Something wrong here

[jmstacey2000]

I think this is the program but I'm not sure.
I ripped a cd and had the setting to use vbr with a min of 64kb and a max of 256. When it finished I checked the final bitrate (or average whichever it is) and it says 364kbps! (My mp3 player doesn't play anything over 320) Its like when it converts the audio it totally ignores the min and max kbps. I have tried several settings. The only way I could get the kbps down to a more reasonble rate was to set that small bar in advanced options all the way to the left, but the file was still about 40kbps over the max set.
Whats going on here and how can I fix it.
I also replaced the dll lame file with the beta version and it even worse, the final kbps was like 422 when the limit was 256.
Thanks!
-Jon-

[jmstacey2000]

Little progress. What I have found is that if you do the math. (file size in kilobits divided by how many seconds there are) I get a much, much,.. more reasonable answere that it probably is supposed to say. Therefore, why is the thing corrupt? How can I fix it, I do have the configuration set to never create v2 id3 tag.
This is causing my mp3 player to freak out because it only supports mp3 files up to 320 kbps.
-Jon-

[jmstacey2000]

Well, it me again. (how akward) but I just had to get this bit of info in. I found a program called EncSpot that checks mp3 files. I checked the file I converted and everything is reported correctly by that program because it scans the whold thing to find out. So the now the problem has been narrowed down to the info part being corrupt or something because when I right click and go to properties it says the the bitrate is like 400 but encspot says 115(which is within the limits I specified)
Any ideas on what to do now?

sorry for so many posts in one thread. :blush:
-Jon-

[totalXSive]

Sometimes the Lame encoder/dMC forgets to write something called an Xing Header. This is required for proper recognition of VBR MP3 files, and if it isn't there, strange things can happen.

Try using one of the alt presets (on the advanced options page) and see if that works.

[jmstacey2000]

I tried alt preset extreme and that gave me something like 512kbps (EncSpot reported 187)
and I also tired alt preset standard and that gave me 433kbps (EncSpot gives it 155)
Any ideas now?
I was also able to install dbpowerAmp on a different computer and it did the same thing. My computer has xp home, wmp9, sp1. The other compuuter also has xp home, only has wmp8, and does not have sp1.
Nobody else is having problems using vbr?:confused:
I have tried both lame3.92 and 3.93(alpha with same results)
I see a lot of people saying they use 3.88. Is that the only one that works with vbr?
Thanks!
-Jon-

[totalXSive]

Is it just one file, or are other files affected?

[jmstacey2000]

All files that I try to convert to vbr are affected. Doesn't matter if they are wma, wav, ripped directly from a cd, they all do the same thing.
:headbang:
-Jon-

[-=raTTan=-]

windows sucks when it comes to recognizing VBR so don't trust it. the encspots sound right to me. most accurate is filesize in kilobytes times 8 divide by actual length in seconds (not the reported length which is wrong) gotten from the original cd. trust what ever # comes out of that. the mp3 standard does not allow anything over 320kbps. the thing to try for proper header, is first try without writing any kind of tag (uncheck preserve tag box) and if that doesn't work, then try encoding the same track with lame.exe (maybe DB custom CLI or razorlame) and see if that helps. either way, don't trust windows to recognize it, use the pop ups in DB options. my mp3 player still does not recognize the proper length (nomad 2) no matter what, but at least it plays them.

[jmstacey2000]

Okay. I have the archos Jukebox Multimedia and when I put a vbr file on it that windows reports the kbps to be over 320kbps, the mp3 player will say the song is 40kbps and like an hour and fifteen minutes long. So the time goes really fast counting down to reach the end point since the song really isn't that long, but it does play it. (Nice to know that I'm not the only one)
Is there a workaround to make the mp3 player see the correct info?
(I'm discovering that I'm a neat phreak):shocked:
-Jon-

[Unregistered]

maybe firmware update. along with that i hope for one that supports .ogg. complain to the maker..

[MODatic]

windows sucks when it comes to recognizing VBR so don't trust it.

Very true. Windows Media is not to be trusted when playing VBR files as it always gets the bitrate info wrong. (I personally don't trust it with anything because it has security flaws, spying, DRM, is buggy & is bloatware etc.) Well in WMP 7, 7.1 & 8, don't know about 9 as I haven't tried it yet. (no rush really )

The part that's really surprising is that WMP uses the official Fraunhofer decoder, yet because of M$'s stupidity, a perfectly good decoder is being put to waste because they don't use it properly.

If you have a hardware player that doesn't support VBR, or does a poor job at handling it, annoy them and pester them to fix it because VBR is part of the official MP3 standard, if a decoder/player can't handle it then it's not a fully MP3 compliant.

For the record, I have never had problems with DMC and Xing VBR headers unless there was an ID3 V2 tag involved, which you've already said earlier that you already have it turned off.

[jmstacey2000]

I have sent an e-mail asking for wma and ogg support. Shouldn't be that had, since just a few days ago they added support for this codec that I've never head about.
-Jon-