be helpful if you could complete the other diagnostic measures (trying Lame in dMC using ABR, trying a different mp3 codec in dMC, trying one of the other vbr codecs in dmc; as well as letting us know if you tried any other converters for mp3 vbr and whether you ran into trouble with those).

I have one final idea (I think) which I'll post as an edit here shortly.

EDIT: Acting on the assumption that it is the dMC Lame codec that is acting up, you might try manually replacing the codec in dMC as described here:
http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=4028 (it doesn't look too difficult, use the Lame 3.96.1 version).

Best wishes,
Bill

[iRX]

I have'd the same problem and I read all this thread and don't find any right suggestion for remove this bug! BUT!!! I have a right suggestion for "emmfan" and all users who use WindowBlinds (I use last version 5)! Simply turn off skins for all dBPowerAmp programs in "Per Application" tab of WindowBlinds! Strange of course, but this only action give right functionality in dBPowerAmp Converter the Lame codec! I use latiest codec Lame 3.97 (replace - owerwrite in "C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\Compression\Lame" and edit file "C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\Versions\Compression\m p3 (Lame).txt" - change to right version 3.97). Thats all! Thanx to all dBPowerAmp Team for very good but not Ideal coding program! Please Read and realize my suggestion for new futures in new version dBPowerAmp 12! And I Think the Lame 3.97 have a lot advanced coding algoritm and have much more fast in "NEW" pressets. :cool:

[LtData]

As Spoon said elsewhere, dMC r12 will include LAME 3.97. :D

[gameplaya15143]

As Spoon said elsewhere, dMC r12 will include LAME 3.97. :D
or you could have it now by replacing lame_enc.dll with the new version

[LtData]

The reason he asked is that the presets in LAME 3.97 are now "VBR something" for the most part now, and they won't be exposed with the existing programmed presets.

[gameplaya15143]

presets might be wrong, or some missing, but it does work (i just tried it)

personally, i use lame.exe, much easier for me