marcnet

Hello. I've released version 0.54 of HIMDRenderer. You can download it from here: http://www.marcnetsystem.co.uk/himdrenderer054.zip This release contains all the required DLL's, so you won't need to go source them from previous releases. Changes: * GUI Improvements (changed global font, fixed vanishing text, etc) * Fixed lock-up when converting some OMA files * Fixed configuration data corruption that was causing the low-quality sounding mp3 generation. * Added track "Play" functionality to the MD Recorder so tracks can be listened to without the need to record anything * Added a new slighlty faster conversion method for OMA files. The old routine still exists (see new advanced options below) * Added "Default Handler" to the advanced options. This tells HIMDRenderer which conversion routine to use first. "None" means autodetect from file extension. "New OMA" uses new OMA routine and "Old OMA" uses the old one. "OMG" uses the OMG routine. * Added "Try all handlers" option to advanced options. This basically will start with the default handler, and if that dosn't work then it will try the next routine and then the next until one succeeds in conversion or they all have failed. * Tidied up Built-in Directshow filters * Fixed OMG batch conversion - No more having to restart HIMDRenderer each time after converting OMG files (part of DirectShow tidy up) * Added "Group output files" option in batch mode. This will take the last folder from each filename and create that folder in the "Output Directory". The converted file will then go into that folder. * Fixed random crash in MD Recorder * Fixed bug in HIMD Extraction code where all OMA files created from extracted ATRAC data were 32 bytes too short. * Added support for the new 192kbs ATRAC3 bitrate that Sonicstage and all HIMD units now support. * Now only one instance of HIMDRenderer can be run at a time * Increased number of log files to 8 and also added DirectShow diagnostics to log file.

Hmm... lets see (in no particular order): Annhilator Cult of Luna Devin Townsend Arena Moonspell Nine Inch Nails The Crystal Method The Mars Volta KMFDM Spiritual Beggars Dream Evil

Annihilator : SCHIZO DELUXE However, I still prefer "All for you":

Mine is basically my "tag" or "spray" I use when playing deathmatch games (Im STILL playing halflife 2 deathmatch - and im STILL rubbish at it). I have various messages such as "Nobody calls me Susan", "As Gothic as a Garden centre" and "Sorry I'm rubbish" at the top. But I like "I am not an onion" then best. I guess its my very weird sense of humor. The middle bit is basically an extension to those house pictures you can draw without taking the pen off the paper... (you know, the ones you doodle when you get bored in school / college / Uni.... Well, I did anyway). I basically drew it in Paintshop Pro and applied random effects to it until it looked like it does And my internet nick and website are at the bottom

This **********MIGHT******* work:) it will only work if the PC your using still has the original DRM information for the tracks you're trying to upload. Try one trac and see: 1) Get the latest version of HIMDRenderer 2) Use the "Scan HIMD" button at the bottom right of HIMDRenderer 3) Select the track you wish to upload. 4) Select A audio format to convert to, or select "OMA" if you wish to keep the original ATRAC data as an OMA file 5) Select an output filename 6) And press Go Render! If you get an error that mentions checking that the file plays in SonicStage, then its probably because the DRM information necassary to do the conversion is no more.

Send me the HIMDRenderer log file via the built-in "bug report" feature (it sends me all recent log files when you submit a bug report) and ill see if there is something that can be done or at least, why this is happening Also are your live recorded OMA files DRM free?

SonicStage and its DLL's use Microsoft COM instead of using exported API functions (like the NetMD DLL's do). This means you need the GUID and the exact binary structure of these COM objects in order to use them. The SonicStage DLL's use their own COM interfaces as opposed to the standard Microsoft ones you can use from an SDK. So unless you know the structure of the interfaces and classes provided by the SonicStage DLL's, you cannot use them for renaming or any other HMA file editing function.

Have a look at the NetMD / HIMD Listing ( MD Listing ) feature on HIMDRenderer. You can create a CSV file using this method / example as follows: In the first "format" box pick "Artist" In the second "format" box pick "<comma>" In the third "format" box pick "Album" In the fourth format" box pick "<comma>" In the fifth "format" box pick "Title" ....etc Dont forget to have a <CR> (return) or <CRLF> (return & line-feed) as the very last "format" option, otherwise the entire generated file will be all on one line.

which soundcard input have you connected your minidisc unit to? You need to make sure that the correct soundcard is selected (top-left option box labeled "Capture Device") and that the correct input is selected ("Capture source"). If your not sure which soundcard input to use, just try playing the MD through the soundcard, select "show capture" at the top of HIMDRenderer, and select different inputs until you see the 2 lines at the bottom of HIMDRenderer move.

If the files are still playable in SonicStage then you can use HIMDRenderer to convert them to .wav

Version 0.53 has the following changes: * Configuration is now saved when the program is closed and is restored when the program is loaded * TagLib is no longer used for mp3 tagging. Instead ID3Lib is used (included in the 0.53 release .zip file) * File tagging can be turned off in the advanced options section * Added sample rate option with mp3 encoding. LAME will do the resampling if anything other than 44100 is selected. Download version 0.53 here: http://www.marcnetsystem.co.uk/himdrenderer053.zip Remember to extract both files from the .zip into the same location as whereever 0.50 and/or 0.52 have been extracted to previously. IMPORTANT: This version does not include the flac,ogg,mp3 and libmmd dll's from version 0.50. If you dont have these dll's then download version 0.50 FIRST. Version 0.50 download: http://www.marcnetsystem.co.uk/himdrenderer050.zip

Only if they are playable on the PC. If the Sony DLL's refuse to play the files then there is nothing HIMDRenderer can do to help. Sorry,

Or you can upload the recordings to your PC using Sonicstage and use HIMDRenderer t convert them to wav

The Sony DLLS call a kernel API function IsDebuggerAttached (or something like that) to query if a debugger is attached. If there is then the DLL will make the program crash. I also know that LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress are used to obtain the address of the IsDebuggerAttached function. This means it wont appear in any of the DLL's function import tables. There is a project somewhere on the web to patch the kernel DLL of windows so that this function always returns FALSE. It sounds a bit dangerous to me as using non MS patched kernel DLLs could potentially cause security risks / crashes / etc. PS: Disk extraction is also in HIMDRenderer 0.52 ... Simply select "Scan HI-MD disk" (next to the "find" button) to find the tracks on the HI-MD disc , and select output file type as OMA.

HIMDRenderer 0.52 will read and export the listing of NetMD and HI-MD disks. Its under the "MD Listing" button. It also does not require the .NET framework, and *should* work under 98SE. The NetMD reading part will require some version of SonicStage installed as the DLL's used by HIMDRenderer to read NetMD listings come with SonicStage

HIMDRenderer can also control the playback of NetMD devices and record the sound from the NetMD device via your PC sound card, just like Winnmd can.

My bad. That'll teach me to half read things half-awake in the morning. HIMDRenderer can read track info from both NetMD and HIMD disks: HIMD: Decodes and reads the various sony files on the disc to get track info NetMD: My first posts on the minidisc forum were about reverse engineering the NetMD Dll's ( http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=673 ). I simply resurrected, this project (I never finished this in 2003) and merged the results with HIMDRenderer. Basically, from the log files produced I learnt how to call the functions in the DLLs that SonicStage uses to get NetMD track info. I call these functions myself within HIMDRenderer to then get the number of tracks, the artist, albumn, track name, track length, group info, etc. btw: The Dlls used for HIMD stuff use a completly different system. They use Microsoft COM, which is a LOT harder to decode the API for in the individual Dlls. - so im not going to be using the same technique for HIMD hacking...

HIMDRenderer does tagging on recorded MP3 / FLAC and OGG files (at least I think it does, i'll have to check). Filenames are generated according to the NetMD track name. Headphone out will also work. As long it produces sound that the Soundcard can capture, then it will work. And my MDS-JE780 is a NetMD deck with optical out .

Just though id mention that HIMDRenderer has a "recording" mode. In this mode the program can play selected tracks from a NetMD disc / device and record them via a selected soundcard input into WAV / MP3 /OGG or FLAC formats. This is assuming the NetMD device is connected via optical or line-out to your PC soundcard....

For all you WinNMD fans (and also for those who are not), I have added simular functionality to the latest version of HIMDRenderer (0.52). http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12683 Could you possibly give it a go and let me know (in a seperate thread in the HIMDRenderer forum - this IS an WinNMD thread after all) on how you get on. Oh, this functionality is all in the "MD Recorder" sub-function. Just click the button! Thanks.

Ive now release 0.52 with these fixes: Fixes in version 0.52: * Fixed crash when encountered empty artist, album or track name field in OMA file * Fixed crash when using taglib to name some mp3 files. * Fixed bug with extraction that meant some non-DRM'ed files would extract but not convert. * OMG support has been tweaked to (hopefully) no-longer barf when converting more than one OMG file. I dont know if this fix works, so let me know! * SonicStage 3.3 has support for transfering tracks to the HIMD device using the new Atrac3+ 352kbps codec. Ive added support for this new codec (listing & extraction) into version 0.52. Version 0.52: http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=3

Takes OMA / OMG files that are playable on your PC, and converts them to WAV / OGG / FLAC or MP3. This includes recodings you made on you HIMD recorder via optical-in and uploaded to your PC via SonicStage. SonicStage will not convert these types of recordings to .WAV for you, but my program will. It also supports copying the tagging from the OMA/OMG into the resultant mp3/flac or ogg files Also you can export a track-listing of a HIMD or NetMD disc for spread-sheet / database use or just to copy, paste and print using Word or notepad or whatever. Also you can control the recording of NetMD tracks via your PC soundcard. Simply select the tracks you wish to record, select the soundcard input and HIMDRenderer will then record the tracks for you. Each track will be recorded to a seperate WAV/MP3/OGG or FLAC file. It also has a built-in bug report system that sends me a log file, so you can tell me if something goes screwy and I can look at the log file to see why its gone screwy Apart from that, not much.

Have you tried the "scan HI-MD" button (bottom left - next to the find buttons) on HIMDRenderer 0.5 This gets the Atrac data from a HI-MD disc, creates an OMA file from that data and then can either copy the OMA to a desired location or convert that OMA into WAV/OGG/MP3/FLAC Its a bit experimental though, although there is no risk of data loss. It will only work for audio tracks that originated from your PC. It wont work for recorded stuff

It works by using DirectShow to "play" the OMA/OMG files directly into a .wav file instead of out via your soundcard (actually, it does both - but thats a technicallity) There is a limitation implemented by sony that "playing" faster than real-time works for only a minute of audio data. So I basically play a block into a .wav file. Stop. Play the next block, and so on. This creates repeated audio on the block borders. These are detected and removed by HIMDRenderer auomagically. Easy really. Thanks for your support Feel free to dontate via paypal

What version?, and if its 0.50 then there is a bug with processing the tag names in OMA files that causes a crash if it encounters an empty Artist, Track name or album title field. Fixed version of 0.50 coming V. soon