smil files...that arne't really smil files...

[thatgirl]

This is terribly complicated.

I have a very long (nearly an hour) .smil file. To my understanding, .smil is used when you want to put files together, usually audio and video files. In this case, the .smil file is only audio and I have no idea why it's in .smil in the first place. But anyway. I opened the file in notepad to find the address/code thing for the .rm file the .smil is using. I tried to save this file, but it saved as an m3u, which I understand is a playlist file. I managed to save the file to "my library" in realplayer as an .rm, but it doesn't seem to show up when I hunt for it in "my music."

Anyway, what I want to do is convert this file to .mp3. I downloaded the db converter and opened the .m3u file with it, attempting to convert it to .mp3. It said "converting file" and stayed at 0% for the next 8 hours.

this is such a mess! is there anything I can do to convert this damned file to .mp3?

Thank you!

[xoas]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Simple idea first. Do you have a way of playing this file? If so, have you tried recording it using dMC Auxilary Input? If you can play it, what program do you have that plays it?

If you don't have a way to play it, did you happen to note the address header of that file? If so, what was the header? Alternate question, do you have to be on the internet to listen to this track?

If you try to open the m3u file in Notepad, can you find a reference to the actual music file(s)?

Final question, where did the file come from?

Perhaps the answers to these questions will help us find out whether there's a better solution to your problem.
Best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

[thatgirl]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Thank you for answering and helping me through this.

Yes, I can play the file in RealPlayer. What it's dMC Auxiliary Input and how do I find and use it?

Is rtsp:// a header? If so, that's it. I don't believe I have to be on the internet to listen to this track, but I have DSL so I'm not entirely sure. I'll try disconnecting from earthlink and get back to you on that one in a minute.

Yes, when the .m3u file opens in notepad it's gives me the music file's name (or whatever that thing that looks like a URL.) That's actually how I got the .m3u file, I opened the .SMIL in notepad to find the file name, then fed the name into realplayer.

This file came from a news radio website.

thanks again.

Simple idea first. Do you have a way of playing this file? If so, have you tried recording it using dMC Auxilary Input? If you can play it, what program do you have that plays it?

If you don't have a way to play it, did you happen to note the address header of that file? If so, what was the header? Alternate question, do you have to be on the internet to listen to this track?

If you try to open the m3u file in Notepad, can you find a reference to the actual music file(s)?

Final question, where did the file come from?

Perhaps the answers to these questions will help us find out whether there's a better solution to your problem.
Best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

[xoas]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Auxilary Input is a component module of the dBpwoerAMP Music Converter program that allows you to record audio to digital format. You have to download and install it separately. You'll find the download at the same spot that you downloaded dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC). (If you have not already done so, download and install the File Selector module as well. Both are way more than worth the price (both are free)). If you go to the FAQ section of this forum you will find a post from ChristinaS. on what to do with a file you can play but cannot convert with dMC. Read that and that should get you started.

I'm afraid your rtsp:// header suggests that this is a streaming server file which you cannot download and convert except, perhaps as you can are able to do through Auxilary Input. ChristinaS. is really our expert on this matter. Should she have a different opinion, follow her advice.

Best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

[ChristinaS]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Auxilary Input is a component module of the dBpwoerAMP Music Converter program that allows you to record audio to digital format. You have to download and install it separately. You'll find the download at the same spot that you downloaded dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC). (If you have not already done so, download and install the File Selector module as well. Both are way more than worth the price (both are free)). If you go to the FAQ section of this forum you will find a post from ChristinaS. on what to do with a file you can play but cannot convert with dMC. Read that and that should get you started.

I'm afraid your rtsp:// header suggests that this is a streaming server file which you cannot download and convert except, perhaps as you can are able to do through Auxiliary Input. ChristinaS. is really our expert on this matter. Should she have a different opinion, follow her advice.

Best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

LOL, Bill! Expert, schmexpert!

Yes, the rtsp:// is a protocol for accessing a streaming server, so you cannot simply download a file from there. You can capture it through various means, but I'm afraid it's all in real time. Well, it would have to be because it's a stream anyway.

Check out http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=5362 and follow the steps to capture your file to a wav (if yo have the space, since an hour will be long) or to wma or mp3. It depends on what degree of fidelity you want to keep. For CBR, wma at 64kbps is about the same quality as mp3 at 128kbps, but half the file size. One hour would take about 600-700MB as wav, about 60-70MB as mp3 at 128kbps and half that for wma at 64kbps.

Check out Razgo's thread at http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=5230 to help decide on the format to capture to.

Concerning you .smil file, the fact that Notepad decided to save it as m3u is irrelevant, You could have just forced it to save it as blahblah.smil. The point is moot though since it refers to a streaming server anyway. I have some info on .smil at http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=4992, which may only serve as illustration of a smil file. If you file doesn't look anything like that, it would be interesting to see what it contains.

As an addendum: somebody posted a few days ago about Net Transport as a good means to download anything from anywhere. I installed it and I had to uninstall it since it hijacked all the download functions, yet never actually completed a download. Maybe I did something wrong, but I didn't feel like playing around with it to see. Will try again at some other time.

[thatgirl]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Thank you guys so much! The Auxiliary thing worked wonderfully and I don't even have to go through goldwave to split the files into pieces.

::sends chocolate::

[ChristinaS]

Re: smil files...that aren't really smil files...

Thank you guys so much! The Auxiliary thing worked wonderfully and I don't even have to go through goldwave to split the files into pieces.

::sends chocolate::

Dark, bitter-sweet truffle-filled chocolate for me, please! Thanks :p

[Zamp]

Re: smil files...that arne't really smil files...

So is there in fact any software that can capture streaming video (comes from, for example, mms://... .wav or rtsp://... .rm) the way dbpowerAMP can capture streaming audio through the soundcard?

[ChristinaS]

Re: smil files...that arne't really smil files...

So is there in fact any software that can capture streaming video (comes from, for example, mms://... .wav or rtsp://... .rm) the way dbpowerAMP can capture streaming audio through the soundcard?

Well, yes, the program SDP from http://sdp.ppona.com/ . Rather confusing at first, but it works with lots of fiddling that cannot be avoided. It can also be used to capture streaming video incidentally.

I doesn't do rtsp::// protocol though .

[Zamp]

Re: smil files...that arne't really smil files...

Christina, you rock! :komisch9:
The program worked like a charm. No noticeable quality loss that I can tell (but I'm no audiophile? videophile?, believe me :smile: ). Relatively easy to use - just type in address of stream, it does everything else. Saved it as a .wmv file. Awesome!!
(BTW, it says the next version will be able to handle streaming from rtsp:// servers.)

[ChristinaS]

Re: smil files...that arne't really smil files...

Christina, you rock! :komisch9:
(BTW, it says the next version will be able to handle streaming from rtsp:// servers.)

LOL, it's been saying that for quite some time. Rtsp is Real stuff, must not be easy to crack.

Glad it worked for you. So it must be just me who had a initial mental block vis-à-vis this then :D

[PFLeFaou]

Re: smil files...that arne't really smil files...

Good morning everyone!

I'm new here but could already read quite a lot of posts, that helped me understand this strange audio world a little better...

However, I still can't solve my problem, so I describe it here because it's related to .smil files:

- my favorite Internet radio station streams through a .smil file
- I have an audio box (Terratec Noxon) connected to my PC through a UPnP server and a WiFi network, and to my home sound system so that I can hear my mp3's on my sound system
- however the Noxon understands only mp3's and wma's
- so I had the idea of a converter that could somehow transform this .smil stream into an endless mp3 file on the fly, so that I can let it read by the Noxon in real-time
- following Christina's advice here http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=4992 , I opened the .smil file and here is what's in it:

******
<smil>

<!-- stream information -->
<!-- einslive.smil -->


<!-- author: tb -->
<!-- date: 20060808 -->



<head>
<meta name="(C) 2006 WDR Köln" content="1Live Real Audio" />
</head>


<body>

<!-- stream 1 -->
<audio src="rtsp://a723.l672123071.c6721.g.lr.akamaistream.net/live/D/723/6721/v0001/reflector:23071" />

<!-- stream 2 -->
<audio src="rtsp://a1166.l672123072.c6721.g.lr.akamaistream.net/live/D/1166/6721/v0001/reflector:23072" />


</body>
</smil>

******

so this is a RTSP stream. But still no clue about the way I could convert this stream on the fly into some kind of mp3 format my Noxon understands... Does someone know about such a converter? Anyone helping me to make this work anyhow will receive my eternal thanks + some sample of French gastronomy still to be negociated. :komisch9:

Merci beaucoup ! :-)
PF from Paris

PS: I've seen the possibility of using dMC Auxiliary Input, especially because I can let the music play on my PC's sound card also. But still, I don't need to record the music but to transfer it on the fly in a wma or mp3 format...