Mediacoder x64 WMA questions

[PCPete]

Hi, I've just installed (upgraded) MC to v0.7 x64 (build 4460), but I can't seem to get it to convert wav files to wma, it always returns an error 12.

Other applications (including Switch, WinAmp, and others) do seem to be able to convert the files OK, and of course I have the latest codecs for wma (well, the latest stable codecs, let's say). I can transcode using the WMP SDK, but it's such a horrible interface and it's so difficult to use reliably that I don't use it any more.

The system is running windows XP Pro, x64 edition, build 3790 SP2 + all hotfixes (including the media and codec hotfixes).

In the setup for the WMA codec, I've tried using both the .\codecs\wmcodec.exe default, and also the wmcodec64.exe, and both fail.

I found the console window option, and using the wma generic codec (not the x64 codec), I see that it fails with "Invalid Argument - -ai". The text in the Audio Options tab of the MC UI shows :

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.\codecs\wmcodec.exe -ai -m 2 -amode 0 -abuffer 3000 -acodec "Windows Media Audio 9.1 Lossless" -aformat "VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 24 bit VBR" "$(SourceFile)" -o "$(DestFile)"

... but the actual console output shows :

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# .\codecs\wmcodec.exe -ai -m 2 -amode 0 -abuffer 3000 -acodec "Windows Media Audio 9.1 Lossless" -aformat "VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 24 bit VBR" -srate 44100 -channels 2 - -o "L:\Special Music\1927_Ish!_01_To Love Me.wma"

OTOH, using the x64 codec, I get a slightly different error. In the info tab, it shows:

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.\codecs\wmcodec64.exe -ai -m 2 -amode 0 -abuffer 3000 -acodec "Windows Media Audio 9.1 Lossless" -aformat "VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 24 bit VBR" "$(SourceFile)" -o "$(DestFile)"

But the actual console output for the same command on the test input files shows :

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# .\codecs\wmcodec64.exe -ai -m 2 -amode 0 -abuffer 3000 -acodec "Windows Media Audio 9.1 Lossless" -aformat "VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 24 bit VBR" -srate 44100 -channels 2 - -o "L:\Special Music\1927_Ish!_01_To Love Me.wma"

So there's definitely a problem somewhere in MC, but I'm not sure where to start to fix it. If anyone's had similar problems, and can offer any suggestions, I'd very much appreciate it!

I'm also userure why, but this bulletin board editing system has some pretty severe problems - when the edit box exceeds the standard size, the scrollbars go crazy and I can't easily add more information or see what it is I'm typing. Good thing I have cut and paste... This happens with IE8 x64, ff 2.x x64, and Chrome (but then Chrome already has major editing problems anyway). But I'm surprised that none of my browsers display any of the editing fields correctly. My fault, I should keep my message below 10 lines, right?

I'm also really surprised that the UI seems to use firefox as some kind of rendering engine for what should be a modal dialog. But it doesn't happen for all dialogs - if I use the MP3 encoder (which also fails with a command-line switch error!) the settings appear in a smaller window (still not a proper dialog and not a full firefox window). I'm guessing that this was a design decision made in order to make MC cross-platform compatible? It's not working very well on my system (I only use the 64-bit version of firefox).

[PCPete]

Hmmm.

I found the reference info for the xml codec parameters, and sure enough, there was a trailing - on the output specification key. Removing that fixed that problem, but only for the 32-bit WMA encoder.

Removing the -ai also stopped that error from occurring using the x64 encoder, but of course that now fails with "No input specified".

"Fixing" the trailing slash when using the 32-bit codec now results in GPF (or UAE or your favourite expression) error as soon as wmcodec.exe is executed.

That's obviously not related to the WMA 9 SDK and scripts I already have running, so maybe it's just a problem with the exes?

If anyone has some suggestions for how to get the -ai parameter working, that would be great. I really don't have the bandwidth to dig in to MC's internals to play around with settings and so on. If anyone is able to help out, of course I'll be happy to post with any fixes that worked.

[stanley]

Thanks, will take a look at this issue.