Problem with Nero AAC encoder

[Dave W]

Just discovered this program a few days ago. It makes converting files to mp3 for my Zen a snap, especially since I have several hundred albums archived on DVD's in WavPack files. It's so great to be able to go directly from the WavPack files to mp3's, without having to first convert them to wav and then re-entering the ID tage info.

But for my Ipod, I prefer the sound of AAC files and I can't get the Nero encoder to work. I installed neroAacEnc per the instructions in the help file and the conversion itself seems to go OK, but when the progress bar reaches the end and the text message says "writing ID tags", the program hangs with 100% CPU usage. I have to use Task Manager to shut it down.

I tried using Nero Burning Rom (which I assume uses the same encoder) to convert the files, and it works fine.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[Spoon]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

Have you tried using the new beta m4a encoder? in the beta section of this forum.

[Dave W]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

The beta encoder doesn't hang or anything like the previous version I was using, and it seems to work fine (no errors or anything) but.... the files it writes are all 0 bytes.

And in playing around with dMC some more tonight, I find that the Helix MP3 encoder does exactly the same thing (produces files with 0 bytes).

All your other encoders I've tried seem to work fine.

I'm running the dMC reference version trial with WinXP sp2 on an Intel dual-core notebook, if that helps any. I run quite a few audio-video apps on this system with no probs.

[LtData]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

What are the specs of the files you are trying to encode (format, bitrate/bits, frequency, channels) and your encoding settings? Can you encode to any format, such as WMA, WAV, etc. or do they all produce 0 byte files?

[Dave W]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

I'm trying to encode standard stereo .wav files (44.1 khz, 16 bit, 1400 kbps(approx)). For the Nero encoder, I'm using 150 kbps vbr "no forced profile".

I've successfully encoded to/from wav, wavpack, mp3 (both lame and fraunhofer) and WMA (including 2pass).

It's only Nero and Helix that give me empty files. I don't care about Helix (I was just playing around with dMC when I noticed it also produced blank files). But I really do need get Nero AAC working, since it's my preferred format for iPod.

Thanks again for any help!

[Dave W]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

Just noticed something else.... in the root directory of the drive where the files I'm trying to convert are located, the Nero encoder is leaving behind some weird files. They have names like audio, !!CD, new. No filename extension on any of them. I opened them with a hex editor and here are the first few ASCI characters in all of them....

ftypmp42 mp42isomndia ¦ðmoov lmvhd

[Spoon]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

They are mp4 files. Try installing another codec which works the same as nero (try mpc), does that encode correctly?

[Dave W]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

Downloaded and installed MPC. It also generates 0 byte files, but with this encoder I get the following error message.....

Error converting to Musepack, 'D:\!!CD Dump\CD's\Springsteen_Wild 01.wav' to 'D:\!!CD Dump\CD's\Springsteen_Wild 01.mpc'
Error writing audio data to StdIn Pipe [clEncoder::EncodeBlock]


As I mentioned above, wavpack, lame, fraunhofer, wma all work perfectly on these same files. It's Nero, Helix and now MPC that don't work right.

Thanks once more for your help!

[Spoon]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

Do you have any security set in XP which is stopping the running of these programs?

[Dave W]

Re: Problem with Nero AAC encoder

I finally figured out what's causing my problem... it's the ID tags in my WavPack files. There's something about the tags in these WavPack files that causes problems for dMC when encoding to Nero, Helix and MPC, even if I convert them to wav files first.

I can't recall for sure what program I used to add the ID tags to my WavPack files... I think it was MP3tag, which shows the tags are in APEv2 format.

Anyways... for some reason your encoders for Nero, Helix and MPC won't encode these files, even if I convert them first to wav files. The other encoders all work fine, and correctly transfer the tags to the new files.

I guess I'll just continue to use Nero Burning Rom for converting these WavPack files to AAC, as it works fine (although it doesn't transfer all the ID tag data).

Sorry for bothering you about this! I should have first tried converting some wav files ripped directly from a CD, but the fact that your other encoders all work fine going directly from my WavPack files kinda threw me off the trail of tracking this down.