INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: JustinChase on December 01, 2005, 06:25:00 pm
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4. NEW: Media Center natively plays m4a files through its audio engine when the appropriate filters are installed. (enabling cross-fading, ASIO, visualizations, etc.)
Introduced in MC11.1 build 71
THANK YOU!!!
I'm downloading right now.
What filters do I need? I can already play the files, just not with cross-fade, vis, etc?
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THANK YOU!!!
I'm downloading right now.
What filters do I need? I can already play the files, just not with cross-fade, vis, etc?
3ivx filters.
http://www.3ivx.com/download/windows.html
Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
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3ivx filters.
http://www.free-codecs.com/3ivx_download.htm
It is classified as shareware at this download site. I do not know if it expires after some days of trial. I have not found a free filter for m4a yet. If I find one I will post.
Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
It's also available in the Klite codec pack....
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3ivx filters.
http://www.free-codecs.com/3ivx_download.htm
It is classified as shareware at this download site. I do not know if it expires after some days of trial. I have not found a free filter for m4a yet. If I find one I will post.
Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
ffdshow (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow) works for aac playback, and that is open source and therefore completely free! also, you might notice a slight bump up in your directshow movie quality if you install ffdshow ;).
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After installing ffdshow, AAC files do seem to play natively, but only the first time I try to play them. If I stop playback and start again, I think they revert to the old way of playback. I say this in part because before, I couldn't get AAC files to play in an alternative audio zone... now I can, but only if I don't stop playback once it's started.
Also, the first AAC file that is played in MC prompts a "failed to connect to a server message" and tells me that MC could not install the in_m4a.mjp.
That supposed ta happen?
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yah same here. also, when doing a conversion or analyzing (or playing for that matter), the file stops when it is around 99-100% complete. this obviously messes with transferring.
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Hi!
He finall better AAC support - GREAT!
But - I still cant burn Audio CD's from AAC files!?
When starting MC tries do download a sort if plugin which fails!? Any suggestions?
3ivx codec is installed properly.
greetz
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ffdshow (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow) works for aac playback, and that is open source and therefore completely free! also, you might notice a slight bump up in your directshow movie quality if you install ffdshow ;).
I followed the link given here, but only found a one year old build of ffdshow.
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OK, after playing around with these installations, I have managed to use ffdshow. Here is what I found:
You need 3ivx D4 Media Splitter. Without it FFdShow can not be used. So you will have to install 3ivx package to get that filter. However, you may be able to get by using other media splitter filters, but it must be used in connection with DirectShow's Source filter (i.e. a splitter filter that loads the file by itself would not work because we use DirectShow source filter to load the file).
After installing 3ivx package, and configure the "3ivx D4 Media Splitter" filter to "Allow Unsupported Decoders" I was able to decode m4a files using ffdshow.
A general rule of thumb for playing a new file format (other than those we already do in the past, such as mp3 wma, etc.) in MC's native audio engine: it first should be able to be played in Windows Media Player (after installing appropriate filters), because we use DirectShow architecture to play them.
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After installing ffdshow, AAC files do seem to play natively, but only the first time I try to play them. If I stop playback and start again, I think they revert to the old way of playback. I say this in part because before, I couldn't get AAC files to play in an alternative audio zone... now I can, but only if I don't stop playback once it's started.
Also, the first AAC file that is played in MC prompts a "failed to connect to a server message" and tells me that MC could not install the in_m4a.mjp.
That supposed ta happen?
I can not reproduce this behavior.
An easy way to see if a file is being played natively using MC's audio engine is to go to Playing Now and see if visualization is displayed.
Another way to make sure is to turn on logging for Playback. After playing an AAC file, you should something like these lines in the log file:
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: DumpGraph [41c2118]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Filter [199776c] 'MJ WaveBin Filter'
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [19978e4] 'In' [Input] Connected to pin [41c6f94]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Filter [7bcf5fc] 'ffdshow Audio Decoder'
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [41c6f94] 'Out' [Output] Connected to pin [19978e4]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Connection type M type MEDIATYPE_Audio S type MEDIASUBTYPE_PCM
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Subtype description UNKNOWN
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Not temporally compressed
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Sample size 1
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Subtype MEDIASUBTYPE_PCM
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: wFormatTag 1
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nChannels 2
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nSamplesPerSec 44100
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nAvgBytesPerSec 176400
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nBlockAlign 4
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: wBitsPerSample 16
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: cbSize 0
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [41c6cfc] 'In' [Input] Connected to pin [84c0074]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Filter [7b4e014] '3ivx D4 Media Splitter'
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [7b4e2fc] 'Input' [Input] Connected to pin [41b98ec]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [84c0074] 'Audio Output' [Output] Connected to pin [41c6cfc]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Connection type M type MEDIATYPE_Audio S type Unknown GUID Name
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Subtype description UNKNOWN
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Not temporally compressed
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Variable size samples
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Subtype Unknown GUID Name
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: wFormatTag 255
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nChannels 2
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nSamplesPerSec 44100
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nAvgBytesPerSec 16000
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: nBlockAlign 4
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: wBitsPerSample 16
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: cbSize 2
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Filter [41b97dc] 'C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Li Shuangjiang\Chuan Gong Haozi\01 Chuan G'
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Pin [41b98ec] 'Output' [Output] Connected to pin [7b4e2fc]
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Connection type M type MEDIATYPE_Stream S type MEDIASUBTYPE_QTMovie
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Subtype description UNKNOWN
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Not temporally compressed
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Sample size 1
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DisplayTypeEx: Format type TIME_FORMAT_NONE
10:36:56 AM: Playback: DumpGraph: Finish (32 ms)
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I followed the link given here, but only found a one year old build of ffshow.
Following imjustagamer's tip, I found K-Lite here:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm
which contains both 3ivx and ffshow (newer) and a host of other decoders.
If I do not install 3ivx, but only install ffshow, i can not get my m4a files to play natively. Am I missing something?
yeh sorry i gave a bad link. but using the new build off of free-codecs.com (which is like from dec 1), i am now having troubles! I was using an older build before and that worked fine (except for the aforementioned stopping at 100%), and now i can't even play an m4a file! i wonder what changed between builds of ffdshow. however, if i could make a suggestion i would say it seems like mc needs a bit better dshow filter before it is ready for primetime.
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yeh sorry i gave a bad link. but using the new build off of free-codecs.com (which is like from dec 1), i am now having troubles! I was using an older build before and that worked fine (except for the aforementioned stopping at 100%), and now i can't even play an m4a file! i wonder what changed between builds of ffdshow. however, if i could make a suggestion i would say it seems like mc needs a bit better dshow filter before it is ready for primetime.
Can they be played in Windows Media Player?
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After installing ffdshow, AAC files do seem to play natively, but only the first time I try to play them. If I stop playback and start again, I think they revert to the old way of playback. I say this in part because before, I couldn't get AAC files to play in an alternative audio zone... now I can, but only if I don't stop playback once it's started.
I can not reproduce this. It works fine for me, playing m4a files in two zones simultaneouly, and hitting Stop and Play buttons repeatedly.
Please also refer to my earlier post (the one just before JohnT's last post).
Also, the first AAC file that is played in MC prompts a "failed to connect to a server message" and tells me that MC could not install the in_m4a.mjp.
This will be fixed in the next build. It's caused by MC trying to download an input plugin for the AAC format, which we do not need since we play aac files through DirectShow.
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Can they be played in Windows Media Player?
I just switched to the k-lite codec pack (thanks imjustagamer!), and playback once again works just fine. however, the same problems i had before (where conversion, track analysis, and playback stop at 99-100%) exist once again.
this might be related: when it is doing a track analysis, several of the sys tray icons for the decoder show up, right now 8 or so are open from when I was doing track analysis. These all opened after trying to analyze aac files.
ill provide sys info to help in your quest to perfect this:
Media Center Registered 11.1.71 -- C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 11\
Workstation 5.2 Service Pack 1 (Build 3790)
AMD Unknown 1005 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1047 MB, Free - 482 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.3790.1830 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.3790 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.3790 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.3790 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive E: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive D: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG Addr: 0:2:0 Speed:48 MaxSpeed:48 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No /
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I just switched to the k-lite codec pack (thanks imjustagamer!), and playback once again works just fine. however, the same problems i had before (where conversion, track analysis, and playback stop at 99-100%) exist once again.
this might be related: when it is doing a track analysis, several of the sys tray icons for the decoder show up, right now 8 or so are open from when I was doing track analysis. These all opened after trying to analyze aac files.
The icons show up because the player is using the filter. Are they ffdshow icons?
Right-click the ffdshow icon you should see a menu. What are the top four lines there?
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The icons show up because the player is using the filter. Are they ffdshow icons?
Right-click the ffdshow icon you should see a menu. What are the top four lines there?
right i know its using the filter (i'm now using the default k-lite decoder, haali), but i find it interesting that it has around 8 filters running. I would think it would only need one filter open at a time, like when it opens up a divx or xvid file. i can try to replicate this and send in a picture if u want.
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right i know its using the filter (i'm now using the default k-lite decoder, haali), but i find it interesting that it has around 8 filters running. I would think it would only need one filter open at a time, like when it opens up a divx or xvid file. i can try to replicate this and send in a picture if u want.
Thanks, but there is no need to try to convince me :). I saw that problem, and it has been fixed (for the next build).
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3ivx filters.
http://www.free-codecs.com/3ivx_download.htm
It is classified as shareware at this download site. I do not know if it expires after some days of trial. I have not found a free filter for m4a yet. If I find one I will post.
Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
Hello guys, I installed this filter and now the analyse accept to run it (before it was giving me an error because I didn't have the right filter)
But it only runs it for the first track listed in the windows and hen it stops does nothing then start again. It is extremely slow.
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Thanks, but there is no need to try to convince me :). I saw that problem, and it has been fixed (for the next build).
awesome. thanks.
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Thanks, but there is no need to try to convince me :). I saw that problem, and it has been fixed (for the next build).
awesome. thanks.
Hm... I wonder if I have conveyed an inaccurate message. I meant to say that the problem of multiple decoder load (as shown in Notification tray) has been fixed. I still do not have any idea of the problem of player not playing to 100%.
Can you post or email me (yaobing AT jriver.com) log info (turn on Playback type logging)?
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Hello guys, I installed this filter and now the analyse accept to run it (before it was giving me an error because I didn't have the right filter)
But it only runs it for the first track listed in the windows and hen it stops does nothing then start again. It is extremely slow.
Please wait for the next build and try again. If the problem persists, please either post or email me (yaobing AT jriver.com) a log file, logging Playback type.
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Alex,
I moved your post to a new thread here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=30615.0
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Nero does this:
A general rule of thumb for playing a new file format (other than those we already do in the past, such as mp3 wma, etc.) in MC's native audio engine: it first should be able to be played in Windows Media Player (after installing appropriate filters), because we use DirectShow architecture to play them.
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I must be missing something... I've installed K-Lite and Windows Media Player is now able to play m4a-files. When I try to play them in MC 11.1.74, though, it just says that I should download Quicktime. Is there some documentation I can't find? Am I supposed to configure MC in anyway to be able to use the internal player for m4a-files?
Very thankful for help in this, as I've got a lot of m4a-files I want to play.
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You need also QuickTime. Yaobing just explained that to me in another thread.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html
I think the documentation is this thread for now. ;)
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And I am looking for ways to do away with QT completely. For now you do need QT to get certain info out of the files.
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using version 74 of media center, I can now successfully 'analyze audio' on m4a files. However, I also get an error telling me the tags could not be written to the files.
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This is what I did:
- Uninstalled iTunes
- Uninstalled Quicktime
- Uninstalled K-Lite & ffdshow
- Installed 3ivX only
After that, playing m4a-files is working perfectly.
I don't know why it didn't work with K-Lite/ffdshow even though WMP could play m4a-files.
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If I'm understanding you right here, I would still need QT to update the tags in my files, is that correct?
In that case, I think I'll use another program to edit my m4a-tags as QT can't handle filenames > 64 characters. This is a problem especially when you run JRMediaCenter as a client-server solution, as you get like 15-20 extra characters from the m01p://192.168.0.200/e:\music stuff.
If you could get rid of QT alltogether, that would be heaven, but otherwise perhaps you could implement a limit on number of characters in the "Rename files from properties"?
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This is what I did:
- Uninstalled iTunes
- Uninstalled Quicktime
- Uninstalled K-Lite & ffdshow
- Installed 3ivX only
After that, playing m4a-files is working perfectly.
I don't know why it didn't work with K-Lite/ffdshow even though WMP could play m4a-files.
See an earlier post of mine. For some strange reason ffdshow still needs one of the filters in 3ivx package. However this is not the case for everyone. I know someone managed to play it without 3ivx. On my machine I need 3ivx.
If you would like to use ffdshow, you can leave 3ivx installed, and install K-Lite. When K-Lite installation asks whether you want to uninstall 3ivx first, answer no. Configure 3ivx D4 Splitter to "allow unsupported decoders".
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using version 74 of media center, I can now successfully 'analyze audio' on m4a files. However, I also get an error telling me the tags could not be written to the files.
That error message will go way in the next build.
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If I'm understanding you right here, I would still need QT to update the tags in my files, is that correct?
In that case, I think I'll use another program to edit my m4a-tags as QT can't handle filenames > 64 characters. This is a problem especially when you run JRMediaCenter as a client-server solution, as you get like 15-20 extra characters from the m01p://192.168.0.200/e:\music stuff.
If you could get rid of QT alltogether, that would be heaven, but otherwise perhaps you could implement a limit on number of characters in the "Rename files from properties"?
It looks like we will be able to get rid of dependency on QT. However, writing tag to file is still not going to work, not immediately anyway. Right now I am concentrating on playback and reading tags. So tags you create in MC will only be saved in the library, not in the file, until we implement tag writing for aac, which we may or may be able to do (for example the limit on number of characters may be hard to accommodate).
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But there's no limit on characters in aac-files' ID3-tags shorter than in mp3-files, is there? I never had any problems with long ID3-tags in AAC-files...
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But there's no limit on characters in aac-files' ID3-tags shorter than in mp3-files, is there? I never had any problems with long ID3-tags in AAC-files...
What I really meant to say is that we never wrote tags to aac files before and I will have to investigate whether we can do it.
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I have now QT7, 3ivX and Nero 7 installed. GSpot can render my AAC files. It shows that only 3ivX splitter and 3ivX decoder are used. I suppose Nero decoder is then not used.
MC11.1 can see the files, read the tags, calculate the replay gain values and play the files, but that's all.
Crossfading, Replay Gain, EQ, Internal Volume, etc don't work.
What should I try next?
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I installed ffdshow on top of the other codecs and now DSP works fine (11.1.74). In this case both software packages were needed. (Or did you change something after the initial posts?)
At first only the iTunes (.m4a) files started to work, but then I renamed my .mp4 files to .m4a and also the Nero files work now.
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I installed ffdshow on top of the other codecs and now DSP works fine (11.1.74). In this case both software packages were needed. (Or did you change something after the initial posts?)
I do not know why. Some people are able to use ffdshow alone, while some need the 3ivx splitter with ffdshow. Now you are saying 3ivx alone is not enough for you?
Can you send me a sample m4a file?
At first only the iTunes (.m4a) files started to work, but then I renamed my .mp4 files to .m4a and also the Nero files work now.
Right now only .m4a extension will work. What's with all these different extensions? >:(
Have you tried 11.1.75? It should not require QuickTime.
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Here is a summary of what I know about m4a filters.
ffdshow - I have not found a separate package that is updated. I admit that I did not look hard for it.
3ivx - on my computer it works all by itself (without having to install ffdshow).
But on my machine ffdshow does not work without 3ivx D4 Media Splitter. So I can not uninstall 3ivx before installing ffdshow.
I also tried CoreAAC decoder. Again it will not work without 3ivx D4 Media Splitter.
I think it probably has to do with the fact that all my m4a files are iTune files.
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Here is a summary of what I know about m4a filters.
ffdshow - I have not found a separate package that is updated. I admit that I did not look hard for it since I found it in K-Lite package.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Codec-Packs-Video-Codecs/FFDShow-MPEG-Video-Decoder.shtml
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Thanks.
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I think this is the official place to go for ffdshow updates:
http://ffdshow.sourceforge.net/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=Getting+ffdshow
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So, is this DirectShow capability, or just for m24?
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So, is this DirectShow capability, or just for m24?
We are using DirectShow method to play these new types of files. In theory if a file can be played via DirectShow (i.e. there are filters for it) it should work in our new scheme. But for now we only put m4a in our list of supported formats.
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We are using DirectShow method to play these new types of files. In theory if a file can be played via DirectShow (i.e. there are filters for it) it should work in our new scheme. But for now we only put m4a in our list of supported formats.
Ok, just wondering if I could use it to play the occasional WavPack file.
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Good idea. Yaobing already asked this:
Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
WavPack has a DirectShow filter. http://www.wavpack.com/
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I do not know why. Some people are able to use ffdshow alone, while some need the 3ivx splitter with ffdshow. Now you are saying 3ivx alone is not enough for you?
... Have you tried 11.1.75? It should not require QuickTime.
I'll try 11.1.77 and report.
Can you send me a sample m4a file?
I sent you samples (m4a, mp4 and a playback log).
Right now only .m4a extension will work. What's with all these different extensions? >:(
:) Here are a couple of quotes from a HA thread titled: "Confused. Very confused. AAC, MP4, M4A, WTF?" (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=38140)
- .mp4: only official extension, for both audio and video files (and advanced content)
other related extensions:
- .m4a: introduced by apple for aac/alac audio-only files, m4a can safely be renamed to .mp4
- .m4p: DRM protected files sold in iTunes, using the DRM sheme developed by apple
- .m4e: renamed .sdp files used by Envivio for streaming
- .m4v, .mp4v, .cmp, .divx, .xvid: video-only, raw mpeg-4 video streams (Should be Video Only)
- .3gp, .3g2: used by mobile phones, stores content not defined in .mp4 too (H.263, AMR)
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=38140&view=findpost&p=340282
I see a lot of confusion here, so I'll try to extend what Randall311 already wrote.
MP4 is a container format, a part of MPEG-4 standard. MPEG-4 also standardises some types of compression of sound and video. The sound compression is AAL-LC (Low Complexity), AAC-HE (High Effeciency, also known as AAC SBR and AACplus) and AAC PS (Parametric Stereo). Then we have MPEG-4 video compression divided in MPEG-4 SP (DivX 3, DivX 4, QuickTime), MPEG-4 ASP (DivX 5, DivX 6, XviD, FFMPEG, 3ivX, ND ASP) and MPEG-4 AVC (x264, ND AVC, QuickTime).
Now AAC extension is commonly used for raw audio stream encoded according to MPEG-4 standard. M4V is a MPEG-4 video. MP4 is as I already said a container designed to store raw audio and video tracks and it can also contain tags, subtitles, chapters menues etc. For video files the extension MP4 is used. For audio the extension M4A should be used to distinguish video and audio-only files.
The MP4 container accepts all MPEG-4 streams. It also supports officially MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 audio/video. So you can have an M4A audio fie with AAC compression as well as MP3. Someone already mentioned this here.
So once again AAC is a sound compression with 2 possible extensions (HE, PS). MP4 (M4A, M4B) is a container, which supports storing of AAC and other compression formats.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=38140&view=findpost&p=340480
As you can see, it is actually very simple and straightforward. ;)
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I still do struggle to import MP4 directly into MC11.1.
I have to rename the files to AVI and then rename them back to after the import to MP4. Only that way ffdshow will be enabled to decode the files in MC11.
I got rid of QT as I believei it is a bloated unnecessary software if you have ffdshow installed.
However, if I leave filetype in MC11 as "mp4" it still asks for Quicktime, evne so other codecs are installed to play the files! If I "fake" MC11 to tell it that filetype is "AVI" it plays the file fine, activating directX player and ffdshow, even so the file extnesion is ".mp4", ie. only the "filetype" field in MC11 triggers MC 11 to ask for QT, which I believe must be a bug.
MC 11 should fist look that a codec for whatever filetype is installed and only if it is missing (Ie no ffd show, no quicktime), then it should come up with an error and ask users to download quicktime (the poor ones that dont know better alternatives......
BB
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I still do struggle to import MP4 directly into MC11.1.
I have to rename the files to AVI and then rename them back to after the import to MP4. Only that way ffdshow will be enabled to decode the files in MC11.
I got rid of QT as I believei it is a bloated unnecessary software if you have ffdshow installed.
However, if I leave filetype in MC11 as "mp4" it still asks for Quicktime, evne so other codecs are installed to play the files! If I "fake" MC11 to tell it that filetype is "AVI" it plays the file fine, activating directX player and ffdshow, even so the file extnesion is ".mp4", ie. only the "filetype" field in MC11 triggers MC 11 to ask for QT, which I believe must be a bug.
MC 11 should fist look that a codec for whatever filetype is installed and only if it is missing (Ie no ffd show, no quicktime), then it should come up with an error and ask users to download quicktime (the poor ones that dont know better alternatives......
This thread is about audio playback, but IMO Yaobing could have a look at this issue too because it is closely related. MC should have a mechanism for selecting the correct "route" if the needed codecs are installed. Here is the previous thread: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=29759.0.
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Indeed. I believe it does not really matter whether its audio or video. MC should support directshow features for both
bb
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I sent you samples (m4a, mp4 and a playback log).
Thanks.
Your m4a file behaves exactly like what I have. I see no difference. On my machine 3ivx D4 Media Splitter (installed from 3ivx package) is still needed no matter what. ffdshow alone would not work. 3ivx package alone would work.
So it seems to depend on machine. Before a better solution is obtained, one can try using either 3ivx package alone, or ffdshow alone, or both package combined, whichever works :).
As you can see, it is actually very simple and straightforward. ;)
Thanks Alex for the links on aac/mp4 formats.
Indeed. I believe it does not really matter whether its audio or video. MC should support directshow features for both
I have added mp4 in the list to be played natively (in next build - 79 or later). The audio only mp4 file Alex sent me works fine. Not sure what happend to video files. Please let me know how it works.
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Ok, just wondering if I could use it to play the occasional WavPack file.
WavPack format can be played in the next build (11.1.79). No ID3 tags yet.
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WavPack format can be played in the next build (11.1.79). No ID3 tags yet.
It does indeed. Thanks.
Can't tell if the 'correction mode' playback works because there is no rate readout, but I do get playback.
Hope tag reading will follow sometime.
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Is there meantime any support on burning CD-Audio from .m4a(AAC) files?
I can perfectly playback these files with MC11.1.90, but when starting "Burn", MC will come up with an Info box "Can't start the write".
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Also, any other file formats that you would like to be played natively in MC?
Real Media?
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=31219.0
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Real Media?
Yes. In the next build Real Audio will be played natively if DirectShow filters for it are present.
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Does that include RealAudio 10 AAC (protected and non-protected)?
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Does that include RealAudio 10 AAC (protected and non-protected)?
For non-protected aac, yes. For protected aac, most likely the answer is no.
Actually, the unprotected aac encoded using RealPlayer is in m4a, which has already been played natively in MC. Protected aac from iTunes (m4p) are played through QuickTime, not in MC's native engine. Would protected aac from Real be different?
--EDIT--
I just tried playing an m4a file encoded in RealPlayer10. It would not work. Only the first few seconds are played. This is also try in Windows Media Player. So the answer is NO.
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Yes. In the next build Real Audio will be played natively if DirectShow filters for it are present.
Any chance of tags being read for DirectShow supported formats?
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And if someone found a bulletproof way to install aac filters that would work on all machines. Something like a short guide would be nice.
I have to uninnstall 3ivx and just use ffdshow to be able to playback aac on the laptop.
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Any chance of tags being read for DirectShow supported formats?
In the future, but not too soon I am afraid.
And if someone found a bulletproof way to install aac filters that would work on all machines. Something like a short guide would be nice.
I have to uninnstall 3ivx and just use ffdshow to be able to playback aac on the laptop.
Right. For now you will have to do some experimenting. It seems that different AAC files behave differently, there is no single filter that works for all of them.
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Yaobing,
You may want to check this DirectShow filter pack out:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=56803
I have not tested it. I just found it when I tried to google for a solution to this Real m4a problem.
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I found that m4a files encoded with RealPlayer 10 will play if you have Haali Media Splitter and FFDShow. So I am going to change my recommendation as follows:
For aac (m4a) playback -
Recommendation 1:
Install Haali Media Splitter and FFDShow.
If anyone knows either of these have copyright infringement issues, please let me know. I will not endorse any filters that are illegal.
Recommendation 2:
3ivx decoder filters.
Works fine with iTune encoded m4a files. But there are issues with Real encoded m4a files.
For .ra file playback -
Use Real Media Splitter and FFDShow. Real Media Splitter is available here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=87719
Yaobing,
You may want to check this DirectShow filter pack out:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=56803
I have not tested it. I just found it when I tried to google for a solution to this Real m4a problem.
Works fine. Are there copyright issues with this? Now I am afraid of endorsing large decoder/encoder packs ;)
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Works fine. Are there copyright issues with this? Now I am afraid of endorsing large decoder/encoder packs ;)
Reading the release notes, it certainly looks like they took pains to avoid paid/non-free tools.
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Maybe I should not have recommended Haali Media Splitter afterall. There is a nasty "feature" that is very annoying. It is too eager to jump in when a file is played, even if it is a file it can not handle. It would not be so bad if it just fail quietly, but it pops up a message box. So if you try to play a RealAudio Lossless file with .ra extension, DirectShow method would fail. With other decoder and splitter filters, it is OK because we just fall back to using RealPlayer quietly. With Haali Media Splitter installed, we get a bunch of error message boxes before eventaully play the file in RealPlayer. >:(
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I just tried some Nero mp4 files again. I noticed that if I have MC set to use ASIO the files play without any sound. MC reserves the output to ASIO and no DirectShow sound can get through.
I suppose MC grabs the audio signal from DirectShow because it can analyze and adjust it, but after that it probably sends it back to DirectShow instead of using the selected output.
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I suppose MC grabs the audio signal from DirectShow because it can analyze and adjust it, but after that it probably sends it back to DirectShow instead of using the selected output.
That shouldn't be the case. Audio samples are grabbed from DirectShow and never given back.
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That shouldn't be the case. Audio samples are grabbed from DirectShow and never given back.
Have you tried ASIO?
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Have you tried ASIO?
No, I do not have ASIO.
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Try ASIO4ALL: http://www.asio4all.com. It may work with your sound card. I have ASIO4ALL on three different PCs. Only one of the sound cards had an ASIO driver originally.
I think it would be good to have all three supported output modes available when testing MC. Otherwise you should test this on some other PC.
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Try ASIO4ALL: http://www.asio4all.com. It may work with your sound card. I have ASIO4ALL on three different PCs. Only one the sound cards had an ASIO driver originally.
I think it would be good to have all three supported output modes available when testing MC. Otherwise you should test this on some other PC.
Hey Alex,
The input side of the playback engine has no idea what output mode is selected, so picking ASIO vs DirectSound should make no difference.
I'm wondering if there isn't a sample rate issue where your ASIO card can't support the native sample rate of the file. (where DirectSound will resample it for you)
-Matt
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Have you tried ASIO?
Now I have :D, thanks for the link to ASIO4ALL.
All my files played fine. The two sample files (m4a and mp4) that you sent me also played fine.
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Try to make a playlist that switches from MP3 (or some other internally decoded format) to AAC MP4. In my case, on a track change I see the Haali and FDDShow icons shortly, but after that the file is not decoded internally (no internal volume etc.).
When I stop and restart playback the internal volume is available again, but this time no audio passes through ASIO4ALL. Also, the following file in the playlist (MP3) is silent unless I stop and restart again.
My other ASIO driver (Terratec, from the sound card manufacturer) behaves a bit differently. It plays audio all the time, but the track change problem is present.
Otherwise ASIO4ALL has been better on my system. I couldn't play bit perfect 5.1 channel DTS Wave files with the original Terratec driver. With ASIO4ALL these files can be decoded on my DTS receiver.
Would it be worth trying other filter combinations? I am starting to be quite confused with all these filters...
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Try to make a playlist that switches from MP3 (or some other internally decoded format) to AAC MP4. In my case, on a track change I see the Haali and FDDShow icons shortly, but after that the file is not decoded internally (no internal volume etc.).
When I stop and restart playback the internal volume is available again, but this time no audio passes through ASIO4ALL. Also, the following file in the playlist (MP3) is silent unless I stop and restart again.
My other ASIO driver (Terratec, from the sound card manufacturer) behaves a bit differently. It plays audio all the time, but the track change problem is present.
Otherwise ASIO4ALL has been better on my system. I couldn't play bit perfect 5.1 channel DTS Wave files with the original Terratec driver. With ASIO4ALL these files can be decoded on my DTS receiver.
Would it be worth trying other filter combinations? I am starting to be quite confused with all these filters...
I tried putting a mixture of mp3 and m4a/mp4 files in Playing Now and letting them play continuously. I saw none of the problems you saw.
I also tried different filter combinations:
Haali/CoreAAC,
Haali/FFDShow
Elecard MP4 Demultiplexer/CoreAAC
Elecard MP4 Demultiplexer/FFDShow
All seem to be fine.
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Rather strange. I see similar behavior with Real Media files too. ASIO4ALL is dead silent. I am not sure about the track switching problem. It happens from time to time.
If the output is generated completely in MC I don't understand why changing from one ASIO driver to another would change anything. The source files are standard 44.1 kHz stereo files. Both ASIO drivers can play any mixture of internally decoded file types normally.
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I wonder if this is caused by resource conflicts, i.e. DirectShow filters vs. ASIO driver. I have no idea what I am talking about ;D
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I think you have some idea.
I changed the Windows default sound device to be the integrated C-Media instead of the Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96 sound card. That somehow "released" the MC > ASIO4ALL > Terratec route and now I can play DS files too. This doesn't explain why the Terratec and ASIO4ALL ASIO drivers work differently and why you can use ASIO4ALL.
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FYI,
Probably one of my filter experiments made DirectShow incapable of playing AVI and MPG video files. I have no idea which one did it, but reinstalling Matroska "full pack" that contains FFDShow on top of the previously installed filters fixed the problem.
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I found an excellent DirectShow EQ:
(http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqs.png) (http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqb.png)
Click to enlarge. (http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqb.png)
(http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqabouts.png) (http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqaboutb.png)
Click to enlarge. (http://www.adart.pp.fi/mc/pix/dceqaboutb.png)
http://www.dsp-worx.de/
It is normally usable only with video files, but the DirectShow support in MC makes it available also for DS audio files. Currently a playlist can contain an AAC file that can use this EQ, but the next MP3 would play unfiltered.
It would be very interesting if MC could have an option for routing the output completely through DirectShow. That would make nice filters like this available with internally supported file formats too.
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With ffdshow and iTunes installed I am able to play m4a files without a problem. What seems to be causing a problem, however, is when MC tries to convert these files to mp3 in Media Server to send to my Netgear MP101 (a UPnP device). No matter what I try and do, it kicks back an error saying I need to install the proper DirectShow filters. But these files play fine when MC doesn't try and convert them! Am I expecting too much for MC to be able to convert and stream m4a files to UPnP devices on my network??
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With ffdshow and iTunes installed I am able to play m4a files without a problem. What seems to be causing a problem, however, is when MC tries to convert these files to mp3 in Media Server to send to my Netgear MP101 (a UPnP device). No matter what I try and do, it kicks back an error saying I need to install the proper DirectShow filters. But these files play fine when MC doesn't try and convert them! Am I expecting too much for MC to be able to convert and stream m4a files to UPnP devices on my network??
When you play the files, does MC use DirectShow filters or QuickTime? Go to Playing Now, if Visualization is displayed it is using DirectShow filter. Otherwise it would say "Quick Time" on the command bar.
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What is the current thinking on the 'best' filter to use for playing back .m4a audio files. I had installed the 3ivx filter, but it was a 30 day trial and has now expired. it sounds as if the Haali filter is pretty good, but what about DirectShow filters?
Any suggestions/warnings for me? I need to get something installed, but don't want to mess around trying all sorts of stuff that may or may not work.
Thanks.
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What is the current thinking on the 'best' filter to use for playing back .m4a audio files. I had installed the 3ivx filter, but it was a 30 day trial and has now expired. it sounds as if the Haali filter is pretty good, but what about DirectShow filters?
Any suggestions/warnings for me? I need to get something installed, but don't want to mess around trying all sorts of stuff that may or may not work.
Thanks.
If you like Haali, FFDShow probably is a good choice. In fact FFDShow works with all splitters I have tried. It decodes not only m4a's but a number of other formats too.
The splitters are more likely to be problematic. None of the splitters I tried behave perfectly. See some of the earlier posts in this thread.
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Thanks Yaboing. Just like everything with computers, nothing's 100%. I'll give haali a try. I'm only using .m4a files, so hopefully it will work without a hitch. I'll let you know if I have any problems.
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When you play the files, does MC use DirectShow filters or QuickTime? Go to Playing Now, if Visualization is displayed it is using DirectShow filter.
Thanks for responding, Yaobing. It says Quicktime when I play the files. Do you think that could be the problem?
-Warlock
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Thanks for responding, Yaobing. It says Quicktime when I play the files. Do you think that could be the problem?
-Warlock
That indicates that your files are played with QuickTime, not with DirectShow. In order to convert to mp3, you need to use DirectShow. The way it is with your computer, you do not have the needed filters to do it. Since you have FFDShow, the problem most likely is that you do not have a splitter filter.
Your options:
1. Install Haali Media Splitter. It will work with FFDShow decoder.
2. Install 3ivx decoder pack. It has a Media Splitter, a video decoder, and a video decoder. It is trialware. So you will need to pay $6.95 after the trial expires. This pack will work by itself, but you can also choose to use other decoders such as FFDShow with it.
3. Elecard Mpg4 Demultiplexer which is installed as part of the DirectShow FilterPack mentioned by Alex in this thread.
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That indicates that your files are played with QuickTime, not with DirectShow. In order to convert to mp3, you need to use DirectShow. The way it is with your computer, you do not have the needed filters to do it. Since you have FFDShow, the problem most likely is that you do not have a splitter filter.
Your options:
1. Install Haali Media Splitter. It will work with FFDShow decoder.
2. Install 3ivx decoder pack. It has a Media Splitter, a video decoder, and a video decoder. It is trialware. So you will need to pay $6.95 after the trial expires. This pack will work by itself, but you can also choose to use other decoders such as FFDShow with it.
3. Elecard Mpg4 Demultiplexer which is installed as part of the DirectShow FilterPack mentioned by Alex in this thread.
I loaded the DirectShow FilterPack and that seems to have done the trick. Thanks again for all of your help.
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I have no clue how to fix these :
1) M4P audio files do play via Quick Time (I have to change the extension from .m4p to .aac in order to force mc to make them play via ffdshow)
2) Vis are "slow" when playing ACC files. Gforce pauses itself for half a second every 1 or 2 seconds. The same goes for internal vis and even the new spectrum analyser in MC display.
I installed the klite codec pack and tried : (using each time the Haali media splitter)
- 3ivx acc decoder (uninstalled+reinstalled in order to deactivate 3ivx aac decoder)
- ffdsow + realaac
- ffdshow + libfaad2
No difference (playback + audio analysis + fading = ok , but vis are always freezing like described)
I think it is due to MC but who know?
Is there something I should try?
And by the way .... I've been waiting for beeing able to play my aac files natively in MC for so loong, Thank you!!!
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I have no clue how to fix these :
1) M4P audio files do play via Quick Time (I have to change the extension from .m4p to .aac in order to force mc to make them play via ffdshow)
DRM protected m4p files generally can not be played through DirectShow. That is why we do not even attempt to do so. We let QuickTime play it. If changing extension works for some or all your files, that is what you will need to do.
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I installed MC 11.1 and can play .RM stream directly in media center. However, when I try to play the url through my sound bridge I get a directshow filter error. I have media server set to encode to MP3 for my soundbridge . I installed FDDSHOW and the real media splitter. any ideas? Thanks
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I installed MC 11.1 and can play .RM stream directly in media center. However, when I try to play the url through my sound bridge I get a directshow filter error. I have media server set to encode to MP3 for my soundbridge . I installed FDDSHOW and the real media splitter. any ideas? Thanks
What kind of filter error? Can you post your debug log?
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Unfortunately streaming real media files can only be played in RealPlayer engine becaue the RealAudio Source filter would not handle streaming. That maybe the reason for the failure you experienced.
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After being on the road for about 6 months--losing my entire APE-ripped CD collection due to simultaneous drive failures in my RAID and transcoding my entire lossy collection to AAC, I've returned to find MC at version 11.1.
I was excited to have native playback & tagging of MP4 audio files encoded by iTunes. I've found several threads dealing with the installation of a media splitter and ffdshow, but things are not well in playback land.
In a nutshell, the filters needed don't seem to stay loaded properly when I'm doing various activities in MC. For example, I got the Haali Media Spliter & FFDshow filters installed and loaded properly. My m4a files were playing (visualizations, importing longer than 64 character filenames, etc.) All was pretty good in the world.
I then did some operations with MC and imported some more files. Subsequently, all my m4a files were playing back with QuickTime.
I uninstalled all the filters & tried again. Everything was pretty good with the world. I noticed that some of the files I had imported were missing tags. I tried to "Update Library from Tags" and no new information came across. I then deleted the files with missing library information from the library and prepared to re-import them. They imported very quickly and I never saw the tray icons for Haali or FFDshow appear. Again, much of the tag information was not imported (notably the Genre) and they were all being decoded by QuickTime.
I found the thread about running the rgsvr32 command for the Haali splitter file and tried that--it got me back up and running faster than uninstalling/reinstalling the filters & splitter.
I don't know enough about DirectShow to be able to troubleshoot this stuff. I can't uninstall QuickTime because I know it's still needed for playing m4p files from the iTunes music store.
Any ideas on what to try to:
1) Get reliable playback of m4a files in a mixed playlist of apes, apls, m4a, mp3, m4p using DirectShow decoding?
2) Deal with the tagging problems?
Best,
Brad
MC11.1.155
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Is Quicktime causing problems? Grabbing the file association?
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Is Quicktime causing problems? Grabbing the file association?
I don't think it's as simple as this. Perhaps if I was playing the files from Windows Explorer, but all of my interaction (pun intended) has been through the MC interface.
When playing a file from within MC, doesn't it say, "Hey, I know how to play this file, I need to trigger this splitter, and run the audio part through this filter and route the resulting output through the sound card's ASIO system"? I wouldn't expect file associations to have much to do with it....right?
Brad
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I then did some operations with MC and imported some more files. Subsequently, all my m4a files were playing back with QuickTime.
Are all your m4a files encoded the same way? For example are there some of them encoded with Apple Lossless while others in AAC?
You would lose DirectShow playback if MC encounters difficulty building a DirectShow graph on a file (sometimes when it takes too long for the graph to build, MC would quit trying for the file type - until you restart MC).
Apple lossless m4a can not be decoded using FFDShow.
Have you tried MP4 Splitter filter in stead of Haali Media Splitter? I found the former is simpler and more reliable than the latter.
MC can not write AAC tags, but it reads AAC tags. It should not matter whether DirectShow or Quicktime is used.
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Are all your m4a files encoded the same way? For example are there some of them encoded with Apple Lossless while others in AAC?
Yes. All of the m4a files are AAC. None are Apple Lossless (as long as Monkey keeps compressing! :)
You would lose DirectShow playback if MC encounters difficulty building a DirectShow graph on a file (sometimes when it takes too long for the graph to build, MC would quit trying for the file type - until you restart MC).
This is what feels like is happening. It's quite strange. As I import files using Haali/ffdshow, I can see the tray icons for those filters blinking as each file is added to the library. It makes the import process quite slow. Using MP4Splitter/ffdshow, I don't see this tray icon blinking--and the import is much faster.
Have you tried MP4 Splitter filter in stead of Haali Media Splitter? I found the former is simpler and more reliable than the latter.
I have found version 20051125 of MP4Splitter and am auditioning it as I type. It seems to be working fine, but I have not stressed it too much with switching file types. Testing will continue.
I have noticed that visualizations are slightly jerkier when playing AAC files through DirectShow than playing other filetypes.
MC can not write AAC tags, but it reads AAC tags. It should not matter whether DirectShow or Quicktime is used.
This is the most annoying & baffling problem I am currently experiencing. I'd be ecstatic if MC would read all of my tags. In a library of over 12,000 AAC/M4P tracks, nearly 2/3s of them are losing their "Genre" tag. Many have lost their names, track numbers, album tags, etc.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which files have lost information. All of the tag info appears when I import the tracks into iTunes. Some of the tracks are downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. The remainder have been encoded using various versions of the iTunes encoder (from 4.7->6.0.4) and QuickTime, but the problem tracks span all of those versions.
Most have been encoded under Windows2000. Some have been encoded on a Macintosh. Again, no patterns here.
Are there tagging utilities that I can use to see what kind of tags have been applied to these tracks? What about 'optimizing' tags. Again, aside from MC, I'm not too familiar with the Windows software world.... :(
Thanks,
Brad
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MC seems to not be able to read genres other than the default ones that come with iTunes. Such custom genres includes Pop/Rock, Soft Rock, Country Rock, etc. :'(
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MC seems to not be able to read genres other than the default ones that come with iTunes. Such custom genres includes Pop/Rock, Soft Rock, Country Rock, etc. :'(
Zounds!
You seem to have nailed the problem on the head. I was being fooled because my 'custom' genres, like Rock/Pop & Cast Recording, were still showing up in MC--however I didn't realize all the tracks where that genre showed were MP3 files instead of AAC files!
Genius!
Now what can be done to fix this?....
Brad
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AC3 filter info here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=35443.0