still having problems with batch converter

[Sossity]

I tried to convert another album I had ripped in flac to mp3, 1st time it converted all the songs with an error, then I tried having the converted songs placed on my mac's internal hard drive, this was better all converted except the 2and to the last song.

This is 2 albums that I have had this problem, when I have them convert & write to my external hard drive, they all error out, but when I convert to my mac internal drive they convert except for the 2and to last song.

I don't know if there is a bug, or if my system is odd, I am using windows xp service pack 3 through parallels 7 on a virtual machine running on my mac. I currently have the registered reference of dbpoweramp music converter 14.4.

I have had no problems before, until very recently.

I ran a spyware check on my windows virtual machine, found some, & had it removed but it did not help with my conversion problem.

[Spoon]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

What was the error message?

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

Message is;

Error converting to mp3

Encountered__STREAM_DECODER_SEARCH_FOR_FRAME_SYNC' in Flac File-with the location of where the flac file is.

what happens is the song is cut short, this particular 2and to the last song was 4:40 min, & after conversion is now :59min

the song after this one the last song is 8:19 min, if this makes any difference, maybe it is a timing issue.

[Spoon]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

This is a file error - copy the flac file to the computer and try to convert just one of the problem files, if it shows that error then your flac files are corrupted.

If it does not show that error then the issue is between Storage and the Computer.

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

I tried doing the same conversion with the flac file on a PC, & had the same error message, so the problem is with the file i'ts self,

When I originally ripped in flac, there were no error messages, all files ripped with accurate rips, so how can I know when a file is corrupted? I thought if there were problems there, I would have been told so by dbpoweramp while ripping in flac.

how can I be sure if I go back & rerip in Flac that it does not get corrupted again?

Another thing I noticed when I had this problem with another album, is when I loaded it into the CD ripper part of dbpoweramp & ripped to mp3 (to get an mp3 version as well as flac, this is what I did in the end as the converter would not convert from the flac files without errors) it ripped ok with no problems, so it seems the converter is having problems with certain flac files.

[garym]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

In the ripping phase, do you have "after enoding verify written audio" ticked. This is located in middle toward bottom, encoder settings tab (underneath where you choose compression level for FLAC). If there is an initial error, dbpa will tell you at that point.

FLAC files contain internal CRCs that can be checked to insure the file is good, even after copying to separate HDDs or at some later time. You can select a batch of your Flac files (or all of them for that matter), go into Batch Conversion and convert them to "TEST CONVERSION". This will not reconvert but will decode every file and tell you if there is an error in any of the files.

[Spoon]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

>"after enoding verify written audio"

This option will not always help, because the OS can have a cache of the written file...

The best way is after ripping, reboot the computer, open batch converter, select all the flac files (filter to flac, select folder) then convert to [test conversion], if there are any corruption issues they will be spotted here.

With regards to the corruption, they happen because dbpoweramp writes data to the HDD and this data is not stored correctly (or changes over time).

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

What if the test conversion finds no errors? what do I do if it finds errors?

What I have done now is just reload the album, & I ripped it in mp3, just to get the mp3 without the error problems, & this worked, it ripped all the songs accurately, or at least there was an accurate rip for them all.

[Spoon]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

AccurateRip and this issue are different, this is a corruption issue of the files written (accuraterip checks the integrity of the audio from CD).

If the test conversion finds no errors, then at that point of time, the files have no issues. If it finds errors, you will know which files caused it.

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

Where do I do the test conversion, I cant find it, is it in the converter?

when I do the test conversion, & an error turns up, what does this all mean for the album that I ripped in flac? that it is a corrupt audio CD? should I try and get another copy of the album & see if there are no errors?

The album I got was one that amazon burned and made, it is one where it is made on demand.

It is also of a live performance, would thse factors ahve anything to do with this problem?

[Spoon]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

Yes you set the encoder to Test Conversion, all versions of dBpoweramp have it.

[garym]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

The album I got was one that amazon burned and made, it is one where it is made on demand.

It is also of a live performance, would thse factors ahve anything to do with this problem?

these factors shouldn't matter. If the CD is not damaged, the disk should rip to FLAC and the FLAC files should not be corrupt. If you find a lot of files becoming corrupt, I'd suspect your hard drive and even your computer RAM.

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

Yes you set the encoder to Test Conversion, all versions of dBpoweramp have it.

I dont know where to look for this, exactly what part of the conversion area or ripping area is this?

[Sossity]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

these factors shouldn't matter. If the CD is not damaged, the disk should rip to FLAC and the FLAC files should not be corrupt. If you find a lot of files becoming corrupt, I'd suspect your hard drive and even your computer RAM.

If this is so, then my mac, & PC have bad hard drives, I have tried this conversion on these different computers, & the same error turned up.

[garym]

Re: still having problems with batch converter

I dont know where to look for this, exactly what part of the conversion area or ripping area is this?

Open batch converter, select file(s) you want to convert, then select "Convert" at upper left side of screen. Once on the conversion popup screen the upper left has a dropdown menu for choosing the codec (e.g., FLAC, mp3, etc.). In this dropdown, one of the choices is TEST CONVERSION.