FLAC v5 24bit problems?

[ailean]

Ho ho and all that!

I'm having problems with Flac conversions using dMC v11 and Flac Codec v5 (current release versions, registered).

The files in question are 24bit 48/96khz stereo and were made in GoldWave from SACD/DVDA discs.

I can convert these to WAV using flac.exe 1.1 and 1.1.1 and back again but if I try converting the WAV->Flac or Flac->anything in dMC I get a file full of static.

When going from 24bit Flac to mp3 I've figured I need to add the Dither to 16bit DSP (which works for 24bit WAV to mp3) but I still get static.

I'm using a CLI for the mean time but it'd be nice to get this fixed for native Flac! :cry:

[Spoon]

Re: FLAC v5 24bit problems?

Mp3 lame needs 16 bit audio files.

As a test take a 16 bit stereo audio file (44.1Khz), convert it to 24 bit wave then try converting to FLAC, does the FLAC work?

[ailean]

Re: FLAC v5 24bit problems?

Mp3 lame needs 16 bit audio files.

As a test take a 16 bit stereo audio file (44.1Khz), convert it to 24 bit wave then try converting to FLAC, does the FLAC work?

Yep figured that out, hence me using dither -> 16bit when going to mp3.

Some interesting results now;

1) "Cool for cats.flac" (16bit/44.1Khz) plays fine in Winamp 5
2) "Cool for cats.wav" (16bit/44.1Khz) convert with DMC plays fine
3) "Cool for cats24.wav" (24bit/44.1Khz) convert with DMC from above wav plays fine
4) "Cool for cats24.flac" (24bit/44.1Khz) convert with DMC from above wav plays as static!
5) "Cool for cats24b.wav" (24bit/44.1Khz) convert with DMC from above flac plays fine!

Attempts to convert to Flac using flac.exe 1.1.1 of "Cool for cats24b.wav" return this error;

Cool For Cats24b.wav: WARNING: found non-standard 'fmt ' sub-chunk whi
ch has length = 40
Cool For Cats24b.wav: ERROR: unsupported compression type 65534

Same error occours for "Cool for cats24.wav" but the original "Cool for cats.wav" can be compressed using flac.exe okay (my original 24bit wavs work okay too with flac.exe).

Decompressing "Cool for cats24.flac" using flac.exe returns a wav that just plays as static again. :(

Looks like the way flac expects to deal with 24bit data doesn't match the way DMC deals with it, although it seems Winamp is happy with either method so long as they're not mixed.

Oh the joys of codec convertion! :smile2:

Another thing I found entertaining recently, I followed your handy hint on using WMA lossless as a intermidate step in converting from Flac to Apple Lossless, using 24bit/48Khz files to WMA was okay but when iTunes sucked them in to Apple Lossless it converts them to 16bit/48Khz.... not very lossless that. :p But they at least play fine on my iPod although I can't tell the differance between them and the same song in Alt Preset Extreme Lame mp3 so I won't be making a habit of that.

[Spoon]

Re: FLAC v5 24bit problems?

>Cool For Cats24b.wav: ERROR: unsupported compression type 65534

That is a Waveformatextensible, flac.exe mustn't be 100% compatible with all wave files (Microsoft state that header should be written for > 16 bit files, or more than 2 channel audio wave files).

[ailean]

Re: FLAC v5 24bit problems?

Darn! :cry:

Alas that lack of compatiblity seems to carry onto other Flac based plugins like the Winamp one so I can either make them dMC compatible or everything else compatible.

It's all getting rather complicated this music archiving lark, between converting LP, AC3, DTS, SACD & DVDA sources, trying to manage my Album Art and being forced to use iTunes I just want to scream! :headbang:

I dred to think of the horrors if I was to start archiving the DVD, LD, VT etc collections.

[dewdude]

Re: FLAC v5 24bit problems?

Not to kick up too old a topic....

If you're using Goldwave, then you need to save your files in what it calls the (obsolete) PCM Signed 24-bit. I don't know why Goldwave refers to this as obsolete, but it's what everything wants.

MP3 lame *WILL* accept 24-bit input, and it uses it during iDCT, so, yes, you CAN make 24-bit mp3's, you just need MAD to decode.

that's all.