[BC] Converting Scott files

[Scott]

I learned about the extension issues in support and upgrade for a set of 
Smartcasters I was hired to save and you are absolutey correct about a 
system that relies on the extension.
I noticed very early that the Smartcaster that was pure DOS saved all the 
data in Capitals but it's brother the DOS/WIN98/LINUX hybrid that ran the 
other station would save in the format that you told it. The result was a 
studio of people that would record audio into the hybrid and then be amazed 
that the audio wouldn't play in automation.
I openned up the Hybrid Library and to my dismay I saw a large number of 
tracks that were saved as lower-case names ie M1234.WAV was m1234.wav. The 
automation system was written in DOS and required all Caps for the data, but 
the Hybrid allowed Lower-case characters because of the windows. This 
wrecked havoc on the Automation.
I ended up renaming all the files that were wrong back to all Caps and 
presto, Problem gone....Until the PM started recording and saving with 
Lower-case again. I went round and round with them about the procedure of 
saving cuts and after about 6months of paying me to fix something that 
shouldn't have been broke they did what I showed them and we had no more of 
those problems.
Oh how I loath the power of windows in the hands of those who are convinced 
that it is a computer problem and no fault of there own.

Scott O. Luse
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cowboy" <curt at spam-o-matic.net>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] Converting Scott files


> On Sunday 28 October 2007 07:21 pm, Scott wrote:
>>  True, but the key is finding the right codec to use for the audio. You 
>> can
>>  have a .WAV file that uses an MP3 codec, hense the conversion of the
>>  Smartcasters .WAV audio.
>
> Not really.
> WAV is simply a modified IFF file with a Micro$oft RIFF header added.
> A system that doesn't depend on "extensions" would still see that it's
> uncompressed, signed 2's compliment audio, pull the number of channels,
> resolution, rate, and whatever else from the wav header, and decode 
> accordingly,
> assuming it was recognized as audio at all, and not just a collection
> of binary data.
> A system that depends entirely on file name "extensions" ignoring
> the file content, will choke on incorrectly "named" files.
>
> I'll often store A/D streams as "wav" files even though they have nothing
> to do with audio, simply because systems for handling audio adapt well
> to large sequential data streams.
> Unfortunately, Micro$oft has become so pervasive in some areas that many
> apps will throw up a warning when the content doesn't appear to be what
> the "name" suggests. Sometimes this can be a good thing, but mostly not.
>
> -- 
> Cowboy
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales
> Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Test Gear-Tools-Lots More + Now Barix too!
> www.SystemsStore.com       Tel: 407-656-3719    Sales at SystemsStore.com
>
>
>
>