How to set up Converter for WMA 9, Detailed instructions Options

[Aqua1ung]

Carefully verify your settings or post a screenshot of the corresponding settings window.

Here goes: [can't upload photos, will attempt to send them to you via email]

This post has been edited by Aqua1ung: Jul 19 2008, 00:02

[Egor]

Your settings are OK, but there's a known problem with x64 systems and foobar2000' converter (various command line encoders were used):
Error Flushing File: Object not found, "Convert to..." error

Unfortunately, there's no comment or solution by the developer.

I use Vista x64 for development, been using it since RC1 days (late 2006), I'm yet to see any of those issues in Converter - if those occur only with custom presets, it sounds like another case of PEBKAC to me.

This post has been edited by Egor: Jan 12 2009, 13:46

[gottogo99]

My car player only supports mp3 and wma. This posting was a HUGE help in letting me try wma; couldn't have figured it out otherwise. Thanks.

I find that using the encoder command listed in post #6 works best, as well as its parameters, only without the quotes around %s and %d. If I follow the directions in post #1, I get Error flushing file (Object not found). Using XP Home SP3, 32 bit.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

This post has been edited by gottogo99: Jan 12 2009, 03:28

[shadpoo]

Possible solution to x64 error found, see Edit2 below.

Hmmm if it is PEBKAC then can anyone see what I am doing wrong here?

console output from foobar


manual execution of same (copy/pasted) command line:


vista x64 ultimate

edit:

this is what it says when I use a built in encoder(nero aac)


edit2:
I have found a solution to my problem, I first tried changing permissions on cscript.exe giving myself full control to no avail. I have now copied cscript.exe into the foobar2000 program directory and the converter is now working properly. I swapped back and forth between the one in system32 and the one in foobar directory and foobar directory always works and system32 never works.


Perhaps this will help someone

This post has been edited by shadpoo: Jan 17 2009, 01:37

[nightfly]

Perhaps this will help someone

indeed, it did! thank you very much. for some very weird reason, on x64 windows' (Vista and XP), foobar2000 cannot execute the WMCmd.vbs as a converter through the default C:\windows\system32\csript.exe. you really have to copy the cscript.exe to somewhere else (foobar2000 install directory works), and it works from there, but only if you set up your converter like this (this is for lossless):

Encoder: C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000\cscript.exe
Extension: wma
Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\WMCmd.vbs" //NoLogo -silent -a_codec WMA9LSL -a_mode 2 -a_setting Q100_44_2_16 -input %s -output %d

the thing is, while on x86 systems, you can specify the WMCmd.vbs as 'Encoder', and it will work, on x64 os' you have to specify the copied cscript.exe as 'Encoder', and add the WMCmd.vbs to parameters, like so. if you specify the windows\system32\cscript.exe as Encoder, it still won't work!

i've found this thread through google, i thought it would be nice to share the solution to this very annoying and long-time problem.

[musicmusic]

foobar2000 is a 32-bit application, so what it sees as %windir%\system32\cscript.exe is actually the 32-bit version of cscript.exe in the SysWOW64 folder. I guess you have the 64-bit version of the encoder installed (this isn't something I do, so not sure what exactly Microsoft provides here with regards to encoders).

This post has been edited by musicmusic: Mar 9 2009, 18:57

[Aqua1ung]

for some very weird reason, on x64 windows' (Vista and XP), foobar2000 cannot execute the WMCmd.vbs as a converter through the default C:\windows\system32\csript.exe.

So, should we submit this as a bug to Foobar2000 devs.?

[nightfly]

foobar2000 is a 32-bit application, so what it sees as %windir%\system32\cscript.exe is actually the 32-bit version of cscript.exe in the SysWOW64 folder. I guess you have the 64-bit version of the encoder installed (this isn't something I do, so not sure what exactly Microsoft provides here with regards to encoders).

maybe it is the case, if i specify the WMCmd.vbs as encoder, it executes just "cscript.exe", but if i explicitly specify C:\windows\system32\cscript.exe as encoder, it still throws the flush error. if i copy the same cscript.exe from system32 to e.g. foobar2000 folder, and specify C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000\cscript.exe as encoder, it works. i have the 64bit WMEncoder installed.

So, should we submit this as a bug to Foobar2000 devs.?

i'm not sure it's a foobar2000 bug, but it would be nice to hear something official about this issue, because obviously it has been around for years, and caused many headaches for users, but we are yet to hear from the devs about this.

This post has been edited by nightfly: Mar 10 2009, 07:13

[saivert]

32 bit applications in Windows can execute and pipe data (stdin/stdout) to 64 bit executables as the operating systems handles it. A 32 bit program can not load 64 bit DLLs however or otherwise call directly into 64 bit code.

The reason the c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe doesn't work and manually copying this into foobar2000 works is because Windows is behind the scenes translating all filesystem calls to the system32 into syswow64 for all 32 bit applications. When you manually copy the file you are using a 64 bit explorer windows (most probably) and thus have access to the non-translated system32 directory (aka system64, too bad MS didn't adopt this name instead).

So you have to copy the 64 bit CSCRIPT.EXE to another folder for now.

If you use a 64 bit version of Windows you should know about these things as it saves you a lot of trouble. I've been using 64 bit Windows since 2005.
It's fun to come back to this very same thread that I posted in a couple of years ago. Still people are having issues with setting up the WMA encoder.

This post has been edited by saivert: Mar 10 2009, 09:16

[nightfly]

The reason the c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe doesn't work and manually copying this into foobar2000 works is because Windows is behind the scenes translating all filesystem calls to the system32 into syswow64 for all 32 bit applications.

so, if i understand you correctly, the problem is with the 64 bit encoder, no? foobar2000 being 32 bit calls for 32 bit cscript.exe (even if called directly from system32), but the encoder, being 64 bit cannot run with the 32 bit cscript.exe? maybe then the easiest solution would be to use the 32 bit encoder even on 64 bit systems? (even if it's a bottleneck)

[Aqua1ung]

The reason the c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe doesn't work and manually copying this into foobar2000 works is because ... So you have to copy the 64 bit CSCRIPT.EXE to another folder for now.

Alright, so why not get the foobar2000 installer do that for a change?

[Krema+Or]

Perhaps this will help someone

indeed, it did! thank you very much. for some very weird reason, on x64 windows' (Vista and XP), foobar2000 cannot execute the WMCmd.vbs as a converter through the default C:\windows\system32\csript.exe. you really have to copy the cscript.exe to somewhere else (foobar2000 install directory works), and it works from there, but only if you set up your converter like this (this is for lossless):

Encoder: C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000\cscript.exe
Extension: wma
Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\WMCmd.vbs" //NoLogo -silent -a_codec WMA9LSL -a_mode 2 -a_setting Q100_44_2_16 -input %s -output %d

the thing is, while on x86 systems, you can specify the WMCmd.vbs as 'Encoder', and it will work, on x64 os' you have to specify the copied cscript.exe as 'Encoder', and add the WMCmd.vbs to parameters, like so. if you specify the windows\system32\cscript.exe as Encoder, it still won't work!

i've found this thread through google, i thought it would be nice to share the solution to this very annoying and long-time problem.

STILL NO GO, THE SAME ERROR. vista x64 sp1

[nightfly]

STILL NO GO, THE SAME ERROR. vista x64 sp1

sure as hell works for me.

Windows XP x64 SP2
WMEncoder x64
foobar2000 0.9.4.5
cscript.exe from system32 copied to foobar2000 directory
converter set up exactly like i posted (i double checked)

[dl!]

can we convert audio files to wma without create wav temp file?

This post has been edited by dl!: Mar 18 2009, 22:06

[annulus]

Perhaps this will help someone

Thanks! I've been trying to figure this out and this worked great for me on 64bit Server 2008.

[HTS]

3. Your encoding will be Quality-based VBR. For other WMA codecs/formats see Windows Media Encoder help.

I can't find the command settings for VBRpeak 2 pass, and how do you set the peak bit rate for a file?

[Egor]

3. Your encoding will be Quality-based VBR. For other WMA codecs/formats see Windows Media Encoder help.

I can't find the command settings for VBRpeak 2 pass, and how do you set the peak bit rate for a file?

Peak Bit Rate-Based VBR Audio Mode :
[0] WMA9STD : Windows Media Audio 9.2
[1] WMA9PRO : Windows Media Audio 10 Professional


[-a_mode] <mode_number>
Audio encoding to be used.
0: 1-pass CBR (default).
1: 2-pass CBR.
2: Quality-based VBR.
3: Bit rate-based VBR (two-pass).
4: Bit rate-based peak VBR (two-pass).
[-a_peakbitrate] <peak bit rate>
Specifies the peak bit rate in bits per second for peak bit rate-based
VBR for audio. If not specified, the peak bit rate is 1.5 times the
audio bit rate.
[-a_peakbuffer] <peak buffer>
Buffer in msec for audio with peak bit rate-based VBR. If not specified,
the default of 3000 msec is used.

[ttalukder]

Darn, I can't get this to work.

I'm using Win7 x64 Ultimate, whenever I try to convert Flac > wma the convertion process just hangs although the bar is at 100% It use to work perfectly on Vista x64.

[Egor]

Darn, I can't get this to work.

I'm using Win7 x64 Ultimate, whenever I try to convert Flac > wma the convertion process just hangs although the bar is at 100% It use to work perfectly on Vista x64.

Have you tried the saivert's "cscript.exe workaround"?

[ttalukder]

Darn, I can't get this to work.

I'm using Win7 x64 Ultimate, whenever I try to convert Flac > wma the convertion process just hangs although the bar is at 100% It use to work perfectly on Vista x64.

Have you tried the saivert's "cscript.exe workaround"?

I've tried that also, still have the same problem. I've tried the cscript.exe from the system32 folder and also the cscript.exe from sysWOW64. Still no luck, very annoying, as foobar has so far been the best music app for me.

[Steve Forte Rio]

What does -a_mode parameter mean?

And can I encode to WMA 10 Pro using some script like this?

[lvqcl]

By the way, the guide is a bit obsolete...

IIRC, foobar2000 does write WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE, and it is possible to use foobar2000 + WME(32/64) in 64-bit OSes.

@Steve Forte Rio: about -a_mode: look at post #42.

[Steve Forte Rio]

[1] WMA9PRO : Windows Media Audio 10 Professional

So is it WMA10 in fact? Very well if it is

And how can I specify 384 kbps for

3: Bit rate-based VBR (two-pass).

??

I did it!

CODE

-silent -a_codec WMA9PRO -a_mode 3 -a_setting 384_44_2_24 -input %s -output %d

This post has been edited by Steve Forte Rio: Aug 15 2010, 11:16

[Steve Forte Rio]

Hm.. but I can't get bit identical results to dbPower's. What mode does it use for 384 kbps wma pro 10 2pass?

This post has been edited by Steve Forte Rio: Aug 15 2010, 11:15

[Steve Forte Rio]

I can't get bit identical results to dbPower's

does anyone know why it happens?((

dbpower with q-based vbr 384 2pass gives 381 kbps, and WMCmd.vbs with -silent -a_codec WMA9PRO -a_mode 3 -a_setting 384_44_2_24 -input %s -output %d gives 382kbps

This post has been edited by Steve Forte Rio: Aug 16 2010, 19:38