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Topic: Free Encoder Pack (Read 45649 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #125 –
I need to amend my statement. Both official FLAC and my compile still work in Windows XP provided that CPU supports appropriate instructions. My test Windows XP setup uses a Pentium 2 CPU which doesn't support even SSE.

The v141_xp platform stuff is about using Visual Studio compiler and its older XP-compatible toolset. It's related in a roudabout way, as the removal of optimized assembly routines forces one to now compile FLAC with GCC and high optimizations. Basic Visual Studio compile or GCC compile with restricted instruction use would produce horrible performance.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #126 –
Updated on 2025-02-24:
Fixed a very old bug that foobar2000 install location wasn't detected on 32-bit OS.
Fixed checkboxes being invisible on certain custom OS themes.
Now bundles and installs 64-bit encoders on a 64-bit OS. Except fhgaacenc remains 32-bit only as the required Winamp dlls are only available in 32-bits.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #127 –
Sincere thanks Case for this update and the addition of the 64bit versions. As embarrassing as it may sound now.. I understand that you ultimately judged the point of this update yourself, but my question was not intended to “kick” you into it in any way. Because the speed of this update took me “by surprise” in a good way. Due to my busy schedule, I was unable to respond sooner.

And not to have enough impudence on my part, I'm adding a feature request for any of the FEP future releases.. It's about adding the Helix mp3 encoder in the stable versions to this pack. Of course if it meets your criteria and there would be interest from other users.
I'll leave aside the debate of prioritizing Lame against Helix based on objective/subjective quality in specific audio parameters, although I have my own opinion on the subject, and there has been quite a bit of that described here and there on HA as well. I will diplomatically state that I have failed to reach the stage of favoring the Lame over the Helix based on subjective judgement of audio quality of the music I usually listen to.
For me personally, the Helix MP3, which you and Maikmerten have brought up to the current state, is the only lossy encoder I use for a number of reasons. Hence the idea of taking advantage of the convenience that FEP offers and having the option to install the Helix just within that package. Thanks for considering.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #128 –
But foobar2000 doesn't have built-in Helix presets, so a lot of people won't even notice its existence.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #129 –
Of course, without creating a window with the basic presets for the encoder in question, the original intent with which this package was created would probably not be fulfilled. Since I'm assuming that Peter decides on the addition of a particular encoder, it's hard to suppose that such a situation would ever arise. I'm making this feature request contingent on interest from users, as well as a partial improvement of the tragic mp3 to aac score, 1:5. Last but not least, it can contribute to a greater awareness of this encoder and offer an alternative to Lame.
If there is no interest, and even Peter judges it so, then the idea just hasn't taken off..

But it's nice to see such a big name popping up here again ;)

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #130 –
Both Maikmerten and Case put a lot of work into polishing Helix, and if you dig up past listening tests on this forum Helix fares anywhere from competitive to superior against LAME while reducing encode times substantially.  If Peter is willing, I'd welcome a new preset, and inclusion into the Free Encoder Pack.

On a secondary note; fb2k has presets for Tak, Monkey's, and Exhale yet they are not included. Unless there is licensing that would restrict it then I think those encoders should be included too. Replacing the included non-aoTuV version of oggenc2 with the version that has aoTuV  but without lancer opts would be an improvement in my eyes as well, but I'll let the developers/community weigh in on that one.

I'm considering creating a thread with some ideas I've had on streamlining the interface for fb2k's converter dialog, specifically regarding the usage of custom presets. These ideas would not hurt advanced users, and would simplify usage for people transitioning from more casual to advanced usage.

Lasly great call on finally including 64-bit binaries!

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #131 –
Quote from: 4codec2 on
Both Maikmerten and Case put a lot of work into polishing Helix, and if you dig up past listening tests on this forum Helix fares anywhere from competitive to superior against LAME while reducing encode times substantially.  If Peter is willing, I'd welcome a new preset, and inclusion into the Free Encoder Pack.

On a secondary note; fb2k has presets for Tak, Monkey's, and Exhale yet they are not included. Unless there is licensing that would restrict it then I think those encoders should be included too. Replacing the included non-aoTuV version of oggenc2 with the version that has aoTuV  but without lancer opts would be an improvement in my eyes as well, but I'll let the developers/community weigh in on that one.

I'm considering creating a thread with some ideas I've had on streamlining the interface for fb2k's converter dialog, specifically regarding the usage of custom presets. These ideas would not hurt advanced users, and would simplify usage for people transitioning from more casual to advanced usage.

Lasly great call on finally including 64-bit binaries!
You can add a Helix preset to the encoder context menu right now, or a button doing the same thing on the Toolbar, once you have manually added it as a new custom encoder.  Is that not what you're looking for?  Of course the latest 64-bit binary is at GitHub.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #132 –
Update 2025-04-02:
* qaac 2.84 + refalac 1.84.
* Improvements to the portable mode install location finding from browse dialog's memory.
* Added support for copying qaac's required dlls from Apple Music.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #133 –
Quote from: jaro1 on
It's about adding the Helix mp3 encoder in the stable versions to this pack.
I recall Helix has been requested before and I have also thought about it. It's a great encoder, but including it makes sense only if Helix is natively supported by the Converter. And before I'd even request Peter to add a built-in Converter profile for Helix I think we'd need to come to conclusion what command line options should be used by default, and of course the Helix command line interface has to stay stable after that. There were some good requests and suggestions by @Kraeved to improve Helix's help and options, but sadly he disappeared.

Quote from: 4codec2 on
On a secondary note; fb2k has presets for Tak, Monkey's, and Exhale yet they are not included. Unless there is licensing that would restrict it then I think those encoders should be included too.
The licenses for Monkey and Exhale allow inclusion, Tak not so much.
I already commented earlier how Monkey's Audio would be problematic to maintain as it can get several releases a day. Other than that I think the idea has been to keep the pack compact and include the most useful encoders. Exhale produced files don't work out-of-the-box on current foobar2000.

Quote from: 4codec2 on
Replacing the included non-aoTuV version of oggenc2 with the version that has aoTuV but without lancer opts would be an improvement in my eyes as well, but I'll let the developers/community weigh in on that one.
I have failed to find any evidence showing that aoTuV produces better quality than today's standard encoder. Afaik last tests about this were done some 20 years ago and aoTuV's bitrates were higher. I have read that some aoTuV's tunings would be included in the official codec. If the other changes are not considered good enough by Xiph and Vorbis format's authors, I'm not certain it would be best idea for us to promote them.
Another downside is that I'd have to compile aoTuV encoders myself as the Rarewares' compiles have extra dependencies - that gets them automatically rejected.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #134 –
Quote from: Case on
Update 2025-04-02:
* qaac 2.84 + refalac 1.84.
* Improvements to the portable mode install location finding from browse dialog's memory.
* Added support for copying qaac's required dlls from Apple Music.
Installed without a hitch to my portable C:\foobar , and copied dlls from installed apple music

I see that in addition to dlls that I'm used to (based on that old github link)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
it also copied these
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Are these also needed? My standalone qaac (outside of foobar) worked without them so far.
Also, it's convenient to have them in a subfolder inside encoders, something I didn't realize was possible before.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #135 –
The Apple's dlls do depend on Microsoft Visual C runtimes, but those extra files you mentioned are not needed. They are something else than normal runtimes as they all have "_app" at the end of their names.

Currently CoreFoundation.dll and some other dlls for example depend on vcruntime140.dll, so I wanted to copy these over in case they aren't installed system wide for the user. But I didn't want to hardcode the currently used runtime dll names as any update from Apple could make it depend on more runtime DLLs, or even differently named dlls if they changed compiler. So I tried to be future-proof by making it copy the standard C runtime components with wildcards, like vcruntime*.dll.

Apparently this backfired, though only harm is that it uses extra space. You can safely remove the extra files. I'll fix this for the next update, thanks for pointing out.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #136 –
Update 2025-04-04:
Contains only improvements to the Apple Music dll copying. Installer no longer copies incorrect UWP versions of VC Runtime dlls.
If the target foobar2000 is a portable install, or standard install and system-wide Visual C runtime isn't installed, it will try to find the required correct Visual C libraries from Store packages and copies them over. This time hardcoded to copy only the required dlls by current version: msvcp140.dll, vcruntime140.dll and vcruntime140_1.dll.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #137 –
Quote from: Case on
Update 2025-04-04:
Contains only improvements to the Apple Music dll copying. Installer no longer copies incorrect UWP versions of VC Runtime dlls.
If the target foobar2000 is a portable install, or standard install and system-wide Visual C runtime isn't installed, it will try to find the required correct Visual C libraries from Store packages and copies them over. This time hardcoded to copy only the required dlls by current version: msvcp140.dll, vcruntime140.dll and vcruntime140_1.dll.
Yeah, I understand that a portable install gets mandatory vc dlls, as it may end up on a thumb drive in a different system. Either way, apparently it's not uncommon for program installs to include them, as I found I have over a hundred of each of these files peppered across my C: despite them also being present in system32.

Re: Free Encoder Pack

Reply #138 –
Update 2025-05-07: qaac 2.85 and refalac 1.85 (fixes encoding 7.1 channel audio).