m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

[remivv]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

You are running dMC r12, correct?

It seems, yesterday I've downloaded the 11.5 retail version (on www.download.com)...???

I've downloaded and installed r12 again and the problem is solved now.

Many thanks for your help.

[Spoon]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

>'C:\Program Files\Illustr..\dBpoweramp\dBConfig.exe"

Is that the error (with ..) or does it say

'C:\Program Files\Illustrate\dBpoweramp\dBConfig.exe"

[Spoon]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

@mattler

It is an issue (iPod skipping tracks, iTunes not) which we hope to fix before releasing this codec from beta.

[thommason]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

>mp4creator -optimize -H filename.m4a to

our commandline is

mp4creator -optimize -Hint=1 filename.m4a

I have dbpoweramp installed in a non default directory - could that create a path problem to mp4creator?

[Spoon]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

Should not make any difference.

[thommason]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

Is there a way to turn on diagnostics to see if there is an error message when it tries to run mp4creator?

[LtData]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

Copy one file to the root of c, rename to 'a.m4a' and copy from dbpoweramps encoder\mp4 utility\ folder the mp4creator

Then from a command prompt type:

c:
cd \
mp4creator -optimize c:\a.m4a

what is shown please and does it hang?

[Deano]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

@deano thanks for the file, checked it out - dbpoweramp is happy with it, itunes is happy reading the tags, only the fb people can debug that one...

I don't see that as a good enough answer. Firstly, it worked in R11.5 of this codec, so I believe you are tagging something incorrectly. Second of all, if I annhilate all the tags in the file, then reproduce them in Foobar2000, both Foobar2000 and dBpowerAMP's tag reading routines (in this case, the explorer popups) work properly. Ergo, this means something is going wrong when dBpowerAMP creates files and I don't think blaming other software that is not known to have tagging issues with the mp4 format is helping your case.

Try converting to apple lossless, it uses the same tagging, it could be that, that is crashing.

Cannot convert to Apple Lossless. I get the same "freezing" issue as with the m4a utilities you have posted. I click to convert and the converter sits and does not actually do anything and remains on the screen in which you select a codec and so forth. I have to kill it using End Task in task manager.

mp4creator -optimize c:\a.m4a

what is shown please and does it hang?

mp4creator in standalone as an executable from my commandline works perfectly. I get the freezing issue only when using your m4a utilities via the right-click menu.

Please note, I get the same "freezing" issue when attempting to convert to Apple Lossless. My confidence in these m4a codecs you are producing is not particularly high at the moment.

[thommason]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

C:\mp4creator -optimize c:\a.m4a
MP4ERROR: MP4Open: failed: Invalid argument

The file plays fine in Quicktime.

[LtData]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

thommason: where did this m4a file come from? Is it an apple lossless file?

[thommason]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

It is apple lossless transcoded from flac using dbpoweramp R12

It looks like the problem is the way permissions are set in root by Vista. Doing this from c:\temp produces no error. It also doesn't change the date stamp on the file - perhaps this is normal for mp4creator?

[LtData]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

thommason: There are a few small known bugs with the ALAC files dMC makes, but I am not sure if your problem is related to them.

[Spoon]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

Vista does not allow any program to write files in c:\ unless they are administrator.

--------

>this means something is going wrong when dBpowerAMP creates files and I don't
>think blaming other software that is not known to have tagging issues with the mp4
>format is helping your case.

They are called iTunes m4a tags, that means we only have to test with iTunes, if that works we do not have to fix other programs incompatibilities with the 'standard'. Just like for WMA tags, if WMP reads them there is no need to test foobar, it is upto them to fix their program so they can read tags that the standard program is able to read.

>Cannot convert to Apple Lossless. I get the same "freezing" issue as with the m4a utilities you have posted.

Try enabling debug mode, and look in the temp folder for a DGBxxxx.txt file

[Deano]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

They are called iTunes m4a tags, that means we only have to test with iTunes, if that works we do not have to fix other programs incompatibilities with the 'standard'. Just like for WMA tags, if WMP reads them there is no need to test foobar, it is upto them to fix their program so they can read tags that the standard program is able to read.

If my company said that to our users about the standard formats our program produced as output, I think we would have a lot of disgruntled customers. I am simply trying to point out that there is something weird going on. If you have no desire to fix it, then that is your problem I suppose. I doubt I will be the only one to complain about the functionality. If Foobar2000 can write tags that work in dBpowerAMP popups and iTunes, then there is something suspect going on.

Nevermind.

Try enabling debug mode, and look in the temp folder for a DGBxxxx.txt file

Done. No temporary files were produced in either my local documents temporary folder, nor c:\windows\temp with the supplied file mask.

Please note, freezing issue occurs if I hit the "List/Rename" button. I have tried changing the output location to be a dynamic location and the original folder location. Cannot get it to work properly.

[Deano]

Re: m4a Codec Beta (AAC and Apple Lossless)

More information obtained on the ALAC issue:

- I converted a FLAC file to WAV format.
- I converted this WAV to an ALAC successfully.
- Tags seem to be read fine.

Tags in my FLAC files may cause issue I suppose. I do have them Replaygain'd (if that would be an issue I am unsure), but other than that they contain the standard tags such as Artist, Title, Genre, Tracknumber, Year, Discnumber etc.

To test the theory I converted my FLAC file to WavPack (which caused no issues), and then converted that file into an ALAC file with no issues either. So I am wondering what the hell is stopping a straight FLAC to ALAC conversion?

To make sure I tried again and now it works. What... the... flaming... hell? I am truly baffled by the sudden "working" nature of the FLAC -> ALAC conversion when it was not working in the first place.

*shrugs* Can you shed any light? Or was I halucinating?

Edit

Ok, this is ridiculous. It's not working again now (3 minutes after it did the first time). Ran through the same procedure as above (converting to WAV), but when converting the WAV to ALAC, it freezes.

I think there is something strange going on with the dynamic naming code (seems as the List/Rename button also causes it to seize up). Other than that, I don't know how else to help. Especially seems as there are no diagnostics being produced. Please note: I have tried converting this file to lots of other formats (WavPack, Vorbis, MP3) and get none of these same issues.

I also still get intermittent crashes when reaching the end of a conversion (on the 2/3 times I managed to get ALAC to actually work).