Media coder

Media coder

Apr 13, '08 12:15 PM for everyone

Category:

Other

Another very good freeware, shell extension trans coder, offering   many modes and codecs for only transcoding !
IU found this program from Lifehacker and Freeware genius  sites as for both  of them seems their favorite

Here instead of making a review   I will just notice the facts after  several hours of transcoding

At first the  program is quite complex as it offers:

-A pane with the files to be transcoded
-Left bottom  window  offering
-some generic adjustments including decoder , encoder , channel and gain
-Plugins (in the new version ) that includes several  decoders (including mp3 pro )
-Start and end positions
-Tag transferring engine with the  ability to output fiel name based on the ID tags
-Output folder options
-Right bottom window offering all  codecs  available : Lame , Ogg vorbis , Nero , AAC, CT AAC 3#GP AAC,WMA,Helix MP3 < Frauhofer IIS MP3 , MUsepack .Speex, AMR ,FFmpg ,WAVpack ,FAC ,TTZ,AAC lossless , Optimfrog , PCM ,Stream dumper and CLI

I think that most of these  codecs are useless  so I till be involved  here with the  most interesting:


- There are  4 codecs  for AAC /MP4 namely Nero's , FAAC ,CT AAC + and 3GP . testing two editions of this program , in the first edition only CT AAC and Nero  codecs  worked in full   .
The FAAC  produces error  and 3gp codec could not  find a dll (ct-libisomedia.dll)  in the older version I used .
But the newer version does not  produce any errors on the 3gp , but the FAAC still produces showing an error code 012
- CT AAC  and Nero : the only codecs that worked  properly  for the AAC and MP4  formats.  Some more experimentation  shown that on  the same rate , MP4 wins  in fidelity  over simple AAC. But using AAC+ version goes same level with MP4 in audio quality (in audibility terms not spectrum  )
- 3GP AAC .In both codecs  the quality drops  very much on in between 21 and 24 kbit in between 8.5 and 19 kHz !!
- Slider for Vorbis comes to all range in CBR, ie  by a step of 1 . Using it below 30 kb in ABR  he codec denies working
The Vorbis  codec as most of the other  of same type (AAC , Nero etc ) do not work work with WAV files . MP3 files  for example are pretty  OK 


There are also 3 codecs for MP3  conversion namely Lame , Fraunhofer and Helix.
Here are some measurements and results: 

- Lame  codec uses possibly  the classical 3.97  version but with `truncated' options  comparing  plugin used in Bonkenc. It shows only the most basic options ie  ABR/VBR , several standard  presets  together with the `settings' and the channels
I have used it once with the older version of the program  for re-compressing  a collection of ca 90 mp3s to a lower bit rate . I don't know why but  part of these mp3s  were truncated especially on the end : notice that the original  files were on VBR format 
Little spectrum analysis  shown  that  the fidelity is not the same as with Bonkec's facilities : The sperctrum goes shorter than  of Bonk's

-Fraunhofer : they are possibly  using the old codec. Though the slider can be used for the full range with a step of 1 kb , the codec only works for the standard formats
- Helix MP3 once developed from Xing is  more recently an open source from Real Networks and offered from helixcomunity.org It works OK in most  modes above the rate of 86 kb but only on the standard  rates , or error code is shown . Cant be used below  96  kbit , is not better than Lame , in either  case , ( it's audio spectrum is shorter than Lame's  as the most compressions  go to 16 kHz )  and  though the results can be  played in Winamp and audacity  can't be played in Cooledit
- Windows Media :  spectrum analysis (with re-decode to wav !)  shown for 48/44 to be on 12 khz instead of 22 kHz  using on MMJB 7 , ie still  lower  quality .. Although the analysis shown linear response
-Ther is also a FFMPeg engine that converts into WMA v2 /V1 and MP2 But the quality of the encoded WMA  though of 44 kHz was very very artificial

- I did not used the other codecs  as I wa not so much interested in. (and neither know how to use and play  them..)


 Most of the problems above appear to be solved a bit with  the newer version 0.6.1 b 4060 that also offers adjustable   command line interface
Also this newer version offers
1. Gadgets , ie  small windows that offer ready solutions  for several electronic gadgets . It seems  that is not working properly  as the program somtimes crashed
2. Special  plug ins


I found several flaws of the newer version :  experimentation  between  transcodings  as eg from mp3 to aac then pcm hen back to mp3  and doing the same process over and over   , the CLI line loses its info
If something  goes wrong the program stops  abruptly