How to make transcoding to work?

[crp]

Greetings. I have been unable to get transcoding to work in latest versions of minimserver and minimstreamer, on Mac OSX 10.9.2.

I can't set stream.transcode to, for example alac:wav24 , until stream.converter is set. I downloaded a Mac 64bit binary of ffmpeg into my shell path in /usr/local/bin/ then set the stream.convert property to:

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

I get an error diagnostic in the minim control dialog: "converter not supported: correct highlighted value and retry"

I have searched forum and user guides for where/how to install a converter, to no avail. What am I missing?

Charlie

[simoncn]

(17-03-2014 04:20)crp Wrote:  Greetings. I have been unable to get transcoding to work in latest versions of minimserver and minimstreamer, on Mac OSX 10.9.2.

I can't set stream.transcode to, for example alac:wav24 , until stream.converter is set. I downloaded a Mac 64bit binary of ffmpeg into my shell path in /usr/local/bin/ then set the stream.convert property to:

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

I get an error diagnostic in the minim control dialog: "converter not supported: correct highlighted value and retry"

I have searched forum and user guides for where/how to install a converter, to no avail. What am I missing?

Charlie

Please do the following:

1) Make sure you are using the current MinimServer download for Mac OS X (MinimServer-0.8.1c-macosx.dmg)

2) Download the ffmpeg static binary for Mac OS X from this page and unzip it to the /usr/local/bin directory

3) In the stream.convert property, enter:

ffmpeg

[crp]

(17-03-2014 10:26)simoncn Wrote:  

(17-03-2014 04:20)crp Wrote:  Greetings. I have been unable to get transcoding to work in latest versions of minimserver and minimstreamer, on Mac OSX 10.9.2.

I can't set stream.transcode to, for example alac:wav24 , until stream.converter is set. I downloaded a Mac 64bit binary of ffmpeg into my shell path in /usr/local/bin/ then set the stream.convert property to:

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

I get an error diagnostic in the minim control dialog: "converter not supported: correct highlighted value and retry"

I have searched forum and user guides for where/how to install a converter, to no avail. What am I missing?

Charlie

Please do the following:

1) Make sure you are using the current MinimServer download for Mac OS X (MinimServer-0.8.1c-macosx.dmg)

2) Download the ffmpeg static binary for Mac OS X from this page and unzip it to the /usr/local/bin directory

3) In the stream.convert property, enter:

ffmpeg

Simon, thank you for your reply. That is the same web site I used previously. But, I downloaded the zip again, and there is a ffmeg in /usr/local/bin, with execute permissions. I must still be doing something dumb.

When I enter "ffmpeg" into the stream.converter, I get the error message "converter not installed".

If I enter "/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg" into that property, I get the error message "converter not supported".

I am using the .dmg file you suggest, and it reports version 0.8.1, release 22.

[simoncn]

(18-03-2014 03:36)crp Wrote:  Simon, thank you for your reply. That is the same web site I used previously. But, I downloaded the zip again, and there is a ffmeg in /usr/local/bin, with execute permissions. I must still be doing something dumb.

When I enter "ffmpeg" into the stream.converter, I get the error message "converter not installed".

If I enter "/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg" into that property, I get the error message "converter not supported".

I am using the .dmg file you suggest, and it reports version 0.8.1, release 22.

Are you sure you are using the 0.8.1c version of the .dmg file? Some earlier versions (0.8.1 and 0.8.1a) had exactly the problem you are describing.

There is no point in trying to enter '/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg' for the property value. The correct value is 'ffmpeg'.

If you get a 'converter not installed' message when entering 'ffmpeg', this means the ffmpeg executable can't be found on the runtime path that MinimServer is using.

The runtime path that MinimServer is using comes from the MinimServer.app file in the .dmg file. To check this, please do the following:

1) In Finder, select the MinimServer application that you are using

2) In Finder, select 'Show Package Contents'

3) In the contents window, navigate to the folder 'Contents/Resources/oracle/MinimServer/Contents'

4) Select the Info.plist file within this folder and open it with TextEdit

5) Near the end of the file, you should see the following:

Code:

<key>LSEnvironment</key>
<dict>
    <key>PATH</key>
    <string>/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin</string>
</dict>

The value for PATH is the runtime path for MinimServer. Does your Info.plist file have the correct setting for the PATH value?

[crp]

Simon, the entry for PATH is correct.

I had trashed /usr/local/bin when I installed ffmpeg, and somehow confused myself when I checked for its existence and permissions.

I no longer get error assigning "ffmeg" as converter, and alac:wav24 is now accepted as transcode property. THANK YOU for helping me discover my error.

Most of my files are ripped to AIFF. I don't know if transcoding aiff to wav24 will sound better, but I expect it will (24 bit usually helps for some mysterious reason). Is there a likelihood of supporting this in the future? Is this dependent upon the ffmpeg development?

Many Thanks,
Charlie

[simoncn]

(18-03-2014 18:56)crp Wrote:  Simon, the entry for PATH is correct.

I had trashed /usr/local/bin when I installed ffmpeg, and somehow confused myself when I checked for its existence and permissions.

I no longer get error assigning "ffmeg" as converter, and alac:wav24 is now accepted as transcode property. THANK YOU for helping me discover my error.

Most of my files are ripped to AIFF. I don't know if transcoding aiff to wav24 will sound better, but I expect it will (24 bit usually helps for some mysterious reason). Is there a likelihood of supporting this in the future? Is this dependent upon the ffmpeg development?

Many Thanks,
Charlie

It would be possible to transcode AIFF to WAV. This could be done by writing code in Java or by using an external converter (ffmpeg or avconv).

If I were to do this, I would probably design the code to also support combinations like WAV (16 or 24) to AIFF (16 or 24), AIFF (16 or 24) to AIFF (24 or 16), WAV (16 or 24) to WAV (24 or 16), and WAV or AIFF (16 or 24) to LPCM (16 or 24). This would be quite a lot of work, and it isn't very likely to happen in the near to medium term.