Like every month... new Nero (V6.3.0.3) release
Release date of all packages: February 4th, 2004

See... http://www.nero.com/en/nero-prog.php or http://www.nero.com/en/nero-up.php

No changelog yet.

[edit 2004/02/06]
Changelog online (http://www.nero.com/en/631981153542585.html)

This new version seems to produce gapless mp4 files again. (confirmed with fb2k)

I see that Nero added support for the .m4a file extension (reading) in Nero in this update. It automatically recognizes M4A as a valid audio file extension. Thanks to Menno and Ivan for adding this. I appreciate it!

Now I don't have to rename M4A files to read them or play them in Nero...

I wonder what other fixes/changes are in this update.

clapping my hands for them :-)

does anybody know if there is a new aac encoder in the new nero ?

I think, Ivan or Menno will tell us more

I get " Nero AAC Codec 2.6.1.9 " so it seems yes.

still BSOD's for me.
Nero must have severe memory leaks on specific configurations

Strange, I get version 2.6.1.1 for aacenc32.dll after the update to Nero 6.3.0.3. Did I miss something?

Did you update NeroVision?

No just the main Nero program... I don't use Nero Vision (video stuff) so I don't have that loaded on my PC. Thought that the main Nero program update would update me to the latest concerning all things audio.

AACEnc 2.6.1.9 comes with different ATH from 2.6.1.1 and fine-tweaks of "Internet" VBR mode.

Why does the new Nero still include 2.6.1.1? And since gapless is fixed now, why wasn't there a new version number so as to avoid confusion?

The aacenc32.dll's version is 2.6.1.9 here, too.
As Garf said, you also need nve2108.exe to update it.

Did i get this correctly?

- Nero comes with 2.6.1.1
- NVE comes with 2.6.1.9?

If this is true - than it is probably because 2.6.1.9 was sent to install department when the Nero master was already built, and NVE was built later.

nice, but as usual when updating Nero, I have a problem with Nero Showtime taking over a long list of media types I prefer other players to handle, and I just can not seem to find the option to configure its filetypes. Any advice?

it's true, i just downloaded NVE2108.EXE only for the newer aacenc32.dll version

-andy-

Yes, Nerovision Express does association hijacking for Nero Showtime. I told menno about this (among other things), but maybe they want to keep it like this. To my knowledge, there's no way to change associations from within Showtime. You have to re-assign all filetypes yourself.

Yes Ivan, it appears this is correct (that 2.6.1.1) was included in the Nero main program update.

Now THAT is shameful. And very annoying. It must be the only "popular" media player that does that - everything else I can think of now (QuickTime, Real, MPC, ZoomPlayer, Winamp, WMP...) asks users if - and what - they want to associate or not.

I did a few tests this morning regarding the gapless playback issue with Nero 6303. The following tests produced gapless playback:

1. Rip and encode in Nero 6303.
2. Rip in Foobar and call Nero encoder on the fly from Foobar.
3. Rip to wav in EAC and convert to MP4 in Nero 6303 in a separate step.
4. Rip to wav in EAC and convert to M4A calling Nero encoder from Foobar.

However, using nencode and tg.exe with EAC did not produce gapless playback. I think it would be nice if there was a better way to use the Nero AAC encoder from EAC, perhaps on the fly as Foobar does it. That would also eliminate the darn console windows from opening all over the place.


edit:
NB, problem with nencode solved, see below.

Hmm yes, stealing extensions is not so nice
With so many people complaining I'm sure something will be done about this.

Menno

AFAIK (never used it myself) Nencode uses Nero DLL's in it's own directory, not directly from the Nero AudioPlugins directory. So you probably have to overwrite the old ones in your Nencode directory (NOTE: I am not sure).

I can't imagine how it is possible that Nencode creates different output while using the same DLL's.

Menno

@menno

You are exactly right. After the last post I realized that I had not updated the Nero dll's in the nencode directory. After the update nencode produced gapless playback. Good job guys.

By the way, it is possible to extract the aacenc32.dll from the nve installer using winrar, in case you want to play with that and not install NVE.

Or is an update to the 6.3.0.3 Main Nero package with aacenc32.dll version 2.6.1.9 included coming out soon? I prefer not to install all the video apps so I can apply the NVE updates.

Thanks again to Ivan and Menno for the excellent job at adding new features to Nero. I greatly appreciate the .M4A filename reading support!

Hopefully with the new codec you guys at Nero will come up near (or at) the top of rjamorim's upcoming AAC test results.
I know the MP3 test results haven't come out yet... just forward looking to the AAC test

@quest

You can extract aacenc32.dll from either the NVE or neromix installers using winrar. You do not have to install either of the additional apps. I am willing to bet that the NBR installer is updated without a version change, Ahead has done this sort of thing before.

how does licencing work for nero?

I have a lite-on cd burner that came bundled with it. Does that mean I get free updates? I'm mostly interested in the aac encoder, since for the most part the cd-burner capabilities are mature.

btw, how do nero aac's behave on the ipod?

adlai - Nero made m4a files work fine with my 20GB 3rd Gen iPod, just as long as I don't use soundcheck (Apple's version of replaygain) in iTunes

Case - Thanks for the quick compiles

... Nero Recode still crashes reliably during DVD transcoding ... I simply cannot use it ...

Is this something new, different from CLI? How is this done?

The FAAD2 bug discussion moved here.

I am curious to know if Ahead is making any progress in regards to the stability of nero 6. I used it for several months only to suffer one headache after another. Between the erratic frisbees it creates and the irrationaly crashes in nerovision while transcoding, i have to agree with JeanLuc that Nero 6 is simply unusable. I actually reverted back to nero 5 and *poof* all my woes disappeared. Its all well and great that their aac encoder is getting plenty of attention but what good is it if the program that uses it doesnt even work right?

*me hugs my 5.5 box...

Funny, I've never had any stability problems with Nero 6. must just be certain configurations that cause problems.

@indybrett


There is a plug-in called foo-nero which will call any of the nero encoders. When set up you can rip, encode to nero aac, tag, rename (the works) in one step in Foobar. It even lets you set up the tracks with a m4a extension. The encoding is done on the fly, as you rip, it is not a CLI encoder.

Pretty neat?

Yes, like you said, it works, but I'm experiencing some "not exactly" file sizes, I made several tests comparing foo_nero against Nero itself, the difference may be not as much as you're probably thinking, but either way, it's not like the "warn" feeling that tells you foo_nero it's "exactly" the same as using Nero for AAC encoding... although I'm very happy with foo_nero, it has helped me a lot, thanks to Case.

Don't want to start a flame war, but just wanted to point this out.

I have confirmed this.

Using NeroMix, the playback is perfectly gapless with Foobar2000. If I use Foobar2000 with Nencode, it is "almost" gapless, but not completely. The click is gone, but there is a little "pfft" sound between some tracks.

Edit: Using EziiiEncode produces perfectly gapless files. Possible I am using Foobar2000 incorrectly to encode?

Edit#2: copied all the dll's and nencode to the Foobar2000 directory, and it works perfectly.

@madxvid

No flame war at all. Different file sizes than a rip and encode in Nero? That is new information to me. I wonder if the "meat" of the file is any different. What I suspect is that Foobar's processing of the file is slightly different, but that there is no real difference in the audio. After all, the codec is the same. Do what works for you. There are many ways to use the Nero AAC codec while ripping including EAC/Nencode, Nero by itself, Foobar, and DBpowerAMP. Additionally, there is the possibility of encoding lossless with any of these and then transcoding. Your experiences on what works best are welcome to me, and probably most of the rest of the HA community.

@indibrett

I made the same mistake with Nencode and then updated the Nero dll's. Look back through the thread.

EziiiEncode? That is a new one to me.

Anyway, I really like the way Nero AAC sounds. All I need now is an iPod.

I totally agree with you when you mention all those different methods to encode Nero AAC, and yes, again, people have to do what's best for them, and like I said before, I just wanted to point that out.

By the way, I ripped with EAC, and compared encoding with foo_nero against Nero encoder dialog, I guess it's a "fair" comparison.

Best regards.

I already had all the current dll's, but everything was in a separate directory with Nencode. For some reason, that was not producing gapless files. I copied those exact same dll's to the Foobar2000 directory and now it's gapless.

Is it necessary to update all the dll's in my nencode directory, or simply aacenc32.dll?

Not sure. I did them all just to be safe.

I think the change that fixes the gappless bug is in aac.dll. That is because when I ran my initial tests, I had not put the upgraded aacenc32.dll in. As the aove posts indicate, that file is not in the nbr6303 installer, but it is in the other packages.

would be really nice if ahead could make a standalone aac encoding package. (if cli encoder is not an option, it is annoying to upgrade everything every time...)

Nero6 haven't crashed yet on my computer, and I use it big time: transcoding dvds to nerodigital with he-aac, and I (have to) watch them with Nero Showtime. The one feature I really really think is missing in Showtime is playlist support... To be able to play my short comics, Pink Panther, Roadrunner and Donald Ducks five movies in-a-row for my kid.... If the guys at Ahead keep nerodigital users locked with Showtime, I would appreciate that they keep on improving Showtime...

So far so good, I am quite happy with Nero6...







edit:typos

My own experience:
CD to WAV: EAC
Nero Version: 6.3.0.3 (Nero AAC Codec 2.6.1.9).
WAV to M4A: foo_nero @ 128 kbps gave a 4.325.376 bytes file, and so did Nero 6 encoding interface.
Compared the two files with foo_bitcompare:
Now sticking with foo_nero (too good to have my m4a extension automatically determined).

Hope it helps...

i would never buy nero till they allow me to install only the parts i would use ... i have bought CoolEdit, and i don't wanna use nero's editor for example .... this is not that dificult

Actually, I got a foo_bitcompare "no differences in decoded data found" message too, but apparently you didn't get my point. Just let me give you some examples:

Transparent profile:

Made with Nero:
Duran Duran - Come Undone.mp4 (6 306 583 bytes)

Made with foo_nero:
Duran Duran - Come Undone.mp4 (6 306 482 bytes)

CBR 128 kbits/s:

Made with Nero:
Duran Duran - Come Undone.mp4 (4 505 258 bytes)

Made with foo_nero:
Duran Duran - Come Undone.mp4 (4 505 157 bytes)

I don't know what does cause this strange behavior, but it'd be nice if someone explain it to me .

PS: I did the "Database->Reload info from file(s)" process twice for every single file, so their sizes are confirmed.

Different tagging
foo_nero does it's own tagging.

Menno

I see menno, that's all I wanted to know .

Thanks in advance.

Best regards.