[PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

[psychodad]

Hi everyone,

i've the following problem.
If i try to convert a file (MP3 or WAV - it's irrelevant what kind of format) to the M4a Nero AAC Profile, the program encodes my file, but after encoding the program freezes. The time count as follows. I must terminate the process via task manager because db doesn't execute my close command and freezes.

I've observed, that in the encoding process, there will be 2 Files created. One the *.m4a File and a File which increases in size and has the name of my song. But after encoding and freezing of the program, the two files are still there - no merging.

To solve the problem, some details:
- Used version of dbPowerAmp: 12.1
- Downloaded Nero Codec for M4a: Yes
- Operating System: Win XP Prof. SP 2

I've no idea what this problem can be :(.
I've tried 10 different file formats, bitrates, encoders - but it won't work. In none of the 10 tests.

I hope you - the support - has an idea to solve this problem.

Best regards
psychodad

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Try a total uninstall, as described here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=6828

[psychodad]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Nothing happened. The problem is still the same.
After 100% encoding is reached he displayed: "Write ID Tag to..." and then nothing happens. The time counts upwards and the 2 files in the folder are unmerged and the program is exited with the help of the task manager.

Don't know what to do...

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

What are your chosen settings for the m4a file? Can you encode your files to something like FLAC and then to m4a?

If you install the r12 DSP effects and add the "ID Tag Processing" effect, clicking on the "Deletions" tab, clicking "All Tags" and then converting your files, do they convert now?

Do your tags have any special characters or a special tag type? Do they have album art?

[psychodad]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

OK...
To your questions:

My choosen settings for the M4a - File are:
-> Target: Quality (VBR)
-> Quality: .25 (Target Bitrate 64 kbps)
-> Force HE v2 (eAAC+) -> this profile works on a similar program without errors

WAV converted to FLAC:
-> Compression Level 5 (Default)
-> After Encoding Verify Audio is checked
-> Encoding completed in 17 sec.
-> Filesize: 35.537 KB

FLAC converted to m4a:
Settings are the same as descriped above!
-> Program reached 100% and time counts again... Writing ID Tags is displayed, files are not merged and the program doesn't react to my commands.
Terminating process via the task manager.

DSP effects:
Can't use ID Tag processing - it tells me, that i need PowerPack to use the DSP effects

Other questions:
-> No special characters in the ID-Tags, only the standard letters
-> No special tag type (ID3v1)
-> No album art within the files or tags!

It seems that the problem is much harder as thinked about it :(.

Best regards
zero-tx

[abhay]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

I am facing this exact same problem. The encoding just doesn't want to move after "Writing ID tags" dialog. I have tried removing all ID tags using DSP effect but that doesn't help either.

Is it a serious problem? :(

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

abhay: what encoding settings are you using?

psychodad: if you do not force HE v2, does it work? What if you do not force HE v2 and encode to 128kbps, does this work?

[abhay]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

@ LtData: Thanks for replying

I am using the following settings:
Converting to: m4a Nero (AAC)
Target: Quality (VBR)
Quality .35 (estimated bit rate: 100kbps)
Encoder: no forced profile

[Spoon]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Try the m4a beta codec (in the beta section of this forum)

[abhay]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

By m4a beta codec, do you mean the following?

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=12991

Those codecs are successfully completing the conversion process but the output files are of zero bytes. Interestingly, the process takes full time and CPU usages, as though it is going through conversion process but nothing comes out :|

P.S. I have downloaded the encoder from nerodigital.com and it is located in encoders/m4a Nero (AAC) folder. Is there an updated version of those tools as well?

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Yes, that is the beta codec.

Does this problem happen only with a certain file type, all files, or just one or two files?

[abhay]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

I have only MP3 files on my system but I tried converting 5 random files from my collection to flac, ogg and ape. Then I tried converting these 15 files into M4A with my earlier mentioned settings but the result is same i.e.
1) With version R5 of M4A codec, the process waits endlessly at "Writing tags..."
2) With version R6 beta of M4A codec, the process completes as expected but the output file is of zero bytes.

Is there any log file made by dbpoweramp that I can upload for you experts to check out? I tried checking the option of "display information log" under "After conversion" menu but the log never comes up.

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Go into dBpoweramp Configuration and enable debug mode, convert one file and then paste the results here.

[abhay]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

Here is the output with R6 beta of M4A. I have to end process from task manager in case of R5, thus there is no output for that.

Splitting Command Line:Done
->->  [dBCoreConverter::ReaddBCommandFile]
<-<-  [dBCoreConverter::ReaddBCommandFile]
->->  [cldBCodecHandler::FindDecoder]
    Checking Decoder 'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\decoder\mp3.dll' for extension '.mp3'
Decodes  [clDecoder::Get]
  <<< Match, using decoder
  Using Registry Cached Decoder: C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\decoder\mp3.dll
<-<-  [cldBCodecHandler::FindDecoder]
BatchID  [clDecoder::Set]
->->  [cldBCodecHandler::LoadEncoder]
  Loading Encoder 'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC).DLL'
<-<-  [cldBCodecHandler::LoadEncoder]
BatchID  [clEncoder::Set]
->->  [dBCoreConverter::StripCoreConverterCmds]
<-<-  [dBCoreConverter::StripCoreConverterCmds]
SendRawUnCompressed  [clEncoder::Get]
Communicate  [clDecoder::Get]
Communicate  [clEncoder::Get]
NeedHQAudio  [clEncoder::Get]
Decode As  [clDecoder::Set]
->->  [clDecoder::Open]
  Opening file 'J:\Mobile Music\Love Songs\aerosmith - I d'ont wanna miss a thing.mp3' for read access: Opened
  ->->  [clDecoder::ReadIDTags]
    Reading Tag: APE contained 0 tags:
    Reading Tag: ID3v2 contained 8 tags:
			Source: DIG
			Title: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
			Track: 1
			Year: 1998
			Genre: Soundtrack
			Album: Armageddon [Original Soundtrack]
			Artist: Aerosmith
			Length: 299000
    Reading Tag: ID3v1 contained 6 tags:
			Title: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
			Artist: Aerosmith
			Album: Armageddon [Original Soundtrac
			Year: 1998
			Genre: Soundtrack
			Track: 1
  <-<-  [clDecoder::ReadIDTags]
  ->->  [clsMAD::Init]
    mpeg data stream begins at byte position: 2048
  <-<-  [clsMAD::Init]
  ->->  [clDecoder::FillAudioProps]
	Audio Quality: Low  (Lossy)
	Encoder: FHG (Guess)
	Encoder Settings: Constant Bit Rate 128 kbps
	Channel Mapping: Left, Right
	Channel Coupling: Joint-Stereo
	Sample Count: 13,212,624
	MPEG Version: MPEG 1 Layer III
	MPEG Technical: Header: (none)   Bits: (none)
	ID Tag: ID3v2.3 (ANSI) & ID3v1.1
	Contains: ID Tag [ID3v2.3 (ANSI) & ID3v1.1]
	Gapless: No
  <-<-  [clDecoder::FillAudioProps]
  ->->  [clDecoder::FillAudioInfo]
    Uncompressed WFX (sent to db): Format Tag: 3  Channels: 2  Bits per Sample: 32  Samples Per Second: 44100  Bytes Per Second: 352800  Block Align: 8  CB Size: 0
    Audio Length: 299605 mili-seconds  4793702 bytes  128 kbps
  <-<-  [clDecoder::FillAudioInfo]
  Creating Decode Buffer: Created
<-<-  [clDecoder::Open]
->->  [clEncoder::BeginConversion]
  Converting to 'J:\Mobile Music\Love Songs\New Folder\aerosmith - I d'ont wanna miss a thing.m4a' encoder settings ' -cli_encoder="C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC)\neroAacEnc.exe" -cli_cmd="-q .35 -ignorelength -if - -of [outfile]" -selection="0,3,0,0"'
  Using Encoder 'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC)\neroAacEnc.exe'
  Command Line '-q .35 -ignorelength -if - -of J:\Mobile Music\Love Songs\New Folder\aerosmith - I d'ont wanna miss a thing.m4a'
  Input Wave Format:Format Tag: 3  Channels: 2  Bits per Sample: 32  Samples Per Second: 44100  Bytes Per Second: 352800  Block Align: 8  CB Size: 0
  Output Wave Format:Format Tag: 3  Channels: 2  Bits per Sample: 32  Samples Per Second: 44100  Bytes Per Second: 352800  Block Align: 8  CB Size: 0
  Passing Wave Header: Yes
  Using StdInput Pipe: Yes
  dBpoweramp Writing Tags: Yes
<-<-  [clEncoder::BeginConversion]
Communicate  [clDecoder::Get]
Communicate  [clEncoder::Get]
Encoding To: m4a Nero (AAC)
Encoder Cmd Line:  -cli_encoder="C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC)\neroAacEnc.exe" -cli_cmd="-q .35 -ignorelength -if - -of [outfile]" -selection="0,3,0,0"
============= CONVERSION BEGIN =============
============= CONVERSION END =============
Communicate  [clDecoder::Get]
Communicate  [clEncoder::Get]
->->  [dBCoreConverter::CloseDecoder]
->->  [clDecoder::Close]
<-<-  [clDecoder::Close]
->->  [clEncoder::EndConversion]
  Running program after conversion 'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC)\' Command Line: 
  Program completed
<-<-  [clEncoder::EndConversion]
  ->->  [dBCoreConverter::IDTagWriter]
    ->->  [cldBCodecHandler::FindDecoder]
        Checking Decoder 'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\decoder\m4a.dll' for extension '.m4a'
Decodes  [clDecoder::Get]
      <<< Match, using decoder
      Using Registry Cached Decoder: C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\decoder\m4a.dll
->->  [clDecoder::Close]
<-<-  [clDecoder::Close]
    <-<-  [cldBCodecHandler::FindDecoder]
IDTags  [clDecoder::Set]
  <-<-  [dBCoreConverter::IDTagWriter]
      ->->  [clDecoder::Close]
      <-<-  [clDecoder::Close]
Communicate  [clDecoder::Get]
Communicate  [clEncoder::Get]
  Conversion completed in 25.7 seconds x11 realtime encoding

[LtData]

Re: [PROBLEM] Converting WAV or MP3 to M4a Nero (AAC)

"C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpowerAMP\encoder\m4a Nero (AAC)\neroAacEnc.exe" Is this the path to the encoder .exe?

As for the particulars of why it failed, Spoon will have to answer that.