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Topic: Wavpack 4.3 question (Read 6501 times) previous topic - next topic
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Wavpack 4.3 question

Hi David,

First- thanks very much for Wavpack, it is awesome. I've just been trying out 4.3 a few different ways and had a few questions/issues to bring up. Most of them I've answered myself by trying various things, but this one I couldn't figure out.

On the CD I tried (a live bootleg of The Scientists), one track out of 13 was encoded losslessly both times when the commandline used was -b400cxm the first time and -b384cm the second time. That is, one lossless .wv was made and no .wvc. I noticed on the documentation it says "If the track can be losslessly compressed without exceeding the specified bitrate, then it will be and WavPack will report the compression as lossless." But I get a file with bitrates of 886 and 893 from both the above lines, so I'm stumped.

Any light you can shed would be great. Thanks!

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #1
What you are describing is definitely strange, and certainly not the intended behavior. Is this reproducible doing a single file or did it only happen in a batch operation? Are you using the Windows binary (with EAC...?) or a Linux version?

The case you mention about the bitrate being so high that lossless encoding happens still leaves a .wvc file there (although it's very small because it's just headers) and the compression is still reported by the -s command of wvunpack as "hybrid". What does -s report with your files?

It really sounds like somehow the command-line got messed up and those options weren't actually used. WavPack will normally not process anything if it doesn't like something about the command, but maybe not in all cases.

You could try the "debug" mode of WavPack (assuming you're using EAC) by renaming the executable to "wavpack_debug.exe" and checking the command-line args (assuming the problem is reproducible).

I suppose it could be something funny about the actual source file that causes the behavior, but we'll deal with that possibility if everything else turns out ok... 

Thanks for trying WavPack, BTW!

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #2
I'm using the Windows binary. The first time it happened was in a batch operation on the whole CD. Then I tried reripping just that track by itself into a new folder. Both times EAC was used to rip & encode.

When I get home I'll post the exact lines used in EAC each time, and also post the output of -s. BTW, I tried -s before opening the thread, but I'm unsure of the command line usage so I need a hand with that. I think I'm messing up with the file path syntax (I'm not used to command prompt).

I'll also try this file with the debug version and with previous versions.

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #3
The EAC settings I used the first time this happened were

Code: [Select]
Used output format : C:\unzipped\wavpack-4.3\wavpack\wavpack.exe   (User Defined Encoder)
                    128 kBit/s
                    Additional command line options : -b400xmc %s %d -w "artist=%a" -w "album=%g" -w "tracknumber=%n" -w "title=%t" -w "date=%y" -w "genre=%m"


of course the correction files were not named right, so the second time I changed it to this:
Code: [Select]
Used output format : C:\unzipped\wavpack-4.3\wavpack\wavpack.exe   (User Defined Encoder)
                    128 kBit/s
                    Additional command line options : -b384cm -w "artist=%a" -w "album=%g" -w "tracknumber=%n" -w "title=%t" -w "date=%y" -w "genre=%m" %s %d %o


Here I moved the %s %d to the very end and added %o, and I removed -x so it wouldn't take as long. Other than the file being slightly larger (due to no -x), it was still lossless with no correction file.

Now with -s, it says:
Code: [Select]
file name:  C:\unzipped\wavpack-4.3\wavpack\12 - Track12.wv
file size:      27847727 bytes
source:      16-bit its at 44100 Hz
channels:  2 (stereo)
duration:      0:04:17.17
modalities:  lossless
compression:  37.15%
ave bitrate:  887 kbps
encoder version:    4
original md5:  8d8719b256771ccd69df90db885c2c05

Interestingly, since then I have tried the file using the Wavpack fronend with -b384chm and it made a lossy file and a correction file!

Problem is back on EAC... especially after considering I was looking at another EAC rip from the same session, Throbbing Gristle. With this one I used -b384hm (no correction) and the second half of the tracks were lossless, while the first half were lossy.

So, looks like I'll just rip to wav, and don't use EAC to encode.

Hmm, just retried the problem Scientists track in EAC with the _debug.exe and -b384cm, and whattaya know. It gave me a lossy wv and a wvc. I give up on that one!

Ok, redid the TG lossless tracks just now, and they are lossy. Sorry, I swear I wasn't drunk or high when I did this before! The first run through with a hybrid line, EAC made lossy files, and now it doesn't. Ah well, all is good. Now I need a drink!

[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%']edit: clarity[/span]

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #4
Quote
So, looks like I'll just rip to wav, and don't use EAC to encode.

You could always rip to WavPack lossless (with EAC) and somewhat later transcode (dbpowerAmp/f2k) to the hybrid mode ... so you keep the id-tags.

Cheers to all Throbbing Gristle fans 

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #5
Quote
Ok, redid the TG lossless tracks just now, and they are lossy. Sorry, I swear I wasn't drunk or high when I did this before! The first run through with a hybrid line, EAC made lossy files, and now it doesn't. Ah well, all is good. Now I need a drink!
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343027"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Well, there's no reason that you can't use EAC and WavPack together if you want to. Lot's of people (including me) use them that way. You can go ahead and use the xx_debug option for a while and if it happens again you can look at the log and hopefully figure out what happened (although you should delete the log once in a while so it doesn't get too big).

And yeah, you should never drink and rip! 

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #6
Quote
Quote
The first run through with a hybrid line, EAC made lossy files, and now it doesn't.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343027"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You can go ahead and use the xx_debug option for a while and if it happens again you can look at the log and hopefully figure out what happened (although you should delete the log once in a while so it doesn't get too big).
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343207"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


I can't find a logfile... when using debug mode, the Wavpack window showed all the extra info, but once encoding was done, it vanished and I don't see a logfile in either the Wavpack dir or the dir with the .wv files... but no biggie since it's working ok.

Also, of course I meant to say "The first run through with a hybrid line, EAC made lossless files" and not lossy as I wrote above. I *was* drunk by then 

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #7
Quote
I can't find a logfile... when using debug mode, the Wavpack window showed all the extra info, but once encoding was done, it vanished and I don't see a logfile in either the Wavpack dir or the dir with the .wv files... but no biggie since it's working ok.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343279"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Did you look for wavpack.log in the root directory of c:\ ?

I'm not sure if that's the best place, but it was the easiest to code and it certainly exists on just about any Windows system. 

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #8
Quote
I'm not sure if that's the best place, but it was the easiest to code and it certainly exists on just about any Windows system.  
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343659"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
.. and is read-only for anyone who runs non-admin software from limited account like God intended it to be.
Microsoft Windows: We can't script here, this is bat country.

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #9
Quote
Quote
I'm not sure if that's the best place, but it was the easiest to code and it certainly exists on just about any Windows system.  
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343659"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
.. and is read-only for anyone who runs non-admin software from limited account like God intended it to be.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343660"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

... and will cause problems for weird people like ssamadhi97 that have no C: drive.

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #10
I am open to any suggestions on a good place. I suppose the same directory I'm writing the output to wouldn't be too bad, except that I don't know where that will be until I parse the command-line (by which time I may have already run into fatal errors). 

Is there some standard place for stuff like this?

Oh, and I've heard in no uncertain terms that my Linux choice (/wavpack.log) was also ill-advised.


 

Wavpack 4.3 question

Reply #12
Quote
User's profile directory is more appropriate for this purpose. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....tfolderpath.asp for info about retrieving its path.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=343676"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks Peter, that works great.

BTW, I have dropped the old foobar2000 plugin from my download page.