Trader's Little Helper

[roann]

Originally Posted by johnlennon696

I DL some files that had SBE's, are these settings ok to fix them using TLH:

http://i53.tinypic.com/i5vmua.jpg

Yes, they are ok.

Note that the names of the fixed files will have the string -fixed appended (the fixed version of track01.flac will be named track01-fixed.flac, for example). If you don't want this: _un_check the Target file names option Append string '-fixed' (see Options > Preferences > Fix SBEs) _and_ choose another output location than the source file directory.

[johnlennon696]

Thankyou mate, that is great...

[Unidecker]

EQ'n tracks ruins the archives... dont do it leave the tracks as is and seed let the people EQ for there own needs. dont do it pre processing. NO NO

[roann]

Originally Posted by Unidecker

EQ'n tracks ruins the archives... dont do it leave the tracks as is and seed let the people EQ for there own needs. dont do it pre processing. NO NO

Fixing SBEs has nothing to do with equalizing.

[mstaggerlee]

I've recently downloaded the earliest Dispatch show posted on the llama (dispatch1996-04-16), in .shn format. A notice on the page this show was posted on stated that the files should not be converted to mp3, by request of the band.

I have a strong preference for .flac files over .shns (winamp's flac performance is far better than with .shns, and Nero will convert flacs to CDDA on the fly when/if you want to burn a disc), so after running the checksums (they all passed) I tried to convert the shns to flac format, using TLH v 2.6.0, build 168 (pretty sure this is the latest). Of the 19 files, only 2 generated error messages (child encoder process had non-zero exit status), but I only found 8 flac files in the folder after conversion!

Amazed, I repeated the conversion. Sure enough, several files simply vanish just as the next file is being written. Never one to give up easily, I decoded the .shns to .wav. This process seemed to go very smoothly. No error messages, and on testing all but 5 .wav files were all found to look like CDDA with 100% confidence, the remainder with 99%, and I noted no correlation between the 99%ers and the shns that wouldn't convert.

But anyway, now that the files are in .wav format, it should be a simple matter to simply convert them to .flac, right?

Well, not so much, as it turns out. All 19 files did indeed convert, but the 11 tracks that would not convert directly from shn to flac all produced an error message (file is truncated or otherwise corrupt). These 11 flacs seem to play just fine in winamp, but I still felt kinda hinky about them.

So, I tested them and all 11 produced the following error -
file is decodable without error, but flac fingerprint cannot be checked, since it was unset in the streaminfo block.

Also, if I attempt to decode these .flacs back to .wav, for the same 11 tracks I get the same error message, and those .wavs vanish just like the flacs did on direct conversion.

So ... any ideas about what's goin' on here?

[Thulani]

Did you try to run the .md5 file to see if fingerprints match?

[roann]

Originally Posted by mstaggerlee

I've recently downloaded the earliest Dispatch show posted on the llama (dispatch1996-04-16), in .shn format. A notice on the page this show was posted on stated that the files should not be converted to mp3, by request of the band.

I have a strong preference for .flac files over .shns (winamp's flac performance is far better than with .shns, and Nero will convert flacs to CDDA on the fly when/if you want to burn a disc), so after running the checksums (they all passed) I tried to convert the shns to flac format, using TLH v 2.6.0, build 168 (pretty sure this is the latest). Of the 19 files, only 2 generated error messages (child encoder process had non-zero exit status), but I only found 8 flac files in the folder after conversion!

Amazed, I repeated the conversion. Sure enough, several files simply vanish just as the next file is being written. Never one to give up easily, I decoded the .shns to .wav. This process seemed to go very smoothly. No error messages, and on testing all but 5 .wav files were all found to look like CDDA with 100% confidence, the remainder with 99%, and I noted no correlation between the 99%ers and the shns that wouldn't convert.

But anyway, now that the files are in .wav format, it should be a simple matter to simply convert them to .flac, right?

Well, not so much, as it turns out. All 19 files did indeed convert, but the 11 tracks that would not convert directly from shn to flac all produced an error message (file is truncated or otherwise corrupt). These 11 flacs seem to play just fine in winamp, but I still felt kinda hinky about them.

So, I tested them and all 11 produced the following error -
file is decodable without error, but flac fingerprint cannot be checked, since it was unset in the streaminfo block.

Also, if I attempt to decode these .flacs back to .wav, for the same 11 tracks I get the same error message, and those .wavs vanish just like the flacs did on direct conversion.

So ... any ideas about what's goin' on here?

I've downloaded the whole show for testing purposes. Unfortunately I have to confirm all the strange things you've described.

If you run TLH's Show audio files details function (see Analysis section) you get this:

length expanded size cdr WAVE problems fmt ratio filename
1:51.47 19690986 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.3994 dispatch1996-04-16d1t01.shn
9:35.05 101440826 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5647 dispatch1996-04-16d1t02.shn
6:05.62 64531018 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5640 dispatch1996-04-16d1t03.shn
8:46.22 92837512 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.5500 dispatch1996-04-16d1t04.shn
8:40.55 91858472 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.5111 dispatch1996-04-16d1t05.shn
7:27.25 78910668 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.6009 dispatch1996-04-16d1t06.shn
1:51.37 19666510 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.4773 dispatch1996-04-16d1t07.shn
3:10.38 33605592 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.4569 dispatch1996-04-16d1t08.shn
7:29.32 79277808 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.6277 dispatch1996-04-16d1t09.shn
6:03.66 64188354 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5758 dispatch1996-04-16d1t10.shn
8:31.59 90279770 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5509 dispatch1996-04-16d1t11.shn
7:12.21 76255022 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5602 dispatch1996-04-16d2t01.shn
7:04.13 74823176 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.6008 dispatch1996-04-16d2t02.shn
5:38.47 59733722 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.6189 dispatch1996-04-16d2t03.shn
8:27.37 89521014 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.6070 dispatch1996-04-16d2t04.shn
3:45.36 39773544 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.5428 dispatch1996-04-16d2t05.shn
4:03.44 42967662 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.5694 dispatch1996-04-16d2t06.shn
5:01.07 53112964 B -b- -- ---xx shn 0.6205 dispatch1996-04-16d2t07.shn
0:05.15 917894 B -b- -- -a-xx shn 0.1982 dispatch1996-04-16d2t08.shn
110:51.66 1173392514 B 0.5679 (19 files)

For all files that cause trouble there is an a in the problems column. This is for audio data is not block-aligned.

The shorten decoder (not written by me) decodes those files without any error message - that's why TLH tells you that all files were decoded successfully. Note: if the audio data of the shn file is not block-aligned the audio data of the decoded wav file isn't block-aligned either.

If you encode to flac now (or shn > flac using Convert encoding format) the flac encoder gives you as encoding result, for example:

dispatch1996-04-16d1t01.wav: 96% complete, ratio=0,385
dispatch1996-04-16d1t01.wav: ERROR: got partial sample

So TLH is right when logging dispatch1996-04-16d1t01.wav: file is truncated or otherwise corrupt. TLH deletes such erroneous files per default. That's why the encoded/converted stuff vanishes into thin air.

[Rodiebluez1]

Does Anyone know a new link for this Tapers Little Helper? The link in the threads are all dead. Thanks.

[mstaggerlee]

So, roann, is there any way that one can force the audio data to be block-aligned? Can the .wav files be manipulated in any way to fix the alignment, or am I going to have to keep 2 copies of this show - one to listen to and one to burn?

Thanks for your help!

[mstaggerlee]

DUH! Guess I hadda write it down, post it, & read it again. How can I manipulate a .wav file? WITH A WAV EDITOR, DUMMY! Decode the .shns, copy & append each .wav file into one BIG file, re-slice & save new .wav files. Betcha THOSE will convert properly!

Sorry to waste your bandwidth.

[tunic]

Originally Posted by Rodiebluez1

Does Anyone know a new link for this Tapers Little Helper? The link in the threads are all dead. Thanks.

http://tlh.easytree.org/

Originally Posted by mstaggerlee

So, roann, is there any way that one can force the audio data to be block-aligned? Can the .wav files be manipulated in any way to fix the alignment, or am I going to have to keep 2 copies of this show - one to listen to and one to burn?

Thanks for your help!

Instead of messing with them yourself, you could also try to contact the taper / uploader and notify him that he's sharing corrupt files.

[mstaggerlee]

Originally Posted by tunic

http://tlh.easytree.org/

Instead of messing with them yourself, you could also try to contact the taper / uploader and notify him that he's sharing corrupt files.

I'd love to, but neither the Taper nor the Uploader is identified on the LMA. If I get ambitious, I may try to find out who administers the LMA's Dispatch collection and suggest that he either replace what's currently posted with the fixed fileset I've created, or just post mine up there as well.

[roann]

Originally Posted by mstaggerlee

I'd love to, but neither the Taper nor the Uploader is identified on the LMA. If I get ambitious, I may try to find out who administers the LMA's Dispatch collection and suggest that he either replace what's currently posted with the fixed fileset I've created, or just post mine up there as well.

It's a bad idea to put out your fileset because most likely your files aren't fixed at all.

The audio data is not block-aligned error message indicates that the WAV data is truncated. It's hard to tell how this happened. One reason may be that some files have been truncated from cutoffs during FTP. Another reason may be a faulty shn compression (Shorten doesn't have much error detection). Or the original shn files were created from truncated wav files. Or the errors were introduced when burning/ripping the files to/from silver.

If you use an audio editor to join tracks d1t02 and d1t03, for example, you can clearly see a skip in the waveform at the position where the files were put together (see attachment). This skip will stay when encoding to flac though you won't get the not block-aligned error message anymore.

So, if you put out your "fixed" fileset, a lot of people will think it is ok - but it is not, it's still a corrupt fileset (it's just harder to detect this corruption now). Better you post a comment over at the Archive and tell people that the shn fileset is corrupt (though the skips may not be audible; I didn't check this).

[tunic]

Originally Posted by mstaggerlee

I'd love to, but neither the Taper nor the Uploader is identified on the LMA. If I get ambitious, I may try to find out who administers the LMA's Dispatch collection and suggest that he either replace what's currently posted with the fixed fileset I've created, or just post mine up there as well.

that's what I don't like about the LMA, that there's no way to see who uploaded the show or send that person a private email (or PM). You can still post a comment, that way you can also find out the uploader's email: post a comment, then you'll get to a confirmation page, you'll see somewhere a link (on the top bar I think it was) to look into the log of the past actions for that show. Found that out last week by accident.

[gluttony]

Does anyone have an older build of TLH? This new one is just horrifically awful. Looking specifically for any build that will let me right click and pass multiple directories for decoding -- who decided that removing batch processing was a good idea? Ugh.