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[Solomon]

I've been waiting for what I considered to be a bug fix for a long time: AAC files can't have their Replay Gain analyzed.  I notice that in 11.1, this has been made explicit (with the error message "only audio files on a local drive that can be played in the native playback engine can be analyzed"), so this is definitely an improvement... at least the behavior no longer appears mysterious! 

But nevertheless, there must be a way to implement Replay Gain for M4A files.  Even if it requires storing the replay gain in the library and not in the tags, or some other inelegance, I think it's a necessary feature. 

I've been trying to resist transcoding all my AAC files into Ogg files but if this keeps up much longer I may bite the bullet...

Thoughts?

[trott]

there is directshow support in the native MC engine as per 11.1.somethingsomething. You need to install a directshowfilter such as ffdshow. Then RG analysis works. (it does for me on m4a files)
Tag writing sadly does not, though...

[Solomon]

I notice that in the release notes for 11.1.79 beta (12/12/05) (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=30688.0) it says "13. Changed: Mp4 and aac are put in the list of natively played extensions (along with m4a)".  Does that mean that in 11.1.79 beta, M4A was a natively-played file type, but in 11.1.130 it is not?

What is ffdshow and how do I install it?

Solomon

[trott]

Previously, aac files were played with quicktime. For things like audio analysis and visualisations to work, MC needs to play them with its native engine. Starting from the build you quoted, directshow (which is the audio and video playback system used by windows) is supported by this engine.

Best thing you can do is google for ffdshow and install this. It is a directshow filter supporting a lot of audio and video codecs.

[Yaobing]

Best thing you can do is google for ffdshow and install this.

And make sure you get the latest version, 11/29/2005 or later.

You may also need an mp4 splitter filter. This is a good choice:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/guliverkli/mp4splitter_20051125.7z?download

[Solomon]

So, do I understand this correctly?  In older versions of MC, quicktime was used for AAC files.  But in current builds, MC supports directshow which allows it to use ffdshow, which in turn plays AAC files, and directshow is "native" to MC whereas quicktime was "external"?

[Alex B]

So, do I understand this correctly?  In older versions of MC, quicktime was used for AAC files.  But in current builds, MC supports directshow which allows it to use ffdshow, which in turn plays AAC files, and directshow is "native" to MC whereas quicktime was "external"?

DirectShow is not exactly native, but the decoded audio is routed back and played through the native audio engine. For more information, you may want to check this thread out: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=30561.0.

[Solomon]

You may also need an mp4 splitter filter. This is a good choice:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/guliverkli/mp4splitter_20051125.7z?download

What do I do with the mp4 splitter?  I've downloaded the file you suggested, and it contains two files called "MP4Splitter.ax".  Which one (the "Release" or the "Release Unicode") do I want, and what do I want to do with it?

[Solomon]

I installed ffdshow and uninstalled quicktime.  Under "DirectShow playback settings", I checked the option "Try using DirectShow for playback of mp4 media".  To my delight, I was able to play an m4a file, analyze audio, and see a visualation.

However, it only worked once.  Now when I try to play an m4a file, I get a dialog box asking me to install the latest quicktime.

Thoughts?

[Yaobing]

What do I do with the mp4 splitter?  I've downloaded the file you suggested, and it contains two files called "MP4Splitter.ax".  Which one (the "Release" or the "Release Unicode") do I want, and what do I want to do with it?

Issue this command from Start -> Run:

regsvr32 "[path]\Release Unicode\MP4Splitter.ax"

[Yaobing]

I installed ffdshow and uninstalled quicktime.  Under "DirectShow playback settings", I checked the option "Try using DirectShow for playback of mp4 media".  To my delight, I was able to play an m4a file, analyze audio, and see a visualation.

However, it only worked once.  Now when I try to play an m4a file, I get a dialog box asking me to install the latest quicktime.

Thoughts?

It looks like the DirectShow graph building took too long, MC "thought" it was hanging and decided not to use it.

Registering MP4 Splitter (see my previous post) may help.

[Solomon]

Thanks, that worked.

Now, try explaining that to a recent convert from iTunes...