Hydrogenaudio Forums > foo

Mr_Rabid_Teddybear

Mar 4 2004, 21:43

On Kode's page there are a new plugin MPEG Audio Decoder, which contains foo_mad.dll, foo_input_std.dll and the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.

But there are not much info.....

I guess this is an alternative mp3 decoder for foobar based on the new MAD 0.15.1b? An alternative to the standard foobar mp3 decoder then, which I think I read are based upon the mpg123 libraries? Well, are this just an option, mad instead of mpg123 for those who wants it? Are there advantages? Will you still get foobars famous gapless mp3 playback with this decoder...?
Hmmm... guess that was the Q's I could come up with right away, would just like some more info/documentation, that's all...

kode54

Mar 4 2004, 23:20

It's there for those who want it. It does support gapless playback. It is also about half as fast as mpglib. Most people will not hear the difference.

ssamadhi97

Mar 5 2004, 09:58

QUOTE(kode54 @ Mar 5 2004, 06:20 AM)

Most people will not hear the difference.

Except for those who specifically want to hear a difference?

Mr_Rabid_Teddybear

Mar 5 2004, 10:19

QUOTE(ssamadhi97 @ Mar 5 2004, 07:58 AM)

QUOTE(kode54 @ Mar 5 2004, 06:20 AM)

Most people will not hear the difference.

Except for those who specifically want to hear a difference?

He, He!

Mr_Rabid_Teddybear

Mar 5 2004, 10:26

BTW: Are the foo_input_std.dll included here specially intended for the use with foo_mad, or a pre-release of the standard inputs for next foobar release...?

Prodoc

Mar 5 2004, 10:28

I'm not familiar with the madlib itself.
Are there anymore advantages using kode54's new plugin besides it being faster than mpglib?

Garf

Mar 5 2004, 10:31

QUOTE(Prodoc @ Mar 5 2004, 06:28 PM)

I'm not familiar with the madlib itself.
Are there anymore advantages using kode54's new plugin besides it being faster than mpglib?

It's WAY SLOWER.

However, it may handle 'weird' data better. (Possibly mp1 or mp2 files, not sure)

Peter

Mar 5 2004, 11:20

QUOTE(Mr_Rabid_Teddybear @ Mar 5 2004, 07:26 PM)

BTW: Are the foo_input_std.dll included here specially intended for the use with foo_mad, or a pre-release of the standard inputs for next foobar release...?

The latter.

Prodoc

Mar 5 2004, 15:15

QUOTE

It's WAY SLOWER.

You're right, I misread kode54's post, sorry to cause some confusion.

Wizard

Mar 6 2004, 04:52

Much slower but some may find it useful since it has instant seeking through large mp3s.

Peter

Mar 6 2004, 05:41

QUOTE(Wizard @ Mar 6 2004, 01:52 PM)

Much slower but some may find it useful since it has instant seeking through large mp3s.

Decoder has nothing to do with handling of seeking, please get informed before posting false info.

Wizard

Mar 6 2004, 06:13

QUOTE(zZzZzZz @ Mar 6 2004, 02:41 PM)

QUOTE(Wizard @ Mar 6 2004, 01:52 PM)

Much slower but some may find it useful since it has instant seeking through large mp3s.

Decoder has nothing to do with handling of seeking, please get informed before posting false info.

Sorry about that Peter

It appeas that somehow the first time I tested it was much faster in seeking than mpglib, but in subsequent tests that was not true

guruboolez

Mar 6 2004, 06:49

QUOTE(ssamadhi97 @ Mar 5 2004, 04:58 PM)

QUOTE(kode54 @ Mar 5 2004, 06:20 AM)

Most people will not hear the difference.

Except for those who specifically want to hear a difference?

I've tried, and MAD was certainly not a winner for quality. foobar2000 already have dithering AND noise shaping. And it works much better on 16 bits than MAD.

http://www.foobar2000.net/mp3decoder/conclusion.htm

Garf

Mar 6 2004, 07:17

Depending on how it was programmed, it should be possible to combine MAD decoder + foobar ditherer/noiseshaper

Peter

Mar 6 2004, 08:23

MAD's full resolution (4.28 fixedpoint) is converted to floatingpoint and passed to fb2k, you can dither it down to 16bit and get potentially better results than with mpglib (ABX anyone ?

). Dithering in fb2k does not depend on inputs/decoders used.
I also believe that MAD works better with some low-bitrate files (MPEG-2/2.5, intensity stereo), where mpglib has known issues.

surveyor_jens

Sep 4 2004, 06:56

Hi there,
I hoped to persuade foobar to play my 384-kBit mp3-Files at all with the above mentioned mad-plugin (mad-standalone-player do it fine). No chance. This only plays mp3s up to 320kBit. Quality is rather not important cause it's only for previewing them before burning them on Audio-CD.
Is there anybody out there that is able to show me how to play these 384kBit-mp3s with foobar? I got these files from AllOfMP3 and they say they were encoded with lame. (I tried to decode them with RazorLame - no chance.)

Garf

Sep 4 2004, 07:22

> 320kbps MP3 is so-called "freeformat" and nothing is required to support them. In other words, they're essentially nonstandard.

Mr_Rabid_Teddybear

Sep 4 2004, 21:33

QUOTE(surveyor_jens @ Sep 4 2004, 04:56 AM)

Hi there,
I hoped to persuade foobar to play my 384-kBit mp3-Files at all with the above mentioned mad-plugin (mad-standalone-player do it fine). No chance. This only plays mp3s up to 320kBit. Quality is rather not important cause it's only for previewing them before burning them on Audio-CD.
Is there anybody out there that is able to show me how to play these 384kBit-mp3s with foobar? I got these files from AllOfMP3 and they say they were encoded with lame. (I tried to decode them with RazorLame - no chance.)

Eh, sorry, but you really don't get by that many 384-kBit mp3-Files, and since you stated that "mad-standalone-player do it fine", why not simply use madplay.exe with MAD Frontend from the MAD bundle, or just cd into the directory holding the files and execute

CODE

madplay -v --display-time remaining *.mp3

using the madplay.exe with wildcard support.

BTW: For a bitrate like 384, wouldn't Wavpack hybrid be better?

surveyor_jens

Sep 25 2004, 12:47

QUOTE(Mr_Rabid_Teddybear @ Sep 5 2004, 04:33 AM)

QUOTE(surveyor_jens @ Sep 4 2004, 04:56 AM)

Hi there,
I hoped to persuade foobar to play my 384-kBit mp3-Files at all with the above mentioned mad-plugin (mad-standalone-player do it fine). No chance. This only plays mp3s up to 320kBit. Quality is rather not important cause it's only for previewing them before burning them on Audio-CD.
Is there anybody out there that is able to show me how to play these 384kBit-mp3s with foobar? I got these files from AllOfMP3 and they say they were encoded with lame. (I tried to decode them with RazorLame - no chance.)

Eh, sorry, but you really don't get by that many 384-kBit mp3-Files, and since you stated that "mad-standalone-player do it fine", why not simply use madplay.exe with MAD Frontend from the MAD bundle, or just cd into the directory holding the files and execute

CODE

madplay -v --display-time remaining *.mp3

using the madplay.exe with wildcard support.

BTW: For a bitrate like 384, wouldn't Wavpack hybrid be better?

Hi,
all other formats than 384KBit-mp3 are very critical at allofmp3.com, cause they wrote me, that all source-files except "onlineencoding-exclusive" are in 384kBit/s-mp3-format at their servers. If I would choose any other format (I think musepack is the best one) they would trancode the files which causes some loss of quality (allofmp3-support says something like 1% but in fact it is much more - you can hear it easely).
Ok, I know the mad frontend, but it is not very comfortably with no searching and no repeat-functions. Google and I don't know any other frontend for the mad-codec

But thanks a lot for your answer.

greets
surveyor

kode54

Sep 25 2004, 21:13

The so-called "free format" MP3 bitstream format is problematic to support because it does not allow for reading and decoding one packet at a time. The designating feature of "free format" MP3 is that the length field in every packet is set to zero, therefore the only way to detect the actual size of the frame is for the parser to scan ahead until it finds another frame syncword, which is an ugly hack.

Mr_Rabid_Teddybear

Nov 2 2004, 17:58

QUOTE(surveyor_jens @ Sep 25 2004, 10:47 AM)

Ok, I know the mad frontend, but it is not very comfortably with no searching and no repeat-functions.

Sorry for coming back to this so late. Well, I guess there's no other frontend, at least I don't know of anyone either. But using madplay from console you do at least have these options (found here):

QUOTE

Playback

-s or --start=time
Begin playing at time, given as an offset from the beginning of the first file (0:00:00), seeking as necessary.
-t or --time=duration
Stop playback after the playing time of the output audio equals duration.
-z or --shuffle
Randomize the list of files given on the command line for playback.
-r or --repeat[=max]
Play the input files max times, or indefinitely. Playback can be stopped prematurely by giving a time limit with the -t (--time) option. If -z (--shuffle) is also used, the files will be continuously shuffled and repeated in such a way that the same file is not played again until at least half of the other files have played in the interim.
--tty-control
Enable keyboard controls during playback. This is the default unless standard input is not a terminal or output is redirected with -o (--output). The keyboard controls are:

P
Pause; press any key to resume.
S
Stop; press any key to replay the current file from the beginning.
F
Forward; advance to the next file.
B
Back; replay the current file, unless it has been playing for less than 4 seconds, in which case replay the previous file.
T
Time display; change the time display mode. This only works with -v (--verbose). The display mode alternates among overall playing time, current time remaining, and current playing time.
Q
Quit; stop decoding and exit.

--no-tty-control
Disable keyboard controls during playback. This is the default when standard input is not a terminal or output is redirected with -o (--output).

It's not at all what you want, I know, but it do cover some.... I currently use this with madplay.exe (with wildcard support compiled by John33 as linked to above):

CODE

madplay -v --display-time remaining -a -1.5 --tty-control *.mp3

And then I can use PSFBTQ during playback.