Subject:Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Posted by: Waltz123

Date:6/9/2001 7:20:12 PM

Any idea when this bug might be fixed?

The new version of Batch Converter creates bad wav and rm files. Wav files come out as corrupt files. At least, Windows Media Player 7 and RealProducer won't take them. They cite "unsupported format" errors.

On rm files, you get playable files, but they sound horrible when you compress for 28k or 56k modem. Now I'm not talking about the low quality sound one might expect of low-bandwidth RealAudio. I mean this is obviously a bug... it comes out as a screechy hiss of white noise with no music in it at all. Something is very wrong with the output. Try it yourself and see, or take a listen to a sample of what I'm talking about at www.ballroomdancers.com/bad.ram.

Please fix this soon... Wav files and low-bandwidth RealAudio are some of the most important formats that we pc-using web producers need. They are, in fact, the *only* two formats that I really need. So the tool is totally useless to me until SonicFoundry fixes it.

Hurry!

Jonathan

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: beetlefan

Date:6/9/2001 7:52:54 PM

The batch converter is NOT corrupting your waves. It converts your presumably 16-bit waves to 32-bit for processing. THAT is why the other programs cannot read the files. That's what they mean when they say that they are "unsupported formats". If you want them saved to 16-bit you must tell the batch converter to save them that way on the script tab.

Once you start telling it to save to 16-bit you should be rocking.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: CDM

Date:6/10/2001 6:23:30 PM

That MUST be a bug. If you tell it to normalize and save files in the same format as the source, they should end up exactly the same, except normalized. I just tried this on a bunch of 16bit 44.1k mono files. They all ended up 32 bit. Wrong.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: Waltz123

Date:6/11/2001 4:49:30 AM

I'd beleive you, except that I'm selecting the "use same format as source" option, which is supposed to do just that. 16- and 32-bit are not the same format by any stretch of the imagination. So that's definitely a bug.

But nobody so far has mentioned anything about the 28k and 56k RealAudio bug. Did anybody else try it? What did you find?

And while we're at it... where's Sonic Foundry?? Ok, this message may be only a few days old yet. But I also sent a tech support email request with the same exact content over a week ago, with no reply to date. Whar are my chances of getting an answer?

-- A somewhat irritated customer

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: beetlefan

Date:6/11/2001 7:03:01 AM

I admit, it IS poorly written and confusing. Maybe the programmers rushed it out to meet a deadline or something. They seriously need to prepare a patch for this program fast.

But, if you guys do the OPPOSITE of what it tells you to do it should work the way you want it to.

What bugs me is that RMS normalization bug. Try to RMS normalize at, say, 16db, and you'll see what I mean. I wound up compressing more than I wanted to on a recent project before burned the CD-R and realized there was a mistake.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: limedzez

Date:6/11/2001 6:20:13 PM

I had this problem when I tried to make Windows Media files. I was able to make Real Media files no problem. What really bugs the heck out of me, however, is that you can no longer generate .ram files or .asx files, at least I haven't been able to figure out how to do that. I also haven't been able to figure out how to run multiple scripts, like you can with the 4.5 batch converter...what gives?

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: limedzez

Date:6/11/2001 6:59:39 PM

Upon further investigation, it seems as if the batch converter has a problem doing Windows Media encoding from stereo to mono.
Let's say I have a 44,100 kHz 16 bit .wav file, and I want to encode it at 16 kbps, 16 kHz mono...if I try to do this with the new batch converter it gives me some pretty horrible sounding files. However, if I use the same 44,100 kHz 16 bit .wav file and encode it at 16 kbps, 16 kHz, stereo, it works.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: Waltz123

Date:6/11/2001 10:13:00 PM

But did you compress RealAudio at 28 or 56k? That's the thing... it only happens with these bitrates.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: limedzez

Date:6/12/2001 1:20:06 PM

I compress Real Audio at multiple bit rates - 20K mono, 32K mono, 64K stereo...and it works fine.

It's only when I tried to encode Windows Media mono...it doesn't matter what bitrate, just when I try to convert it from stereo to mono. This was NEVER a problem with the 4.5 Batch Converter.


And that's another thing...Windows Media is SUCK that you can't compress audio at multiple bit rates. Yes, I know you can compress video at multiple bit rates, and I do.

Subject:RE: Batch Converter makes bad WAV and RM files

Reply by: Ted_H

Date:6/13/2001 5:06:53 PM

"where's Sonic Foundry??"

While we visit these forums as often as possible, this is not the place to get immediate assistance. Phone calls and e-mails take top priority, and then we visit these forums when we have a chance. I have been working with Waltz123 via e-mail to fix this problem, and I encourage the rest of you to contact us via e-mail or phone so we can get more information about your individual problems and try to determine the cause.

Ted