Time Counter garbled / seek bar not working

[2013user]

Sorry if i'm using the incorrect terms, but

often when I play FLAC files, the time counter will read nonsense like
"400:32:32 / 6688:16:33" and i will not be able to click to different spots
via the seek bar. moving the square on the seek bar will reset it to the beginning only.

the files are fine, it seems to be a problem wih SMplayer.

any suggestions? (hoping i described this properly)

[rvm]

Changing the seeking method to relative seeking in preferences -> interface -> seeking may fix the seek bar.

The wrong times are probably reported this way by mplayer. Anyway if you provide a small sample file with this problem I can take a look at it.

[MacTheKnife]

I've seen that problem with variable rate ogg and mp3 files, but never with any of my FLAC files.

Just out of curiosity, what application (better yet what backend library if you're a Linux user) created the FLAC file?

Personally, I've had good luck using SoundKonverter to create FLAC files. I think I'm using FLAC backend, but I might have switched to FFMPEG, I'll have to check after I get home.

So you might want to try transcoding with a different backend and see if that helps. Since you'd be going from FLAC to FLAC, it'll be completely lossless so it doesn't hurt to try.

Another thought is that it might be a problem with the id tag data. You might want to try stripping the tag data and adding it back in with a different tool. I've had good luck with EasyTag.

Anyway Mplayer is flaky when it comes to time codes. They know they have problems, but for whatever reasons either can't or don't want to fix it. So you'll either you'll have to find a encoder that keeps mplayer happy or live with the bad time codes. At least in this case you can losslessly transcode with a different encoder. The dozens of DVD rips I have that mplayer has issues with are much more annoying since there's nothing that can be done without a lossy transcode.

[2013user]

Thanks,

Yes, I've seen this problem with various mp3 files, but I'd expect mp3 files to be quirky.

I'm dealing with WAV to FLAC, not made or encoded by me.
There may be 10 FLAC files in a folder, 1 or 2 have the problem.
Thing is, I used to never see this (aside from mp3), now it's common.

I can deal with the timecode not making any sense, but the inability to jump around
the seek bar is aggravating!

I may try to uninstall/re-install mplayer.

[MacTheKnife]

I still think it's worth the effort to attempt transcoding. Just pick out a couple of different FLAC encoders and see if a transcode from FLAC to FLAC with a different encoder/decoder helps. Since it'll be a lossless transcode, there's no penalty to trying.