Decoding AAC (alternative to FAAD?)

[`Orum]

I have some AAC audio that I'm trying to decode, and my normally reliable program to do so, FAAD, hits a glitch only a few minutes into decoding. I'm curious if there's another (free) decoder that anyone can recommend.

Winamp plays through the file just fine, so my last resort would be to play the file in winamp w/ a file writing plugin for output, but this is slow (1x), so I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[tebasuna51]

I have some AAC audio that I'm trying to decode, and my normally reliable program to do so, FAAD, hits a glitch only a few minutes into decoding. I'm curious if there's another (free) decoder that anyone can recommend.

Wait, faad always finish ok if the file is not corrupted.
I know the percent counter can stop, but wait ...

There are others free decoders but always based in same routines.
You can use Foobar2000, or DirectShow filters (CoreAAC, ffdshow, ...) with GraphEdit or AviSynth methods ...

[`Orum]

Wait, faad always finish ok if the file is not corrupted.I think that's the problem (the stream is corrupted, but not bad enough that winamp can't play it)
I know the percent counter can stop, but wait ...No, FAAD actually prints out an error to the screen and exits, leaving an incomplete wav file (shorter than the original track)

You can use Foobar2000, or DirectShow filters (CoreAAC, ffdshow, ...) with GraphEdit or AviSynth methods ...
Yeah, I was hoping to go beyond 1x though. Not to mention, AviSynth requires a video source to work (though I suppose this is what BlankClip() is for!). My best idea now is to use a blank clip w/ directshowsource audio, dub them together, load it in vDub, and then do "Save WAV as". If that fails, I could try graphedit, but I'm not sure if that will render the file faster than 1x (even though it's not being output to the soundcard/videocard).

[tebasuna51]

I think that's the problem (the stream is corrupted, but not bad enough that winamp can't play it)
No, FAAD actually prints out an error to the screen and exits, leaving an incomplete wav file (shorter than the original track)


Yeah, I was hoping to go beyond 1x though. Not to mention, AviSynth requires a video source to work (though I suppose this is what BlankClip() is for!). My best idea now is to use a blank clip w/ directshowsource audio, dub them together, load it in vDub, and then do "Save WAV as". If that fails, I could try graphedit, but I'm not sure if that will render the file faster than 1x (even though it's not being output to the soundcard/videocard).

If you have AviSynth installed and a DS aac decoder properly configurated you can use wavi instead VirtualDub with this simple command line:

wavi.exe your.avs output.wav

And the avs can be so simple than:

DirectShowSource("z:\your_path\your.aac")

Of course go fast than 1x.
If you have also .NET v2.0 installed you can use also bepipe (or BeHappy):

bepipe.exe --script "DirectShowSource(^z:\your_path\your.aac^)" output.wav

Also you can redirect, with both programs, the output directly to a encoder like Aften:

wavi.exe your.avs - | aften.exe - output.ac3

[`Orum]

I had some problems with getting BlankClip to work and serve up the audio correctly. Now that I've seen your post, I realize I could have avoided using blank frames in the first place.

However, I already fixed it by stumbling around in graphedit for about a half hour (filter connections in it don't often work (can't connect because of pin type differences), or don't work the way you'd think they word, or randomly break!). I had to do it in a somewhat roundabout way, as I couldn't find a wav multiplexer (I did find a "PCM encoder" though), so I ended up putting it in a MKV container (well, technically MKA), and then pulling the audio out with mkvextract. It went much faster than 1x; I can only assume it was because nothing was being output to the screen/speakers.

Anyway, thanks again for help!