I wonder if anyone here can help shed some light on a problem I've been having for a while now. Nero's tech support blame Microsoft's DirectShow MP3 import filter, Microsoft tech support blame the MP3 files (but there are a whole load I've got that cause this problem, and they all work fine in most other software, even Windows Media Player).

I'm creating a DVD-based picture slideshow disc using Nero NeroVision Express, which allows you to place multiple picture files onto its video timeline, and it can fade/cut/etc between them at various intervals as required. It also has an accompanying audio timeline, onto which you can place one or more songs to play in the background while you are viewing the slideshow on a DVD player.
It is importing MP3 tracks onto the audio timeline that causes the problems.

When I import an MP3 file, the duration shown in NeroVision often shows as somewhat longer than the actual audio file. Not all MP3 files cause this problem, but it is always repeatable for any given file (most of my own are LAME 3.9x VBR files which generally seem to fail). The total duration for the slideshow is calculated based on the displayed audio durations, not the real running time of the MP3 tracks, so when you play the slideshow (either via on-screen preview or from the final disc) there is a corresponding silent period after each piece of music has finished before the next audio track starts. This silence can last several minutes with longer tracks.

I have sent two short sample MP3 files to Nero and they found the same problem when they tried them. When they looked into it, they blamed a bug in Microsoft's DirectShow import filter for the issue and they won't look into it further. Given that these files all work fine in other programs (both Microsoft and third-party) I find their attitude to their registered customers a bit offhand, but until I can prove categorically that the bug isn't in DirectShow I've got to accept what they're saying.

Hope someone here can help - I'd settle for finding a batch utility that will correct whatever headers NeroVision is having trouble with. I've tried several, including foobar2000's Fix Headers option, which actually made the problem worse - a 5'46" MP3 file which NeroVision originally reported as being 8'13" loaded in as 16'24" after foobar "fixed" it! :-)

If this isn't a known problem (which I'm guessing it might be?) I can upload/email a few short sample files (1Mb or so) if anyone in the know about these things might be able to check them out for me?

TIA!

Regards,

Andre

The Microsoft DShow mp3 decoding filter is only able to report correct duration since WMP10.

It is likely that installing WMP10 wouls solve your problem.

Note: Nero tech support is right, the problem comes from the Ms filter.

Sorry, I guess I should have stated some version numbers: I do have WMP10 installed, and DirectX 9.0c, and all the latest WinXP patches, and all the latest Nero updates, and the latest non-beta version of LAME.

Most other software reports the lengths of these MP3's correctly, including Windows XP explorer & file properties, WMP10, Quicktime player, Creative PlayCentre, WinAmp, Adbobe Encore, Sony Vegas Video, RealPlayer, TagScanner, and others. The three I've found which report the length incorrectly are NeroVision Express (v2 or v3), Nero Showtime and PowerDVD (and I suspect the latter two programs use the same basic engine anyway).

If the bug is Microsoft's, what's the best way for me to get it through to them that there is a problem that needs fixing? (they currently blame LAME and/or these particular files).

Andre

I didn't read the entire post, but I'm using WMP9 and it shows the correct duration of my mp3's.

Would decoding the MP3s to WAV first serve as a workaround?

Yes

Well that's a solution I did try for a couple of tracks, and of course it works fine - but it's not a long-term solution to being able to using any of the 8,122 (at present count) MP3 files in the audio folder on my HD at will as backing tracks. Drag & Drop becomes a lot more complicated that way... :-)

I'd still love to know why NeroVision Express (and Nero Showtime & Power DVD) get the lengths wrong when so much other software copes fine. I don't think the problem is the LAME encodng (which I'm a big fan of), it's poor programming somewhere in the playback software - but at the moment I'm just trying to get Nero tech support to actually answer their emails, let alone do anything about it.

Would anyone here be prepared to look at a couple of short sample files for me and see if there's anything abnormal in these MP3s that might be causing my problems? (I've tried stripping off the ID3 tags, which didn't help, but I'm not an expert on MP3 format so don't really know what to try next).

Kind Regards,

Andre

Just to close this thread, I got back to Nero tech support and was a bit more forceful about stating that I thought the problem was with NeroVision Express not my files or Directshow, and they finally acknowledged that my hunch was right. Quote from a recent message from them: "The problem is related to the variable bitrate in mp3s. Nero just checks the first few bars and then projects the expected length." They are going to fix this problem for the next or future release.

Now if they'd just listened to me before rather than fobbing me off, I could have saved myself a lot of time. Oh well, I guess it's not the first time a tech support department has assumed their users don't know what they're doing. :-)

Andre