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Topic: Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95 (Read 14709 times) previous topic - next topic
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Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Hello,

I encountered a problem recently, and I did some investigations about it, both locally (on my own PC) and on this forum.

The problem is that Winamp 2.95 abruptly crashes (without any error message) every time when I try to play a multichannel FLAC file (a file which has more than two sound channels).

My system:
Windows 2000 Pro SP4+
Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 sound card (supports up to 5.1 channels, up to 96 KHz and up to 24 bits). True 24/96 in/out processing path.
5.1 surround speakers
All sound options (number of speakers etc.) properly set in drivers etc.
Winamp 2.95 with FLAC input plugin v1.2.1 (the latest one).


These are my conclusions:
=================
- Winamp 2.95 CAN play multichannel sound, because it plays multichannel AC3 and MLP files (I installed AC3 and MLP input plugins). It also of course plays multichannel WAV files trough its standard PCM input plugin (I decoded my multichannel FLAC files to WAV and played those WAV files successfully in Winamp). When playing multichannel files, Winamp properly maps each channel to its appropriate speaker. In other words, Winamp's multichannel playback is completely proper.
- Winamp CAN play 24 bit and/or 96 KHz sound, because I have some 96 KHz 24 bit stereo FLAC files, and they play fine.
- It does not matter if I use the WaveOut or DirectSound output plugin. The behavior regarding 24b, 96K and multichannel support in Winamp does not change.

Therefore, the cause of the crash is in the FLAC input plugin. It crashes ONLY on multichannel FLAC content (it does not matter if it is 48 KHz or 96 KHz, or 16 bit or 24 bit). It has no problems with 24 bit or 96 KHz mono and stereo content.


Further info:
========

I found a three year old topic on this forum: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=38611

The issue which the participants of that topic had is the same as mine, and Josh Coalson replied back then that the cause of the crash is that the then-current FLAC input plugin can only handle mono and stereo FLAC files.

Since three years have passed since then, my question is - has this issue with the FLAC input plugin for Winamp been solved? It is obvious from my tests that Winamp CAN play multichannel sound, so it definitely is possible to make the FLAC plugin to support multichannel sound.


Warning:
======

Please, do not advise me to upgrade to Winamp 5.x (if that solves the issue). I would have done that a long time ago if I wanted to (I have had around six years to do that, haven't I?). Therefore, I had already taken Winamp 5 into consideration several times and rejected it swiftly. The reason is the same why I am using Windows 2000 and not XP.


Thank you for your reading time!

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #1 –
Have you tried it with winamp 5.x?  I mean really, if winamp 2.x is the problem are you expecting a patch to fix a bug in a dead 6-year-old piece of software?

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #2 –
Quote
has this issue with the FLAC input plugin for Winamp been solved?

Yes, it has been fixed in Winamp 5.x

Quote
Please, do not advise me to upgrade to Winamp 5.x

Just don't expect that someone will fix old and unsupported program.

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #3 –
I decided to play along, so I temporarily installed Winamp 5.35 lite (v5.35 is the last pre-5.5 version). It turned out that the lite edition does not include the FLAC input plugin, so I copied the in_flac.dll from the official flac-1.2.1-win.zip standalone redistributable (the same DLL which was in my Winamp 2.95 setup).

You say that Winamp 5.x fixes the problem, so I expected the same. But not. The problem is the same in v5.35 as it is in v2.95.

You claim that I am asking support for a six year old non-supported software, but I am demonstrating you here that the problem is not in Winamp at all, but in the current (v1.2.1) FLAC decoding plugin.

I'm listening for further suggestions and ideas.

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #4 –
Winamp 5.35 has its own FLAC input plugin (and btw it uses libFLAC 1.1.4). Download full version instead of lite.
(Winamp 5.5 updates libFLAC version to 1.2.1).

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #5 –
Your rebuttal arguement is to throw out a minimal install of a 2-year-old version of winamp?

Dude, just upgrade.

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #6 –
That occured to me as well a few minutes ago, so I downloaded the current Winamp 5.5 full, extracted ".\libFLAC.dll" and "Plugins\in_flac.dll" from it and copied them into Winamp 5.35's directory. Now Winamp 5.35 crashes immediately when invoked.

I tried varios combinations (only libFLAC.dll present, only in_flac.dll present, and using "old" (v1.2.1) in_flac.dll with libFLAC.dll), and I concluded that:
- Winamp crashes immediately when invoked only when in_flac.dll from Winamp 5.5 is present (it does not matter if libFLAC.dll is present or not).
- If only libFLAC.dll is present, Winamp ignores it and does not recognize FLAC files.
- If I combine libFLAC.dll and "old" in_flac.dll (v1.2.1), Winamp also ignores libFLAC.dll (because this in_flac.dll does not use that auxillary libFLAC.dll). I get the same behavior as in I have had before (Winamp plays all FLAC files except multichannel ones, where it crashes).


By the way, thank you all for your time and participation.


Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #7 –
Quote
I downloaded the current Winamp 5.5 full, extracted ".\libFLAC.dll" and "Plugins\in_flac.dll" from it and copied them into Winamp 5.35's directory. Now Winamp 5.35 crashes immediately when invoked.

Naturally in_flac.dll from Winamp 5.5 is incompatible with Winamp 5.35. Again, download Winamp 5.35 _full_ if you want it to play multichannels FLACs.

libFLAC.dll from Winamp 5.5 works with Winamp 5.35, btw.

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #8 –
Just do what people are telling you instead of messing around trying to break it.

People are trying to help you!

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #9 –
Quote from: probedb on
Just do what people are telling you instead of messing around trying to break it.

Perhaps it's just not possible for the original poster to upgrade? After all, he's made it quite clear, from the onset, that upgrading is simply not an option. What's the point of belaboring the impossible? FWIW, I also still support many Win2k machines which, for one reason or another, cannot run Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  ;~)

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #10 –
Updating OS usually costs money. Updating Winamp doesn't cost anything and FAQ says Windows 2000 is still supported. Also last time I tried Winamp 5 it was perfectly possible to make it look like Winamp 2. I don't see a problem.

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #11 –
First of all,
I want to clarify that I am not a troll who comes to waste other people's time and nerves just for amusement or to cure his own complex(es).
I have realistic reasons why Winamp 5.5x is not acceptable for me. I won't explain them because that would drag the topic away.
And as for Winamp 2.95, there are still a lot of people using it, so it is not quite dead (like Windows 2000 isn't too, but Foobar's developers obviously thought differently since v0.9.5 ... Microsoft is certainly proud of that!).

Second,
I thorougly evaluated Winamp 5.35 today and found it to be an acceptable replacement for v2.x (but time will tell).

Third,
I downloaded Winamp 5.35 full and extracted libflac.dll and in_flac.dll from it into my Winamp 5.35 installation. This worked (multichannel FLAC playback worked too!!), but playback of 24-bit FLAC files was very fuzzy. I expected that issue, because it is known that FLAC decoders before v1.2.0 (libflac.dll in Winamp 5.35 is v1.1.4, as someone said before) have problems decoding 24-bit FLAC files which were encoded with v1.2.0+.
So, I got an idea to use libflac.dll from Winamp 5.56 (because it is v1.2.1, as someone said before), and to use in_flac.dll from Winamp 5.35 (because in_flac.dll from Winamp 5.56 causes Winamp 5.35 to crash when starting). This combination (libflac.dll from v5.56 and in_flac.dll from v5.35) seems to work flawlessly in Winamp 5.35 (no problems with multichannel and 24 bit)!


THEREFORE,
it appears that my problem is SOLVED.

When playing multichannel FLAC files, I hear the proper surround sound on all 5.1 speakers (at least I believe I do ), and there is NO problem when playing 24-bit files (my sound card supports 24-bit, of course).


Thank you all for your participations and good intentions. I hope that this topic will not need further solving, and that it will be useful to someone in the future who encounters the same situation.


By the way, I would still be very grateful if in_flac.dll for Winamp 2.x would be fixed to support multichannel processing. (I do have a right to hope!  ).

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #12 –
Hello. Has anyone solved this problem of  playing multichannel FLAC ?

This "This combination (libflac.dll from v5.56 and in_flac.dll from v5.35) seems to work flawlessly in Winamp 5.35 (no problems with multichannel and 24 bit)!" combination is not working !

The only way to play that files is Winamp 5.5xx with in_flac version 2.09 BUT according to the out_ds the files are played as 16 bit (not 24bit) !!!

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #13 –
Works here. Winamp 5.572.

Code: [Select]
Output format: 48000 Hz, 24 bits per sample, 6 channels
Active buffer size: 2000 ms (1728000 bytes)
Device: "02: SB X-Fi Audio [D000]"
Mixing: hardware, primary buffer: inactive  

Buffer playback cursor: 1541808 bytes  
[=========================================================#======]
Buffer write cursor: 1393308 bytes
[====================================================#===========]

Data buffered:
Total: 1978 ms (1708776 bytes)
Async buffer: 150 ms (129276 bytes)

Buffer locks done: 92
Underruns: 0
Time played: 0:09.784 (10162584 bytes)
Time written: 0:11.762 (8453808 bytes)
Total time played: 6:32:58.812
Volume: -47.079681 dB / -47.079681 dB

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #14 –
Thank you ! Very interesting
Can you give me more information ?
You use the native plugin in winamp 5.572  (in_flac 2.09) ? What configuration do you use in out_ds and what version is it (2.49?)
And what file are you playing ? Try to downoload this
http://www.rarewares.org/rja/Yes-Roundabou..._96kHz_5.1.flac

Multichannel FLAC in Winamp 2.95

Reply #15 –
Default plugins and settings:

Code: [Select]
Output format: 96000 Hz, 24 bits per sample, 6 channels
Active buffer size: 2000 ms (3456000 bytes)
... etc.


Make sure that 24-bit playback is enabled (Preferences - General Preferences - Playback - Allow 24bit)