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[bblue]

I haven't seen this for quite a few versions, since it mysteriously disappeared back in ver 13 following my complaints about it.

Last night I ripped my SACD of Super Session to DSF.  It played fine in MC 20.0.14.  I then converted it to FLAC 176k via MC and that too worked just fine.

This morning I noticed something strange in the FLAC version of it having to do with the calculated Replay-Gain/Volume Level (R128) (more on that in another message) so I went about doing another DSF-> FLAC conversion to see if the error could be duplicated.  But this time (no reboots, same configuration) the resulting FLAC is huge and has many skip and stutter errors when played.

A 6:55 minute DSF track of 280MB converted to 6,649,341 KB (6.6G).  The next track 4:22 in length was a 3,994,176 KB FLAC and so on down the line.  In each case, the Status column in the Converter window (while transfer is underway) that is a 0-100% window indicating the processing of the track, wraps around to several thousand %  like 4050%, then snaps to 100% and waits while the temporary file is written and copied.  The behavior is the same for each track.

I just tried the same sequences again, but this time the first file produced a FLAC output of 5,755,078 KB, and it seems to vary each time it is tried.  Third try the output was 2,081,169 KB -- still corrupt.

Sidenote: During the conversion, in the output directory there is a file named Temporary Convert File - xxxxx.flac and later on, another named Temporary Convert File - xxxxx(1).flac.  It looks like one of them is deleted at the conclusion of processing for that track, and the second one is renamed to the real track name.  However, depending on where you CANCEL a transfer session, the first one may remain in the directory.  It stays open and associated with MC.  Can't be deleted without stopping MC.

--Bill

[bblue]

More on this behavior.  I've been trying different patterns, sequences and options up to the point of conversion, various dsp settings, etc., and when it's acting flaky it's hit and miss.  Meaning, in a group of 9 songs, it may process each of them correctly, it may process the first 4 correctly and the rest corrupted, or it may corrupt all of them.  Sometimes you can do just one, get a good conversion, do it again and get a corrupted version, with no changes in between!

I was trying to find a combination of options that would set it off, and at first it seemed like turning dsp on/off would break a current trend, then it seemed like bit rate between 24 and auto would make a difference, then this, then that.  This is also after having re-run it and the server several times, which never seemed to make a difference.  Except one time it crashed (MC and the server, not just MC), when it came back up after that, everything began working correctly (no corrupted files) for five complete sets of nine tracks each, even with different options set.

Of note is the fact that in those five sets of 9 uncorrupted conversions each, no set of five track #x's have the same filesize...  Here's an extract of four of the five sets of filenames and sizes.  I'm not sure if it means anything, but you'd think they'd be the same if the options were the same.  In these, the unnumbered track and (1) track were done with the same options, while the (2) and (3) tracks were identical except that DSP Apply Volume was enabled.

[Matt]

I just converted a handful of DSF files to FLAC at 176k.  The resulting files play fine.  I wonder what might be different?