LameXP v3.18 Final, Hotfix-2 (2010-05-08) [Archive] - Page 2

Ajax_Undone

29th September 2008, 16:32

Its ok I was just needing to convert all of my Joint Stereo MP3's to just plain Stereo so my PSP can play them and I wanted to retain the origanal folder with out making a ton of (2) files...

EDIT***Or the ability to add a folder into queue and recreate the folder structure else where so one could retain both Either one works for me... If retention of the original source is the problem with the first idea this solves the problem...

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 16:37

Taurus

29th September 2008, 16:40

An "Overwrite" is a bad idea, because if the source was a WAVE file and the output is a MP3 file, you won't the output to be saved to "foobar.wav", right?
I could add an "Delete input files after conversion" option, but I think such option is pretty dangerous. I need to think about it...
Don't even think about it!
So many times I got fooled by programs cleaning the dishes and wiping the floor after they're closed.
Meaning, it is good thinking to decide what's kept and what's lost for yourself.
And "crtl + a" or "crtl + del" is so fast to do :p
If necessary for the Power User bury it somewhere in the options/options...tray or a many newbs will come after you:
Yelling: "Where are my source files gone?"
My 2 Cents.

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 16:54

I could move them to "reclye bin" instead of wiping them out immediately. Not even sure about that...

Ajax_Undone

29th September 2008, 16:54

Like I said I want to retain the original folder structure to keep the files organized...

Ajax_Undone

29th September 2008, 16:55

*recycle bin) That woks.

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 16:59

The problem is, I cannot delete/recycle the source file, until the output file was written.
So even if I delete the "foobar.mp3" source file after the conversion is completed, I'd still need to write the output to "foobar (2).mp3".
Both files, source and output, must exists during the encoding process...

Ajax_Undone

29th September 2008, 17:01

So maybe if the creation of the folder structure else where with the converted files...

Both source and destination can exist under this type of setup...

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 17:11

So maybe if the creation of the folder structure else where with the converted files...

Both source and destination can exist under this type of setup...

I may consider adding a "Retain directory structure" option to a future version.
But I need to think of a proper way to implement that...

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 18:31

LameXP v3.05 Final :)

Changes between v3.04 and v3.05:
* Added support for Nero AAC encoder v1.3.3.0
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated LAME encoder to v3.98.2 Final (2008-09-24)

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 21:29

When removing shell context menus in v3.05, LameXP just hangs/freezes with the "Removing shell context menus, please wait " message.

v3.04 works properly when doing this

(XP pro, SP2)

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 21:32

When removing shell context menus in v3.05, LameXP just hangs/freezes with the "Removing shell context menus, please wait " message.

v3.04 works properly when doing this

(XP pro, SP2)

There were no changes on this feature between v3.04 and v3.05 ...

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 21:33

There were no changes on this feature between v3.04 and v3.05 ...

Hmm... interesting. I'll investigate farther but I just tested both of them several times. Maybe I'll try downloading v3.05 again - If I find anything interesting I'll update you. Thanks

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 21:39

Hmm... interesting. I'll investigate farther but I just tested both of them several times. Maybe I'll try downloading v3.05 again - If I find anything interesting I'll update you. Thanks

Does it only hang or do you get any errors? Also check the "%APPDATA%\MuldeR\LameXP\Debug.log" file, please.

And did you wait a while, maybe it only takes a while to complete work? ...

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 22:07

There is a dialog box that pops up and says "Shell context menus have been removed" and I push ok , but the program hangs and underneath it says "Removing shell context menus, please wait". I waited a few minutes each time and have to force it closed in task manager.

I cannot find an error log file

Conversions work fine, it's just that I can't diable the context menus

I was wrong, both 3.04 and 3.05 exhibit this behavior. It might be something specific on my system. Not a big deal for me, I can live with it.

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 22:14

There is a dialog box that pops up and says "Shell context menus have been removed" and I push ok , but the program hangs and underneath it says "Removing shell context menus, please wait". I waited a few minutes each time and have to force it closed in task manager.

That makes no sense to me at all :confused:

The "Shell context menus have been removed" dialog pops up when all work is done. I'll have to check again...

I cannot find an error log file

Then we know that no exception error has occurred at least...

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 22:25

Yeah it's weird. Although I get the "Shell context menus have been removed" dialog box, they are not when I right click on an audio file

I tried rebooting several times as well.

http://i37.tinypic.com/14cqpme.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/2z4ltmo.jpg

Not sure if this is related, but I downloaded a different version from a mirror on VideoHelp and got a virus warning (No virus warning on other mirrors, and filesizes were identical). Probably a false alarm, but only the VideoHelp mirror gave that warning (e.g. a mediafire mirror on your webpage did not)

http://i34.tinypic.com/28anbcz.jpg

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 22:34

I'm not in charge of the VideoHelp mirror, but I got various reports of false positives in "LameXP.exe" already :mad:

It seems many a/v tools blindly throw an alert for "packed" executables. Obviously this is very stupid, but it's a widely used behavior :rolleyes:

Did you bindiff my file against the file from VideoHelp or compare the hashes?

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 22:41

I'm sorry I don't know what "bindiff" is or how to compare hashes...

They all scanned clean with several antivirus programs, it just during the download, the version from VideoHelp gives a warning - no idea why

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 22:48

You can use the "MD5-Checksum" tools from here, for example:
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-utilities.html

Calculate the hashes for both EXE files. If the hashes differ, then the files differ.
Same hashes almost certainly mean that the files are bit-identical...

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 22:54

Yes they are same from all mirrors that I tested, including VideoHelp's

I take it you can't replicate what I'm experiencing? Must be something on this system then.

Like I said, not a big deal for me.

Cheers

LoRd_MuldeR

29th September 2008, 23:10

Yes they are same from all mirrors that I tested, including VideoHelp's

So there is absoultely no reason why it should alert for the file from VideoHelp mirror, but not for the file from other mirrors.

If it was a false positive once again, it would happen from all mirrors...

I take it you can't replicate what I'm experiencing? Must be something on this system then.

This is the code in question:

procedure TForm_Main.Menu_DisableShellIntegrationClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
if Menu_DisableShellIntegration.Checked then
begin
if MessageBox(WindowHandle, PAnsiChar(LangStr('Message_ShellIntegrationRemoveWarning', self.Name)), 'LameXP', MB_ICONWARNING or MB_OKCANCEL or MB_DEFBUTTON2) = ID_OK then
begin
ToggleShellIntegration(False);
MessageBox(WindowHandle, PAnsiChar(LangStr('Message_ShellIntegrationRemoveDone', self.Name)), 'LameXP', MB_ICONINFORMATION);
end else begin
Menu_DisableShellIntegration.Checked := False;
end;
end else begin
ToggleShellIntegration(True);
MessageBox(WindowHandle, PAnsiChar(LangStr('Message_ShellIntegrationCreated', self.Name)), 'LameXP', MB_ICONINFORMATION);
end;
end;

I don't see any possibility how it can hang after returning from ToggleShellIntegration() and displaying the "Message_ShellIntegrationRemoveDone" message :confused:

Makes no sense to me. And I cannot reproduce such problem here ...

poisondeathray

29th September 2008, 23:39

Thanks for looking into it. If no one else reports something similar it must be something on my system :)

Just for fun, I tried downloading again, and that VideoHelp mirror always flags the virus alert, but other download mirrors do not, and yet they all have the same MD5 hash checksum

I can always remove it from the context menus using the folder options - but it doesn't bother me that much

Cheers

LoRd_MuldeR

2nd October 2008, 23:37

New build available now :)

Fixed a bug with calculation of free diskspace and added an option to add an entire directory or directory-tree...

Changes between v3.04 and v3.05:
* Added support for Nero AAC encoder v1.3.3.0
* Added option to add an entire directory or an entire directory-tree
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated LAME encoder to v3.98.2 Final (2008-09-24)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.7.6 (2008-09-12)

LoRd_MuldeR

4th October 2008, 04:09

And another new build :)

Included more updated language files and fixed a minor problem with adding a directory-tree...

LoRd_MuldeR

6th October 2008, 01:57

New build with more mutli-language updates available now :)

Also a workaround for the WMA Decoder has been implemented, because it seems to be not multi-instance safe...

LoRd_MuldeR

6th October 2008, 16:49

Introducing the dropbox :D

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/9576/lamexpdropbox1cm1.th.png (http://img388.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lamexpdropbox1cm1.png) http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/2487/lamexpdropbox2tx3.th.png (http://img388.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lamexpdropbox2tx3.png)

parsifal

6th October 2008, 17:04

Hehe, someone's been busy! Nice feature! Is it resizable? Seems a little big, compared to dropboxes used by other apps (FlashGet comes to mind)...

LoRd_MuldeR

6th October 2008, 17:11

Is it resizable?

Nope. Should I make it smaller? I though 128x128 is okay. Look at LamedropXPd (http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/LamedropXPd-2.png) for example...

parsifal

6th October 2008, 17:26

Personally, I find it a little big. Others might not agree. That's why I asked whether it is resizable or not. Let the user decide, and the developer needs worry only about the default size!

Some other dropbox suggestions to think about: Adjustable transparency, dockable.

tipsypenguin

6th October 2008, 20:17

maybe I'm slow but what is the dropbox?

parsifal

6th October 2008, 20:49

Dropbox is the term used for describing a floating control (usually rectangular, hence the "-box") detached from the main program's GUI, onto which you can drag 'n' drop (hence the "drop-") items (usually files), instead of using the more established GUI controls such as "File" menus or "Add" buttons. A quicker and more intuitive way of assembling a list of items for processing.

johnsonlam

8th October 2008, 07:05

johnsonlam

8th October 2008, 07:09

DUDE!!
For the love of all that is good and pure in this world - get rid of the damn sounds!!! I virtually shitted my pants after accidentally clicking on "About" button. And the damn melody that plays after encode freaked my mother out late at night (I usually don't switch the speakers off).
So please... :D

That's really horrifying in the midnight, I just feel the joke can be accepted if Lord_Mulder can tune it down 5db, it's too loud.

Or ask "Are you brave?" first.

Taurus

8th October 2008, 10:34

I don't get it,
how and where to enable/disable the dropdown box?
On XP SP3, all visual enhancements disabled.
It's not a big thing to me, I can drag/drop to the main window.
But just for the sake of curiosity...

XhmikosR

8th October 2008, 10:51

Maybe, it will be implemented in the next version? Just guessing.:)

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 14:17

1) If the non-Unicode option set to English (Control Panel -> Regional and Language Option -> Advanced), even changed language in LameXP the characters will not display correctly, it looks like the program just load another character set but didn't tell the system DLL that change the display locale

What Codepage did you select for "none-Uniode" applications? And what language do you want to display?

Note that you need to reboot your system after changing the Codepage in order to make this change take effect...

You can check your current Codepage with that tool:
http://opensvn.csie.org/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/LameXP/src/translations/WhatsMyCodepage.exe?root=mulder1984

2) LameXP will have error decoding some of the FLAC processed by Audition (filter by VuPlayer's author), Foobar2000 can play and change the tag info correctly, so I doubt the LameXP package (flac decoder 1.2.0) may have problem.

Please, what does the log say? I have to assume the FLAC decoder simply doesn't like your file.

A sample file would help me to investigate the problem...

Thanks for your program, it works great .... except the loading a bit slow (.net?)

.NET ??? Are you making jokes? :mad:

This is oldshool Delphi 7, a native Win32 application :p

The startup time is what you have to pay for the fully "self-contained" EXE file...

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 14:20

I don't get it,
how and where to enable/disable the dropdown box?

In the latest release version: Nowhere, because there is no Dropbox :p

In future versions: Click the "Add File" button and select "Show Dropbox" from the popup menu :cool:

BTW: Of course you can drop files on the main window, but people want something that stays on top when they switch to Explorer (for example).

tipsypenguin

8th October 2008, 14:50

maybe it's because I use Vista but drag and drop on the main window has never worked for me. there is no error or anything it just doesn't add files. I run LameXP as admin but that doesn't make any difference.

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 14:57

It works in WindowsXP and it even works in Linux/Wine. So the problem obviously is Vista!

I don't use Vista and I'm not planning to do so. But maybe Vista doesn't allow Drag&Drop in order to "improve" your security? :rolleyes:

XhmikosR

8th October 2008, 15:14

Drag&Drop works in Vista just fine, here. Tipsypenguin, do you have UAC enabled?

olnima

8th October 2008, 15:49

...but people want something that stays on top when they switch to Explorer (for example).

My sweet Lord (George Harrison) :),
how about just implementing a checkbox to set the main-window topmost?

Olnima

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 15:53

My sweet Lord (George Harrison) :),
how about just implementing a checkbox to set the main-window topmost?

Olnima

Nope. We have the Dropbox now, which will always stay on top (if enabled) and which takes far less space on the screen ;)

(I'm strictly against adding more options than we really need)

tipsypenguin

8th October 2008, 17:06

yes I have UAC enabled. I thought running it with admin enabled it would work normal but I guess not.

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 17:39

yes I have UAC enabled. I thought running it with admin enabled it would work normal but I guess not.

Maybe you are not allowed to drag files from a less privileged process to a privileged one ???

So try running both processes, LameXP and the other one (most likely "Explorer.exe", if that one still exists), as Admin and try again.

XhmikosR

8th October 2008, 17:42

The cause must be the UAC, because I also am a system admin. I have it always disabled, and I don't face any problems.

tipsypenguin

8th October 2008, 19:15

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 19:24

I found out after searching that drag and drop does not work between processes which were started with administrator privileges and normal. explorer runs as normal and can't be changed. if I run LameXP as normal then drag and drop works again. I can't remember why I decided to run it as admin.

Well, this makes sense. And it approves my "don't drag from unprivileged to privileged" theory.

LameXP shouldn't need any Admin rights, unless Vista puts some bizarre restrictions on none-Admin processes.
It runs on WindowsXP in a "guest" account just fine...

tipsypenguin

8th October 2008, 19:59

I ran some tests and LameXP seemed to run fine in normal. I can't figure out why I would give it admin privileges but it runs fine in normal so I will leave it set there.

I did notice something else though. the cancel button on the create new folder box is in German.

http://i38.tinypic.com/291f1ao.jpg

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 20:47

Think I said this 100 times, but: It's a Standard Delphi QueryBox - it's not translatable and it's German, because my Delphi is German ;)

I will replace it with my own custom dialog when I'm in the mood to do so :p

tipsypenguin

8th October 2008, 21:39

oh well that makes sense then. I just thought it was something that was missed. I've never noticed it before because I usually check the box to save to the same directory.

LoRd_MuldeR

8th October 2008, 22:54

oh well that makes sense then. I just thought it was something that was missed. I've never noticed it before because I usually check the box to save to the same directory.

It's done :)

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1303/queryboxpb5.png

LoRd_MuldeR

9th October 2008, 03:17

New build available now :)

Changes between v3.04 and v3.05:
* Added support for Nero AAC encoder v1.3.3.0
* Added option to add an entire directory or an entire directory-tree
* Added Dropbox for improved Drag&Drop support
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated LAME encoder to v3.98.2 Final (2008-09-24)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.7.6 (2008-09-12)

tipsypenguin

9th October 2008, 15:03

I'm getting an error when I right click on the main window and select add. and also when it checks for update. I don't see an error log. where would an error log show up if one was produced?

http://i38.tinypic.com/r0e3kk.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/2v1kymr.jpg

XhmikosR

9th October 2008, 15:13

Yes, I'm getting the same errors as tipsypenguin too.
After deleting the key in registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MuldeR

I don't get the error when checking for updates, but when I right click to add a file I still get the error tipsypenguin reports.

Drag&Drop works fine though as usually.

I also deleted the folder of LameXP in C:\Users\XhmikosR\AppData\Roaming, but nothing changed.

OS: Vista Business 32-bit, LameXP 3.05 Hotfix 4

Hope it helps.:)

LoRd_MuldeR

9th October 2008, 15:36

http://i38.tinypic.com/r0e3kk.jpg

That is a regression error, sorry :mad:

Fixed in SVN :p

http://i37.tinypic.com/2v1kymr.jpg

This simply happens when the server is down or busy. Try again a few minutes later...

LoRd_MuldeR

11th October 2008, 01:24

New build available now :)

Changes between v3.04 and v3.05:
* Added support for Nero AAC encoder v1.3.3.0
* Added option to add an entire directory or an entire directory-tree
* Added new languages: Russian, Nederlands, Greek and Ungarian
* Added Dropbox for improved Drag&Drop support
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated LAME encoder to v3.98.2 Final (2008-09-24)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.7.6 (2008-09-12)

Also the regression mentioned by tipsypenguin (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1192995#post1192995) has been fixed.

johnsonlam

11th October 2008, 03:50

What Codepage did you select for "none-Uniode" applications? And what language do you want to display?

Chinese, just for fun.
Usually I didn't use Chinese though I'm a Chinese ;)

Note that you need to reboot your system after changing the Codepage in order to make this change take effect...

Some of the programs can change immediately, don't know how they did it
Just for your information

You can check your current Codepage with that tool:
http://opensvn.csie.org/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/LameXP/src/translations/WhatsMyCodepage.exe?root=mulder1984

Thanks.
I'm using English which installed Asian languages

Please, what does the log say? I have to assume the FLAC decoder simply doesn't like your file.

A sample file would help me to investigate the problem...

I'll try creating a shorter FLAC for you, currently I'm not in home right now, will send you a bit later

.NET ??? Are you making jokes? :mad:

This is oldshool Delphi 7, a native Win32 application :p

Just guess, because .NET loading extreme slow

The startup time is what you have to pay for the fully "self-contained" EXE file...

Now I set the TEMP to RAMdrive, feel much better :thanks:

LoRd_MuldeR

11th October 2008, 04:02

Some of the programs can change immediately, don't know how they did it

I know how they do it: Unicode :D

LameXP doesn't use Unicode, because my Delphi doesn't support Unicode and I'm currently not willing to change that fact.
Since I have to use ANSI with limited character set, not all languages can be displayed properly at the same time.
What languages can be displayed depends on your current Codepage. LameXP will remind you, if your current Codepage is wrong.

AFAIK Windows can't change the Codepage for None-Unicode apps without a reboot. It'll asks for the Windows CD too.
But we can assume that Chinese/Taiwanese people already use the "Chinese Simplified" Codepage anyway...

I'll try creating a shorter FLAC for you, currently I'm not in home right now, will send you a bit later

If an item fails ("Stop" icon) you can double-click that item in order to show the log. You may want to post the log also :)

LoRd_MuldeR

15th October 2008, 02:35

LameXP 2008-10-15 :)

Changes between v3.05 and v3.06:
* Added a custom build of the mpg123 decoder v1.5.1
* Added one more language: Romanian
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Fixed a few minor bugs

LoRd_MuldeR

16th October 2008, 17:54

LameXP 2008-10-16 :)

Changes between v3.05 and v3.06:
* Added a custom build of the mpg123 decoder v1.5.1
* Added one more language: Romanian
* Updated AC3 Filter Tools to v0.2a
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Fixed and improved "Normalization" filter
* Fixed a few minor bugs

Octo-puss

16th October 2008, 18:39

I better take a look what's new. Haven't encoded anything for 3 months :)

LoRd_MuldeR

21st October 2008, 03:27

LameXP 2008-10-21 :)

Changes between v3.05 and v3.06:
* Added a custom build of the mpg123 decoder v1.5.1
* Added one more language: Romanian
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.7.7 (2008-10-17)
* Updated AC3 Filter Tools to v0.2a (2008-06-30)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Fixed and improved "Normalization" filter
* Fixed a few minor bugs

LoRd_MuldeR

26th October 2008, 05:38

LameXP 2008-20-26 :)

Changes between v3.05 and v3.06:
* Added a custom build of the mpg123 decoder v1.5.1
* Added two more languages: Romanian and Polish
* Added support for the ALAC audio format
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.7.7 (2008-10-17)
* Updated AC3 Filter Tools to v0.2a (2008-06-30)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Fixed and improved "Normalization" filter
* Fixed a few minor bugs

boyumeow

4th November 2008, 15:56

A feature request for LameXP, just wonder could U add a "Gain" feature while encoding, which I could increase or decrease the volume of some of my songs as they are either too soft or too loud when I play them in my PSP. Greatly appreciated if U add it, but would still Greatly appreciated cos' U r very much smarter than me (U make good stuff). Thanks.

LoRd_MuldeR

4th November 2008, 16:13

littleD

4th November 2008, 16:31

ReplayGain (I assume) and normalization are not the same thing.

LoRd_MuldeR

4th November 2008, 16:42

ReplayGain (I assume) and normalization are not the same thing.

Not exactly. ReplayGain will add a tag to the file, so the player will do the volume adjustment at playback time.
If the player doesn't respect ReplayGain, then no adjustment is applied at all! The "gain" will be ignored.

Normalization will change the volume in the audio stream, so it works with all players - no processing needed at playback time.
And since LameXP is used for re-encoding tasks only, performing a "real" normalization is the preferred way to go.

In case you need to apply ReplayGain to existing MP3 files, LameXP is not your tool...

littleD

4th November 2008, 16:50

LoRd_MuldeR

4th November 2008, 17:19

Ur correct, but normalization goes to highest possibly volume level (withoust artifacts) and repalygain desire level is 89db and is lossless :) Both are for those who know what to do with it. But why not to be used during transcoding?

1. LameXP is for re-encoding. Either from Wave to a lossy format -or- from a lossy format to another lossy format. So re-encoding is inherently lossy!

2. The "Volume Normalization" filter allows you to select any peak-value you want. The default is "-0.1 db", but you can choose whatever suits your needs...

3. There's no need to use ReplayGain, if you are re-encoding (transcoding) anyway. You can simply apply a proper normalization.

boyumeow

5th November 2008, 07:59

Sorry for the request I ask, I thought "Volume Normalization" is to limit the height of the wave length rather than amplified it. Guess I should have try the filter b4 I post my request. Hope U r not angry over it, thanks.
I still think LameXP is good except that it can't read *.cda from my audio CDs, which I had to rip it to wave b4 I encode it to MP3. Mind if I ask, is there any way for LameXP to read *.cda and encode, and how? Thanks for Ur fast attention and the good software.

LoRd_MuldeR

5th November 2008, 13:23

Sorry for the request I ask, I thought "Volume Normalization" is to limit the height of the wave length rather than amplified it.

Normalization will either lower -or- raise the volume.

It will amplify your track in a way that the loudest part of it gets as close as possible to the desired peak value (but doesn't exceed it).

I still think LameXP is good except that it can't read *.cda from my audio CDs, which I had to rip it to wave b4 I encode it to MP3. Mind if I ask, is there any way for LameXP to read *.cda and encode, and how? Thanks for Ur fast attention and the good software.

There is no such thing as .cda files. The .cda files you may see in Windows Explorer are "dummy" files (44 byte in size) generated my M$ Windows :p

On an Audio-CD there is no "data" track! Hence there aren't any files on such discs. There only are several "audio" tracks and that's it!

If you want to extract the audio tracks from an Audio-CD, you need a CD ripper such as CDex or EAC...

LoRd_MuldeR

24th December 2008, 17:14

Merry Xmas :D

Changes between v3.06 and v3.07:
* Added an option to disable multi-threading on multi-core machines
* Updated Ogg Vorbis encoder to v2.85, libvorbis v1.2.1 RC2, aoTuV b5.61 (2008-12-24)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.6.3 (2008-12-20)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.8.0 (2008-12-10)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)

aoTuV Beta5.61 [beta5.6 >> beta5.61] (2008/12/16)
# Fixed the error to occur by specific software.

aoTuV Beta5.6 [beta5.5 >> beta5.6] (2008/12/10)
# Important! The security hole of old libvorbis origin was fixed like latest libvorbis. The software using the decode function of the former library should be updated to the latest library. This problem does not influence the encode function.
# Reduced distortion by clipping at low sampling frequency and/or low bitrate.
# Fixed noise control part of impulse block added in the beta5.5.
# Tuning of each part was redone according to above-mentioned changed part.

tipsypenguin

24th December 2008, 23:33

Thanks for the new version

~bT~

25th December 2008, 11:41

thanx for the new version and merry xmas :D

belorus

15th January 2009, 01:34

May be add portable mode? (Added in folder INI or XML or REG file and don't create registry setting [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MuldeR\LameXP])
Sorry, if the question asked.

LoRd_MuldeR

15th January 2009, 01:40

May be add portable mode? (Added in folder INI or XML or REG file and don't create registry setting [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MuldeR\LameXP])
Sorry, if the question asked.

LameXP is 100% portable. It's just one standalone EXE file, which you can run from any "portable" media (e.g. USB Stick).

However storing configuration file in the application folder may lead to problems, as "restricted" users may not have write access there!

Windows has special locations (%APPDATA% and HKEY_CURRENT_USER) to store user-specific data for a reason...

belorus

16th January 2009, 07:48

Thank you for your reply!
However storing configuration file in the application folder may lead to problems, as "restricted" users may not have write access there!
Better make it optional.
The program is very good, but it is not enough.

LoRd_MuldeR

16th January 2009, 15:58

I don't see a reason why you want to port the configuration file along with the application.
As soon as you move the application to another computer, all the path and file names stored in the config file become invalid.
Better have one config file per computer, stored at the proper location: %APPDATA%

Inventive Software

16th January 2009, 22:36

AVG detected LameXP as a false-positive. :rolleyes:

tetsuox

17th January 2009, 00:39

AVG detected LameXP as a false-positive. :rolleyes:

AVG detects everything as a false positive! :rolleyes:

LoRd_MuldeR

17th January 2009, 12:18

AVG detected LameXP as a false-positive. :rolleyes:

Let me guess: The alert is something like "generic/heuristic.packed" aka "unwarranted/wild.speculation" :rolleyes:

I can only repeat myself: It's not my job to workaround buggy anti-virus software!

We can only guess what aspect of LameXP causes AVG's heuristics to trigger the false alert. And that may even change with any signature update.

False alerts are a major problem with a/v software these days. Personally I use AntiVir (http://free-av.com/en/download/index.html), which doesn't choke on any of my apps...

juGGaKNot

18th January 2009, 20:10

If you are willing to contribute a LameXP translation, then please contact me via PM. Thank you

Do you want romanian translation ?

LoRd_MuldeR

18th January 2009, 20:17

Do you want romanian translation ?

If you found any mistakes in the existing Romanian translation, I'd be happy to include your fixes :)

juGGaKNot

18th January 2009, 23:22

If you found any mistakes in the existing Romanian translation, I'd be happy to include your fixes :)

Damn, well i offer'd to do a good deed, not needed but still i did my work for this year :)

Inventive Software

19th January 2009, 15:43

Let me guess: The alert is something like "generic/heuristic.packed" aka "unwarranted/wild.speculation" :rolleyes:

I can only repeat myself: It's not my job to workaround buggy anti-virus software!

We can only guess what aspect of LameXP causes AVG's heuristics to trigger the false alert. And that may even change with any signature update.

False alerts are a major problem with a/v software these days. Personally I use AntiVir (http://free-av.com/en/download/index.html), which doesn't choke on any of my apps...

I know it's not infected (at least I think it's not), hence the ":rolleyes:". I know it's 99.9% likely a false positive. I'll give you the outlandish claim to a virus later (I think it was claimed to be a trojan, but can't remember what) when I find it in the Virus Vault, but currently I see no way to report it as a false-positive.

Incidentally, doesn't compressing an executable break most antivirii? :rolleyes:

LoRd_MuldeR

19th January 2009, 16:05

Incidentally, doesn't compressing an executable break most antivirii? :rolleyes:

Nope. Any proper Antivirus is able to detect packed EXE's (at least the common ones, like UPX) and is able to do it's detection on the uncompressed code.

Blindly suspecting any packed executable is just nonsense! If at all, they could display a warning like this:

This executable is packed. Unfortunately our software is not able to check packed files properly yet.
Note that malware may use this technique to obfuscate their code. However the packing of executables itself is not dangerous, many legitimate applications use it.
So most likely this file is innocent (clean), not infected at all.

[x] Do not display this warning again

Inventive Software

19th January 2009, 18:11

Oh, AVG reckoned it was Trojan.Generic10.AHFB. Ring a bell? *:rolleyes: @ AVG*

jfcarbel

23rd February 2009, 01:19

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 01:24

2 questions:

1. Is this application still considered an active project with planned updates coming in the future?

2. Was there a good reason that it does not have WMA support built in and is there any plans for WMA support? (By WMA support I mean decoding, that is to be able to convert WMA to mp3)

BTW - Added this app to the Delphi Wiki page (http://delphi.wikia.com/wiki/Good_Quality_Applications_Built_With_Delphi#Delphi_Open-Source_Applications.2FProjects) :)

1. Yes, it's still active. It will be updated, but there are currently no new features on my "to-do" list. Anyway, I will keep the encoders up to date.

2. WMA is supported already. Of course only as input. I'd never ever add output support for that crappy mess of an audio format!

~bT~

23rd February 2009, 01:25

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 01:31

@ LoRd_MuldeR

is it possible for you to add a feature where i can load an .aac file and have it wrapped in .m4a container (lossless)?

i have got a few downloaded mp4's (free) which contain .aac audio but i need to put them in .m4a container for my car stereo to recognise them..

You can rename any ".mp4" file to ".m4a" :p

These are just two different file extensions used for the very same file format, the MP4 container (that's the container AAC streams are usually stored in).

In case you really have a "raw" AAC stream, use MP4Box to mux it into MP4. There are MP4Box GUI's available, for example YAMB.

~bT~

23rd February 2009, 01:35

^ i have extracted the audio out of the .mp4 using YAMB.

i have tried extracting to .mp4 then renaming but the files don't work..

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 01:40

^ i have extracted the audio out of the .mp4 using YAMB.

You don't need to extract! If you have a ".mp4" file you can simply rename it to ".m4a" and vice versa.

The only reason why both extensions, ".mp4" and ".m4a", are used for MP4 files is because people want to associate audio and video files with different players.

Anyway, an MP4 file remains an MP4 file, no matter what extension (name) you give to it...

~bT~

23rd February 2009, 01:47

^ lol. the mp4 had video too. anyway, its not a big problem, i thought i'd ask just in case u had a trick up your sleeve :p

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 01:51

the mp4 had video too.

Then use YAMB to extract/remux only the audio stream to MP4, not to "raw" AAC.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6340/yambmp4.th.png (http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6340/yambmp4.png)

You can then rename the resulting MP4 file to ".m4a", if you like ;)

~bT~

23rd February 2009, 01:54

^ i did try that (no lolly) will try again. cheers for the tips :)

jfcarbel

23rd February 2009, 02:34

1. Yes, it's still active. It will be updated, but there are currently no new features on my "to-do" list. Anyway, I will keep the encoders up to date.

Do you entertain requests from users and if so is the forum the best way to post these? Of course, since I know Delphi I could always add features myself :)

2. WMA is supported already. Of course only as input. I'd never ever add output support for that crappy mess of an audio format!

LOL- I agree who wants to output this format. I kinda figured it was supported since WMP11 comes with all the codecs needed to decode just about any version of WMA. Just wanted to ask and confirm. SoftPedia review mentions this, so you might want them to clarify on their review that it does support it as input but not output. Also the free-codecs site does not list WMA as an accepted input format in its description.

Anyways I was looking for something very simple for the wife to use and this fits the bill. And works for me too when I want something quick to convert and don't need the bells and whistles of foobar. So Thanks!

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 02:48

Do you entertain requests from users and if so is the forum the best way to post these?

Well, you have to understand that I do this in my free time. And that time is limited ;)

So I'm always open for good ideas, but I cannot guarantee anything. At the moment I'm not working on LameXP actively.

Of course, since I know Delphi I could always add features myself :)

This is OpenSource software. You can do what ever you like, as long as you comply with the terms of the GPL :)

I kinda figured it was supported since WMP11 comes with all the codecs needed to decode just about any version of WMA.

Which doesn't mean that LameXP does support WMA. But it does. It uses a small CLI decoder provided by NCH Swift as a free download.

Just wanted to ask and confirm. SoftPedia review mentions this, so you might want them to clarify on their review that it does support it as input but not output. Also the free-codecs site does not list WMA as an accepted input format in its description.

I really can't review and correct any web-site that lists my software. It's the job of their webmasters/authors to keep the information up-to-date :rolleyes:

jfcarbel

23rd February 2009, 03:13

It uses a small CLI decoder provided by NCH Swift as a free download.

So in order to convert WMA to mp3 with LameXP I need to download a CLI decoder or is this already in your distro?

If not where can I find it for download.

About the GPL yes I am aware of open source licenses and will follow.

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 03:19

So in order to convert WMA to mp3 with LameXP I need to download a CLI decoder or is this already in your distro?

Did you ever use LameXP? It will ask you to whether you like to install the WMA Decoder or not.

If you agree, the WMA Dencoder will be download and installed for you. No further user interaction is needed for that.

I can't bundle the WMA Decoder with LameXP, because I'm not sure if redistributing is allowed. I asked the author, but I didn't get any answer.

If there was a simple OpenSource "wma2wav" CLI tool, I could use it instead of NCH Swift's tool. But I couldn't find any.

Anyway, the Nero AAC encoder isn't bundled with LameXP either. The Nero license clearly says that I'm not allowed to redistribute it.

BTW: Of course there is no way to convert DRM-infected WMA files :rolleyes:

jfcarbel

23rd February 2009, 04:06

If you agree, the WMA Dencoder will be download and installed for you. No further user interaction is needed for that.

Got it, the program is installed and working great. Curious - Where does the CLI executable get copied to when downloaded?

I already downloaded the Nero AAC Encoder so I just need to point LameXP to it.

Great program - Thanks!

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd February 2009, 04:18

Curious - Where does the CLI executable get copied to when downloaded?

All the CLI decoders/encoders that ship with LameXP are extracted to your %TEMP% folder at runtime.

The WMA Decoder will be installed to one of these locations, depending on your user permissions:
* C:\Program Files (x86)\NCH Software\Components\wmawav\wmawav.exe
* C:\Documents and Settings\John Doe\NCH Software\Components\wmawav\wmawav.exe

(Of course LameXP is able to find it at both locations ^^)

tipsypenguin

2nd March 2009, 05:01

I've got some m4b audiobooks I need to convert. any plans to support that file type as an input? or do you think the rename trick would work?

LoRd_MuldeR

2nd March 2009, 11:52

I've got some m4b audiobooks I need to convert. any plans to support that file type as an input? or do you think the rename trick would work?

The extension ".m4b" is simply one file extension out of many that is commonly used for MP4 files.

So it's not a "file type" for which support can be added. It's only a naming convention.

Because MP4 files already are support as input, but ".m4b" is not associated with MP4 yet, please rename your ".m4b" file to ".mp4" and try again!

(Of course the "audiobook" cannot be converted if DRM is involved. But you probably knew that)

~bT~

4th March 2009, 03:39

will u be adding flac support soon?

LoRd_MuldeR

4th March 2009, 03:44

will u be adding flac support soon?

FLAC already is supported :p

~bT~

4th March 2009, 03:58

yeah? what, conversion to flac? :thinks:

LoRd_MuldeR

4th March 2009, 04:00

yeah? what, conversion to flac? :thinks:

Conversion from FLAC :)

~bT~

4th March 2009, 04:05

^ no good :p

LoRd_MuldeR

4th March 2009, 04:13

Currently I'm not planning to add yet another encoder to LameXP.

Adding a new encoder is much more work than adding a decoder, because an encoder requires new GUI options, so the layout needs to be redesigned...

~bT~

4th March 2009, 04:18

^ its cool. i've found another. cheers anyway.

LoRd_MuldeR

5th March 2009, 16:34

LameXP v3.08 :)

Changes between v3.07 and v3.08:
* Updated Ogg Vorbis encoder to v2.85, libvorbis v1.2.1 RC2, aoTuV b5.7 (2009-03-04)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.6.4 (2009-01-10)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.11.0 (2009-02-13)

aoTuV Beta5.7 [beta5.61 >> beta5.7] (2009/03/03)
* Improvement of the encoding speed of low bitrate mode. (Around 11% at the max)
* Fixed some bugs.

-Phantom-

19th March 2009, 06:14

problem
i convert 2 albums, all files have tags including tracknumber, i drop 2 folders to encode, files sucsessfully converted, but there is problem with tracknumbers in output files

folder 1\file 1 (tracknumber 1) -> file 1 (tracknumber 1)
folder 1\file 2 (tracknumber 2) -> file 2 (tracknumber 2)
folder 2\file 1 (tracknumber 1) -> file 1 (tracknumber 3)
folder 2\file 2 (tracknumber 2) -> file 2 (tracknumber 4)

LoRd_MuldeR

19th March 2009, 15:32

Yes, LameXP sets the tracknumber according to the file's position in the listbox.

In your case you simply shouldn't add both albums to LameXP's list at the same time -or- edit the tracknumbers afterwards.

After all it's just "meta" information, which you can edit at any time...

b66pak

6th May 2009, 19:44

thanks
_

LoRd_MuldeR

22nd May 2009, 14:26

LameXP v3.09 :)

Changes between v3.08 and v3.09:
* Added support for detecting the file type via MediaInfo instead of guessing the type from file extension
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.7.3 (2009-04-27)
* Updated FAAD decoder to v2.7 (2009-05-13)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.16.0 (2009-05-20)
* Fixed detection of the WMA decoder under certain circumstances (e.g. Windows 7)

Note that this version introduces a new file type detection system: LameXP will now use MediaInfo to detect the type of an input file instead of guessing the type from the file's extension. This not only is more robust, but also handles files with "wrong" extensions correctly and allows types like "AC3/DTS in Wave" to be supported. I tested the new detection system with various samples and it seems to work flawlessly. Anyway, if you encounter any files that should be supported by LameXP, but aren't detected correctly, please send me samples! You can still turn off MediaInfo in advanced options, but it is highy recommended to NOT do that, because in that case LameXP will fall back to the old extension-based detection system with all its drawbacks...

b66pak

22nd May 2009, 18:54

thanks...what is the wma filter used by this apps? (who's the dev?)
_

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd May 2009, 03:03

thanks...what is the wma filter used by this apps? (who's the dev?)
_

WMA filter :confused:

b66pak

24th May 2009, 17:57

decoder (codec)...
_

LoRd_MuldeR

24th May 2009, 18:08

I use a simple CLI tool called "wmawav.exe" for decoding WMA files to Wave.

Since it's not GPL'd I cannot ship it with LameXP, but need to download it from their homepage. The download is free for the public:
http://www.nch.com.au/components/index.html

(I'm still looking for a more satisfactory solution tough, like some simple CLI WMA decoder based on ffmpeg)

LoRd_MuldeR

1st June 2009, 15:32

LameXP v3.10 :)

Changes between v3.10 and v3.09:
* Added a NSIS-based installer (will be released in addition to the ZIP package)
* Added support for the TAK lossless audio format
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.8.0 RC-2 (2009-05-24)
* Updated the "Normalization" filter to allow multiple instances running in parallel
* Fixed a few minor issues

b66pak

1st June 2009, 19:32

thanks...
_

LoRd_MuldeR

4th June 2009, 22:23

LameXP v3.10, Hotfix-1 :)

Changes between v3.09 and v3.10:
* Added a NSIS-based installer (will be released in addition to the ZIP package)
* Added support for the TAK lossless audio format
* Added one new language: Serbian (Latin)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated MediaInfo to a custom build of v0.7.16 that is statically linked (and removed the DLL)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.8.0 RC-2 (2009-05-24)
* Updated Musepack decoder to v1.0.0 (2009-04-02) and fixed Musepack VS8 support
* Updated Monkey's Audio decoder to v4.06 (2009-03-17)
* Updated the "Normalization" filter to allow multiple instances running in parallel
* Fixed a few minor issues and refactored the code

boyumeow

5th June 2009, 04:53

LoRd_MuldeR

5th June 2009, 13:20

Sorry to make 1 simple comment or correction, inside the ZIP package "Contributors.txt" under the column [TW], maybe should state as Traditional Chinese. I will still respect the [TW] contributor if that is what she/he wants. Thanks and forgive me if I m too calculative.

Can you clear this up a bit? We have a "Simplified Chinese" and a "Taiwanese" translation. I personally don't speak any of these languages, so I must rely on the contributors to submit the correct translations. Why exactly do you think that "Taiwanese" should be "Traditional Chinese" instead? Is this really a translation issue or more a political thing? Thanks...

boyumeow

6th June 2009, 17:03

LoRd_MuldeR

6th June 2009, 17:20

Sorry if I create any trouble to U. Usually in China they standardise as using Simplified Chinese (the simplified way of writing a Chinese characters). While Taiwan, HongKong and area near to HK, they use the Traditional Chinese (the olden way of writing Chinese characters). As for me, I prefer to read Traditional Chinese (look very much nicer and meaningful:D), but write in Simplified Chinese (easy and less stroke to write:o).

So if we call the "Traditional Chinese" translation "Taiwanese", this should be okay, as that's the location where they actually use/understand that, right?

Also what would be the ISO language code for "Traditional Chinese", when CN is already used for "Simplified Chinese" :confused:

Yeah, that's the sort of problems you run into when you try to make a multi-language application, but you don't know a thing about Asian languages :o

boyumeow

6th June 2009, 17:38

Hehe, if U understand Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese is way too easy to recognise. But its not easy to understand Traditional Chinese if learn from Simplified Chinese. Btw, CN is China in-short while TW is Taiwan. I think they use TC for Traditional Chinese and SC for Simplified Chinese. Hope I never create more trouble to U:devil:. Thanks.

LoRd_MuldeR

6th June 2009, 20:22

St Devious

8th June 2009, 05:25

where does it take the path of the lame codec ? do you need to put the lame.exe file or lame_enc.dll file somewhere ?

LoRd_MuldeR

8th June 2009, 10:20

where does it take the path of the lame codec?

You cannot adjust that path. LameXP will set the path at startup and that's it ;)

do you need to put the lame.exe file or lame_enc.dll file somewhere?

Nope. All encoders, except for Nero AAC, are included in LameXP :cool:

boyumeow

8th June 2009, 10:43

Here is a new test build:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ngizidhw2ny/LameXP.2009-06-06.Test-1.zip

Added Ukrainian translation by arestarh (http://forum.doom9.org/member.php?u=159600), updated MPG123 decoder to 1.8 RC-3 and renamed "Taiwanese" to "Taiwanese/Chinese (Traditional)".

Hope that is okay for you, boyumeow ;)

Wowowow... R u releasing a new build b'cos of me :eek:. I wasn't intend for the update so fast or correction at all, I respect everything make by the devs and contributors, sorry if I really increase ur work load. Thanks and keep up the good works in life, and don't forget to give urself good rest and enjoyments :D.

St Devious

8th June 2009, 14:22

You cannot adjust that path. LameXP will set the path at startup and that's it ;)

Nope. All encoders, except for Nero AAC, are included in LameXP :cool:

so is the lame encoder file included in the lamexp.exe file ?

LoRd_MuldeR

8th June 2009, 16:08

so is the lame encoder file included in the lamexp.exe file ?

Exactly.

(Right-click on the titlebar and choose "System Information", then look for the "Tools" folder)

Wowowow... R u releasing a new build b'cos of me :eek:

There were some other changes as well. Also there's nothing special about a new build...

LoRd_MuldeR

11th June 2009, 23:49

LameXP v3.10, Hotfix-2 :)

Changes between v3.09 and v3.10:
* Added a NSIS-based installer (will be released in addition to the ZIP package)
* Added support for the TAK lossless audio format
* Added two new languages: Serbian (Latin) and Ukrainian
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated MediaInfo to a custom build of v0.7.16 that is statically linked (and removed the DLL)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.8.0 RC-3 (2009-06-03)
* Updated Musepack decoder to v1.0.0 (2009-04-02) and fixed Musepack VS8 support
* Updated Monkey's Audio decoder to v4.06 (2009-03-17)
* Updated the "Normalization" filter to allow multiple instances running in parallel
* Updated Auto-Update tool
* Fixed a few minor issues and refactored the code

LoRd_MuldeR

17th June 2009, 00:59

Added a number of simple sorting functions:

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2633/lamexpsorten.png

Note that sorting by "Track No." will sort the files according to their track number as stored in the file's meta information.
This should help with album files that don't use a proper naming scheme, but are tagged properly.
For obvious reasons that sorting method won't work with files that aren't tagged. Such files will be moved to the end of the list.

LoRd_MuldeR

17th June 2009, 23:18

LameXP v3.11 :)

Changes between v3.10 and v3.11:
* Added options to sort the source files (by title, by filename or by track number)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.8.1 (2009-06-14)
* Updated FLAC decoder, now using the ICL 9.1 build of FLAC v1.2.1b
* Updated the "Normalization" filter to v0.41 (2009-06-16)
* Fixed a few minor issues and in meta tag processing

trodas

21st June 2009, 11:07

Thanks, neat program that finally helped me to decode WMA3 to WAV, so I can convert some vids... Great!

On the side note, pls allow option to turn the sound effect off, lol :)

LoRd_MuldeR

21st June 2009, 13:53

On the side note, pls allow option to turn the sound effect off, lol :)

What's wrong about the existing option? :confused:

LoRd_MuldeR

22nd June 2009, 22:30

LameXP v3.11, Hotfix-1 :)

Changes between v3.10 and v3.11:
* Added options to sort the source files (by title, by filename or by track number)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.8.1 (2009-06-14)
* Updated FLAC decoder, now using the ICL 9.1 build of FLAC v1.2.1b
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.17 (statically linked)
* Updated the "Normalization" filter to v0.41 (2009-06-16)
* Fixed a few minor issues in meta tag processing

St Devious

22nd June 2009, 22:34

what's the difference in 3.11 hotfix 1 and 3.11 ?

Why call it hotfix -1, why not just 3.112 or 3.111 ?

LoRd_MuldeR

22nd June 2009, 22:47

what's the difference in 3.11 hotfix 1 and 3.11?

Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.17, fixed a few minor things and included language file updates I received too late for the first v3.11 release.

Why call it hotfix -1, why not just 3.112 or 3.111 ?

Because it's not worth a v3.12 release yet. And I don't want to add yet another digit to the version number either. So I use a fancy post-fix :D

You can think of this as a v3.11a release, if it makes you feel more comfortable!

By the way: Don't worry, the build numbers are consistent for all release of LameXP :p

St Devious

22nd June 2009, 23:15

^^ Got it.

It might be better if you put the version number on the zip files. I wanted to download from Mediafire and all it said was LameXP.2009-06-22.zip. So I have to find in the forum what version was released on 6-22. Just some extra hassle.

Btw is it possible to do this. I'm going to try and explain it in as simple lingo as possible.

There are jerks or say loss in CPU usage when a song being encoded is completed, and next one is loaded. probably due to hard drive limitation. Can the software spawn another encoding thread and load the next song, while the previous song is nearing encoding completion, so that the cpu usage does not go down and remains at 100% throughout the transition.

LoRd_MuldeR

22nd June 2009, 23:28

It might be better if you put the version number on the zip files. I wanted to download from Mediafire and all it said was LameXP.2009-06-22.zip. So I have to find in the forum what version was released on 6-22. Just some extra hassle.

Sorry, I won't change the naming scheme for my files. There are reasons I do it like that ;)

There are jerks or say loss in CPU usage when a song being encoded is completed, and next one is loaded. probably due to hard drive limitation.

Correct.

Can the software spawn another encoding thread and load the next song, while the previous song is nearing encoding completion, so that the cpu usage does not go down and remains at 100% throughout the transition.

Nope. Because the front-end process doesn't know the progress of the encoder processes yet.

Well, we could run n+1 encoding processes on a n core machine. But I don't think this would be a good idea.

Probably we would end up with even more stress on the HDD and run into the bottleneck more often...

St Devious

22nd June 2009, 23:36

Nope. Because the front-end process doesn't know the progress of the encoder processes yet.

Well, we could run n+1 encoding processes on a n core machine. But I don't think this would be a good idea.

Probably we would end up with even more stress on the HDD and run into the bottleneck more often...

Say I have a quad core. LameXP runs 4 threads.

Can you add a user controlled selectable option to spawn x threads after y seconds since the start of the encode of the first 4 songs. This way while the 4 songs on 4 threads are encoded at 50%, and we spawn 4 more encoding threads. The songs that are at 50% will reach 100% first. Now, the CPU is only encoding the 4 songs that were spawned y seconds after the start. CPU usage is still 100%. Now after y seconds since the spawn of the original spawned threads, the encoder again spawns 4 more threads and the cycle continues.

Maybe the cpu usage drop can be overcome like this

LoRd_MuldeR

22nd June 2009, 23:43

Say I have a quad core. LameXP runs 4 threads.

Can you add a user controlled selectable option to spawn x threads after y seconds since the start of the encode of the first 4 songs. This way while the 4 songs on 4 threads are encoded at 50%, and we spawn 4 more encoding threads. The songs that are at 50% will reach 100% first. Now, the CPU is only encoding the 4 songs that were spawned y seconds after the start. CPU usage is still 100%. Now after y seconds since the spawn of the original spawned threads, the encoder again spawns 4 more threads and the cycle continues.

Maybe the cpu usage drop can be overcome like this

This would only work if all files take the same time to encode. But files tend to have pretty different encoding times ;)

Also running 8 encoding processes on a 4 core machine probably wouldn't be a good idea...

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 00:15

This would only work if all files take the same time to encode. But files tend to have pretty different encoding times ;)

Of course, but its only an approximation. we just need something being encoded while encoder changes files.

Also running 8 encoding processes on a 4 core machine probably wouldn't be a good idea...

Can we try and see what the outcome is ?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 00:22

I really don't think that the minor drop in CPU usage, which usually occurs when decoding the input files (because decoding is HDD limited, not CPU limited), has a huge effect on the total encoding time.

So I wouldn't worry too much about that! But feel free to do some tests. LameXP is free software, so you can modify the sources yourself. I won't have time for such experiments in the next days...

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 00:26

But feel free to do some tests. LameXP is free software, so you can modify the sources yourself.

If only I had the knowledge to do that right now. Getting there, but not there yet.

Btw what is the software written in ?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 00:29

If only I had the knowledge to do that right now. Getting there, but not there yet.

Btw what is the software written in ?

It's written in Pascal, using the Delphi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeGear_Delphi) IDE. I personally own Delphi 7 Professional, the last one that focused on "native" Win32 development :)

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 00:33

It's written in Pascal, using the Delphi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeGear_Delphi) IDE. I personally own Delphi 7 Professional, the last one that focused on "native" Win32 development :)

oh oh, I was thinking it would be C++/C as that is what i started alongwith Java. But Pascal looks like a completely different path.

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 00:39

oh oh, I was thinking it would be C++/C as that is what i started alongwith Java. But Pascal looks like a completely different path.

You probably will like Delphi for creating GUI applications :cool:

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 01:28

You probably will like Delphi for creating GUI applications :cool:

why is that ?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 18:35

why is that ?

See link in my previous post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1299318#post1299318) ;)

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 18:43

See link in my previous post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1299318#post1299318) ;)

i see. aren't their IDE's for other languages that you can do this in ?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 18:46

i see. aren't their IDE's for other languages that you can do this in ?

"Delphi" is an IDE and a language (previously known as "Object Pascal") at the same time. There also is a Free Pascal and the Lazarus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_(software)) IDE, but it's pretty limited compared to Delphi...

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 18:51

"Delphi" is an IDE and a language (previously known as "Object Pascal") at the same time. There also is a Free Pascal and the Lazarus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_(software)) IDE, but it's pretty limited compared to Delphi...

ya it does look limited compared to the other one

but i meant aren't there IDE's for C++ or Java that can help you make beautiful GUIs like Delphi does.

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 19:05

but i meant aren't there IDE's for C++ or Java that can help you make beautiful GUIs like Delphi does.

Sure. With Java you can create GUI using the Swing or the SWT framework. But Java applications unavoidably require the Java Runtime Environment. I prefer applications that run natively on the system and don't require the user to download/install a huge runtime environment first. For the same reason I won't go the .NET route. Of course I could use C with one of the various toolkits (Qt, GTK+, WxWidgets, etc) to built a GUI app. But C is too much "low level" for my taste. Delphi with JVCL (http://jvcl.delphi-jedi.org/) is a pretty powerful and self-contained package. It's Win32 only though, but it runs in Wine just fine...

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 19:15

Sure. With Java you can create GUI using the Swing or the SWT framework. But Java applications unavoidably require the Java Runtime Environment. I prefer applications that run natively on the system and don't require the user to download/install a huge runtime environment first. For the same reason I won't go the .NET route. Of course I could use C with one of the various toolkits (Qt, GTK+, WxWidgets, etc) to built a GUI app. But C is too much "low level" for my taste. Delphi with JVCL (http://jvcl.delphi-jedi.org/) is a pretty powerful and self-contained package. It's Win32 only though, but it runs in Wine just fine...

that's good reasoning.

I will keep that in mind when I start developing something.

b66pak

23rd June 2009, 19:28

i don't thing its good reasoning...considering that java is everywhere the cross platform portability will be at maximum...so goodbye "win only", "linux only" or "mac only"...
_

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 19:51

If portability is a priority, then yes, using Java may be a good idea ;)

But this was developed as Windows GUI application from the very beginning, so portability was never intended. It works surprisingly well under Linux though, thanks to Wine.

Also a lot of things that I do highly depend on the Win32 API. Doing this from Java would be "ugly" at least and break portability.

Note: After years of GUI development I still prefer Delphi for my own GUI projects, although I do a lot of Java and C programming for other projects at the same time.

Switching to another platform would be a whole lot of work (as I basically would need to start from the scratch) and I don't see the benefit...

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 19:54

Also a lot of things that I do highly depend on the Win32 API. Doing this from Java would be "ugly" at least and break portability.

How would that be ?

I'm learning Java, so that piqued my interest.

And I need some real project to motivate me. maybe I could make something like this. And I have no idea how to start something like this.

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd June 2009, 20:09

How would that be ?

I'm learning Java, so that piqued my interest.

And I need some real project to motivate me. maybe I could make something like this. And I have no idea how to start something like this.

Well, my front-end application needs to launch "external" processes, wait for these processes to terminate and capture their console output.

Unfortunately the last time I tried to capture the console output of an external process from Java it didn't work correctly :rolleyes:

Also I need to run my external processes as Jobs (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684161(VS.85).aspx), so in case the "main" application encounters a problem, these processes won't keep on running the background until forever.

Job objects are Win32 specific functionality. But Java doesn't exhibit the Win32 API, because Java tries to be "cross platform" and thus hides the underlying OS.

Still you can call native (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Native_Interface) DLL's (e.g. compiled C code) from a Java application. But then you aren't cross-platform anymore. That's what I called "ugly" :p

(For example: Look at my RunProcess (https://opensvn.csie.org/traccgi/mulder1984/browser/LameXP/src/Unit_RunProcess.pas) code and you probably will see what I mean. Can you do that with Java? ^^)

St Devious

23rd June 2009, 20:42

Well, my front-end application needs to launch "external" processes, wait for these processes to terminate and capture their console output.

Unfortunately the last time I tried to capture the console output of an external process from Java it didn't work correctly :rolleyes:

Also I need to run my external processes as Jobs (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684161(VS.85).aspx), so in case the "main" application encounters a problem, these processes won't keep on running the background until forever.

Job objects are Win32 specific functionality. But Java doesn't exhibit the Win32 API, because Java tries to be "cross platform" and thus hides the underlying OS.

Still you can call native (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Native_Interface) DLL's (e.g. compiled C code) from a Java application. But then you aren't cross-platform anymore. That's what I called "ugly" :p

(For example: Look at my RunProcess (https://opensvn.csie.org/traccgi/mulder1984/browser/LameXP/src/Unit_RunProcess.pas) code and you probably will see what I mean. Can you do that with Java? ^^)

Oh, I don't know If I can do that. I'm pretty much at start of Java.

But I'll look at it, maybe I can learn something along the way.

LoRd_MuldeR

17th July 2009, 23:33

Here is a new Beta release:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nyrmlgzdnql/LameXP.2009-07-17.Beta-1.zip

Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.19 ;)

Octo-puss

18th July 2009, 00:24

I just used LameXP yesterday to reencode several of my CDs and it sure went a long way since I moaned about the sounds ;D
Keep up the good work!

Octo-puss

19th July 2009, 09:30

Hey is there any way to add FLAC encoding? :)

LoRd_MuldeR

19th July 2009, 14:20

Hey is there any way to add FLAC encoding? :)

There is a way. But it's not planned right now...

Octo-puss

19th July 2009, 14:35

Okay :)
The GUI is really awesome - simple enough and very powerful at the same time - so I thought it could be interesting seeing it become a kind of frontend for not just mp3 format :)

LoRd_MuldeR

19th July 2009, 15:54

so I thought it could be interesting seeing it become a kind of frontend for not just mp3 format :)

Encoding is already supported for MP3, Vorbis and AAC. The list of supported input formats is much longer.

Adding even more output formats is mainly a problem of extending the GUI. Internally new encoders/decoders can be added easily ;)

SeeMoreDigital

19th July 2009, 17:01

Hey is there any way to add FLAC encoding? :)There is a way. But it's not planned right now...Given that FLAC decoding is offered in more and more hardware players nowadays, I for one would really appreciate such an encoding option :)

LoRd_MuldeR

19th July 2009, 18:11

Well, I'm working on another issue right now: Progress display for individual files.

And here is the first attempt to get this working:
LameXP.2009-07-17.Beta-2.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/migdm3g33um/LameXP.2009-07-17.Beta-2.zip)

(Please note that it's implemented for LAME only at the moment)

Octo-puss

21st July 2009, 09:13

oooh, sexy progress bars!! *wets himself* :D

I know I specifically used some paramater back in ARJ days to see five-pieces progress bars when un/packing archives :D

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd July 2009, 18:25

Here's another Beta pre-release of LameXP v3.12:
LameXP.2009-07-27.Beta-6.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/eo2zmlqzw3w/LameXP.2009-07-27.Beta-6.zip)

This version finally introduces FLAC encoding support :cool:

mr soft

26th July 2009, 13:34

Hey :thanks: very much LoRd_MuldeR

I'm getting a unsupported DPI setting 96 error on Win 7, 7100.
Not much of a bother , ok and proceed.
Nice multithreading going on , it's using about 7% across the three cores , well done also on the extensive language support.

SeeMoreDigital

26th July 2009, 14:48

I've been doing some testing with FLAC.... Very nice work indeed :)

The joys of lossless encoding...

Octo-puss

26th July 2009, 17:46

Here's another Beta pre-release of LameXP v3.12:
LameXP.2009-07-25.Beta-5.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/io0i4zzok1v/LameXP.2009-07-25.Beta-5.zip)

This version finally introduces FLAC encoding support :cool:

haha I knew you couldn't resist :P

LoRd_MuldeR

27th July 2009, 22:04

Yet another Beta pre-release of LameXP v3.12:
LameXP.2009-07-27.Beta-7.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/wmmbt1gmjlk/LameXP.2009-07-27.Beta-7.zip)

Added support for MP3 in RIFF/Wave container (input). Also be more verbose with unknown/unsupported file types.

Octo-puss

28th July 2009, 22:00

you are my hero
:D

prOnorama

28th July 2009, 23:08

Ah FLAC encoding, nice.

One thing I don't like though: each time time I start up the program it asks if I want to check for a new version, and there's no option to disable this message in the options (well at least it doesn't try to automatically contact some website, I really don't like that).

So please add a "disable message checking for new version" option

LoRd_MuldeR

28th July 2009, 23:17

One thing I don't like though: each time time I start up the program it asks if I want to check for a new version, and there's no option to disable this message in the options (well at least it doesn't try to automatically contact some website, I really don't like that).

Oh, that's not true. The option exists for a long time! Anyway, I highly recommend to not disable the update reminder ;)

If the update check is successful once, it won't re-appear until 14 days have passed. In a Beta version the update check can't succeed for obvious reasons.

But v3.12 is going to released soon. Just waiting to receive more language files...

prOnorama

29th July 2009, 11:49

Ah you are right I did not know about the Advanced Options but now I found them :)

I'll upgrade to 3.12 if it's a stable releaase (I assume it is)

LoRd_MuldeR

29th July 2009, 16:24

I'll upgrade to 3.12 if it's a stable releaase (I assume it is)

I hope it is :D

LoRd_MuldeR

29th July 2009, 22:58

One more Beta release for you to test:
LameXP.2009-07-29.Beta-8.exe (http://www.mediafire.com/file/mmcomnnymyi/LameXP.2009-07-29.Beta-8.exe)

This one adds a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of OggEnc2, which will be used when supported by the user's CPU.
Otherwise LameXP will fall back to the "generic" build of OggEnc2. CPU type is detected at runtime...

St Devious

30th July 2009, 17:13

ok let's stop teasing and come out with a final release of 3.12.:p

My Athlon X2 250 article is held up due to this. :thanks:

I'll just use 3.11 Hotfix 1 if there is no speedup in 3.12.

LoRd_MuldeR

30th July 2009, 17:26

I'll just use 3.11 Hotfix 1 if there is no speedup in 3.12.

There is no speed-up to be expected from v3.12, except for the Ogg Vorbis encoder maybe. And even that only SSE2 capable machines.

St Devious

30th July 2009, 17:45

There is no speed-up to be expected from v3.12, except for the Ogg Vorbis encoder maybe. And even that only SSE2 capable machines.

thanks, using lame anyway.

LoRd_MuldeR

30th July 2009, 17:47

thanks, using lame anyway.

LAME is already heavily Assembler optimized by the developers. There is not much I could do to squish out more performance, except for the multi-threaded batch processing.

And that feature is already implemented for quite some time in LameXP. So speed-up is not really what you should expect from future LameXP releases :D

I'm currently trying to get the progress display for the Ogg Vorbis encoder working more smoothly, but the problem is in OggEnc2 itself. I hope John33 can fix this for me...

LoRd_MuldeR

31st July 2009, 01:13

Okay, here is yet another Beta that should fix the progress display for Ogg Vorbis:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ed0wclgmmzd/LameXP.2009-07-30.Beta-9.exe

Thanks to John33 for quickly re-building his binaries with my proposed patch :)

LoRd_MuldeR

31st July 2009, 20:27

Beta-10
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tz4jtzzgjkz/LameXP.2009-07-31.Beta-10.exe

Now all encoders (except Nero AAC) should update their status smoothly :)

LoRd_MuldeR

1st August 2009, 02:06

LameXP v3.12, RC-1 :)

Changes between v3.11 and v3.12:
* Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) output
* Added progress display for individual files (for the "encoding" step only)
* Added a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of the Ogg Vorbis encoder that will be used if supported by the CPU
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.20 (2009-07-31), using statically linked build
* Updated Speex decoder to v1.2 RC-1 (2009-07-04)

LoRd_MuldeR

4th August 2009, 00:40

LameXP v3.12, RC-2 :)

Changes between v3.11 and v3.12:
* Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) output
* Added progress display for individual files (for the "encoding" step only)
* Added a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of the Ogg Vorbis encoder that will be used if supported by the CPU
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.20 (2009-07-31), using statically linked build
* Updated Speex decoder to v1.2 RC-1 (2009-07-04)
* Updated Auto-Update tool, from now on only signed updates will be accepted (using GnuPG)

The most important change since RC-1 is that LameXP's Web Updater will now only accept digitally signed updates.
GnuPG is used to sign the updates and will also be used the check the authenticity of updates received from the server.
This should protect the user against attacks like domain hijacking, IP spoofing and "man in the middle".

I have uploaded this special build to test the new update system:
LameXP.2009-08-03.Special-1.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/odz4ynvunk5/LameXP.2009-08-03.Special-1.zip)

That build will update to RC-2 using an authenticated update. Older builds will update too, but not check the signature :o

tipsypenguin

4th August 2009, 18:17

tested the special build. the new update system works good for me.

Thanks LoRd_MuldeR

LoRd_MuldeR

10th August 2009, 15:33

LameXP v3.12, RC-4 :)

This version should fix the Ogg Vorbis encoder on (newer) AMD machines, probably broken since Beta-8:
I noticed that the SSE2-optimized (Pentium 4) build of OggEnc2 refuses to run (http://pastie.org/578426) on AMD processors, even if the processor supports MMX/SSE/SSE2 :rolleyes:
Consequently I added another check (https://opensvn.csie.org/traccgi/mulder1984/changeset/308/LameXP/src/Unit_Core.pas) to LameXP. Now the SSE2 build of OggEnc2 will only be used if a SSE2-capable Intel CPU is found...

LoRd_MuldeR

12th August 2009, 16:10

LameXP v3.12, RC-5 :)

Changes between v3.11 and v3.12:
* Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) output
* Added progress display for individual files (for the "encoding" step only)
* Added a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of the Ogg Vorbis encoder that will be used if supported by the CPU
* Added options to override the Nero AAC profile (be aware: it's not recommended to do that!)
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.20 (2009-07-31), using statically linked build
* Updated Speex decoder to v1.2 RC-1 (2009-07-04)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated Auto-Update tool, from now on only signed updates will be accepted (using GnuPG)
* Fixed a number of minor glitches

LoRd_MuldeR

13th August 2009, 16:10

LameXP v3.12, RC-6 :rolleyes:

Okay, somebody brought the following problem to my attention: LameXP refused to open files, if there was a "\n" sequence in the path to the file.
I was able to track this down to a bug(?) in MediaInfo. If there's a "\n" sequence in the path then MediaInfo won't print out the filename properly, but inserts a line-break instead.
Yes, I know that "\n" is the escape sequence for a new line in the C programming language, but it shouldn't be interpreted like that in this context (see screenshot).

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2168/mediainfolinebreakbug.th.png (http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2168/mediainfolinebreakbug.png)

This behavior of MediaInfo causes the parsing of the output go wacky in LameXP and finally causes LameXP to reject the file, because the file type will be detected as unknown.

So I implemented a workaround for the bug that will fix the problem most of the time. Still there are some rare(!) filenames that won't open. Such as:
C:\Some Folder\nVideo\new\Track.mp3

That's because in this example LameXP has no chance to distinguish the "Video" part of the filename (which will end up in it's own line) from the start of the Video section :o

A report has been sent to the MediaInfo developer...

LoRd_MuldeR

13th August 2009, 21:55

This behavior of MediaInfo causes the parsing of the output go wacky in LameXP and finally causes LameXP to reject the file, because the file type will be detected as unknown.

So I implemented a workaround for the bug that will fix the problem most of the time. Still there are some rare(!) filenames that won't open. Such as:
C:\Some Folder\nVideo\new\Track.mp3

That's because in this example LameXP has no chance to distinguish the "Video" part of the filename (which will end up in it's own line) from the start of the Video section :o

A report has been sent to the MediaInfo developer...

Yet another attempt to get this fixed. A bit hackish, but who cares. Now it should also work with path names like the one I mentioned before ;)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mmform0gmda/LameXP.2009-08-13.Try-2.zip

Zenitram

14th August 2009, 18:58

Okay, somebody brought the following problem to my attention: LameXP refused to open files, if there was a "\n" sequence in the path to the file.
I was able to track this down to a bug(?) in MediaInfo.

(...)

A report has been sent to the MediaInfo developer...

Oups oups oups... OK, I will work on this issue as soon as I ome back from vacation!

LoRd_MuldeR

14th August 2009, 19:44

Oups oups oups... OK, I will work on this issue as soon as I ome back from vacation!

That would be very nice. Thanks for your efforts :)

(BTW: I had a quick look at the MediaInfo sources, but so far I was unable to find the exact location to fix this)

LoRd_MuldeR

15th August 2009, 19:36

LameXP v3.12, RC-7 :)

Changes between v3.11 and v3.12:
* Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) output
* Added progress display for individual files (for the "encoding" step only)
* Added a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of the Ogg Vorbis encoder that will be used if supported by the CPU
* Added options to override the Nero AAC profile (be aware: it's not recommended to do that!)
* Added experimental support for Windows 7 taskbar progress indicator
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.20 (2009-07-31), using statically linked build
* Updated Speex decoder to v1.2 RC-1 (2009-07-04)
* Updated AC3Filter Tools to v0.3a (2009-08-04)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated Auto-Update tool, from now on only signed updates will be accepted (using GnuPG)
* Fixed a number of minor glitches

St Devious

15th August 2009, 20:28

LameXP v3.12, RC-7 :)

Added experimental support for Windows 7 taskbar progress indicator

Wonderful !

LoRd_MuldeR

15th August 2009, 20:31

Wonderful !

Waiting for feedback, because I couldn't test it due to a lack of a running Windows 7 system ;)

So I implemented it directly from the M$ API documentation, completely untested...

St Devious

15th August 2009, 21:54

Waiting for feedback, because I couldn't test it due to a lack of a running Windows 7 system ;)

So I implemented it directly from the M$ API documentation, completely untested...

alright, i'll test it just for you and report back. I have Win 7 RTM btw.

EDIT: Working as expected

http://i27.tinypic.com/309269w.jpg

MatLz

17th August 2009, 07:57

Hi, I've noticed the impossibility to change the output sampling rate when encoding to aac format.

LoRd_MuldeR

17th August 2009, 10:22

Hi, I've noticed the impossibility to change the output sampling rate when encoding to aac format.

Well, the Nero encoder doesn't offer any options for re-sampling...

MatLz

17th August 2009, 10:39

Well, the Nero encoder doesn't offer any options for re-sampling...

I don't understand....It seems LameXP converts the source in wav, and then Neroaacenc.exe converts the wav in aac. Why don't downsampling the wav?
Maybe?.....

LoRd_MuldeR

17th August 2009, 11:13

I don't understand....It seems LameXP converts the source in wav, and then Neroaacenc.exe converts the wav in aac. Why don't downsampling the wav?

This could be done in theory, yes. But that's not how it is implemented right now ;)

For example LAME does have a resample option, so with LAME we can resample "on the fly". That's the more elegant way...

MatLz

17th August 2009, 22:44

LoRd_MuldeR

17th August 2009, 22:58

Ok, maybe in the next version of Neroaacenc....
And I noticed an other thing : when we need an average bitrate encoding, the result is above 2% of loss of the bitrate we have specified (112 -> 110, 160->156, 224->220, 384->376....)
It's Neroaacenc's fault of course! Encoding with commandline has same problem. The solution is to increase bitrate a little (2%) for have the bitrate expected.

How do you measure the exact average bitrate of the encoded AAC stream?

What you are seeing may be the container overhead. Remember that Nero AAC puts out the AAC stream in a MP4 container ;)

Just encoded a music file at 128 kbps with Nero AAC and the result came out at 128.005230 (http://pastie.org/586365) kbps

So....is a free adjust of bitrate in LameXP with or without boost possible in new version?

Not planned.

Hi, I've noticed the impossibility to change the output sampling rate when encoding to aac format.

The "Sampling Rate" box will be grayed out for encoders that don't offer re-sampling support from now on...

MatLz

17th August 2009, 23:21

With mediainfo, foobar, gspot, mpc.....ha!....
I've extract the aac.
Out of mp4 It's the good bitrate. Dammit...I'm confused. I will go post in the newbies thread... :-(

LoRd_MuldeR

17th August 2009, 23:29

With mediainfo, foobar, gspot, mpc.....ha!....
I've extract the aac.
Out of mp4 It's the good bitrate. Dammit...I'm confused. I will go post in the newbies thread... :-(

Well, in "ABR" mode the Nero AAC encoder will hit the desired average bitrate. The local bitrate at arbitrary positions of the file may be much higher or much lower than that!
Furthermore measuring the average bitrate isn't exactly an easy task. The tools you were using may be inaccurate. At least MediaInfo and Avinaptic seem to disagree in this case.
Last but not least the target bitrate is for the audio stream only, it does not take the container overhead into account...

MatLz

19th August 2009, 15:39

LoRd_MuldeR

19th August 2009, 15:51

Hi Lord, Just last question about bitrate. I use a formula to calculate bitrates I need for encoding streams. It works for my needs.
With in count the different containers, is not a formula the best way for calculating average bitrate?

I'm not entirely sure what "formula" you are talking about or what you are trying to achieve :confused:

Encoders that offer an ABR mode will hit the desired/specified average bitrate for you. The "rate control" (RC) algorithm, which controls the (local) bitrate and makes sure that the target (average) bitrate is hit, is implemented inside the individual encoder and probably is much more complex than just a simple formula. The goal of RC is to hit the desired average bitrate while maximizing the overall quality. For example RC would decide to lower the bitrate in less "demanding" parts of the audio file while raising the bitrate in more "demanding" parts. This may results in significant bitrate fluctuations throughout the audio file...

MatLz

19th August 2009, 16:09

LoRd_MuldeR

19th August 2009, 16:25

I'm sure I need english lesson...dammit!
It's not for encoding codec routine or else complicated technical thing I have a formula, It's just the simple formula :
(Size x 8) / time
which gives bitrate of the stream. Am I completely wrong?
Ha my brain is in fire...

Yeah, the stream size (in bytes) multiplied by 8 and divided through the duration (in seconds) will give you the average bitrate (in bits per second).

But you can't simply take the file size here, because any container (e.g. MP4, MKA and even ADTS) will have a certain overhead.

The easiest way is to use a tool like AVInaptic (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/avinaptic) or MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) for this purpose. However be aware that these tools may not always be 100% accurate.

(BTW: For Video streams the Bitrate Viewer (http://www.winhoros.de/docs/bitrate-viewer/index.html) does a great job, unfortunately it isn't available for Audio streams)

Zenitram

19th August 2009, 16:46

But you can't simply take the file size here, because any container (e.g. MP4 or MKA) will have a certain overhead.

The easiest way is to use a tool like AVInaptic (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/avinaptic) or MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) for this purpose. However these tools may not always be 100% accurate.

Ah, bitrates... A lot of discussions about them ;-).
Accuracy depends of the presence of index in the container, for MediaInfo:
- MP4 (and AVI...): it is always accurate (index with exact size of each chunk), container overhead is not a problem
- MKV/MKA (and MPEG...): not accurate (no index, impossible to know without parsing the whole file, but this is long if you have a 10 GB file!), estimation is unfortunatly made from formulas (not always precise)

I hope to implement soon an option for parsing the whole file, and bitrates will be always exact in MediaInfo.

(BTW: For Video streams the Bitrate Viewer (http://www.winhoros.de/docs/bitrate-viewer/index.html) does a great job, unfortunately it isn't available for Audio streams)

I hope to propose the same thing later in MediaInfo for both video and audio!

MatLz

19th August 2009, 16:59

Ok, I will be carefull with overhead. I know with h264 stream, mp4 is winner, mkv is good....and avi is so large overhead. Beurk!
I have download btw, I go to see how it works. Thanks a lot for all your explanations Lord.
A+

SeeMoreDigital

20th August 2009, 20:00

LoRd_MuldeR

20th August 2009, 21:20

Hi LoRd_MuldeR,

I've been meaning to ask. Is there any particular reason why when generating AAC files, they are given an .MP4 file extension and not .M4A file extension. Which is more hardware player friendly ;)

Yes there is a reason! The AAC streams are stored in a MP4 container and the one and only "official" extension of MP4 files is .mp4 ;)

Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#.MP4_versus_.M4A_file_extensions

<offtopic> If a hardware players doesn't recognize a file because it has a different file extension, this is a serious problem and it should be reported to the manufacturer, so they can fix it via firmware update. If they don't provide a fix in time, return the player to the store and get your money back! Looking at the filename to recognize the type of a file is the most stupid an error-prone implementation I can think of. Analyzing the file header is the one and only method that will work properly in the field, because filenames (and especially extensions) are neither unambiguous nor reliable. I can rename a Word document to .m4a, but does this make it a valid MP4/AAC audio file? No! Even a freshman student should know that simple fact, not to speak of "professional" hardware engineers. </offtopic>

SeeMoreDigital

20th August 2009, 22:46

Yes, I understand what's written in the official ISO/IEC specification.

However, the problem with "hardware" playback of (AAC) audio only streams within .MP4 container is, many hardware players expect video to be in the container as well. So during playback you end up seeing a black screen and lose access to the playback track list.

That said, the great advantage of the .MP4 container is, it makes it possible for you to mux an entire album as one continious stream (with no breaks) into the container and then with the aid of chapter points, access the individual tracks. As yet though, I have not found an encoding appliction that offers such a facility...

LoRd_MuldeR

20th August 2009, 22:48

However, the problem with "hardware" playback of (AAC) audio only streams within .MP4 container is, many hardware players expect video to be in the container as well. So during playback you end up seeing a black screen and lose access to the playback track list.

If these players were implemented properly, they wouldn't make vague speculations based on the filename, but look at the file header and see what streams are actually stored in the MP4 container :rolleyes:

I'm not going to encourage crappy implementations by using non-standard file extensions. If more people did, they'd probably realize the problem and fix it...

That said, the great advantage of the .MP4 container is, it makes it possible for you to mux an entire album as one continious stream (with no breaks) into the container and then with the aid of chapter points, access the individual tracks. As yet though, I have not found an encoding appliction that offers such a facility...

The same can be done with a simple MP3 or WAV file plus a CueSheet file. And nope, LameXP doesn't offer that feature :)

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd August 2009, 17:09

LameXP v3.12 Final :)

Changes between v3.11 and v3.12:
* Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) output
* Added progress display for individual files (for the "encoding" step only)
* Added a SSE2 (Pentium 4) build of the Ogg Vorbis encoder that will be used if supported by the CPU
* Added options to override the Nero AAC profile (be aware: it's not recommended to do that!)
* Added an option to analyze media files (powered by MediaInfo™)
* Added experimental support for Windows 7 taskbar progress indicator and overlay icons
* Updated MediaInfo to v0.7.20 (2009-07-31), using statically linked build
* Updated mpg123 decoder to v1.9.0 (2009-08-14)
* Updated Speex decoder to v1.2 RC-1 (2009-07-04)
* Updated AC3Filter Tools to v0.3a (2009-08-04)
* Updated language files (big "thank you" to all contributors !!!)
* Updated Auto-Update tool, from now on only signed updates will be accepted (using GnuPG)
* Fixed a number of minor glitches

SeeMoreDigital

23rd August 2009, 17:56

Thanks for the new release :)

I forgot to ask before. When we visit the "Advanced Options" to change some settings, is there any particular reason why we have to have all those reminder pop-up notices?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd August 2009, 18:10

I forgot to ask before. When we visit the "Advanced Options" to change some settings, is there any particular reason why we have to have all those reminder pop-up notices?

Yes. The "advanced" options contain things that usually shouldn't be touched at all. The confirmation dialogs should prevent inexperienced users from doing stupid thing :)

As you may have noticed all options that would change the default will trigger a dialog that has "No" selected by default.

At the same time options that return to the default value will not trigger a confirmation dialog at all and just show an information message.

SeeMoreDigital

23rd August 2009, 18:34

Yes. The "advanced" options contain things that usually shouldn't be touched at all. The confirmation dialogs should prevent inexperienced users from doing stupid thing :)In that case.... Would it be possible for LameXP to remember a users custom settings, so they are not lost after updating?

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd August 2009, 18:38

In that case.... Would it be possible for LameXP to remember a users custom settings, so they are not lost after updating?

LameXP does remember all options, unless I forgot something. However options are stored separately for each version/build.

This is done because options may change their meaning (or the valid range) between versions...

If you want to use the settings from an old version in the current version, you can edit the section header in the INI file - at your own risk ;)

MatLz

23rd August 2009, 22:23

Thanks for your this release Lord and all your work and explainations.
But what is the "LameXP.exe.sig" file?

Octo-puss

23rd August 2009, 23:09

ah new version
I have about 50 CDs to encode :)

DUDE!!
I overwritten my last version and the bloody program started talking to me in gibberish! For the sake of everything nice and good on the Earth, set the default language to english!!! :D

edit: it was romanian

LoRd_MuldeR

23rd August 2009, 23:20

But what is the "LameXP.exe.sig" file?

It's a digital signature. You can verify it with GnuPG using my public key (http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/pubkey.txt). If you don't know what that means, ignore it ;)

For the sake of everything nice and good on the Earth, set the default language to english!

The default language is English. However LameXP will try to load a language file that equals your system's language, before it falls back to default.

Also LameXP tries to load only language files that can be displayed correctly with your current Non-Unicode codepage.

In case you think something is wrong, please left-click the titlebar, choose "Show System Information" and then post the results back here.

MatLz

23rd August 2009, 23:48

It's a digital signature. You can verify it with GnuPG using my public key (http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/pubkey.txt). If you don't know what that means, ignore it ;)
Just curiosity! ;)
I don't understand...so as you said, I will ignore it! But not ignore your work, thanks again!

Octo-puss

24th August 2009, 00:05

The default language is English. However LameXP will try to load a language file that equals your system's language, before it falls back to default.

Also LameXP tries to load only language files that can be displayed correctly with your current Non-Unicode codepage.

In case you think something is wrong, please left-click the titlebar, choose "Show System Information" and then post the results back here.
Okay!

LameXP v3.12 Final - Audio Encoder Front-End
Written by LoRd_MuldeR <MuldeR2@GMX.de>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Program Information:
· Version: v3.12 Final, Build 64 (2009-08-23)
· Nero AAC Encoder found: False
· WMA File Decoder found: False
· LameXP Sounds enabled: True
· Shell Integration enabled: True
· Update Reminder enabled: True
· Meta Data detection enabled: True
· Multi-Threading enabled: True
· GUI Language: English [EN]

Folder Information:
· LameXP Executable File: D:\Programy\Audio & video\LameXP\LameXP.exe
· LameXP Install Folder: D:\Programy\Audio & video\LameXP
· LameXP Data Folder: C:\Users\Octopuss\AppData\Roaming\MuldeR\LameXP
· LameXP Tools Folder: C:\Users\Octopuss\AppData\Local\Temp\LameXP_114EE8B2.tmp
· Windows Programs Folder: C:\Program Files (x86)
· Windows System Folder: C:\Windows\system32
· Windows AppData Folder: C:\Users\Octopuss\AppData\Roaming
· Windows Temp Folder: C:\Users\Octopuss\AppData\Local\Temp
· Nero AAC Encoder: N/A
· WMA File Decoder: N/A

CPU Information:
· Type: Intel
· Manufacturer: Intel
· Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
· Name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
· Clock Speed: 4860 MHz
· Family/Model/Stepping: 6/7/10
· MMX/MMXEX Support: True/False
· 3DNow/3DNowEx Support: False/False
· SSE Support: SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1
· 64-Bit Extension: True
· Processor Count: 2
· Physical/Logical Cores: 2/2
· HyperTreading: True
· L1/L2/L3 Cache: 32+32/6144/6144 KB

OS Information:
· Name: Windows 7
· Type: Workstation
· Version/Build: 6.1/7600
· Service Pack: 0
· Product Name: Windows 7 Professional
· Product Version:
· Product ID:
· Codepage: windows-1250 (Central European Windows)
· Prim. lang. identifier: 0x0005

LoRd_MuldeR

24th August 2009, 00:16

OS Information:
· Name: Windows 7
· Type: Workstation
· Version/Build: 6.1/7600
· Service Pack: 0
· Product Name: Windows 7 Professional
· Product Version:
· Product ID:
· Codepage: windows-1250 (Central European Windows)
· Prim. lang. identifier: 0x0005

In fact your system's default language is Czech ;)

From the MSDN docs:

Prim. lang. identifier Prim. lang. symbol Primary language
0x05 LANG_CZECH Czech (cs)

But since we don't have a Czech translation for LameXP, it will load the first language file (in reverse alphabetical order) that displays correctly on the 1250 Codepage (Central European).

That obviously was Romanian :D

MatLz

24th August 2009, 03:57

I have forget to tell you a thing which happend already with previous versions.
If I have a disc in my player and if I launch LameXP, the next launch without a disc, there is an error message (in french, so maybe it's a problem with my system) :

LameXP: LameXP.exe - No disc
There is no disc in the player. Insert a disc in the player D:

There are 3 choice. Cancel, Retry, Continue.
If I click 2 times on Cancel, Continue or on the cross for closing window, it launchs LameXP.
Retry doesn't work.

LoRd_MuldeR

24th August 2009, 04:08

This is a system message, it definitely doesn't come from LameXP itself. There's no such message coded in LameXP. So there is nothing I could do about it.

LameXP does remember paths in its config file. But all paths that were stored will be checked for existence before they are used again at next launch. So the cause can't be here!

I assume the system somehow remembers the last active directory and tries to restore that directory when the application is launched next time :rolleyes:

MatLz

24th August 2009, 04:43

Thrust you. I change my computer, it's decided. ;)

Octo-puss

24th August 2009, 09:17

In fact your system's default language is Czech ;)

But since we don't have a Czech translation for LameXP, it will load the first language file (in reverse alphabetical order) that displays correctly on the 1250 Codepage (Central European).

That obviously was Romanian :D

Well agent Mulder, then why the heck do you not set the default language to english, hardcoded, no checks for translation, whatever? Obviously I found something close to a bug! :P
And I don't even wanna start about the bloody sound that freaked the hell out of me AGAIN when I upgraded! I deeply hate you!! :D

LoRd_MuldeR

24th August 2009, 14:11

Well agent Mulder, then why the heck do you not set the default language to english, hardcoded, no checks for translation, whatever?

Because not everybody out there understands the English language :rolleyes:

However we can assume that the user understands the language that is configured as his/her system's default language. So obviously it's a good idea to load the language file that equals the user's default language, if such a language file is available. And of course we should load a language file that can be displayed correctly on the user's system, so we must load a language file that uses the same Codepage as the Non-Unicode Codepage configured on the user's system...

Obviously I found something close to a bug! :P

Nope, everything works exactly as expected...

Zenitram

24th August 2009, 14:25

Nope, everything works exactly as expected...

The expected display is something the user can understand, isn't it?
More people from a country A understand English than the language from a country B closed to A. The 2 languages may have the same codepage, but be totally different from the point of view of the citizen of a country. From the example, Romanian is unknow from 99.99% of people speaking Czech, but English is more often known.

So if your goal is to display a language hopefully understable by the user, your algorithm is wrong.
I had the same problem with MediaInfo, the best "easy" algorithm I found is to display English if the user language is not available in your software, I think to implement "fallback" system hardly-coded (example: if Ukrainian is not available, Fallback to Russian is hardly-coded). In any case, working with codepage is not a good solution.

kypec

24th August 2009, 14:36

Yep, Zenitram is right. Codepage has nearly nothing to language-wise relativity of human languages. If no specified translation is available for system's language then go with English, no matter what codepage is set on user's system.

LoRd_MuldeR

24th August 2009, 14:45

The expected display is something the user can understand, isn't it?

I meant that it's working as expected with the current algorithm, not that the algorithm is perfect.

So it's more a design error than a bug. The latter usually is more easy to fix ;)

More people from a country A understand English than the language from a country B closed to A.

Hmm, maybe in the "western" world. But in the rest of the world? I'm not sure...

So if your goal is to display a language hopefully understable by the user, your algorithm is wrong.

Quite possible...

I had the same problem with MediaInfo, the best "easy" algorithm I found is to display English if the user language is not available in your software

I will consider going back to that simple approach, if people don't like the current one :)

In any case, working with codepage is not a good solution.

Unless I re-write the application in Unicode (which is extremely unlikely to happen), I must deal with Non-Unicode Codepages :o