Mp4's

[Maccamusic]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new user of OTsAV and still getting used to using it. I have 2 questions:

1) Does it support Mp4's? (I can't seem to convert them from my iTunes folder? when using the batch file convert)?

2), Is there any benefit (reduced file size?) of copying CD's as whole albums rather than separate song files?

Any help or assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Maccamusic

[Duffie]

1) Does it support Mp4's? (I can't seem to convert them from my iTunes folder? when using the batch file convert)?

No support of mp4. Maybe in the future.

[Darryl]

Here's my tuppence worth:

1. The OtsAV documentation shows the file format supported - mp4 video can be converted to MPEG2 if it is DRM free (I use TMPGEnc for this purpose personally).  See http://docs.otslabs.com/OtsStudio/help/converting_your_music/supported_media_types.htm for more details.

2. There's very little reduction in file size - if the album contains songs from a singe artist, then the storage for the artist name is reduced (it references the default artist chunk rather than storing multiple times).  That's about the only example I can think of.  There are other benefits of having multiple items in an Ots Album file - e.g. if you want a radio edit (the OtsStudio example uses Stairway to Heaven) where you don't want to play the long intro or outro, you can create a chunk reference to the audio data rather than copying it.

For question 2 - the choice is personal preference.  I prefer fewer files (since the PC file system of old - FAT - really couldn't handle thousands of files in a folder very well - but that is less of an issue with NTFS).

[H8ytr]

I used to have all my OTS files as albums, containing multiple things

but I moved to individual files for these reasons:

a - If one file corrupts, you've only lost one song, if you have 20 songs in a single file, you lose 20 songs
b - Much easier to search in windows explorer for certain songs, if you want to find dupes, find a song to convert back to mp3 etc
c - I used to use FAT32 and couldn't store big DVD albums like promo only as 1 big file....

[Jumpin' Jeff]

a - If one file corrupts, you've only lost one song, if you have 20 songs in a single file, you lose 20 songs

Not necessarily true... potentially, but my experience is that when I get file coruption, it usually only affects the audio or video data chunks, and the remainder of the Otsfile can play without problems. I've been able to delete the affected chunk, and re import, and all was well.

[Maccamusic]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all you replies and answers - I really didn't expect any replies and certai nbly not this quick!

I think I'm going to stick to individual files for searching and also ultimately maybe I'll delete the files on an album (fillers) that I don't use.

One other quick question, is there a converter tool for converting OTS files back to Mp3's? Th eonly reason I ask is becuase I intend on having my entire collection on my home PC for home use and at the m,oment I'm simply deletign teh Mp3 files after I've converted them to OTS files to save space on my laptop.

Thansk again

Carl 'Macca'

[milky]

Ots Studio has an export option under the "File" menu item.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

As milky states, Yes it does, but it works best with multi-track album files that you don't convert one track at a time.

[tam808]

I think for converting MP3's to Ots and then if need be, to convert back to MP3's, the old MP3 convert programme called MP3OTS.exe I think, was much simpler than through Ots Studio.

Giving it a few thoughts I think if they split Ots Studio into 2 programmes - Studio to do all the editing of files, name corrections etc and the other called, say OtsConvert to handle simply all the file conversions. It could have 3 main sections Audio, Video & Karaoke, since I doubt that these can be mixed in any particular session.  I think the present studio interface is a bit of a 'dog's breakfast' at the moment.

Many times I think software designers are too close to the product to see a better interface, and try and think like the customer.  (that not only applies to Ots but many other software people)

Hoping as well that in the convert programme they would provide a full reversal to your original, for Audio, Video & Karaoke.

Anyone agree  or am I just sounding off 

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Personally, I think it needs to stay in a single interface. Why do we need to split it up again?  Multiple programs IMO, only makes it more complicated, and difficult to use.

[Tim Gainer]

Personally, I think it needs to stay in a single interface. Why do we need to split it up again?  Multiple programs IMO, only makes it more complicated, and difficult to use.

...not to mention a real burden on your hard drive!

I personally like ripping full albums; convenience and ease of cataloging. But as mentioned eariler, this is strictly a personal preference based on how you use Ots.

[tam808]

...not to mention a real burden on your hard drive!

I don't think so Tim - My total disk usage for the full OTS installation is just over 13,000mb
with the OtsStudio only 1,030kb & the main OtsAVDJ programme at 1,604kb

So IF an additional programme was added at less than OtsStudio say under 1,000kb, your hard drive would never notice it.

Remember the average size of an audio file is roughly 4,500kb & how many of them do you have on your hard drive?

[Lane]

the other programs can't use .ots files.