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[dmm]

I am running MC15.0.172.  I have a MC15 server and several clients.  I have a Garmin NUVI 765t GPS that can play MP3 files off of its SD flash card.  I had synced my garmin with MC sometime back (possibly even during MC14 times) with out issue.  

I connect the garmin to my computer and the SD card mounts as a harddrive/directory.  I have MC15 set to sync my playlists to the SD card directory with the "convert unsupported formats" feature of MC15 turned on.  My playlists have MP3 as well as FLAC files in them.  The garmin does not support FLAC.  I have tried this on both a MC client and MC server.  Same result here are the problems:

1.  MC15 copies the MP3 files from the playlist to the garmin fine.  FLAC 24/96k and 48k files are converted to MP3 however the conversion seems to corrupt the files.  During playback there is distoration in the music files that is not present in the original FLAC files.  The best way I can describe it is it sounds like there is a mistake in the conversion of 24 bit to 16bit during loud dynamic portions since the distoration is not all thruout the file.

2.  I tried going into the encoder options screen of MC15 and setting to a higher MP3 VBR rate or even CBR.  MC15 appears to completely IGNORE my option selections and always uses some default VBR conversion.

3.  I tried going into the \Users\root\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Plugins\mp3_encoder directory and loaded the latest and greatest LAME.exe.  Again during the sync, MC15 appears to ignore this version of LAME.  the converted MP3 files are using 3.97 version of lame even tho I have loaded the latest 3.98 version in the plug in direcotry.

4.  If i use MC15 library tools convert format function (not via sync).  The files convert with the newer 3.98 LAME and sound fine.

What is happening during the handheld sync process and why am I getting these file corruption errors?

[bob]

3.  I tried going into the \Users\root\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 15\Plugins\mp3_encoder directory and loaded the latest and greatest LAME.exe.  Again during the sync, MC15 appears to ignore this version of LAME.  the converted MP3 files are using 3.97 version of lame even tho I have loaded the latest 3.98 version in the plug in directory.

What is happening during the handheld sync process and why am I getting these file corruption errors?

If you are using MC in a client/server scenario, the conversion is done on the SERVER. If you want to mess with lame, that is where to update it.
The file conversion settings are in the hand held settings on the client under conversion.

[dmm]

I checked and I have updated lame on both the client and server.  During a handheld sync I am still getting convert errors and for some reason MC is picking up lame 3.97 instead of the 3.98 version.

[bob]

The conversion is cached on the server.
Right click on the file in question.
Go down to the bottom of the menu, stacks.
Expand Stacks.
It will now show up in the view as an mp3 with Conversion... as part of the path.
Right click on the mp3, do delete, remove it from the library and delete it.

Now when you try to sync it again it'll be reconverted with the new lame you put on your server.
Let us know the results please...

[dmm]

I was not aware that MC15 created cache files of converted files.  (but that explains why the convert process is so fast the second time!).

I was not able to find the "expand stacks" control.  However under options, file locations, conversion cache I set it to "no cache".  I then went into the directory where the cache was and deleted the old MP3 files.

I deleted all the files off of my SD flash card and am in the process of doing a completely new full sync.  I can already tell by the first file that I am now using the newer LAME 3.98 and that MC15 is now following my orders to use CBR (as a test) to reconvert the FLAC files.

I will play with the sound quality and listen for the distoration and report back later.

[bob]

I was not able to find the "expand stacks" control.  However under options, file locations, conversion cache I set it to "no cache".  I then went into the directory where the cache was and deleted the old MP3 files.

You have to right click on the file in the audio tree, not in a playlist.

[dmm]

Problem Solved!

Either the LAME update or clearing the conversion cache fixed my problem.  Not sure which one did the trick but things are ok now.

I have a separate problem now reading/writting to a 16GB SDHC flash card within MC15 (the 8GB card works fine and both cards work fine under reading/writting under the OS).  Might be a hardware problem but I will open a separate thread if I need help on this issue.

[bob]

Problem Solved!

Either the LAME update or clearing the conversion cache fixed my problem.  Not sure which one did the trick but things are ok now.

I have a separate problem now reading/writting to a 16GB SDHC flash card within MC15 (the 8GB card works fine and both cards work fine under reading/writting under the OS).  Might be a hardware problem but I will open a separate thread if I need help on this issue.

Be interesting to know which is was but you'd have to delete the conversion cache for one file, remove lame so it had to be reloaded from the old version and try the handheld again.