Put faac.exe it in windows/system32.
in encoder option (still extern);
in exe just write faac
That's right, you could also use any other directory that is included in the "path" or the main directory of Media Center.
parameters should be something like
-q [set quantizer quality, 100 around 120kbps, max 500] -w %IN
Yes, the default value for VBR quantizer quality in percent is 100 which should result in a ~120 kbps stereo 16bit 44.1 kHz file (if your input had these properties, too).
The -w switch is only necessary if you don't define either *.mp4 or *.m4a as the file extension for the output file on the command line, i.e. if you don't define an output file name with -o at all. In a GUI like the external codec plugin for Media Center (where you have to set the file extension separately from the command line) using the -o switch for output file name is mandatory, otherwise the GUI setting wouldn't be used. So -o %OUT is necessary, too (I'm just guessing that the placeholder for output file name is called %OUT in this plugin, because I don't know it).
file should be mp4 or m4a. I you remove the -w it should be aac. You can also use zrockesr program with this program.
Using *.m4a would enable to play the files directly in iTunes or on the iPod while *.mp4 should be recognized by QuickTime without an installed iTunes. It's correct that *.aac is the default file extension with FAAC, i.e. if you don't use -w or the other file extensions on the command line. These files play on hardware portables like some Philips Expanium CD players, some newer Nokia mobile phones, the RCA Lyra A/V Jukebox etc. as well as in Winamp 5.03 and in all other software players that use plugins based on FAAD2, the open source AAC/MP4 decoder.
Adding "zrockesr" (which I've never heard of) is probably not necessary, because it seems to suppress the console display of command line codecs in Windows. I guess that Media Center and/or the external codec plugin have a setting to do that like "silent operation" or the like?
I haven't tried it, so I don't know how good or bad it is, or even if this line work. If it dosen't work, try putting a - before the %IN.
Using a simple hyphen instead of the input file name is possible if the GUI enables direct piping of the input to the codec, i.e. without a temporary WAV file in between. FAAC can use this setting with several GUIs like foobar2000 or CDex, so I guess it should also work with Media Center, but probably there is a special setting for this mode in the plugin somewhere. Furthermore you don't need %IN then, because it substitutes the input file name.
The following line works in CDex's external encoder setting, so it should give you an idea how to adapt it for Media Center, e.g. the tag name placeholders in quotation marks will be different, I guess:
- -o %2 -q 100 --artist "%a" --album "%b" --title "%t" --genre "%g" --year "%y" --track "%tn"
Concerning the improved quality of the newer FAAC versions you could either do an own listening test or read the last AAC comparison where FAAC v1.23.5 was third closely behind Nero (which used ~140 kbps overall instead of 128 kbps) and not far away from the winner iTunes 4.2:
http://www.rjamorim.com/test/aac128v2/results.htmlBy the way, according to a few reports the brand-new iTunes 4.5 seems to have ringing problems caused by a higher cutoff frequency than v4.2 which isn't unusual for CBR codecs.
Sound-related changes in FAAC v1.24 since this comparison are enabled TNS (Temporal Noise Shaping) on default and automatically changing cutoff frequencies with different -q settings (e.g. -q 50 uses 10 kHz, -q 100 16 kHz and -q 150 22 kHz now) which can still be set individually with the -c switch.