Real Audio to wma failing too often

[sandersw]

I convert Real Audio to .wma .

Once in a while one fails, it produces a very small .wma file only. Usually I just download the Real Audio file again & it works.

But now this is happening so often that I am having trouble making any .wma files at all.

Whenever in the past I have tried playing the Real Audio files in Windows Media Player they have played quite OK from beginning to end, with just occasional skips of a few seconds.

Perhaps it is some degradation of what I get from the Real Audio server that is bringing this about. Nowadays I use Orbit Downloader to get them, in the distant past NetTransport.

At the moment I am using Real Alternative 1.70 & keep my Windows XP SP2 up to date using Windows Update. DMC r12, DirectShow & WMA 10 codec, of course.

How to I go about fixing or debugging this?

[LtData]

Re: Real Audio to wma failing too often

Just to make sure, the files that produce small files will play in Windows Media Player with no problems, right?

[sandersw]

Re: Real Audio to wma failing too often

Just to make sure, the files that produce small files will play in Windows Media Player with no problems, right?

Thanks, you ar right, when I checked I found that they were no longer playing in Windows Media Player.

I moved forwards to Real Alternative 1.75, which lists in its changes:

Downgraded RealMedia components to version 6.0.12.1662, because the newest version (6.0.14.748) of the components does not work properly

So I think that may explain it.

Howere, I am now back as I was, with some downloads converting successfully & others not.

Now, those that do not convert will Play in Windows Media Player (I have tried one from beginning to end today). But I have to download the failed ones repeatedly until I get one that will convert.

I would still like to debug this problem, to save the repeated downloads. It may be that if I could get prefect downloads, without any skips or jumps then I would npt have this problem - but I'm not able to get these, probably the protocol & servers don't suit this.

I am keeping samples that fail & their successful counterparts.

Any help would be appreciated

[LtData]

Re: Real Audio to wma failing too often

Is there a size difference between working and non-working?

[sandersw]

Re: Real Audio to wma failing too often

Is there a size difference between working and non-working?

Yes, as I recall sometimes the file that will convert is a little smaller, sometimes a little larger, I think.

For example, failed size: 18,099,014 bytes, good size: 18,088,430 bytes. For another, failed size: 18,084,650 bytes, good size: 18,098,258.

I don't have the files to prove it, but I suspect I could get more that one size a download to succeed too, but I don't usually download anymore once I have one that works.

The size of the converted .wma file for a failure is always about the same: 335K bytes.

TIA