Music Media Helper (Tools for Multichannel Audio & Music Videos)

[HomerJAU]

@boondocks Now fixed. I PM'ed you a link to download an updated exe file. I'll officially release this next week.

The issue was that MMH uses the Album Name tag to create the cue file name and because the album has a backslash character (separating the two albums in the Dutton disc) which is an illegal character for file names. This character is now removed, so cue is saved correctly.

 

[mandrix]

She's rocking right through those long filenames now. Thanks.
As I said before, not a big deal, but if the program could trim unwanted leading characters out of the cue file names, specifically "-" that would be super. But your program is such a time saver for me already that manually deleting a character or two certainly isn't too much to ask.
Thanks again, Homer.

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.0.14 Released:

Version 4.0.14 (December 12 2020)
-------------
Fixes:
Rename and Tag Tool: Fixed CUE file creation where Album Name has an illegal Slash character (in filename)

Changes:
Update Penteo Files Tool: The tool now works with any stereo input file that can be tagged (previously only WAV input)
Update Penteo Files Tool: The tool now works with any MCH output file that can be tagged (previously only FLAC output)
Updated PDF docs

 

[paligap]

In the documentation:
Splitting a Concert Video file:
In this scenario we will assume you already have a Concert MKV containing the entire concert in a single MKV file.

What happens if ripping the concert results in more than one MKV file? I used MakeMKV on the HD-DVD of Eagles Farewell I Tour Live from Melbourne, and this is what I got:

The concert is spread across these 3 files. Do I need to merge them somehow before splitting, renaming, etc.?

 

[HomerJAU]

Assuming all three contain chapters with songs from the concert then I would split each one individually and rename.

It may be easier while you are working on them to place the original ripped MKV files in separate folders to split and rename then move all the split chapter mkvs into a single final concert folder at end of process.

I have some multidisc concerts where I prefix the track number with a disc number:

1.01. First Song from First Disc.mkv
1.02. Second Song from first...

2.01. First Song from Scond Disc.mkv
2.02. Etc

EDIT: There’s a Disc Number prefix option you can youse to auto prefix the chapter numbers in the Split and Rename tool for this

 

[paligap]

I've used MMH to split and rename concert MKV files before, but I don't remember how to tell beforehand whether the files contain chapters with songs. I think I just assumed they did, and it worked. These files play in the lame apps I have on my PC, but there are no "chapter" buttons on those apps.

It's getting late over here, but I'll try what you suggested tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[HomerJAU]

A great little utility that gives all sorts of useful data on video (incl. chapters) and audio codecs in any file is MediaInfo.

Its free and runs on just about every platform. If you are doing conversions and ripping discs I recommend downloading and installing:

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download

 

[HomerJAU]

but I don't remember how to tell beforehand whether the files contain chapters with songs.

VLC player (free) can play MKV files on Windows and shows any chapters at the bottom of the video screen in a small toolbar when you hover your mouse over the video playing. You can select any point on the chapter/timeline toolbar to jump to that time. This is also useful to see and play the original MKV you rip to verify its contents. Sometimes it may be non musical, an interview or similar content. You may wish to discard or add to your concert at the end of the actual music content.

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

 

[paligap]

A great little utility that gives all sorts of useful data on video (incl. chapters) and audio codecs in any file is MediaInfo.

Its free and runs on just about every platform. If you are doing conversions and ripping discs I recommend downloading and installing:

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download

Ah, yes, I use that utility often on my audio files. This is what I got when I ran one of the Eagles MKV files:

When I ran the Split MKV file in MMH, I got this error:

So apparently, there aren't chapters in those files. Do these files have to be split and renamed to play them in Kodi? If so, I guess I'll just have to play them through my Oppo or another device.

 

[paligap]

Okay, so I found out that when I clicked on OK on the error message, MMH did, in fact, split the MKV file into chapters, although there were a few instances where the chapter names were wrong and one where the chapter changed about a minute before the song was over. I can deal with the renaming and then putting all the separated song MKV files and song NFO files back into one folder, but what do I do about the "concert" NFO files created in the separate folders? Is there a need or a way to create a new one that contains all the songs?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Okay, so I found out that when I clicked on OK on the error message, MMH did, in fact, split the MKV file into chapters, although there were a few instances where the chapter names were wrong and one where the chapter changed about a minute before the song was over. I can deal with the renaming and then putting all the separated song MKV files and song NFO files back into one folder, but what do I do about the "concert" NFO files created in the separate folders? Is there a need or a way to create a new one that contains all the songs?

I use MMH myself, and I have gotten that same error many times. I just disregard it. I'm not even sure what it means.

I have to insert the chapter names and re-name in MMH. I didn't even know it could import names directly.

You can create a new concert NFO just by re-running MMH. It will also re-create and overwrite all of the chapter NFOs. But I don't think the concert NFO is required after the chapter NFO's are complete. I believe MMH uses the concert NFO to create the chapter NFOs. Im sure Homer will provide additional comments if this is wrong.

With respect to the incorrect chapter end time, MMH uses the chapter times imbedded in the MKV. If you play the MKV file and skip through chapters, you will likely see they are identical. I also believe when it happens (and it has only happened a couple of times to me), it goes back to the original disc authoring being incorrect.

 

[paligap]

I use MMH quite a bit, but mostly for audio files. I've used it on a few concert and video files, and I've never encountered these problems. I found more time/chapter/title problems in my last MKV file (the last chapter is 40 minutes long and contains 6 songs). I think I might be able to use the Create/Edit Chapters in MKV function, but it will take some figuring out on my part..

 

[HomerJAU]

but what do I do about the "concert" NFO files created in the separate folders?

Kodi reads the NFO files and needs one per Music Video MKV file, so you need to copy both renamed MKV file and its matching NFO file for every MKV. The NFO allows Kodi to identify each video (artist, song name and album/concert name) and load them into its music video library.

Not sure what the MMH issue is. I’ve not seen that error in the Split and Rename tool.

Does MMH pop up a list of audio codecs to select? Are you initially selecting just one MKV file to split? The MVV came from an HD-DVD so maybe there‘s something different in the MKV. I can check it out and try to fix the problem. Is it possible to upload just a small sample to test?

 

[paligap]

Kodi reads the NFO files and needs one per Music Video MKV file, so you need to copy both renamed MKV file and its matching NFO file for every MKV. The NFO allows Kodi to identify each video (artist, song name and album/concert name) and load them into its music video library.

Not sure what the MMH issue is. I’ve not seen that error in the Split and Rename tool.

Does MMH pop up a list of audio codecs to select? Are you initially selecting just one MKV file to split? The MVV came from an HD-DVD so maybe there‘s something different in the MKV. I can check it out and try to fix the problem. Is it possible to upload just a small sample to test?

I put the 3 files into 3 separate folders and used MMH to split, rename and create NFO files for each. I see how each song gets its own NFO file, but MMH also created one in each folder called "Concert.nfo". I was wondering if, when I move all the MKV and NFO files back into one folder, I need to create another Concert.nfo that contains info for all the songs.

The error message that I encountered was more message than error. I clicked on OK, and MMH did its thing.

MMH did not pop up a list of audio codecs to select, but maybe that's because I selected only DTS HDMA in MakeMKV. Yes, I selected only one MKV file to split each time, and it worked. My problem now is that some of the titles/times/chapters are off, so I think I'll have to use the Create/Edit Chapters in MKV function and then somehow re-create the NFO files. Is there a way to do so once I get everything set up in one folder?

 

[HomerJAU]

The Concert.nfo file is not used by Kodi. its only used to store basic concert metadata if you ever recreate the song nfo files using MMH in future. You should just copy one to you final folder.

BTW: You can edit or view any NFO in Notepad. E.g. change a song title or track number. This is what’s used in the Kodi library.

MMH only asks to select a codec if there’s more than one audio stream in the source MKV. So it’s running as designed if you only selected the DTS-HDMA stream in your MakeMKV rip. I was trying to think where the error message comes from. You shouldn’t get that error.

If you change the chapter times in the original source MKVs just re-split using MMH. The nfo files do not contain chapter info just metadata about each split file that you want in Kodi. Chapter times are used to locate the output split start/end only.

 

[paligap]

Thanks so much for your help. I'm not a huge Eagles fan, but they showed this concert during the holidays here, and my wife and I enjoyed it, even though it was broadcast in Dullby Digital. I found out there is a blu-ray, but some say the HD-DVD is slightly better audio-wise. I'm one of those who bought an HD-DVD player back in the day, and I've since ripped my HD-DVD collection to a hard drive. And hey, this concert was filmed in your hometown, mate.

 

[himey]

Thanks so much for your help. I'm not a huge Eagles fan, but they showed this concert during the holidays here, and my wife and I enjoyed it, even though it was broadcast in Dullby Digital. I found out there is a blu-ray, but some say the HD-DVD is slightly better audio-wise. I'm one of those who bought an HD-DVD player back in the day, and I've since ripped my HD-DVD collection to a hard drive. And hey, this concert was filmed in your hometown, mate.

Were you able to rip every HD DVD? Nearly all my movies ripped fine but none of my concert discs would rip including the Eagles. I used the XBOX HD DVD drive and HD DVD BLU RAY Extractor.

 

[HomerJAU]

My understanding is HD-DVD can be ripped with MakeMKV using any BD drive.

 

[paligap]

Were you able to rip every HD DVD? Nearly all my movies ripped fine but none of my concert discs would rip including the Eagles. I used the XBOX HD DVD drive and HD DVD BLU RAY Extractor.

I was. I also used an XBOX HD DVD drive, but I used Make MKV. I hadn't used the drive in a few years, and when I powered it up last night to rip this concert, it started smoking a little and emitting a foul odor! It soon passed and worked anyway.

 

[paligap]

My understanding is HD-DVD can be ripped with MakeMKV using any BD drive.

Good to know. I'll try that if there is a next time.