EAC FLAC Compression Error Options

[heyo_speaker]

I am having issues trying to rip to FLAC using EAC.

In the Compression Options, I have "Use external program for compression" enabled, "User Defined Encoder" for the parameter passing scheme, and ".flac" for the file extension.

"Program, including path, used for compression":
C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe

"Additional command-line options":
-8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" -T "COMMENT="CRC: %TRACKCRC%" %haslyrics%--tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% %hascover%--picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%


Upon compression of the first track, the following error message was returned:



The external compressor returned an error!

Options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=Bell Boys Music" -T "TITLE=11ish" -T "ALBUM=The Jean Hagen EP" -T "DATE=" -T "TRACKNUMBER=01" -T "TOTALTRACKS=5" -T "DISCNUMBER=1" -T "TOTALDISCS=1" -T "GENRE=" -T "ALBUMARTIST=" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=" -T "BAND=" -T "COMPOSER=" -T "COMMENT="CRC: B2EA68ED" "Btmp556)!.wav" -o "Btmp556)!.flac"

File : C:\Users\JoAnne\Music\CDs\Other CDs\The Jean Hagen EP\Bell Boys Music - The Jean Hagen EP - 01. 11ish.wav



....Can someone smarter than me please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I appreciate it!

[BFG]

Yep, you have a few different issues with that commandline (which I'm guessing is coming from the wiki).

• You should use "COMMENT=CRC: %TRACKCRC%" instead.
• You don't need both ALBUMARTIST and ALBUM ARTIST. It should use the %albumartist% tag instead.
• COMPOSER tag should use %albumcomposer%, not %composer%.
• The lyrics section should read %haslyrics%--tag-from-file="LYRICS=%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics%.
• -o %dest% is unnecessary.

Or, you can try this commandline instead, which I know works with EAC as it's what I use:
%ishigh%-V -p -l 12 -b 4096 -m -e -r 8%ishigh%%islow%-5%islow% --replay-gain -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "ENSEMBLE=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "COMPOSER=%albumcomposer%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "SOURCEMEDIA=CD" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %hascover%-T "PICTURE=%coverfile%"%hascover% %source%
(This commandline gives you compression settings that are stronger than -8 but still fully compliant. It also gives you the -5 option if you switch to "Low Quality". You could remove the --replay-gain and probably a few others.)

[JJZolx]

(This commandline gives you compression settings that are stronger than -8 but still fully compliant. It also gives you the -5 option if you switch to "Low Quality". You could remove the --replay-gain and probably a few others.)

Please don't give someone who may not know any better the impression that there's any difference in encoding _quality_ between -8 (or "stronger") and any other FLAC _compression_ level. The quality is the same. And you might point out that the difference in these convoluted "high" compression settings and the default level of -5 is usually less than 1 or 2% of additional compression.

[BFG]

Please don't give someone who may not know any better the impression that there's any difference in encoding _quality_ between -8 (or "stronger") and any other FLAC _compression_ level. The quality is the same. And you might point out that the difference in these convoluted "high" compression settings and the default level of -5 is usually less than 1 or 2% of additional compression.

Respectfully, I don't believe I was giving that impression. "Higher quality" means better encoding quality for lossy codecs, and either better compression or faster encode/decode for lossless codecs. Anyone who understands the value of FLAC over, say, MP3, and can also use such a complex commandline in EAC, is very likely to understand that as well.

Besides, I had to give him the commandline I use verbatim, in order to guarantee that it would work.

Finally, I see no harm whatsoever in exposing a new user to more advanced options in FLAC. If they are interested in them, they are encouraged to read about them in the freely available FLAC documentation, or ask questions on these forums, and then try them out. They can then decide for themselves if the additional settings represent better "quality". If they are not interested in the additional settings, they are certainly welcome to ignore those settings.

That said, I agree a comment that the "strongest possible compliant" settings I provided only give (on average) 3% better compression than -5, and increase decode time, would have been warranted.

This post has been edited by BFG: Dec 20 2012, 21:15

[Nick.C]

.... and either better compression or faster encode/decode for lossless codecs.

It's still nothing to do with quality - more compression is more compression and encoding / decoding speed is encoding / decoding speed - neither changes the quality.

[BFG]

.... and either better compression or faster encode/decode for lossless codecs.

It's still nothing to do with quality - more compression is more compression and encoding / decoding speed is encoding / decoding speed - neither changes the quality.

My point is that any lossless codec gives 100% quality on any commandline setting, in terms of encode accuracy and transparency, if it is behaving correctly. For that reason, the only meaningful "quality" measurements on a lossless codec are compression and encode/decode time.

This post has been edited by BFG: Dec 20 2012, 21:18

[Nick.C]

For that reason, the only meaningful "quality" measurements on a lossless codec are compression and encode/decode time.

You are confusing performance with quality.