Titles that contain ASCII - extened chars do not play in XXHightEnd

[jarek]

Dear Peter,

I know this topic was allready rised by me some time ago, and was not solved, but since then I installed 4 XXHighEnd on 4 different computers using clear system installation with default options. None other software was installed on that computers that could interfere with XXHighEnd.

I installed XXHighEnd twice on Vista and twice on Windows 7. The only things that are common to all the 4 installations are:
- polish version of systems
- Ultimate version of Windows (Vista and 7).

Summing things up, XXHighEnd cannot play any track that contains any ASCI-extended characters (code > 128) on polish Ultimate Version (Vista or 7).
The following 5 error screens are displayed by XXHighEnd.

The most common problem, is that diring ripping of CD, question mark character is converted to inverted question mark (code 168), which makes problem with XXHighEnd. Question mark is quite common in track titles.

Can you help me ?
Best regards

Jarek

[PeterSt]

Hi there Jarek,

I am sorry for your problems, but as you will have seen you are still the only one reporting this. But ...

I am not sure this was brought up before, but can it be so that you have problems with this : How to restore Short Dos 8.3 names ?

It would be the most logical explanation to me at this time. So, if you have shut this off, there is no way to deal with names that exclude the dependency of universal names ... anyway not for me.

Can that be it ?
(and excuse me if this has been brought up before; I just don't know anymore).

Peter

[Telstar]

Hi there Jarek,

I am sorry for your problems, but as you will have seen you are still the only one reporting this. But ...

Nope, it happened just yesterday to me as well. Was going to post when i saw this.
Problem solved removing points and commas in the filenames and folder name.

[jarek]

Hi Peter,

this is not DOS 8.3 names problem, I alrady check it.
I see I am not the only one here.

The installation of Windows was clear and default.
I can get rid of those arrors by removing ASCII extended chars from the track name, but this is partial solution.
Let me know if something can be done here.

Jarek

[jarek]

Hi Telstar,

can you please check if adding the ¿ character to the end of the track name, reload playlist and check it the track with modified name playes ?

[PeterSt]

Jarek, Telstar is talking about another problem. Sorry. You *are* the only one. Well, as I have heard ... so far !

And remember (about your other thread (well deserved btw)) I tried your characters (on a dutch system), and it just works.
But I sure hope the problem will be solved soon !!

Peter

[jarek]

Dear Peter,

I tried to diagnose flac.exe in XXHIghEnd directory.
Created a track named hey¿.flac in this directory.
In dos box, tried to copy hey¿.flac name , but received hey?.flac instead, which is different name !
Then renamed hey¿.flac to heyè.flac and again, received heyc.flac.
Looks like every ASCII extended character is converted in DOS box to lower ASCII.
I tested this behavior on english version of Windows 2003 Server, and the same, ASCII extened are replaced.
Maybe they are replaced also when you run FLAC.EXE from within your code ?
Can we test it ?

Best regards
Jarek

[PeterSt]

Hey Jarek,

The point is, I don't think these characters sould be subject (and fed to) FLAC.exe in the first place. At this moment I am not sure though. Would you care to again post an XX log file of such a situation which won't play ?

Thanks !
Peter

[jarek]

Yes, no problem. File attached.
I checked that every extended ASCII is converted in log file to question mark, so you cannot find problems in log file.
After log was created, I tied a lot of other tracks, in each case ASCII extended chars were converted to "?".

[PeterSt]

I wonder whether I ever before noticed this :

FLAC decoding *ERROR* before user message for processor 1 Output Name ------- "UnicodeTrack0001.wav"

but it indeed shows what I told longer ago ... somehow "your" FLAC can't cope with this.

I don't know by heart at this moment what the name of that track actually is, but does it contain such strange charachters ?? I don't think so.
I know we did this before, but maybe you can copy the actual title to me, so I can replace that with my version and again see what happens ...

In the mean time, a Dos box as a kind of character set. It is long ago for me, but if you can find it and change it (we used to do this in config.sys IIRC -> now in the config.nt of the Dos box ! (or "console" as how it's called) ... maybe that changes things for you.

We *will* find it !

[jarek]

Dear Peter,

in order to insert ASCII extended char into CMD screen, I switched font in CMD window propertis do True Type. It worked. See attached screenshot. FLAC.EXE reported an error, converting ¿ to ?.  Try to reporoduce this.

Jarek

[PeterSt]

Ok, let's take this as an example ... I must understand some things ...

Where does this question mark come from in the first place ? I mean, "Hey you" doesn't have any, nor other strange characters. As "Vera" does not.
Or is this you just testing with that ? If so, I need that character from you ... (sorry if I didn't get it in the first place !)


And btw, I don't think an upside down question mark is a polish character either (or ?).

[PeterSt]

Then renamed hey¿.flac to heyè.flac and again, received heyc.flac.

Ok, I got that (by) now.

The point is (no, must be) you are "entering" those characters the wrong way. So now my question is : supposed you rip such a track by EAC and let EAC create the track names. What happens ?


And FYI : Any editor or anything will work "in" a code page. In either case you will see the correct character because you are just typing it, but under the hood the code page translates it to, well, that "code".

[jarek]

Peter,

inverted question mark commes from dbPoweramp CD Ripping software; when this software finds ? conmverts it to inverted questionmark, because ? is forbidden in a file system.

The question mark is for example in Pink Floyd, The Wall, Is There Anybody Out There ?. I took it from there. When somebody has 2000 CDs, surely there is at least 100 question marks in them. This is really quite common. Why did you find it in Hey You track ?
Because for testing reason (Hey You is shorter for me to type).

The same other characters. They come from Norwegian CDs, I have a lot of them, since the music is good.
So what can be done to solve this issue ?

Jarek

[PeterSt]

Dear Jarek,

The point is, I don't think these characters sould be subject (and fed to) FLAC.exe in the first place. At this moment I am not sure though.

Ok, I guess I am just feeding that to the FLAC conversion, instead of the Dos 8.3 Short Names. So, if all is right that should solve it for you. But ...

I can't oversee what more is needed to really let it work. So, this may go from the one hurdle to the other.
Keep in mind : it is your system doing this to you. Something just ain't right.

You are talking about a kind of conversion from extended ASCII to normal, but this is not the case. Your system(s) apply some conversion which they shouldn't.
But let's see if feeding FLAC with 8.3 Names help.

Peter

[PeterSt]

Dear Jarek,

So, this may go from the one hurdle to the other.

... which it will ...

I applied what I intended in the below zip (containing XXHghEnd.exe only, to paste over your 0.9-y8-c install !). So, this will input Dos 8.3 Short Names to FLAC.exe. But :

I already saw that this isn't enough. Think of all wild combinations like an HDCD coming from a FLAC that again needing the 8.3 input, or MP3's by itself, AI encoding and all "chains" of preprocessing which by now have their own life (for input and output) while everything is full of matches (was this file already created ?) while now those matches have to anticipate upon the Short Names and a 100 things possibly going wrong. Caches won't work anymore etc. etc., and I am *not* going to change all this.

So ... You may try the below version to see if it helps in the first place, and notice this works with FLACs only. FYI : This is about changing the input to the FLAC's, so this will always work. Don't ask me what happens with the output, which in circumstances are normal file names (and not UnicodeTrack0001.wav as you may have seen), and now it *there* going wrong (maybe).

If it helps (what I assume) we can always see further, but I hope you will forgive me at not spending ages at working this all out, in the mean time creating a buggy environment again, while what we have now is the build up of all the relative work to, well, let it work.

Also, if we really can't find what causes this, it may be an idea to just build up an english version. *If* that is going to help you at all, because you may use the same whatever settings as you do with your polish versions, and end up with the same problem. Well, good to know by itself I guess.

In the mean time, you may look for config.nt files in your system32 folder or the root folder (notice that this will be hidden files), and see if there's a country= line in there, or even a codepage line (which may be a parameter to the country= line, I'm not sure). If you find those, remove them ! (but keep a copy).

That's it for now ...
Peter


PS: But let me know whether the zip helps you.

[PeterSt]

?

[jarek]

Peter,

Your solution version D works, at least on the tracks that did not play on C version!

Below is related to standard vesion C.
============================
Just installed two NEW music servers with Windows 7 Home Premium ENGLISH 32bit on them, to avoid problems with some ASCII extended characters and error during playback on XXHighEnd ver.C. You can imagine that :

The problem is not system dependent (any windows: vista, 7, 32 or 64 bit) and not language dependent (english or polish is the same). I have the same problems on every computer I make. Not all ASCII extended characters are problematic. Some are not.

I installed all systems with default options, and installed XXHighEnd as should be (not for the first time . Still the same errors on "C" version.

Checked config.sys in root and config.nt and they do nto contain any lines you suspected.
Thank you.

Jarek

[PeterSt]

Man, what *are* you doing ???

(just a first response, and you know I predicted it ... I will think further !!)

[jarek]

I have some tracks that you could try and they do not play on C version, but they are greater than 30Megs. Cannot attach them. Maybe you use some FTP ?

[PeterSt]

Nah, never mind, they will work anyway here. But if you find a smaller one, I will try.
Or FileMail it ?

So ... You may try the below version to see if it helps in the first place, and notice this works with FLACs only. FYI : This is about changing the input to the FLAC's, so this will always work. Don't ask me what happens with the output, which in circumstances are normal file names (and not UnicodeTrack0001.wav as you may have seen), and now it *there* going wrong (maybe).

While the "Don't ask me what happens with the output" remains, I recall that I kind of overruled this with my mentioning that I would tweak it on the inputs only, which makes it independend from combinations (never mind if you don't understand this). But somehow this post is missing ?!
Thus IOW, I think I can solve it anyway, per your positive reply on the 09.y8-d version. Maybe I don't do it standardly, but only when you (or anyone for that matter) has a complaint. So, per current status :

Did you find any other problems regarding this with the 0.9y8-d version yet ?
If not, but you do later, let me know where (as implied earlier, could be any wild combination). In that case, post your XX log file of such a situation.
Also notice that I don't think you will find other combinations, because it seems to be FLAC.exe impeeded.

By the way ...
It wouldn't be so this is coming from cue sheets ? I think it theoretically can ... Thus, when you'd have cue sheets for your problematic files, I think I have set it up so that the track names in there prevail (somehow), and the codes (actually code pages) they were created with (a .txt file) will remain ... no matter what OS-language you use. I think !!

Peter

[jarek]

Dear Peter,

I did not find any problem with D version, but I did not have much time....
Please download the track that does not play in C version. The link is valid for 7 days.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b16266h/n/track_-_jarek.zip

Best regards
Jarek

[PeterSt]

Hi Jarek,

Don't eat your tie, but it just plays. And all characters look good to me. Nice HDCD track too.
Btw I have quite some more albums from him. With quite some more of those characters.

What I did in this case (literally) :

Put the track in a G:\Downloads\Jarek\ folder.
Drag the track from Exploter onto the Playlist Area in XXHighEnd.
Click Play (Attended).

I Real-ly-don't-know.

[jarek]

Peter,

if you want I can send a test environmet (PC computer) with all the problems persisting and some tracks. Maybe you want this ?
This will be clear PC with sound card. English version of Win7. That is all.

If it only helps

Jarek

[PeterSt]

Hey Jarek,

Great that you offer this, but as we know the solution is already there. Of course at least I (but I think you the same) are completely puzzled about what's actually going on, so that could be reason enough to do it. But let's say we just solved it, and go on with a next thing.

Btw, notice that I sent you a PM in the forum, because all emails to you bounce.

Best regards and thanks for your efforts and help,
Peter

[PeterSt]

Dear Jarek - I most probably 100% sure around definitely have found the cause - and solution to this stupid thing.
Actually it comes from here : Tracks with strange letters where Flecko provided me with an example in Greek characters which indeed didn't work, BUT with the more or less coincidence that this was MP3 where I never built in your "solution" (because that was FLAC) and at testing it down to the bone I could find another angle of letting MP3 go wrong ... and once that happened I could easily mimic that for FLAC. Aha ...

It very much depends on settings and how you play and more and blahblah, but what it comes down to is that there are situations that not only the *input* to the FLAC conversion must be in normal characters, but also the *output* (because situations exist that the output name is the same as the polish/greek/etc. input name). So ... ... solved for the next version (probably 0.9z-3a).

I must say though, that it seems to me there is more to it (but it still should be solved). I mean, if I look at the Greek example, to me this looks like double byte characters like they exist for Chinese, Korean, Russian etc. - I think I talked about that earlier. Now, maybe (just maybe) it exists that you work with such a double byte "system" while I certainly do not; you could already have it / need it because of Russian you guys tend to learn and speak.

Peter

[JohanZ]

the same as the polish/greek/etc. input name). So ...  ... solved for the next version (probably 0.9z-3a).

Does it solve also the error "Music file does not exist" for this wav file? When do You release this version?

[PeterSt]

I am not sure ... maybe not (it doesn't look familiar to me).

Can you send me this track (the track is sufficient) without zippiong or FLAcing ot anything plus tell me how exactly this track will "flow" through everything. So :

- File Type (I will see that of course);
- Copy to XX Drive Y/N;
- Attended/Unattended;
- Do no start at all Y/N;
- Start during conversion Y/N;

Thanks Johan,
Peter


0.9z-4 is due for today. Otherwise hopefully  tomorrow.

[JohanZ]

So :

- File Type (I will see that of course); Wav
- Copy to XX Drive Y/N; Y
- Attended/Unattended; does not make any differance (I always play unattended)
- Do no start at all Y/N; N
- Start during conversion Y/N; N
- Send me this track.....; Later

I have test 09z-3 and 09z-2 in RAMDISK both they give the same message. When I start 09z-3 outside RAMDISK it plays this track!!?!!!!

[PeterSt]

A track just passed by here containing such characters (upside down question mark at position 4). I play from RAMDisk. WAV.

Is this solved for you ?