WMP10 Final comes with new 2004 FhG Pro ACM codec? Options

[QuantumKnot]

Windows Media Player seems to use this codec for ripping audio CDs from the fact that we can choose 128Kbps or higher for MP3 encoding. But if you want to use this codec from other programs such as CDex, you have to make a registory hack to activate this codec.

This codec encodes really fast (ca. 40x on my Pentium-IV machine). Quality of 128Kbps is OK for my portable use.

Have you got this registry hack? Are other bitrates selectables? Is ABR/VBR implemented?

Norman

No need for a registry hack. Just go to c:\windows\system32 and rename l3codeca.acm to l3codeca.bak. Then copy l3codecp.acm to l3codeca.acm (swaps the professional one in place of the old advanced one). Done

Here is the about screen



This post has been edited by QuantumKnot: Sep 4 2004, 15:55

[nyaochi]

No need for a registry hack.  Just go to c:\windows\system32 and rename l3codeca.acm to l3codeca.bak.  Then copy l3codecp.acm to l3codeca.acm (swaps the professional one in place of the old advanced one).  Done

You are wise!

[nyaochi]

I created ACMENC, a command-line frontend for encoding audio data with ACM codecs. We can use CDex or other applications that support ACM codecs for this new FhG codec. But this program features:
- MP3 Info (or Lame Tag) tagging for gapless playback
- built-in tagging (thanks to id3lib)
- WAV/AIFF/... reading (thanks to libsndfile)
- Monkey's Audio support (thanks to MACDll.dll)
- Partial encoding mode, which may be useful for cuesheet encoding
- Preset (or alias) for specifying codec name and other long commaned-line parameters by one word

Hers's the screenshot.


The zip archive contains acmenc.exe, acmenc.cfg, and three DLLs. To encode an audio file into a 128Kbps MP3 with "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)" codec, use the following command-line:

CODE

acmenc -c "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)" --enc-delay 672 -b128 <input> [output]

acmenc.cfg describes presets which are activated by -p option. When we describe the following line in acmenc.cfg located in the same folder as acmenc.exe:

CODE

fhg-pro: -c "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)" -b128 --enc-delay 672

, you can use "--preset fhg-pro" instead of the long command-line.

The program is only two days old and may contain some bugs. It works well with "Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)" but may not work well other codecs such as LAME-ACM because I only tested it with FhG Pro ACM codecs. I believe this program will help you to create MP3 for mid bitrate range (around 128Kbps).

Have fun!

EDIT: I removed the link to the binary because it's obsolute. See my latter post in this thread as for the binary URL.

This post has been edited by nyaochi: Jul 13 2005, 22:34

[mdefranc]

My apologies and thanks to Wish, Nyaochi, kode54, Norman, and QuantumKnot for correcting my cranky misperception of the new codec and then going on to make it even more useful. What a great board this is!

[384kbps]

By the way is there any WM9 or WM10 encoder available that simply works in a DOS box? I already have started serval searches but never was able to find more than the command line version of WM8 on the MS web site. The WM# encoder i'm looking for should be 'stand-alone' because i'm not very interested in installing the hole Windows Media Player stuff.

It's not that i would switch now from Lame to WM9/WM10. But for very low-quality files it seems to me that WMA would be the better choice.(?)

Thanks for any help or even some 'secret' MS links!

[mdefranc]

384kbps -

Perhaps the Windows Media Encoder 9 Series SDK at

www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/extensible.aspx

is closer to what you want than other MS downloads.

[Tec9SD]

mdefranc beat me to that suggestion. I
From the MSDN Windows Media Encoder 9 Series SDK - Programming Guide
Programming in Scripting Languages
Also Group: microsoft.public.windowsmedia.* would likely be a good place to look for relevant information.

Out of curiosity I did a quick search inside MS's MSDN and KB.
some useful-looking topics appeared to be listed.
Searching on the web should help too.

The home Windows Media SDKs are here, including the SDK for v.10

I hope this is on-topic.

Bye, tec

Edit:

haha nyaochi your cool toys amaze me as always. Nice work, as usual.

This post has been edited by Tec9SD: Sep 4 2004, 23:40

[westgroveg]

K, the file was in the Windows directory but wasn't showing up possibly because it wasn't added to the Windows registry(?) not sure why.

nyaochi, great program, are you sure the encoder delay is 672 samples for the new FhG encoder? I get 1633, any way to be sure?

[rjamorim]

Very interesting program, nyaochi. Can I host it at RareWares?

[Enig123]

Very interesting program, nyaochi. Can I host it at RareWares?

Could you please host the new build acm file (from M$) to RareWares if it's legal. So people like me who did not running WinXP can benefit from this new codec.

[rjamorim]

Could you please host the new build acm file (from M$) to RareWares if it's legal. So people like me who did not running WinXP can benefit from this new codec.

Hrm... it would be possible if there isn't a provision at the EULA forbidding redistribution of subsets of the installer. I will see if I can reach the EULA somehow (I would be grateful neverthless if someone could paste it into an e-mail and send it to me, I'm not on XP either)

Regards;

Roberto.

Edit: Nevermind, I forced the file out of the installation program.
If anybody is interested in trying to interpret it:
http://pessoal.onda.com.br/rjamorim/eula.txt

This post has been edited by rjamorim: Sep 5 2004, 02:41

[Tec9SD]

I just happened across this from:
"Chris Lanier's Blog|Digital Media in Windows XP, MCE, and more..."

l3codecp.acm Explanations With WMP 10
In WMP 10 Microsoft shelled out the cash to FhG to included a full features, high bitrate MP3 Encoder for ripping CD's.  l3codecp.acm is this new encoder and the File Version is 3.3.0.44.  Now, the fun part of this is that out on the internet and in most “Codec Packs” there is an included version of l3codecp.acm, but its very different then the new one shipped with WMP 10.  If you have l3codecp.acm with the File Version of 1.2.0.63, you have the pirated one.  The pirated version will encode and decode via the same file, but it will also break things in WMP, the main thing being Crossfading.

So, Good version as is follows.
File Name: l3codecp.acm
File Version: 3.3.0.44
Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Fraunhofer IIS

posted on Saturday, September 04, 2004 10:57 AM

Interesting..

[witt]

I created ACMENC, a command-line frontend for encoding audio data with ACM codecs. We can use CDex or other applications that support ACM codecs for this new FhG codec. But this program features:
- MP3 Info (or Lame Tag) tagging for gapless playback

It seems that ACMENC has some problems with lame tag support.
Could you check this topic?

[nyaochi]

nyaochi, great program, are you sure the encoder delay is 672 samples for the new FhG encoder? I get 1633, any way to be sure?

I see this page and guess the encoder delay. I confirmed the value with fb2k and lame --decode

Very interesting program, nyaochi. Can I host it at RareWares?

With my pleasure! But I'm now fixing several problems as witt pointed, so please wait for the next version.

I created ACMENC, a command-line frontend for encoding audio data with ACM codecs. We can use CDex or other applications that support ACM codecs for this new FhG codec. But this program features:
- MP3 Info (or Lame Tag) tagging for gapless playback

It seems that ACMENC has some problems with lame tag support.
Could you check this topic?

Thank you for the information! I'm now fixing the problem.

This post has been edited by nyaochi: Sep 5 2004, 14:20

[Tripwire]

A dot-1 revision of their audio codecs? Anyone with two machines can verify whether it's just a cosmetic change (outputs exactly the same files on 9.0 and 9.1 with the same settings), or if there are quality improvements and qualifies itself for inclusion in a future 128kbit test?

[envision01]

Edit: Nevermind, I forced the file out of the installation program.
If anybody is interested in trying to interpret it:
http://pessoal.onda.com.br/rjamorim/eula.txt

You can't. in wmp go to help | about wmp. all you need is right there to tell you if you can re-disro it.

[384kbps]

@mdefranc & @Tec9SD
Thanks for the links! - But well, the one SDK archive want me to install 'DirectX 8.1 Media", the ohter only runs on Windows XP...


Now i have to post my first idea (maybe not fully honest...) when i saw nyaochi's program announcment. But all these multimedia software from MS make it really hard to love it. I mean i only want to make some low-quality MP3<->WMA tests and not waste my system installation for that.
So sorry to ask but supposed that i could get the WMA ACM files (i guess are there any?) from a friend - is there a good chance to encode wma files with help of nyaochi's program? - And if yes how? Just like the FhG example above?

[rjamorim]

You can't.  in wmp go to help | about wmp.  all you need is right there to tell you if you can re-disro it.

I can't even install it, let alone reach the about box. But if you say so...

Thanks

So sorry to ask but supposed that i could get the WMA ACM files (i guess are there any?)

There isn't.

[M]

Roberto, I don't know whether or not this offers a legal solution, but it was suggested by someone who's dealt with such things more than I have, so I thought it might be worth passing along:

What about creating a small redistributable "installer" capable of extracting the required acm files/registry entries from the actual WMP10 installer? That way, the end-user would still be required to download Microsoft's package in order to effect any system change, but could perform a more customized installation than Microsoft has chosen to allow by default.

- M.

[rjamorim]

Roberto, I don't know whether or not this offers a legal solution, but it was suggested by someone who's dealt with such things more than I have, so I thought it might be worth passing along:

  What about creating a small redistributable "installer" capable of extracting the required acm files/registry entries from the actual WMP10 installer? That way, the end-user would still be required to download Microsoft's package in order to effect any system change, but could perform a more customized installation than Microsoft has chosen to allow by default.

    - M.

Working on it. Unfortunately, I'm going on a trip tonight and I might only be able to come up with that solution when I return, next monday :/

[dawids]

Again as in previous threads, no Musicmatch Jukebox users using MP3Pro? Are these forums only for free software. I am using MP3Pro @ VBR100% which halves the file size compared to MP3 CBR128. Also WMP9/10 lossless is not mentioned in comparisons with LAme and lossless etc.

Any reasons why these are excluded, or am I late for the discussions with those?

[Digga]

Are these forums only for free software.

no, it just happen to be that there are some nice hq free encoders/apps available.

I am using MP3Pro @ VBR100% which halves the file size compared to MP3 CBR128

that's nice.

Also WMP9/10 lossless is not mentioned in comparisons with LAme and lossless etc.

and? lame is a lossy codec, wma lossless is lossless...

[bugmenot]

Are these forums only for free software.

no, it just happen to be that there are some nice hq free encoders/apps available.

I am using MP3Pro @ VBR100% which halves the file size compared to MP3 CBR128

that's nice.

Also WMP9/10 lossless is not mentioned in comparisons with LAme and lossless etc.

and? lame is a lossy codec, wma lossless is lossless...

A newbie question - I'm used to using LAME (using the standard - or on occasion extreme - presets). Besides "for the fun", is there any reason for me to use FhG's codec?

[Oge_user]

A newbie question - I'm used to using LAME (using the standard - or on occasion extreme - presets).  Besides "for the fun", is there any reason for me to use FhG's codec?

No reasons, at the moment

[Digga]

A newbie question - I'm used to using LAME (using the standard - or on occasion extreme - presets).  Besides "for the fun", is there any reason for me to use FhG's codec?

there's a roumor that the the codec developed by FhG is more siuted for bitrates lower than ~128, but this is AFAIK just a roumor. IIRC, no backups or data was presented in a recent discussion where Gabriel took part (a Lame developer) can't remeber the thread though