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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Rizlaw on June 25, 2003, 09:38:03 am

Title: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Rizlaw on June 25, 2003, 09:38:03 am
I've decided that MC9 is so good that it's worth purchasing. However, I still have a few questions, mainly directed to the J River folks, about some things that MC9 appears not to be doing well (for me, at least).

1. DSP Studio does not seem to stay active. Each time I run MC9 I have to open the DSP dialog box and change a setting before DSP kicks in. Why doesn't DSP stay active all the time? My 30 day trial hasn't run out yet, and it won't matter after today, since I will buy I license.

2. When doing multiple (more than 10 CDs) sequential secure rips with MC9, after a few successful rips, MC9 either crashes outright or is unable to properly connect to YADB and then crashes. Any thoughts why this might be happening. I'm using XP Pro and Plextor Premium CDRW and P4 Northwood 2.8Ghz with 1GB Corsair Twinx DDRAM. I have a cable modem connection to the Internet.

3. I am also wondering about MC9's "secure" rip mode. For a secure mode it seems to work incredibly fast. On my computer, after a very brief "initializing" phase, each track goes from "copying" to "finished" in almost the blink of an eye (less than 10 sec in many cases). I never see any "encoding" phase. Can MC9's secure rip mode be that much faster than Exact Audio Copy's secure mode?

3. Finally, my last issue is more in the nature of a request to J River. I would like the CD Rip dialog to tell me, in addition to the fact that I am ripping in APE (High) format, that I am also ripping in "Secure" mode, or whatever mode I happen to set. Currently, my rips in secure mode are so fast (18x - 21x or better), that I am starting to wonder if I am really getting a secure rip. EAC won't rip much faster than 4x.

Thank for any enlightenment on these questions.
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Matt on June 25, 2003, 10:11:42 am
Quote
1. DSP Studio does not seem to stay active. Each time I run MC9 I have to open the DSP dialog box and change a setting before DSP kicks in. Why doesn't DSP stay active all the time? My 30 day trial hasn't run out yet, and it won't matter after today, since I will buy I license.


We've heard this, but haven't been able to reproduce it.  Do you have any more details?  Does it matter how you start DSP studio? (Player menu, options dialog, etc.)  Also, does it matter if you start playback first before using DSP studio?

Quote
2. When doing multiple (more than 10 CDs) sequential secure rips with MC9, after a few successful rips, MC9 either crashes outright or is unable to properly connect to YADB and then crashes. Any thoughts why this might be happening. I'm using XP Pro and Plextor Premium CDRW and P4 Northwood 2.8Ghz with 1GB Corsair Twinx DDRAM. I have a cable modem connection to the Internet.


A leak was fixed in a recent build.  Make sure you have 9.0.180 (available here on Interact) or else the beta of 9.1.

Quote
3. I am also wondering about MC9's "secure" rip mode. For a secure mode it seems to work incredibly fast. On my computer, after a very brief "initializing" phase, each track goes from "copying" to "finished" in almost the blink of an eye (less than 10 sec in many cases). I never see any "encoding" phase. Can MC9's secure rip mode be that much faster than Exact Audio Copy's secure mode?


That drive must have a huge cache. (so data isn't really getting read multiple times)  Look for a fix in a coming build of 9.1.

Thanks Rizlaw!
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: abayer1138 on June 25, 2003, 10:38:44 am
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We've heard this, but haven't been able to reproduce it.  Do you have any more details?  Does it matter how you start DSP studio? (Player menu, options dialog, etc.)  Also, does it matter if you start playback first before using DSP studio?


I actually have the same problem - the DSP Studio effects go away after a few minutes, 'til I go into the studio and change something. It does seem to be working when I start playback, regardless of whether I've gone into DSP Studio first or not. The effect seems to be same, regardless of how I go into DSP Studio as well.

A.
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Matt on June 25, 2003, 10:47:45 am
Quote
I actually have the same problem - the DSP Studio effects go away after a few minutes, 'til I go into the studio and change something. It does seem to be working when I start playback, regardless of whether I've gone into DSP Studio first or not. The effect seems to be same, regardless of how I go into DSP Studio as well.


So, is this correct?  If not, please make any corrections so we have a play-by-play to reproduce it.

1) start MC
2) open DSP Studio
3) turn everything off except "Environment" under effects (so effects has a check next to it)
4) close DSP Studio
5) start playback -- play a few songs
6) open DSP Studio -- settings have changed

Thanks!
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: abayer1138 on June 25, 2003, 11:14:36 am
Quote
1) start MC
2) open DSP Studio
3) turn everything off except "Environment" under effects (so effects has a check next to it)
4) close DSP Studio
5) start playback -- play a few songs
6) open DSP Studio -- settings have changed


I just did that, and the sound gradually changed. I went back into DSP Studio - the settings there are still the same, but when I unselect/reselect the Effects checkbox, the sound afterwards is definitely different than the sound immediately beforehand.

And I just set all my settings back to where I normally have them, started playing a song, and then within 10 seconds the volume and effects dropped drastically. Going back into the DSP Studio, flipping a setting off and back on set it all right again.

A.
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Matt on June 25, 2003, 11:17:19 am
Quote
I just did that, and the sound gradually changed. I went back into DSP Studio - the settings there are still the same, but when I unselect/reselect the Effects checkbox, the sound afterwards is definitely different than the sound immediately beforehand.

And I just set all my settings back to where I normally have them, started playing a song, and then within 10 seconds the volume and effects dropped drastically. Going back into the DSP Studio, flipping a setting off and back on set it all right again.


That's "Clip Protection" (at the bottom of DSP Studio)  Without it, your music will distort like crazy when using DSP's that apply gains.  It takes it a little to "learn" the level of the music, but when it's done, the volume shouldn't change too much.
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Rizlaw on June 25, 2003, 02:08:26 pm
Matt,

I am using MC 9.0.180. As for the Plextor Premium, yes, it has an 8MB cache. As for the DSP issue. I have MC9 set to immediately start playing. At this point there is no DSP working. If I open the DSP plugin, and change a setting - for example, unchecking the equalizer and then checking it and then exiting the DSP manager. This reactivates DSP. Or, I could change the woofer size from 10" to 8" and exit. This also reactivates DSP.
Title: Help!
Post by: hkchen.sob on June 26, 2003, 09:53:54 am
Hi JRiver and Everybody,

Sorry for the interruption.  I know this might not be the right place or procedure.  I just registered this morning and I am only a beginner, so I really don't know much about the right steps to set up a fresh quote myself, so here is where it ends.

My question is pretty simple, might be brought up before, I am not sure.  I wish to create a playlist that actually conforms to the tracks recorded on my CD-ROM, not something sorted by Artists or Name etc.  Simply said, something that I can use to enter with my remote to make the MP3 player play that title correctly each time.

Thanks for any assistance.

hkchen.sob
Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: Rizlaw on June 27, 2003, 04:30:46 pm
For Matt,

Regarding the issue with MC9.0.180 crashing when ripping multiple CD's, I have found, what I think may be the problem.

If I rip multiple CD in the following sequence, I don't experience any crashes:

1. Insert first CD. MC9 detects this correctly and I then click on "RIP CD". The rip is done in secure rip mode to a Plextor Premium CDRW with 8MB cache. The menu title bar at this point shows "CD Rip (copy) (Monkey Audio (APE) High)." It would also be nice if it stated "secure rip" in this Title bar header.

2. After the first CD rip completes, a new dialog box opens, briefly, indicating "Downloading Images" (I assume this is KingSparta's Cover Plugin working).

3. Then, the CD is ejected, and another dialog box opens with the title "Secure Rip Report". Here is where things can go wrong with MC9. Remember, at this point, the disc tray has ejected the 1st CD. If you click on OK to clear the "Secure Rip Report" dialog box BEFORE inserting another CD to rip and closing the disc draw, it seems MC9 gets a little confused and has difficulty finding the newly inserted CD. It is at this point that I am most likely to experience a problem. However, if I don't click on OK to clear the "Secure Rip Report" dialog box, but first remove CD #1 from the tray and insert new CD #2 to be ripped (and wait for a few seconds for CD #2 to load, and then click OK to clear the "Secure Rip Report" and OK again to clear the "Information" dialog, everything proceeds correctly and CD #2 is found, read and hopefully YADB has the CD's info in its database, and the rip proceeds as expected.

I hope this adds some clarification to the problem with MC9.0.180 I originally reported.

ABIT IT7 Max2 V.2
P4 2.4B (conservatively OC 2.8Ghz)
1GB Corsair Twinx DDR 2700-C2
4 WD1200JB ( 2 in Raid 0 array)
Plextor Premium CDRW
Pioneer DVR104
Sony 1612 DVDrom
XP PRO SP1

Title: Re: Assorted issues with DSP and secure rips
Post by: dragyn on June 27, 2003, 04:44:38 pm
>>for example, unchecking the equalizer and then checking it and then exiting the DSP manager. This reactivates DSP

Exact problem I'm having.

Matt,

If I need to drive 80 miles up there so you can see what I'm talking about, I'll do it. This is one bug I can't have. It's driving me nuts...literally. ;)