RMC 4.1.6.0: Do conversion settings get ignored when the original format matches the conversion format?

[CurtisCee]

When listening to songs on sites such as slacker.com, the songs are streamed in mixed formats, i.e. some stream in .mp3 while others stream in .flv. Of course, my most natural preference is to keep the .mp3 files in that format but to convert any .flv into the .mp3 format. I know the manual workaround is to select any .flv files and convert them on-demand with a right-click--a simple but tedious process. So my question regards the automatic Conversion Settings in the following scenario: If I default Conversion Settings to MP3 High Quality, is RMC 4.1.6.0 intelligent enough to ignore--not convert--any song streamed in its original .mp3 format, and only convert those streamed in the .flv format? Or will it convert anything into .mp3 format regardless if that file is already in the .mp3 format?

[stream-recorder.com]

AFAIK the conversion will be done. Sometimes one needs to convert files using say the same format, but a different bit-rate.

Try to use Audio Extraction conversion presets (MP3 to MP3, AAC to M4A, AAC to M4B). Unlike conversion, you won't lose quality when extracting audio from FLV files. And the extraction might make your feature request unimportant.

[CurtisCee]

Smart workaround. I downloaded Panzera Audio Extractor from CNet's downloads.com which seems to fill in the RMC blanks. But to have RMC enter the "Apple-esque" ease-of-use, full-featured, one-stop shop simplicity world of "It just works," I think we've raised two great either/or suggestions for a future update:

1: A check-box toggle option to the right of the Conversion drop-down menu that allows for "Do not convert if already in original format." This should be fairly straightforward to implement as it's simply telling RMC *not* to do something it already does.

2: A more daunting challenge: Add an audio extraction engine so that one of the "conversion" options in the drop-down menu is for "Extract original audio from FLV". It should be noted that leading and free downloads such as Panzera Audio Extractor are not using anything proprietary; instead, it's simply a graphical front-end for the open source audio conversion libraries, i.e. ffmpeg. So this is definitely a cost-effective and elegant solution that the developers might want to consider integrating in the near future. By combining all of this standalone functionality into one product such as RMC, it'll continue to transform itself into the "Apple" gold standard where no one else can compete with its leading product.

Many thanks for the suggested workaround! :D

[stream-recorder.com]

3 Audio Extraction Presets are available in the RMC since version 4.0.14. They use ffmpeg.
https://forum.applian.com/showthread.php?5784-how-to-extract-audio-losslessly-(without-re-encoding)-using-Replay-Media-Catcher-4&p=20461#post20461

You may find the latest updates at
http://www.applian.com/blog/updates/

[CurtisCee]

Ahhhh. I was confused by what you're saying because the post you linked to seems to indicate that there are presets already setup named "Audio Extraction." This does not appear to be the case as there are no defaults listed in the long drop-down list referencing audio extraction. Is that a developer oversight, or were they removed as defaults in later versions, i.e. I'm using 4.1.6.0 not 4.0.14? I can imagine there are hundreds of people who would take advantage of this awesome feature if it were more widely known or listed explicitly in the list. However, the original poster you linked to does explain in detail how to manually create these Audio Extraction presets. So that should do the trick. I'll report back if it doesn't work. But the developers should add these audio extraction conversion settings to the drop-down list as part of the install by default. If it works, it's an awesome undocumented feature!

[stream-recorder.com]

Ahhhh. I was confused by what you're saying because the post you linked to seems to indicate that there are presets already setup named "Audio Extraction." This does not appear to be the case as there are no defaults listed in the long drop-down list referencing audio extraction. Is that a developer oversight, or were they removed as defaults in later versions, i.e. I'm using 4.1.6.0 not 4.0.14? I can imagine there are hundreds of people who would take advantage of this awesome feature if it were more widely known or listed explicitly in the list. However, the original poster you linked to does explain in detail how to manually create these Audio Extraction presets. So that should do the trick. I'll report back if it doesn't work. But the developers should add these audio extraction conversion settings to the drop-down list as part of the install by default. If it works, it's an awesome undocumented feature!
I don't really know how RMC conversion presets are updated when you install a new version.

It is possible to get the default conversion presets in RMC 4.1.6:
Go to Tools -> Conversion -> Settings -> and click Defaults.

If this doesn't bring the audio extraction presets, then submit a support ticket.

[CurtisCee]

That did the trick. I've never seen these defaults, even with prior updates. It never occurred to me to use the Defaults button, because I had no idea that any of these presets were ever missing in the past. But now there are dozens I've never seen before, including the three Audio Extraction presets. If anyone reads this, you may want to click the defaults button as listed above whether you have the audio extraction presets, as you may be missing other very useful presets that you're unaware. Thanks!

[stream-recorder.com]

The problem is that some users prefer to have few options among the conversion profiles (in RMC as well as in Replay Converter), so they delete the profiles that are not needed. That is why the conversion profiles can't be updated automatically when upgrading.

[Jeff Lenney]

That did the trick. I've never seen these defaults, even with prior updates. It never occurred to me to use the Defaults button, because I had no idea that any of these presets were ever missing in the past. But now there are dozens I've never seen before, including the three Audio Extraction presets. If anyone reads this, you may want to click the defaults button as listed above whether you have the audio extraction presets, as you may be missing other very useful presets that you're unaware. Thanks!

Hi Curtis

Thanks for the feedback and we're glad you got it working. :-)