Topic: Bitrate of 32 (Read 2253 times)

Madcow · « **on:** November 28, 2003, 05:24:38 am »

I'm seeing this more and more...

When ripping a CD (to MP3, VBR, High) the first track often seems to be listed with a bit rate of 32 and a disproportionately long running time. There's nothing wrong with the actual rip - the file size is fine, and it plays OK (although both MC and my iPod get a little confused by the wrong running time) but it's irritating to say the least.

Re-ripping the track individually usually (but not always) remedies the problem. For some reason it only seems to affect the first track on a disc, and it's happened on two out of the last four discs I ripped.

I've also seen this once when converting from WAV to MP3. I suspect it's not an MC problem but something to do with the LAME encoder... but I'd appreciate some confirmation on this.

TimB · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2003, 05:32:48 am »

I've had this problem but mostly converting waves to mp3s. On recent issues when I changed the wave from 32 to 16-bit before doing the conversion it solved the problem tho' sometimes it took 3-4 attempts to make the bitrate resolved correctly.

-=Tim=-

tjobbins · « **Reply #2 on:** November 28, 2003, 07:07:03 am »

Oooh interesting - I have this problem when I sync to my iPod, selecting to convert my APE files to mp3 on the fly.

After I noticed it I did a few tests, converting APEs to MP3s outside of iPod sync. I could not recreate the problem, so I put it down to a bug in the iPod sync module.

But I guess it must be with the MP3 encoding part of the system. Sorry, I don't have any solutions - but I can add a 'Me too' to this problem.

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2003, 07:14:00 am »

Are you using MC to rip and using the MP3 encoder plug-in from our site?

What version of MC are you using?

Are the CD's those you've purchased from a store?

Madcow · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2003, 07:20:31 am »

I'm using 9.1.313 but I've seen this behaviour ever since I've been using MC (9.0.181). It seems to be more common lately but as the problem is random I may have just been unlucky.

I'm using the MP3 encoder that is automatically installed with 9.1.313 (having previously installed the plugin on a much earlier version).

The CDs are all legitimate CDs purchased over a period of many years. I am gradually going through and ripping most of my CD collection, principally for use on my iPod.

SteveG · « **Reply #5 on:** December 03, 2003, 03:31:36 pm »

I tried to replicate this here without success. I ripped mulitple CDs to mp3 VBR high and duration and bitrate seem OK. If anyone else can give a clue as to how to replicate this consistently, that would be great.

Steve

Madcow · « **Reply #6 on:** December 16, 2003, 07:08:55 am »

Still no idea of why this is happening?

I just ripped my 2-CD set of Bowie At The Beeb and it happened on both discs - the first track ripped with an apparent bitrate of 32. Re-ripping the first track of each disc individually resolved the problem.

Yet I ripped a couple of CDs the other night and this didn't happen.

One workaround would be for MC to check whether or not a ripped track has a bitrate of 32 and re-rip it if so... it would result in slower rips potentially but would mean that the user doesn't have to do this manually. I've not found any track where this problem happens consistently, and a re-rip has always resolved it.

shAf · « **Reply #7 on:** December 16, 2003, 07:16:58 am »

Not that it's a remedy, but just for troubleshooting, try to rip with an external encoder ... point encoding at the LAME.EXE in the plugins folder, and give it the argument '--alt -preset standard', or '--alt -preset extreme' ... or maybe SteveG will reccommend the exact argument equivelent to MC's "high".

rocketsauce · « **Reply #8 on:** December 16, 2003, 12:16:25 pm »

Quote

the first track ripped with an apparent bitrate of 32.

It's unlikely that the track is actually being encoded at a bitrate of 32kbps. More likely, the problem is that for some reason the VBR header is missing or not being written correctly. I see this same thing happen a lot on MP3s that a friend rips for me using Musicmatch. You can repair the header with VBRfix.

http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.html

Rob

Madcow · « **Reply #9 on:** December 16, 2003, 12:32:07 pm »

Quote from: rocketsauce on December 16, 2003, 12:16:25 pm

Quote
the first track ripped with an apparent bitrate of 32.

It's unlikely that the track is actually being encoded at a bitrate of 32kbps. More likely, the problem is that for some reason the VBR header is missing or not being written correctly. I see this same thing happen a lot on MP3s that a friend rips for me using Musicmatch. You can repair the header with VBRfix.

http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.html

Rob

You're absolutely right of course: the tracks are ripped fine, which is why I said they have an "apparent" bitrate of 32. And VBRfix does work - I've used it in the past to fix these files.

Still doesn't explain why it's happening though. I still think it's an encoder problem rather than an MC issue, as I've also seen it happen with MusicMatch. But it would be great if MC could find a way around it, as it's very annoying.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #10 on:** December 16, 2003, 01:21:07 pm »

Quote

I still think it's an encoder problem rather than an MC issue, as I've also seen it happen with MusicMatch.

Hmm. Not sure about that. MC uses the Lame encoder and, as far as I know, Musicmatch still uses the Fhg encoder. Anyway, as shAf mentioned, I've never had this problem occur when using lame.exe as an external encoder.

Rob

phelt · « **Reply #11 on:** December 16, 2003, 01:40:58 pm »

I've seen this type of VBR misreport with some older versions of LAME. VBRFix is a nice free app and should correct it. It doesn't occur for me when using newest recommended LAME version as an external encoder.

Madcow · « **Reply #12 on:** December 16, 2003, 02:20:47 pm »

Could someone please explain how to configure LAME as an external encoder in that case?

I've tried select External Encoder in the Options and pointing it at LAME.EXE in the MC plugins directory.

What do I need to put in Parameters? If I put "--alt -preset extreme" (without the quotes) I get "Error 1 starting encoder plug-in". If I put "%IN %OUT --alt -preset extreme" I get the error "Failed to import". I'm clearly missing something.

Also, is this setting equivalent to the MC VBR High setting? Should I be downloading an alternative version of LAME to that supplied in the MC9 plugin? I'm baffled.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #13 on:** December 16, 2003, 02:32:33 pm »

Did you try --alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT?

Quote

...is this setting equivalent to the MC VBR High setting?

Not sure. I don't recall that I've ever seen anything from J River stating exactly what parameters VBR High corresponds to.

Quote

Should I be downloading an alternative version of LAME to that supplied in the MC9 plugin?

If you want to be sure you have the version of lame recommended to use with --alt-preset extreme, download version 3.90.3 from here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?showtopic=478&

Rob

Madcow · « **Reply #14 on:** December 16, 2003, 03:01:06 pm »

Quote from: rocketsauce on December 16, 2003, 02:32:33 pm

Did you try --alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT?

"Failed to import" again.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #15 on:** December 16, 2003, 04:38:56 pm »

Using MC10.0.16 with lame set up as an external encoder, I was able to convert an imported wav and also rip from a cd to mp3 successfully. These are my settings:

in Tools/Options/Encoding:

Encoding For: CD Ripping

Encoder: External Encoder

click the Advanced button:

EXE Path: C:\Program Files\Accessories\Encoders\lame.exe (of course your path will probably be different)

Parameters: --alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT

Extension: mp3

Encoder supports long filenames is selected

Rob

Madcow · « **Reply #16 on:** December 16, 2003, 04:49:50 pm »

That's working now. My mistake was putting a space between --alt and -preset (I copied one of the earlier examples in this thread). Thanks for your help.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #17 on:** December 16, 2003, 05:22:44 pm »

Cool!

Madcow · « **Reply #18 on:** March 13, 2004, 09:47:14 am »

Just thought I'd drag this one up from the archives.

On the newest versions of MC, when using the built-in MP3 encoder, I'm still seeing this "first track ripped at an apparent bitrate of 32" problem on about one in six discs when using VBR. The tracks are fine but the bitrate and length are both reported wrongly.

Yes, it works fine when using LAME as an external MP3 encoder but that's not nearly such an elegant solution.

Is anyone else still suffering from this?

TimB · « **Reply #19 on:** March 13, 2004, 01:36:12 pm »

Quote from: Madcow on March 13, 2004, 09:47:14 am

Is anyone else still suffering from this?

Yup, happened today.

-=Tim=-

Monkeyboy · « **Reply #20 on:** March 13, 2004, 01:43:36 pm »

I have suffered from this, I seem to get a lot of tracks numbered 32 as well, when they are just single tracks and I didn't choose this random number.
Rich

Steef_V. · « **Reply #21 on:** March 13, 2004, 02:52:33 pm »

Quote

Is anyone else still suffering from this?

I had this twice in about 8 CD's in the past month. Always the first track. I'm using 10.0.78.
VBRFix is very quick in fixing it though....

Steef.

Madcow · « **Reply #22 on:** March 21, 2004, 03:07:47 am »

Interestingly, this doesn't appear to happen when "Rip and Encode simultaneously" is unchecked. Obviously this slows down the rips slightly but it's an effective workaround and might be of use to those affected by this problem (and might help J River track it down if they feel it worthwhile to do so).

xen-uno · « **Reply #23 on:** March 21, 2004, 02:39:29 pm »

How bout this one...

For some Depeche Mode tunes I have in ogg, MC shows the bitrates ranging from -6 up to -3. They won't import via Import Media, but will if I import via Explorer window. Must be funked up ogg headers.

R_x

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Author Topic: Bitrate of 32 (Read 2253 times)

phelt