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Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 9:52 pm
by SirAuron
Hello everyone,

today I would like to bring to your attention the problem that causes me to still use MediaCoder 0.6.2.4210.
Since 0.7 whenever I try to transcode audio streams (even with the default settings) the program stops responding.
This holds true for all kinds of audio formats no matter what input file or codec I use.
The only way for me to transcode a file successfuly is to either disable the audio transcoding or to set it to copy audio.

This is what has kept me from using the newer versions of MediaCoder and is still present even in the newest version (4606), both in the 32 and 64 Bit editions.
Now since noone else seems to have this problem, I have postet this in Advanced Discussions for now.
I am running Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit and have the Combined Community Codec installed. I don't believe these have anything to do with my problem though,
as versions older than 0.7 are able to transcode audio just fine.

Looking forward to your ideas,
SirAuron

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:41 am
by SirAuron
For example I would like to make a mkv file with h264, aac and a ssa subtitle and several other videos (mostly xvid + mp3) into a smaller mkv with x264, nero he-aac and hardcoded or softcoded subtitles (just lower bitrate) for archive purposes. That is actually my main use for MediaCoder these days.
For this I reverted back to default settings and only changed the audio codec to nero aac and he-aac (64-Bit), I left the video settings as they were, with the exception of changing it to two pass. I also changed the framerate to 23,98 and selected mkv as container because mp4 didn't work. All sources/encoders boxes etc are still on auto.
Once the second pass starts and the audio transcoding begins the MediaCoder window freezes and the typical "the program encountered an error and needs to be closed" error message pops up and I have to close MediaCoder.
Changing sources, encoders, codecs or other settings (like the channels or hz) doesn't change anything. As soon as MediaCoder has to transcode a audio stream it freezes. The only solution I found was to either enable the stream copy or disable audio completely.

Now I can't imagine other people having the same problem because it makes MediaCoder pretty much unusable. This is why I posted my problem here and not in the bugs section.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:37 pm
by stanley
The updated mplayer seems have some problem. Please try setting audio source to mencoder and to see if the problem still retains.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:22 pm
by SirAuron
Still the same. FFMpeg doesn't work either. I really think this problem somehow has to do with my computer/other software.
Can't figure out what the problem is though.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:09 pm
by stanley
So what's the detailed settings you are using?

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:10 am
by SirAuron
h264 average bitrate 400 kbit, source and encoder both on automatic (it uses mencoder and x264 from what I can see in the task manager).
I set the video profile to high and the level to 4.1, the preset to medium and the tuning setting to animation. The framerate is at 23,98.
As for the audio I tried both mp3 and he-aac (so it's lame mp3/nero aac for the encoder) and used average bitrate for them, too.
At first I had the source on automatic, which didn't work. Then I tried ffmpeg, mencoder and mplayer - all of which didn't work either...
Other than that I set the channels to stereo (also tried original) and used matroska as container.

I think those settings are pretty standard.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:43 am
by Ulf
Hello SirAuron!

Have you tried it with 1-pass and constant bitrate for audio? I'm not really sure which one is causing your audio issue, the 2-pass encoding for the average bitrate or the average bitrate itself. So please, try out all possible combinations with 1-pass and constant bitrate.

Ulf

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:52 am
by SirAuron
I have followed your advice and tried constant bitrates (on both the audio and the video), unfortunately it didn't work.
Still freezing up once it starts transcoding the audio.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:41 am
by stanley
I've just performed several tests with 4606 and there is no failure, except for decoding a blu-ray m2ts file.

Re: Audio = MediaCoder stops responding

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:14 pm
by SirAuron
That's what I feared. The problem seems to be somewhere locally on my computer.
If everyone had this problem it would have been posted in the bug section a long time ago.
I will try to figure out what's the problem. If I find a solution I will post it here.