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Topic: Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder (Read 471974 times) previous topic - next topic
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Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #101 –
To bb:

Wow. Much respect directed at you for that post, bro.

I am also settling in for a nice evening (and possibly weekend--about 200GB of FLAC to go through) of encoding.

We should do e-coffee. 

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #102 –
Quote
Garf: And yep, I understand the usefulness of 2-pass encoding for very specific situations, but for general purpose audio encoding (meaning portable playback on portable devices which is the most common reason for using audio compression in the first place, I think), 2-pass just seems like a waste of that much more time, but to each his own. My opinions on the matter aren't meant to sway anyone, heaven forbid. biggrin.gif


Well, here is the deal - this is why we released this 'prosumer' hi-end encoding solution.  We do not want to limit people in any way with this encoder as long they use this tool for their personal content encodings, and for strictly non-comercial use - if they wish to use 2-pass, and/or have a need to do so - so be it.

This is not a product for novices, this is a product for people that know exactly what they want to accomplish.  Of course, our quality settings are optimized to give best quality for a given bit-rate / quality levels,  but it is up to the user to decide what size he wants, and what additional methods he would wish to use in the process (e.g. 2-pass, optimizing for streaming, etc...)

As far as the platform support goes - Win32 was the immediate target.  Linux will follow shortly.

As for OS-X - this is something we will definitely think about.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #103 –
Quote
To bb:

Wow. Much respect directed at you for that post, bro.

I am also settling in for a nice evening (and possibly weekend--about 200GB of FLAC to go through) of encoding.

We should do e-coffee.


Cool, and thanks. I'm on IRC (EFnet) almost constantly with this nick of mine or YIM at: br0adband_2003 so look me up sometime. I'm on the way out the door now to demo a pair of Shure E3c's for this iPod, can't buy 'em tonight but I've never heard anything bad about 'em so we'll see what happens.

Ivan: Thanks again for the efforts you and your friends are creating.

bb
The difference between genius and stupidity?

Genius has limits.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #104 –
This is a very exciting bit of news! I've just read through the entire thread, but there are still a few points from the announcement/download page on which I am unclear (see the bold text quoted below):
Quote
* Compression Ratios ranging from ultra high (58 CDs fit on one!) to High-End Audio (2.5:1), for absolutely perfect audiophile encodings
    * Crystal Clear, Award Winning Sound Quality at every compression ratio and bit rate!
    * Support for Embedded Album Art (Covers, Booklets, Lyrics!)
    * Store Entire Audio Album in a Single .mp4 File with all the Features of an Audio CD embedded inside, but at a fraction of the space!
    * Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Codec
    * Fully Compatible with the Latest Version of the State-of-the-art MPEG-4 Audio Standard (LC-AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2)

Any hints on how these features are implemented, and how to instruct the program to use them? If they function as advertised, this is exactly the sort of command-line codec that feeds my fantasies... but as others have previously noted, running the program with -help is not (yet) very helpful.

Also, I am sure someone is working on a dedicated frontend (isn't that the inevitable outcome?), but I've still seen no mention of one. Did I miss it?

Congratulations on the launch of what is sure to become a popular command-line encoder! Very much looking forward to following the progress of this one.

    - M.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #105 –
I will post information about these features soon.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #106 –
Well for me, I just ripped about 150 songs at random from one of my FLAC backup DVDs, encoded with foobar2k 0.9.1 and the Nero encoder, loaded the songs into my iTunes library, added the album artwork, then updated the iPod. Not one issue and it sounds great. YMMV, however.

I'm sure in time a GUI frontend will appear (I bet someone's already working on it, perhaps Ivan and the gang themselves <hint, hint>). But definitely, great news all around.

bb
The difference between genius and stupidity?

Genius has limits.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #108 –
Today new 128 kbit/s listening test started at SoundExpert.  Going to add this precious  gift from Nero to the test. Still not decided what mode to choose:

1.   “-q X.XX” and manually target 128 kbit/s or
2.   “2-pass” and let encoder make it automatically.

Or may be to wait a little bit for some possible bugs discovered/fixed?
keeping audio clear together - soundexpert.org

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #109 –
Quote from: M on
Also, I am sure someone is working on a dedicated frontend (isn't that the inevitable outcome?), but I've still seen no mention of one. Did I miss it?


We call ours Nero Burning ROM.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #110 –
Quote
Today new 128 kbit/s listening test started at SoundExpert. Going to add this precious gift from Nero to the test. Still not decided what mode to choose:


Don't know if your conditions permit - but it might make sense to include VBR, ABR and 2-pass modes in the test, just to see how they perform against each other... or at least 2 of them.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #111 –
Quote from: Ivan Dimkovic on
Don't know if your conditions permit - but it might make sense to include VBR, ABR and 2-pass modes in the test, just to see how they perform against each other... or at least 2 of them.

"Conditions permit". What modes you recommend?
keeping audio clear together - soundexpert.org

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #112 –
Quote from: Garf on
Quote from: ozmosis82 on
To Garf or Ivan:

I guess I'm just looking to clarification as to why 2-pass isn't a good idea with VBR. I know you mentioned video codecs doing 2-pass and its association with ABR. I also know that VBR should automatically figure the best way to allocate bits... I guess maybe I'm just looking for re-inforcement as to why I should opt out of using 2-pass (aside from longer encode times).

Cheers


2-pass is useful when you want to do an optimal bitrate allocation and you have to meet a specific average bitrate (or fixed size, which is the same thing). The first pass analyses the song with the psychoacoustics engine, and finds out where the hard and easy parts lie. The second pass uses this information to decide how to allocate the fixed number of bits it has.
The whole scheme does not make any sense when the encoder can spend as much bits as it needs (VBR mode).

(This whole thing made my think about ways to use the fact that with 2 pass mode we can see ahead further than in normal encoding, and there might actually be ways to exploit this, but they are most certainly not implemented let alone tested in the current encoder. For all I know, using 2 pass VBR with the current binary might make your Britney Spears tracks come out as Madonna, or something).


Britney Spears comes out as Britney Spears as i've tried hahah. But just the bitrate is a lil lower than a 1pass encoding. And my ears arent good enuf to tell the difference between 1or2 passes.

Quote
As far as the platform support goes - Win32 was the immediate target. Linux will follow shortly.

As for OS-X - this is something we will definitely think about.


If linux will follow than a port to darwin/osx shoudlnt be too far off right?

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #114 –
Sounds really promising, wish I could give it a try. How long till the UNIX version? Can you elaborate on that?
Thanks a lot for the generous offer.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #115 –
Quote from: Garf on
Quote from: M on

Also, I am sure someone is working on a dedicated frontend (isn't that the inevitable outcome?), but I've still seen no mention of one. Did I miss it?


We call ours Nero Burning ROM.


In what way do I encode using Nero ?

?TW, when will be a binary for Athlon XP users available ?
Thanks 

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #116 –
Quote from: emtee on
Sounds really promising, wish I could give it a try. How long till the UNIX version? Can you elaborate on that?
Thanks a lot for the generous offer.


Either

1 Nero Month.

or

When it's done

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #117 –
now, how cool is that!   

some examples for noobs:
quality based:
neroaacenc -lc -q 0.5 -if file.wav -of file_q05.mp4

bitrate based:
vbr
neroaacenc -lc -br 131072 -if file.wav -of file_br128.mp4
cbr
neroaacenc -lc -cbr 131072 -if file.wav -of file_cbr128.mp4

(the play fine in faac based players (fb2k, mplayer) and also in real player.)

edit: 'mp4box -isma file.mp4' makes them work in qt7 as well.
PANIC: CPU 1: Cache Error (unrecoverable - dcache data) Eframe = 0x90000000208cf3b8
NOTICE - cpu 0 didn't dump TLB, may be hung

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #119 –
Quote from: Garf on
Quote from: M on
Also, I am sure someone is working on a dedicated frontend (isn't that the inevitable outcome?), but I've still seen no mention of one. Did I miss it?
We call ours Nero Burning ROM.

That's what I love about you Garf... you've got a wonderful sense of humor. 

Not to knock Nero Burning Rom - it's a great program. It just isn't the great program for me. My retail copy (yes, as in "purchased") didn't get used very much, as I generally burn ISO images from the command-line and audio from EAC. So I uninstalled it.

If a command-line version and/or a small-footprint GUI are available instead, I am more likely to make extensive use of the encoder. Either way I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

Cheers,
    - M.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #120 –
Quote from: M on
Quote
    * Compression Ratios ranging from ultra high (58 CDs fit on one!) to High-End Audio (2.5:1), for absolutely perfect audiophile encodings
    * Crystal Clear, Award Winning Sound Quality at every compression ratio and bit rate!
    * Support for Embedded Album Art (Covers, Booklets, Lyrics!)
    * Store Entire Audio Album in a Single .mp4 File with all the Features of an Audio CD embedded inside, but at a fraction of the space!
    * Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Codec
    * Fully Compatible with the Latest Version of the State-of-the-art MPEG-4 Audio Standard (LC-AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2)

Any hints on how these features are implemented, and how to instruct the program to use them? If they function as advertised, this is exactly the sort of command-line codec that feeds my fantasies... but as others have previously noted, running the program with -help is not (yet) very helpful.

The Chapter support works with foobar2000 0.9.1's converter. Just choose the output function "convert to album images with cuesheet or chapters". I tested this feature already. I tried to use Mp3tag to add album art, but it erased some of the tags. Not sure if it's a setting that I have wrong or if Mp3tag 2.35 and foobar2000 0.9.1 have incompatible implementations of MP4 tagging.

@ Nero Developers: Keep up the good work. Excellent to see a tool like this released. I prefer the command line to the old implementation very much, and I don't think I'm alone.

EDIT: Oops quoted the wrong person.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #121 –
i just tested on a friend's computer and found something strange that was easily reproduceable
i was able to encode chord.wav (the one that comes bundled with windoze) using any value 0 <= and >= 0.6 but with any value >= 0.6 i got this message:
Code: [Select]
*************************************************************
*                                                           *
*  Nero Digital Audio Reference MPEG-4 & 3GPP Audio Encoder *
*  Copyright (C) 2006 Nero AG                               *
*  All Rights Reserved Worldwide                            *
*                                                           *
*  Package build date: Apr 27 2006                          *
*                                                           *
*  See -help for a complete list of available parameters.   *
*                                                           *
*************************************************************
ERROR: could not open AAC encoder


and a question: to hit a desired file size using 2 pass i just have to find out what bitrate would give me that size for that length and use this bitrate with neroaacenc right?

tia
Allegari nihil et allegatum non probare, paria sunt.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #122 –
I have an old P3 box and cannot try this surprising aac coder in the first time.

Will it be a normal version that can be running even on an older one, like P2? For me, a mmx & sse (no mmx ext.) optimized version is all I want to get. 

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #123 –
Quote from: Enig123 on
I have an old P3 box and cannot try this surprising aac coder in the first time.

Will it be a normal version that can be running even on an older one, like P2? For me, a mmx & sse (no mmx ext.) optimized version is all I want to get. 



I believe Ivan said they are rls a non SSE soon, because a lot of AMD Athlon XP users were exp bugs.

Nero Releases FREE Reference Quality MPEG-4 Audio Encoder

Reply #124 –
I have succesfully tested it under Windows 2000 on a Pentium M ThinkPad. I have added configuration option for MAREO 3.3.

It works perfect, even if you can't see any progress till it finished.

MAREO can be downloaded from here: http://www.webearce.com.ar/mareo.rar

Just to make sure, there are no tagin options right?

PS: maybe it was overlooked, so,

A little comment, why not use ISO date format for the filename?

NeroDigitalAudio_050106.zip is 2006-05-01, or 2006-01-05? NeroDigitalAudio_yyyy-mm-dd.zip is much better