Hydrogenaudio Forums > AAC Encoder Front-End

MINz

Feb 14 2002, 02:33

I put together Front-End for 'AACENC.EXE' command line encoder and was looking for some feedback. It was built using VB and the download is ~2MB. Sorry about the size, but I included all the files needed to run the program except for the actual encoder itself. This app will self install and you can uninstall it via Add/Remove Programs.

AAC Audio Encoder GUI

This is only beta version 1.0.0 so it's a bit rough around the edges, but everything should be functional and mostly bug free. Next version will include batch encoding, but for now it's limited to single files. If there are other features I should add please let me know.

I haven't implemented the following switches because I couldn't find any documentation on these switches:

-altcbr
-noshort
-no_temporal
-lfe
-ltq
-raise_smr
-no_tns

If someone could point me towards documentation explaining these features and their syntax I would implement these switches as well.

Thanks in advance!

MINz

MINz

Feb 14 2002, 15:37

Anyone?

john33

Feb 14 2002, 16:18

*********** PsyTEL® MPEG-4 AAC Encoder V2.12 (build Feb 10 2002) ***********
Copyright © 1999-2002 PsyTEL Research
Copyright © 1999-2002 Ivan Dimkovic

This program is protected by copyright law and international treaties.
Any reproduction or distribution of this program, or any portion of it
may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be
prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under law.

For further info please visit http://www.psytel-research.co.yu
For licensing details please contact: co.

CODE

usage: AACENC -switches

switches: -h Print help

-br <x> Bit rate in kbits per second (dflt: 128)

-if <x> Input file name

-of <x> Output file name

-qual <x> Encoder quality level (1-9) (dflt: 9)

-production Production (slowest) CBR encoding

-altcbr Alternative CBR mode

-ihsc Improved Human Speech Coding

-pns Enable Perceptual Noise Substitution (PNS) Tool

-nh Disable ADTS header (raw ISO 13818-7 AAC file)

-noshort Disable block switching (debug only!)

-no_temporal Disable temporal masking

-profile <x> AAC Profile:

0: LC, 1: Main, 2: LTP (dflt: 0)

-adif Use ADIF header

-vr Variable bit rate (VBR mode, good quality)

-vbrhi Total VBR mode (recommended, high quality)

-qvbr <x> Quality controlled VBR (quality: 0 - 100 %%) (dflt: -1)

-tape Preset: Tape VBR Mode

-radio Preset: Radio VBR Mode

-internet Preset: Internet VBR Mode

-streaming Preset: Streaming VBR Mode

-normal Preset: Normal VBR Mode (recommended)

-extreme Preset: Extreme VBR Mode

-archive Preset: Archive VBR Mode (best quality)

-ultra Preset: Ultra (transcoding) mode (highest bitrate)

-lfe Use LFE channel (only for 4 and 6 channel input)

-c <x> Cut-Off frequency in Hz (lowpass) (dflt: 0)

-ltq <x> Decrease Threshold in Quiet by n dB (dflt: 0)

-raise_smr <x> Increase Signal to Mask Ratio by n dB (dflt: 0)

-low_ath Use highest sensitivity hearing threshold

-no_ath Disable ATH

-no_tns Disable TNS coding

-resample <x> Resample input to x Hz (dflt: 0)

-fb <x> Cut-Off frequency in Hz (lowpass) (dflt: 0)

I think you will find that the switches you are referring to don't take any other parameters, see above.

john33

MINz

Feb 14 2002, 23:33

Thanks for the info.

MINz

Feb 17 2002, 22:41

So nobody has used it?

rjamorim

Feb 17 2002, 23:56

QUOTE

Originally posted by MINz
So nobody has used it?

Just tested it. Some remarks:

1 - Damn! 2Mb download for a 72Kb executable... Maybe you should offer a version without VBrun in your site.

2 - Why is IHSC located at the VBR tab?

3 - When, after you click encode, a box pops with the command line, you should be able to cancel that setting.

4 - Why not choosing the encoding profile? Even though LC is the best choice now, people should be able to use LTP and MAIN

QUOTE

If someone could point me towards documentation explaining these features and their syntax I would implement these switches as well.

Most switches you mentioned are experimental, and tend to produce lower quality streams. (Like noshort and no_temporal), and therefore shouldn't be added to the frontend.

LFE shouldn't be added either, since you need 6 mono wavs (Or 3 stereo, maybe. I never tested this way) to encode in a 5.1 surround scheme, and your program only allow selection of 1 wave file.

Anyway, it worked fine here encoding some files with various different configurations. It wasn't a serious bug hunting, but the program would fit well for my encoding needs. Congratulations for the good work!

Regards;

Roberto.

mdefranc

Feb 18 2002, 09:38

Following program instructions and consequently running the setup-reboot sequence twice, I find that the Front-End still has not installed on my WinME system. The only file date commonality between my WindowsSystem and your SETUP.LST [Bootstrap Files] is for VB6STKIT.DLL. Your COMCAT.DLL is earlier, your other files later. Suggestions?

mdefranc

Feb 18 2002, 10:34

Worse. Now the system does not find an MSVBM60.DLL to run, for example, the WaveGain frontend. Solution that is working so far: extract MSVBM60 from your CAB and drag into the WindowsSystem directory.

MINz

Feb 18 2002, 14:30

Thank you guys for the info. This is exactally what I was looking for.

Here is the link for just the 72k EXE file. Use this only if you have the appropriate Dll's installed.

AAC GUI Front-End EXE Only!

MINz

rjamorim

Feb 18 2002, 14:57

And, in case you don't have the appropiate DLLs, here you can find them:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/vb6.../vbrun60sp5.exe

Regards;

Roberto.

MINz

Feb 18 2002, 21:53

Thanks for the link.

I just installed service pack 5 for VB6. I'm hoping this will solve any install issues with Windows Me.

Updated Full install:

Updated Full Install(2062k)

Just the EXE:

Just the EXE (72k)

Let me know if this fixes the install issues with Windows Me.

Thanks

MINz

Feb 19 2002, 19:04

QUOTE

1 - Damn! 2Mb download for a 72Kb executable... Maybe you should offer a version without VBrun in your site.

You're right.....here it is:
Just the EXE (76k):
Updated v1.0.1 EXE (76k)

QUOTE

2 - Why is IHSC located at the VBR tab?

In the documentation I got my hands on it says and I quote:

QUOTE

-ihsc Improved Human Speech coding mode, automatically enabled for -archive and -extreme presets. Not recommended for CBR or low bitrate VBR modes.

So I made it so you can't use it for CBR or VBR below 64kbps.

QUOTE

3 - When, after you click encode, a box pops with the command line, you should be able to cancel that setting.

I can't believe I forgot to do that. Sorry about that. It's now there in v1.0.1. Thanks for catching that one.

QUOTE

4 - Why not choosing the encoding profile? Even though LC is the best choice now, people should be able to use LTP and MAIN

Good point. It's also been implemented in v1.0.1. It's under the "Advanced" tab.

I guess since the other switches are still experimental, I will not implement them until they offer some improvement in the overall quality.

So here are both updated files:
The Full Install (2062k) v1.0.1
Just the EXE (76k) v1.0.1
I'm still working on the batch encoding option. Should have it completed shortly.

Thanks for the input!

MINz

rjamorim

Feb 19 2002, 21:09

QUOTE

Originally posted by MINz
Updated v1.0.1 EXE (76k)

Are you sure it's linking to the updated Exe? All I get here is a 72k program, identical to the first one.

MINz

Feb 19 2002, 23:10

Sorry...it should be there now.
Updated v1.0.1 EXE (76k)

MINz

Feb 21 2002, 00:21

Did you grab it? Does it work? Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

rjamorim

Feb 21 2002, 01:08

Suggestions?
-Batch Encoding
-A place to drag and drop
-Fastenc Support
-Quality Controled VBR (Yes, it's still kinda "beta", but is worth adding, for the sake of future AACenc versions)
-You shouldn't be able to use "Use ADIF instead of ADTS" and "Encode without headers" simultaneously. (The command line works, and generates a RAW file, but it could confuse newbies)
-Resample can support other "usual" sampling rates, like 64000, 96000 and 88200

I'll post here any new suggestions. Didn't had time to test it enough yet.
Hope it's enough for now.

Regards;

Roberto.

MINz

Feb 22 2002, 15:02

Thanks for the input! This really helps a lot.

MaTTeR

Mar 13 2002, 20:16

MINz the GUI works great here. Great effort and much appreciated. First impressions-

_How about tooltips for each of the options? I think the PDF file that comes with ACCEnc should allow you to just copy the text into a balloon tooltip.

_After I pressed the output file button and then selected cancel, the out put file field went blank. Would it be better just having the default output file name if the user cancels the save dialog?

Overall, I really like it and it's certainly saved me alot of time from the CLI:) Many thx!