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

[HomerJAU]

New MMH 9 Beta 3 update is now available (bug fixes) (no version number change) download form link below:

Download full installer here - you won't get an auto update notification as version number has not been changed
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/mmh9/beta/MMHInstaller.msi

Change log since last update to beta 3:
MMH 9 beta 3 had a bug in Tag Editor (was not updating 'Disc Count' column in Grids - fixed
Updated MKVToolnix to v90.0 (Important TrueHD Atmos fix resulting in improved syncing for some files)
Added Duration column as a visible column for Extract Audio from MKV tool.

THX
Garry

 

[HomerJAU]

One more item today: CUE FILES FOR KODI

I had a user reported MMH was creating wrong CUE file times (comparing MMH UI to CUE file times and he was fixing by editing the cue file, so a reminder to all:

Prepare for a long read:

CUE file times must be it the format: Minutes:Seconds:Frames to comply with the CUE spec. Example: 03:05:45

Kodi actually converts the 'Frames' to microseconds (as I found out a year or so back) thanks to a QQ member here.

There are 75 frames per second, so frames should never be > 75 for Kodi as it blindly converts that number to microseconds. If that number is > 75 you add to the Seconds value in Kodi.

Example: If you create a CUE file for 3 minute 5 seconds and 150 frames 03:05:150

Kodi converts to this: 03:07.0000000 for its player, it 'incorrectly' converts 150 frames to 2 seconds (technically correct since the spec says 75 frame per sec and you entered 150 (150/75 = 2 secs) Now your startime when playing your edited CUE is 2 seconds different to its authored start time.

DO NOT ENTER CREATE OR EDIT CUE FILES to wrongly enter milliseconds or microseconds for Kodi. It must be 2 digits (Frames)

MMH and Matroska uses microseconds internally and MMH converts to frames on export to a CUE, importing from a CUE MMH converts frames to microseconds


SIDE NOTE: Unfortunately this is not a lossless conversion as 1/75 is this recurring infinite number: 0.0133333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Since Atmos is at 48000Hz each 'frame' is every 0.02083333333333333333333333333333333 milliseconds so all this means CUES and high res audio are not perfect matches

Its *VERY* close to perfect but its not (like DSF to PCM conversions, so close but not perfect, inaudible IMO)

With Kodi 21.2 you should be be dropping CUEs and tagging and scanning into the Kodi library/database without a cue!! Then Kodi has the exact track Start Time as it was authored in the BDA (but of course, those chapters aren't always correct either LOL).

Anyway end of long read (if you made it here)

 

[leefarber]

Thanks Garry. In the Extract MKV function, after getting tags from MusicBrainz, when you click “Copy Track Titles To Edit” it’s still showing the track title, then a line, then the artist name (i.e “Story Never Told|Opeth”) rather than just the track title (as @marpow posted earlier). This doesn’t happen in MMH8. Strange!

Also, I still can’t get MMH9 to pull my preferences from MMH8 and I’ve followed your instructions to the letter. So frustrating!

 

[marpow]

Thank you Garry for update, I will check out on next rip, all caught up for now.

 

[HomerJAU]

then the artist name (i.e “Story Never Told|Opeth”) rather than just the track title

But if you save that does it update the track title correctly. MMH should split that text into two: The track titles and the track Artist with the vertical bar removed. This was an attempt to allow users to edit both title and track artist(s), when the track has multiple artist like: Elton John with Kikki Dee (Kodi then knows the track has two artist and displays info fan art for both artists when track is playing.

Does it do that! Forget about how the edit text is formatted, does it split and save the data back to the grid as I described?

 

[leefarber]

Oh wow! Sorry, I thought it was a glitch and never tried to add the tags without removing the line and the artist name. I’ll give it a go!

 

[HomerJAU]

The Artist name is only supposed to appear in the edit dialog if there is a track on the album with 2 or more artists

 

[leefarber]

It’s appeared consistently for every album I’ve looked up from MusicBrainz. I don’t think I’ve ripped a title with more than one artist. It always comes up looking like @marpow’s earlier screenshot (in that example it’s a title by Simple Minds with no other credited artist).

 

[HomerJAU]

And that's with today's build? I randomly tried one album and all looked normal.

 

[Sylfest]

Hello Garry.
MMH Version 9.0.0 Beta 3
Using the chapter editor. It would be great to be able to change the chapter order, i.e move chapters up and down the list.

For example: I wan't to edit the first chapter "songs" to several chapters and name them with the actual song titles.
This is ofcourse very easy fix for me right now. Maybe it would be useful to others to. Regardless, this is ofcourse very low priority with your time

My screenshots still looks wierd, but MMH looks perfectly fine on my monitor.
THX

 

[marpow]

Good morning Garry, I know your really busy with the KODI/NUC project but I thought I'd give some feedback on Beta 9.
I just ripped 5 Blu Rays via MKV and then opened MMH for tagging, all was good except the track song tagging, still getting the jumbled look with track name and artist all mixed together..
The track time is back working so that is good.
I am just copying and pasting track names from Discogs, fast and easy, but of course your old way was the fastest/easiest.

 

[alek2702]

Thanks for the update!

Seems like it still leaves the eac3 and WAV files in the C: drive Temp folder after an Atmos decode.
Is there a setting somewhere for clearing that automatically?

 

[HomerJAU]

Thanks for the update!

Seems like it still leaves the eac3 and WAV files in the C: drive Temp folder after an Atmos decode.
Is there a setting somewhere for clearing that automatically?

I'll take a look soon.

I'm back on MMH9 now ' the calm before the storm' with the 'QQ Special Edition Media Player' roll-out

 

[HomerJAU]

I am just copying and pasting track names from Discogs, fast and easy, but of course your old way was the fastest/easiest.

I don't think you need to do that Mark. Don't use 'Copy Track Title to Edit'

I will sort out soon.

 

[HomerJAU]

MMH 9 Beta 4 now uploaded:

Kodi Users:
The 'Chapter Editor' tool in Beta 4 now fully supports creating/saving MKA music tags compatible with upcoming Kodi 22 release later this year (in Kodi 22 alpha nightly builds now). NO MORE CUE FILES!

Version 9.0.0 beta 4 (February 24 2025) - Changelog from current MMH 8 release:
-------------
New:
MMH updated to .NET 9 Desktop runtime including 3rd Party .NET libraries (faster processing)
Media File Manager tool: Added support new Reporting option that includes cover art for Music, Music Videos/Concerts, Movies, TV series and - new
Media File Manager tool: Now reads additional metadata from Kodi nfo files for Movies & TV Series (adds: Genre, Plot, Cast, Director, IMDB Rating etc)
Channel Volume tool: Added support for viewing & editing wavpack (.wv) file channel volumes (up to 16 channels supported)
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags MKA files with MusicBrainz & other tags compatible with Kodi's recent releases supporting for MKA music tags (no need for a CUE file)
Chapter Editor tool: Now supports reading, editing and saving Matroska (MKA & MKV) music tags
Batch Audio tools: Getting/Creating DR readings - Added support for wavpack (.wv) files
Remix Channel layout tool: Added new option to Remix Multichannel to Stereo (experimental - Remixes 7.1, 5.1, 5.0 and Quad to stereo (resampling option included)
Atmos Helper Encoder: New Encoder Queue implemented, allowing users to define new Encode Options and add to existing queued encodes
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now supports encoding ADM BWF files
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added new option to Decoder: 'Auto add Decoded WAV files to the Encoder dialog' - allows for automatic Decode then Re-encode
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added a progress bar for file decode progress, replacing the window showing progress in previous versions
Tagging from Musicbrainz: Added new 'Format' dropdown to filter releases by 'Blu-ray', 'DVD', 'SACD' or 'DualDisc'. The 'All' applies no filter (link MMH 8 & earlier)
MMH Tag Editor control: Now dynamically updates any manual data entry for each tag directly to the selected file row(s) in real time. Instant updates.
MMH Tag Editor control: Added support for Musicbrainz tag editing/viewing. (previously MB tags were only visible in the grid (those columns hidden by default)
New MMH Auto Update features:
- Added new 'Opt in to Beta Release notifications' option in Application Preferences - users will get in app notifications of new Beta releases
- Added new light weight update system to quickly download only changed files and auto-unzip into user's MMH Program Files folder (no full MSI installer)

Changes:
MMH 9 settings are no longer stored in Windows Isolated Storage. Now in user's '..\AppData\Roaming\Music Media Helper' folder
MMH 9 copies MMH8 settings on first run (keeps user's MMH 8 settings)
Added support for getting year from file and folder names with square brackets '[1970]' - previously only '(xxxx)' was supported
Media File Manager tool: Now attempts to get music data from untagged files (based on file and folder naming)
When MMH creates a Dynamic Range file it no longer changes the album folder's Last Modified timestamp
Batch Audio tools: When running option 'Check Cover Art...' a new sub-option added to extract embedded art to 'folder.jpg' if art file does not exist
Chapter Editor tool: Dialog layout changed for clarification on command functionality. Add new 'Edit/View Tags' command
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags files on 'Save' if user has used 'Get Tracks from Musicbrainz' option (previously tags only saved if 'Save CUE' was used
Extract Audio from MKV tool: When user loads a file from 'Open MKV/MKA/M4A' button before the conversion starts a new dialog pops to Confirm output type
Tagging from Musicbrainz: If an album has tracks with different multiple artists, MMH no longer prefixes the track title with Artist name (only the track's artist is updated)
Tagging from tools with grid view: Reduce space to display many tags; Track & TrackCount now displayed as combined in single 'Track' column (e.g. 1/10, 2/10 etc). Same for Disc fields
Atmos Helper Encoder: Added support for 'Optimised Bit Rate' encoder option for TrueHD Atmos encodes (new toggle switch added to Encoder dialog)
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now deletes all temporary files after Encode

MMH Application Preferences: Added new file naming separator option of space ' ' between track number and song name (example use gives: '01 Track Name.flac' formatted file names)
Channel Volume tool: Peaks > 0 are now highlighted. Double-clicking on a Channel gain value resets to 0.0, Double-clicking on file's 'Gain (db) label resets all channel gain to 0.0
Multiple tools: MMH file conversions: When copying existing source file tags, additional tags are now supported: All Musicbrainz tags & tagged album covers

Updated 3rd party UI controls to latest 24.2.5
Updated MKVToolnix to 90.0
Updated PDF docs

Fixes:
Chapter Editor tool: Failed to load Matroska chapters if a chapter has more than 3 tags - fixed
Chapter Editor tool: Now always saves chapter end times - fixed (better compatibility with some apps)
Channel Layout Remix tool: User Defined Channel mappings fails to create correct ffmpeg filter string if user's Locale has comma as decimal point - fixed
Removed last few stray NET 4.8 Framework Controls, replaced by DevExpress UI (.NET 9)
Tag & Rename tool: Added missing .wv extension as a supported file
A bug in TagEditor 'DiscSubtitle' tag: The tag value was not read or saved - fixed (this goes back to MMHH 5! - an issue in the tag library)

Split & Join Audio tool: Merging could fail if Title had any illegal file name characters - fixed
MMH 9 beta 3 had a bug in TagEditor (was not updated 'Disc Count' column in Grids - fixed


NOTE: MMH 9 uses the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64). Please download and install this first:
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/...u/runtime-desktop-9.0.2-windows-x64-installer

MMH 9 beta 4 installer:
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/mmh9/beta/MMHInstaller.msi

Please provide feedback on an problems and with suggestions.

MMH 9 official release is still a couple weeks away at the earliest, so plenty of time to have your say and report any issues.
As many of you know, I'm deeply involved in delivery our 'QQ Special Edition Media Players' to the > 50 QQ members that placed orders.

 

[HomerJAU]

Good morning Garry, I know your really busy with the KODI/NUC project but I thought I'd give some feedback on Beta 9.
I just ripped 5 Blu Rays via MKV and then opened MMH for tagging, all was good except the track song tagging, still getting the jumbled look with track name and artist all mixed together..
The track time is back working so that is good.
I am just copying and pasting track names from Discogs, fast and easy, but of course your old way was the fastest/easiest.

I changed the track edit dialog in Beta 4, it was just the track name formatting that looked bad in beta 3, resizing the dialog displayed the track name and artist correctly. It didn't effect the tags at all.

Beta 4 now only shows the track artist name if there are multiple track artists for the album.

 

[HomerJAU]

IMPORTANT:
I just found a bug in the Beta 4 Chapter Editor - if you want correct MKA tagging download this update (same version no,. same link as above). This is only if you downloaded the original beta 4 above earlier today)

MMH 9 beta 4 (update) installer:
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/mmh9/beta/MMHInstaller.msi

 

[AudiophileStyle]

Hi @HomerJAU I have some 3 channel albums that exctract from DVD Audio discs as only 3 channels, not 3 channels in a larger 5 or 6 channel container. I'd like to remix these into 5 channel containers, but I don't see a 3 channel option. Is it possible to add this or is there an existing way to do this?

 

[HomerJAU]

I could add a new option in the Channel Remix tool to add 2 silent channels. Its pretty straight forward.

What are the channel definitions? (Channel layout): L, R, C etc. Can you define them in order please?

 

[AudiophileStyle]

I could add a new option in the Channel Remix tool to add 2 silent channels. Its pretty straight forward.

What are the channel definitions? (Channel layout): L, R, C etc. Can you define them in order please?

Yes, the channels are 1 = L, 2 = R, 3 = C