Foobar2000: SHN > FLAC conversion

[levy96018]

I have recently downloaded the latest stable version of Foobar2000 (v0.9.6.9). I'm trying to do conversions directly from SHN to FLAC formats. I have also updated to the latest flac plugin (flac-1.2.1b.exe). For some reason, I keep getting the error message below. When I try other conversions (e.g. SHN to WAV), it works fine. Appreciate any guidance from those who have seen this before. Thanks.

Converter Status Report

1 out of 1 tracks converted with major problems.

Source: "C:\Users\Desktop\Test\gd64-07-00t1.shn"
An error occurred while writing to file (The encoder has terminated prematurely with code 1; please re-check parameters) : "C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\Test\gd64-07-00t1.flac"
Additional information:
Encoder stream format: 44100Hz / 2ch / 16bps
Command line: "C:\Windows\flac.exe" -s --ignore-chunk-sizes -8 - -o "gd64-07-00t1.flac"
Working folder: C:\Users\Desktop\Test\

Conversion failed: The encoder has terminated prematurely with code 1; please re-check parameters

[Skradgee]

corrupted shn file?

[levy96018]

Originally Posted by Skradgee

corrupted shn file?

I don't think that is it. I tried a number of different shn files, all of which converted correctly to WAV files.

[roann]

If the other files of the fileset can be converted to flac without problems I'd say this shn file is corrupt.

You could try Trader's Little Helper that comes with a format conversion function. Maybe it works, or at least you get some (more) information what's going on. If you'd upload the shn file to a file hoster I'd try to analyze and convert it. Just let me know.

[direwolf-pgh]

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/plus.html

excellent converter - handles large conversion tasks beautifully

Allows up to 32000 files to be converted in one batch

[levy96018]

Originally Posted by roann

If the other files of the fileset can be converted to flac without problems I'd say this shn file is corrupt.

It wasn't just this file. I get the same for any SHN > FLAC conversion when using foobar2000. I tested it on a dozen or more SHN files. They all test okay on TLH and match up to checksum files. Also, the SHN files were able to convert to .wav format okay, so I think it has something to do with my install of foobar2K, not the underlying .shn file. I'd like to be able to convert directly from .shn to .flac so I don't losing tagging on the files.

Originally Posted by roann

You could try Trader's Little Helper that comes with a format conversion function. Maybe it works, or at least you get some (more) information what's going on. If you'd upload the shn file to a file hoster I'd try to analyze and convert it. Just let me know.

Not sure if I'm missing something on TLH, but when I try to use the "Encode Audio Files" function, it will only let me add .wav files to be converted, not .shn files. Please let me know if I'm missing something. That would partially solve the problem, but ideally, it would be nice to figure out how to get foobar2K to work so I can do everything in one application.

Thanks for the offer to analyze it.

[levy96018]

Originally Posted by direwolf-pgh

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/plus.html

excellent converter - handles large conversion tasks beautifully

Appreciate the referral. In a pinch, I'm able to get the conversion done using Multi Frontend, but would really prefer to figure out what is wrong with the SHN > FLAC conversion in foobar2K.

[levy96018]

Originally Posted by roann

You could try Trader's Little Helper that comes with a format conversion function. Maybe it works, or at least you get some (more) information what's going on.

Not sure if I'm missing something on TLH, but when I try to use the "Encode Audio Files" function, it will only let me add .wav files to be converted, not .shn files. Please let me know if I'm missing something. That would partially solve the problem, but ideally, it would be nice to figure out how to get foobar2K to work so I can do everything in one application.
[/quote]

Disregard my comment about TLH. I was using a very old version (1.1.1.90). I just downloaded the latest version and can do SHN > FLAC.

Nonetheless, I would still like to figure out how to get it done in foobar2000.

[roann]

Originally Posted by levy96018

...Not sure if I'm missing something on TLH, but when I try to use the "Encode Audio Files" function, it will only let me add .wav files to be converted, not .shn files. Please let me know if I'm missing something. That would partially solve the problem, but ideally, it would be nice to figure out how to get foobar2K to work so I can do everything in one application. ...

Just go to Format > Convert encoding format. Now you can add .ape, .mkw or .shn files and convert them to flac format. Note that any tags will be removed.

[levy96018]

Originally Posted by roann

Just go to Format > Convert encoding format. Now you can add .ape, .mkw or .shn files and convert them to flac format. Note that any tags will be removed.

This is what I was concerned about. My understanding from other forum posts here was that SHN > FLAC conversions using foobar2000 would not cause tags to be stripped. Is that incorrect?

[roann]

Originally Posted by levy96018

This is what I was concerned about. My understanding from other forum posts here was that SHN > FLAC conversions using foobar2000 would not cause tags to be stripped. Is that incorrect?

The Shorten format itself does *not* support any kind of tagging, so SHN files can not hold any metadata. But you can create an external tag file (APE tag) to hold the metadata for a SHN file. If there is an external tag file for a SHN file, foobar will use it to tag the FLAC file when converting SHN to FLAC format. As said before, if you use TLH for changing the encoding format tags will be stripped / external tag files will be ignored.