BonkEnc v1.0 Released, v1.0 of BonkEnc is finally available Options

[enzo]

Version 1.0 of BonkEnc is finally available! After five years of development this marks a great milestone for the BonkEnc project. The new release includes lots of bug fixes and some minor updates:

• support for keeping image tags when converting from FLAC to MP3
• support for CD ripping using the command line interface
• updated encoders: FLAC 1.1.4, FAAC 1.25, Ogg Vorbis aoTuV b5
• new translations: Romanian, Lithuanian

Download the new release at http://www.bonkenc.org/

Enzo

[gottkaiser]

Congratulations for the v1.0 release!
I really like your program and I'm looking forward to the future development. :-)


@enzo
I got some thought about the encoder setup interface:

For the "normal" user it's difficult to set the Encoder options.
I like that you can edit a lot of settings! Maybe you could add a button for expert settings? So the "normal" interface could have less settings (for the normal user).
For ideas have a look. in the Winamp encoder setting (MP3 / LC-AAC). They are really user friendly and easy to understand.
The FLAC encoder interface is alright. Maybe you could add a checkbox for the verify option?
I'm not sure if you already planed it. But maybe it's possible to change it?



Thanks for the development of BonkEnc!!!

Ps.: Maybe you have a idea for the recommended Bonk format settings for the Wiki?

This post has been edited by gottkaiser: Feb 22 2007, 14:23

[wraithdu]

Hmm, I have a question and a bug report. First, I like your app. I think it makes file coversion somewhat simpler than my first app or choice, fb2k. Keep in mind I'm demoing different apps with the people I work with in mind. fb2k is just too complex for them, so I've been trying out stuff like OmniEncoder and BonkEnc. Ok, so on to the important stuff -

Question -
Is it possible to use source directory information in the titleformatting to produce output directories/filename? fb2k accomplishes this via strings like $directory(%path%,1) which would extract the parent directory of the file, or $directory(%path%,2) which would extract the parent of the parent (2 dirs up). This is great for mirroring directory structures, etc.

Bug -
Encoder preset settings for LAME (possibly others, but untested) are goofed. The presets are not configuring all the encoder settings as they should.
For example -
Preset 'Extreme, fast' should equate to '-V 0 --vbr-new' as passed to lame.exe. However when I try it, it is using whatever the last VBR/CBR setting was as set in 'Custom Settings'. Basically if I have CBR 160 set in 'Custom Settings', then switch over to preset 'Extreme, fast', the resulting mp3 is encoded at CBR 160. I'm getting this info from fb2k->properties. I don't know how to check all the other advanced custom settings, but they might be wrong as well. The presets should only pass the minimum number of LAME developer recommended switches to the encoder, ie simply '-V 0 --vbr-new'.

[wraithdu]

It seems something is goofed with 'Custom Settings' and tagging as well. I converted a WAV to MP3 with custom settings for VBR mtrh (I'm assuming this is --vbr-new???) quality 0, tagged with id3v1 and 2 (no vorbis or ape tags) based off info I manually typed in.

What I got was a 160 CBR mp3 with unrecognized character boxes instead of tag info, and only a id3v2 tag.

This post has been edited by wraithdu: Feb 22 2007, 20:10

[enzo]

For the "normal" user it's difficult to set the Encoder options. I like that you can edit a lot of settings! Maybe you could add a button for expert settings? So the "normal" interface could have less settings (for the normal user).

I plan to have a completely new configuration dialog in v1.1. I think about having presets for all encoders where it makes sense.

Is it possible to use source directory information in the titleformatting to produce output directories/filename? fb2k accomplishes this via strings like $directory(%path%,1) which would extract the parent directory of the file, or $directory(%path%,2) which would extract the parent of the parent (2 dirs up). This is great for mirroring directory structures, etc.

This not possible yet, but I plan to add it in BonkEnc v1.1. I originally planned to have this feature in v1.0, but then had to delay it, because I didn't have time to implement it.

Encoder preset settings for LAME (possibly others, but untested) are goofed. The presets are not configuring all the encoder settings as they should.
For example -
Preset 'Extreme, fast' should equate to '-V 0 --vbr-new' as passed to lame.exe. However when I try it, it is using whatever the last VBR/CBR setting was as set in 'Custom Settings'. Basically if I have CBR 160 set in 'Custom Settings', then switch over to preset 'Extreme, fast', the resulting mp3 is encoded at CBR 160. I'm getting this info from fb2k->properties. I don't know how to check all the other advanced custom settings, but they might be wrong as well. The presets should only pass the minimum number of LAME developer recommended switches to the encoder, ie simply '-V 0 --vbr-new'.

I'll have a look at it. Seems weird to me, because if you set a preset, BonkEnc will make just one call to lame_set_preset and nothing more. For example for Extreme, fast:

CODE

lameFlags = lame_init();
lame_set_preset(lameFlags, EXTREME_FAST);

But maybe there's something else wrong.

It seems something is goofed with 'Custom Settings' and tagging as well. I converted a WAV to MP3 with custom settings for VBR mtrh (I'm assuming this is --vbr-new???) quality 0, tagged with id3v1 and 2 (no vorbis or ape tags) based off info I manually typed in.

What I got was a 160 CBR mp3 with unrecognized character boxes instead of tag info, and only a id3v2 tag.

These are actually two bugs. Both are fixed already in CVS and for the 1.0.1 release. The first one is that ID3v1 tags are not written correctly in VBR mode. The second one is that ID3v2 tags are not written correctly when the encoding is set to UTF-16LE and iconv.dll is not available.

To work around the second bug, get the file iconv.dll from the BonkEnc 1.0 zip package and copy it to your BonkEnc directory or reinstall BonkEnc with "International language support" selected in the installer.

[naylor83]

Does anyone know how the Ogg Vorbis quality setting in Bonkenc relates to the more common Q -1 to 10 scale?

Since the Bonkenc quality scale goes from -0.1 to 1.0, you'd assume that you should just multiply by 10, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

When I encode songs with Bonkenc set to quality 0.4, it produces songs averageing 140-150 kbps, as opposed to ~128 kbps...

[Nikaki]

When I encode songs with Bonkenc set to quality 0.4, it produces songs averageing 140-150 kbps, as opposed to ~128 kbps...

Look at the nominal bitrate, not the actual one. When I specify -q5 with the normal encoder (oggenc2), I get an average bitrate that is not 160kbps, but the nominal bitrate is 160kbps.

So in your case, the nominal bitrate should be exactly 128kbps. In Winamp, the nominal bitrate is shown in the tags dialog (Alt+3).

[naylor83]

When I encode songs with Bonkenc set to quality 0.4, it produces songs averageing 140-150 kbps, as opposed to ~128 kbps...

Look at the nominal bitrate, not the actual one. When I specify -q5 with the normal encoder (oggenc2), I get an average bitrate that is not 160kbps, but the nominal bitrate is 160kbps.

Thanks for the tip. However, it prooved me right I have to set Bonkenc to 0.3 to get Q4, or nominal 128kbps.

[enzo]

Thanks for the tip. However, it prooved me right I have to set Bonkenc to 0.3 to get Q4, or nominal 128kbps.

The quality value 0.30 equals -q3, 0.40 equals -q4 and so on. Simply multiply the BonkEnc quality setting by 10.

I just tested it, just to be sure, and I get (nominal) 112kbps with 0.30 and 128kbps with 0.40. Maybe you accidentially set something like 0.39 instead of 0.30. 0.39 will give you a nominal bitrate of 126kbps.

Btw. BonkEnc v1.0.1 has been released today.

[enzo]

BonkEnc v1.0.2 has been released. It includes translation updates, installer improvements and fixes some minor bugs.

Get it at BonkEnc.org.

[Alex B]

BonkEnc v1.0.2 has been released. It includes translation updates, installer improvements and fixes some minor bugs.

Get it at BonkEnc.org.

Hi enzo,

Please check this thread out: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=54415. The current BoncEnc version seems to have a tagging problem.

[Alex B]

I added a new FLAC sample file to my "embedded cover art samples" thread: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=487587.

An MP3 file which is converted from this sample with BonkEnc has only the following MP3 tags:
Album: Rating=5 (an incorrect tag value)
Artist: Who Knows
Genre: House
Title: Rating=5 (an incorrect tag value)
Year: 2002

Perhaps the BonkEnc developer finds the sample useful.

I just tried converting the sample with BonkEnc v1.0.2. The result is as follows:

TPE1 = Who Knows
TIT2 = 4s sample for testing embedded cover art
TALB = RATING=5
TRCK = 05
TYER = 2002
TCON = House
COMM = BonkEnc v1.0 <http://www.bonkenc.org/>
APIC = (JPEG image containing the HA logo)

There is a bug in BonkEnc's matching algorithm for Vorbis comment tags (as used by FLAC) thus making the value for album "RATING=5". I will fix that in the next release.

However, BonkEnc keeps the picture here. There is an option named "CopyPictureTags" in BonkEnc's config.xml file. It's enabled by default, maybe it has somehow been disabled in your configuration.

Other tags are not currently supported by BonkEnc. That's why most of the tags in the sample file get lost when converting. BonkEnc v1.1 will feature a complete tag editor and will support all tags.

Hmm, as I said my result was a bit different. Possibly my settings are wrong. However, I just downloaded the program today and only changed the GUI options to what seemed appropriate.

I uploaded the converted MP3 file and my config.xml file here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=487587

[enzo]

Hmm, as I said my result was a bit different. Possibly my settings are wrong. However, I just downloaded the program today and only changed the GUI options to what seemed appropriate.

I uploaded the converted MP3 file and my config.xml file here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=487587

Ah, the problem here is that you enabled the "Encode to single file" option. This is used to encode multiple tracks to a single audio file. In this case BonkEnc will use the album name for the title field which makes sense when you are encoding an album to a single file.

[Alex B]

Ah, the problem here is that you enabled the "Encode to single file" option. This is used to encode multiple tracks to a single audio file. In this case BonkEnc will use the album name for the title field which makes sense when you are encoding an album to a single file.

I see. I didn't understand the option correctly. Without the "encode to single file" option conversion works as you described. Cover art is included and the only problem is with the Album tag.

Your program seems to be a nice tool. I am looking forward to seeing further development in the tagging area.

[TempestGarden]

I have the new version of this and I have been trying to use this program for some time now to convert FLAC to mp3. I find this program very frustrating to use because there is so much involved in the "expert settings" that are not explained and I can't find any sort of manual anywhere that explains these things. If I don't use one of the custom settings to encode, there are several VBR options and quality settings with no explanation so I have no idea what these actually produce when I convert to mp3 format.

Also, I tried one of the "presets" in the drop-down menu, I believe it was the "medium-fast" setting for LAME and it gave me an mp3 file with a VBR that moves up and down + or - 5 kbps!! No clue what is going on here, but that's not even close to what I wanted. Is there some sort of manual or something that goes along with this program so I have even kind of a clue as to what some of the settings do?

[enzo]

I have the new version of this and I have been trying to use this program for some time now to convert FLAC to mp3. I find this program very frustrating to use because there is so much involved in the "expert settings" that are not explained and I can't find any sort of manual anywhere that explains these things. If I don't use one of the custom settings to encode, there are several VBR options and quality settings with no explanation so I have no idea what these actually produce when I convert to mp3 format.

Well, as the name suggests "expert settings" are mainly for experts so if you don't understand them you should not worry about them and leave them untouched. In general it's a good idea to use one of the presets for LAME or, if you want CBR encoding, simply select the desired bitrate and leave other settings at their default values. If you want VBR and you don't want to use the presets, select "VBR mtrh" and use the slider to set the desired quality level.

Also, I tried one of the "presets" in the drop-down menu, I believe it was the "medium-fast" setting for LAME and it gave me an mp3 file with a VBR that moves up and down + or - 5 kbps!! No clue what is going on here, but that's not even close to what I wanted. Is there some sort of manual or something that goes along with this program so I have even kind of a clue as to what some of the settings do?

There's just a brief tutorial available currently. You can find it in the program's help menu under "Help topics". However, it does not explain the LAME settings in detail. There are lots of guides to LAME settings available on the internet. Take a look at them if you need detailed descriptions for the various LAME options.

[TempestGarden]

Well I am definitely not a noob to LAME by any means. I have been coming to these forums for a very long time. I have a very good working understanding of the settings of LAME and such but I really don't understand what is happening when I am selecting a "preset" in the program that is supposed to give me a certain result and I am not getting that result. If I am choosing the "medium" preset, I am supposed to be getting these parameters in the resulting mp3 file.... a target bitrate of 165 kbps VBR with a range of 145-185 kbps VBR. The resulting files are giving me a bitrate that fluctuates between 160-165 kbps. This is not making any sense to me, because whenever I use EAC with LAME at this setting, I get the parameters that I mentioned above and the bitrate goes up and down in the intervals that we all know and love (i.e. 128, 160, 192 etc.).

I have no idea why this is doing this, but I certainly would like to know...

This post has been edited by TempestGarden: Apr 28 2007, 04:22

[gottkaiser]

I agree! I love the program and the portability but the setting layouts for the encoder are awfull in BonkEnk. Not just the lame settings aren't really beginners friendly.

That is an easy and nice example:


You could have an "advanced options" button for the other setting.

Just a suggestion!


keep up the great work!

[gottkaiser]

Maybe a Bug:

I just checked a new created Mp3 (BoncEnc v1.0.2, preset "Standart" and others) file with MP3val.

I got this error with all created Mp3 files:
"Wrong number of MPEG data bytes specified in Xing header"

So I guess that should be checked out.

This post has been edited by gottkaiser: May 2 2007, 14:14

[enzo]

If I am choosing the "medium" preset, I am supposed to be getting these parameters in the resulting mp3 file.... a target bitrate of 165 kbps VBR with a range of 145-185 kbps VBR. The resulting files are giving me a bitrate that fluctuates between 160-165 kbps. This is not making any sense to me, because whenever I use EAC with LAME at this setting, I get the parameters that I mentioned above and the bitrate goes up and down in the intervals that we all know and love (i.e. 128, 160, 192 etc.).

I really don't know why you would get such results. I just performed some tests just to be sure and BonkEnc with preset "Medium" gave me just the same result as "lame --preset medium". An average bitrate of 152 kbps with the bitrate going up and down between 96 and 192 kbps.

The MP3 stream (without any headers and tags) is bit by bit identical in the BonkEnc and LAME encoded files (with both being compiled with the same compiler).

Maybe a Bug:

I got this error with all created Mp3 files:
"Wrong number of MPEG data bytes specified in Xing header"

BonkEnc uses the function "lame_mp3_tags_fid" to create the Xing header so if that header is wrong it should be fixed in LAME.

However, the file already has ID3v1 and v2 tags when BonkEnc calls that function and that seems to be the problem. So I can probably fix this by writing the tags after LAME created the Xing header.

[TempestGarden]

I really don't know why you would get such results. I just performed some tests just to be sure and BonkEnc with preset "Medium" gave me just the same result as "lame --preset medium". An average bitrate of 152 kbps with the bitrate going up and down between 96 and 192 kbps.

The MP3 stream (without any headers and tags) is bit by bit identical in the BonkEnc and LAME encoded files (with both being compiled with the same compiler).

Okay, an update...

I went ahead and tried to encode the FLAC files to mp3 again using the "Medium" preset and it looks like it came out okay this time. So, I have no idea what happened initially, but it appears to be giving me the result that I am looking for now.

[enzo]

I went ahead and tried to encode the FLAC files to mp3 again using the "Medium" preset and it looks like it came out okay this time. So, I have no idea what happened initially, but it appears to be giving me the result that I am looking for now.

Ok, nice to hear! Thanks for the info!

I got this error with all created Mp3 files:
"Wrong number of MPEG data bytes specified in Xing header"

I fixed it in LAME and submitted a bug report and patch to the LAME project.

The bug report, the patch.

Btw. this will be fixed in BonkEnc v1.0.3 of course.

[gottkaiser]

I'm just curious. Any news in the development for the next version? (Any date?)

[enzo]

I'm just curious. Any news in the development for the next version? (Any date?)

I originally planned to release v1.0.3 last weekend, but I didn't have the time to do it.

The VBR-MP3 bug will be fixed in v1.0.3 and the release will add support for files on network volumes. In addition I will try to make error messages more clear. The current versions only says "Cannot open file ..." when a file cannot be opened for some reason. v1.0.3 will include more detailed information like "Access denied", "Unsupported file format", "File not found" etc.

There have been some reports about crashes when converting FLAC to MP3 recently. I will have a look at it and will try to fix it before the release of BonkEnc v1.0.3.

In the v1.1 development line I'm currently working on specifying the new plug-in architecture (named BoCA, BonkEnc Component Architecture). More specifically I'm building a BonkEnc component SDK. However, there's not much progress as of yet.

[enzo]

BonkEnc v1.0.3 is now available from bonkenc.org!