AIFF-C

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Jcsketch
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Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:56 pm

AIFF-C

Post by Jcsketch »

I may not be looking in the right spot, but I have several Karaoke (Disney) CD's that seem to be AIFF-C files. I was wondering how to one get the graphics to work and two how to move these files to my library. I use a mac book pro and have and using an [Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive for Mac and PC SE-S084C/RSBN (Gloss Black)] external drive that I saw was suggested for compatible drives when I thought it was my drive that was the issue. Any help would be great. :mrgreen:

dave
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Re: AIFF-C

Post by dave »

it's like iTunes. run kJams, put your disc in, and drag the songs you want from the track list to the Library icon

Jcsketch
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Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:56 pm

Re: AIFF-C

Post by Jcsketch »

I have done that with another cd and it worked well. Yet for some reason the video on these AIFF files won't play from the CD it self or if I burn it. I only get audio ether way. I figured it was a format issues but I've had no luck finding a converter that works.

dave
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Re: AIFF-C

Post by dave »

it seems you didn't pay attention to what i said:
i'm NOT talking about playing the AIFF files that seem to be on the CD
i'm talking about running kJams, and playing or ripping the songs from INSIDE kJams.
if the finder or iTunes could play CDG discs, there would be no point to kJams.
and if you want to rip-mix-burn, then ONLY kJams can do that and preserve the CDG. if you do it with iTunes or Finder you'll get only audio.

PIPToe
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:18 pm

Re: AIFF-C

Post by PIPToe »

Dave, no need to get snippy. The user was just asking if there is a way to play the graphics on a disc that has AIFF. Obviously, said user is experiencing difficulties in playing a disc/file that was meant to be CD+G on a device designed to do so. I'm having the same issue on a karaoke machine my mom just bought my kids. She spent the money on it and the graphics aren't working, which sucks.

So, to reexamine the user's question and format it differently: Is an AIFF file meant to display graphics on a device that allows graphics? If it's supposed to be a CD+G file, would the file extension need to be .CDG or could an .AIFF file accommodate graphics as well? I'm asking b/c I've never dealt with these files before and I'm looking for help from an expert, so I can either run the file as it was meant or return it to the maker/company for a refund. I'm assuming the previous user is also and I think we'd both appreciate a professional answer that doesn't condescend.

dave
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Re: AIFF-C

Post by dave »

I apologize for coming across as gruff or impatient. It's a character flaw of mine, and I look at that and i'm embarrassed. I'd like to ask for forgiveness, but, well, i see i was kindof a jerk, so i'll just say, wow, you're right, and i'm sorry.

to clarify:
an AIFF file is pure, uncompressed audio, there is no video data in that.
further: a CD does not actually contain a directory and "files". what the finder displays to you is pure illusion meant to make it APPEAR as if there are AIFF files on the disc. Actually the disc is one, single track, in a spiral, much like an old vinyl LP record, and it's all one, long, uncompressed audio "file", just a bunch of bits, in a format called "PCM". When you read a "file" off the disc, you're actually just moving the playhead into the middle of the spiral and reading from there, the location a song starts and stops along the spiral is stored in the "table of contents", much like a "directory", but not the same at all, in a normal file system. In between these bits are what's called "subcodes" (actually between blocks of bits), that don't get read when you play the CD or read the pretend AIFF "file" off the disc. These "subcodes", when you string THEM together, form several "channels", from P through W (8 channels), P and Q contain time code information, so when you play eg: track 6, the laser skips to somewhere NEAR the middle of the disc, and reads the PQ channel, finds out exactly when it is, calculates the offset to where it needs to be, adjusts the head again, and repeat until it finds the actual start of the track.

none of this info is necessary for you to understand that there isn't video data, it's just background, so i can now say AIFF files don't contain video, and now you know why. kJams however can read the R-W subchannels, which DO contain video data, but that's not a file on the CD, there is no file corresponding to that data actually on the CD. When kJams reads the R-W subchannels, and copies it to your hard drive, the resulting file then becomes what we know of as a CDG file. PCM and CDG are separate files (unless they're interleaved, in which case it's a BIN file)

if you have an AIFF file and no corresponding CDG file you have only audio. what you WANT is to use kJams to do the ripping, in which case you'll have an audio (usually MP3) file AND a cdg file, that, TOGETHER make a karaoke song (with video) that can be played by kJams or any other karaoke software.

if you're playing a physical CD in a karaoke player, and getting only audio, that's because the disc is an audio only disc, not a CD+G disc. it's critical the disc actually have the "+G" designation, otherwise there are no "Graphics" on the disc to be played, just black.

probably more info than you want, but hope it helps

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