Arch Linux

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

[solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

I have the latest faac installed,  Using kaudiocreator or soundkonverter, I cannot seem to convert to m4a using faac.

Soundconverter allows me to use ffmpeg, but the quality isn't so great.

Assume I would like to convert an mp3 (lame decode) to an m4a (faac encode)... what would the command line be to do that to a file so I can see what the issue is?

Last edited by bwh1969 (2009-01-01 19:35:18)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

I have the latest faac installed,  Using kaudiocreator or soundkonverter, I cannot seem to convert to m4a using faac.

Soundconverter allows me to use ffmpeg, but the quality isn't so great.

Assume I would like to convert an mp3 (lame decode) to an m4a (faac encode)... what would the command line be to do that to a file so I can see what the issue is?

Go into the bug tracker and search for FAAC. There are patches to make it work there. The official Arch version has been broken for many months. The reason why FFmpeg doesn't sound good is because it's falling back on mp2 audio.

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

I figured this out.  It was a pain, and I don't understand why someone doesn't replace the broken package.

Last edited by bwh1969 (2008-12-29 22:12:03)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

You can grab all of the build files through ABS. If you don't know abs yet:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ABS

Copy the folder /var/abs/extra/faac somewhere where you have write permissions. I use my home directory. Copy the two files from the bug tracker page into that folder overwriting libmp4v2.patch. Go into the faac folder, patch the PKGBUILD file, build, and install. The pacman command needs to be run as root:

patch -p0 < pkgbuild.patch
makepkg
pacman -U faac-1.26-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.gz (if you're on 64 bit)
pacman -U faac-1.26-1-i686.pkg.tar.gz (if you're on 32 bit)

Once installed, test it by running faac --help. If it says all of this, it worked:

MP4 specific options:
  -w        Wrap AAC data in MP4 container. (default for *.mp4 and *.m4a)
  --artist X    Set artist to X
  --writer X    Set writer to X
  --title X    Set title to X
  --genre X    Set genre to X
  --album X    Set album to X
  --compilation    Set compilation
  --track X    Set track to X (number/total)
  --disc X    Set disc to X (number/total)
  --year X    Set year to X
  --cover-art X    Read cover art from file X
  --comment X    Set comment to X

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

I found a PKGBUILD so that simplified the whole thing.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=51954

It is one of the last replies:-)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

I found a PKGBUILD so that simplified the whole thing.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=51954

It is one of the last replies:-)

Cool. I thought about just posting the PKGBUILD and the patch, but knowing ABS is incredibly useful.

By the way, welcome to the forums.

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

Re: [solved] cannot convert to m4a using faac

It works well now!

Reasons for my Arch switch:

I bought an Asus EEE-BOX (EEE desktop)  a few months ago, and I love it.  It came with Win XP and it is such a clunky os.  I should have waited for the Xandros version.  I thought Ubuntu might be great on it, like it has been with every other PC I have had.  It works fine, but for some reason, certain things are VERY slow... Firefox for one.  If I run it with fluxbox as my desktop, it works better, but that is kind of boring to say the least.

I revived FaunOS out of my pile of linux distros, (it is a live distro that is based on Arch and uses the Arch repos).http://www.faunos.com/  Most of it runs out of RAM and it is lightening fast.  I can open several memory intensive programs, and be running Compiz and there is no lag at all.

Anyway, I am able to do almost anything with it I can do with Ubuntu, and the only thing holding me back from using it all the time was the faac issue.  At one point several years ago, I got an iPod and that is the format I seemed to like,  Sounds better than mp3 for the file size.

Thanks for the welcome.  The FaunOS forums seem to be down, and not as rich in info as the Arch forums.

I am so familiar with Ubuntu, that ABS was pretty much a foreign language to me...   Time to learn:-)

Last edited by bwh1969 (2008-12-30 02:56:35)