Ok, so some time ago I was able to organize files in my library when was prompted if I wanted to transcode the files.
Back then I had no intention to transcode, only for files other than mp3, and that worked.
Now whatever I try to do I can't get that option back, already erased all the config files to start amarok anew.

Searched intensively about possible required packages and libraries but it simply doesn't work.

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Amarok Version: 2.8.0
KDE Version: 4.11.3
Qt Version: 4.8.6
Phonon Version: 4.7.1
Phonon Backend: GStreamer (4.7.1)
PulseAudio: Yes

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guiu@guiu-iMac:~$ aptitude -F "%c %p %v" -w 60 search "(~i|~c)libavcodec"
i libavcodec-extra-54                         6:9.10-2                 
c libavcodec54                                <none>       
i libavcodec55                                10:2.1.1-dmo5

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guiu@guiu-iMac:~$ aptitude -F "%c %p %v" -w 60 search "~i lame"
i lame                                        1:3.99.5-dmo2
i libmp3lame0                                 1:3.99.5-dmo2
i libtwolame0                                 0.3.13-1     

I don't know what else could be needed for this, but still I have a lot of encoding options, even soundkonverter installed.
While searching for solutions I've seen reports about this feature being broken but nothing specific nor about the version.
So, is this really broken or is something with me?
Thanks

For transcoding you need ffmpeg and libav-tools.

Mamarok wrote:For transcoding you need ffmpeg and libav-tools.

Hey Mamarok, thanks, but I already have both installed:

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guiu@guiu-iMac:~$ aptitude search -F "%c %p %v" --disable-columns "~i ffmpeg" "~i libav-tools"
i ffmpeg 10:2.1.1-dmo5                           
i ffmpegthumbs 4:4.11.3-1
i gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg 1:0.10.13-dmo1
i libav-tools 10:2.1.1-dmo5
i libxine1-ffmpeg 1.1.21-2
i libxine2-ffmpeg 1:1.2.4-dmo2


Erm, you should ditch libxine, that is totally obsolete. What our README file tells about the needed dependencies for transcoding is the following:

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* Transcoding requires (at runtime):
      * FFmpeg 0.7.0 (or newer) - http://ffmpeg.org/
      * For all supported encoders to be available in Amarok, FFmpeg needs to
        support the following codecs:
        * libfaac (NOT just "aac")
        * alac
        * flac
        * libmp3lame (NOT just "mp3")
        * libvorbis (NOT just "vorbis")
        * wmav2


So you are probably missing libmp3lame0

Mamarok wrote:So you are probably missing libmp3lame0

So okay, I believe I have the necessary stuff:

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i   ffmpeg                                              - audio/video encoder, streaming server & audio/video file conv
i A libfaac0                                            - AAC audio encoder - library files.                           
i A libmp3lame0                                         - Shared libraries for MP3 encoding.                           
i A libvorbis0a                                         - The Vorbis General Audio Compression Codec (Decoder library)
i A libvorbisenc2                                       - The Vorbis General Audio Compression Codec (Encoder library)


Maybe it could be a version difference. I've tried from within and outside the library, the window just doesn't pop up....
Maybe I could at some log to try and find out, or maybe the transcode config file is stored somewhere different from Amarok.

Besides that, Amarok is misbehaving a lot lately. It will be laggy when starting a new song, the collection will start to hang after some time( not update, open albums/songs).

Add to the misbehaving part:
For example, the library stoped updating after I moved/organized tracks from one artist, it wouldn't open any.
And the custom presets I've made to organize files always end up missing.

Transcoding is definitely not broken and should work fine in 2.8.0. Bugs https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=317902 and https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324875 were the only ones fixed after the 2.8.0 release.

How about erasing the configuration files in $HOME/.kde/share/config/ and try again? Also please make sure to disable 3rd-party scripts if Amarok starts misbehaving to rule those out first. Running Amarok in debug mode by starting it from the command line with

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amarok -d --nofork

would also help debugging eventual issues. Please also keep in mind that the phonon-backend-gstreamer is buggy due to the transition to the gstreamer 1.0 libraries not being done yet where a lot of bugs should be fixed. The alternative is always to use the phonon-backend-vlc which is more stable, but lacks some features like the equalizer or the frequency analyzer. If you can live without those you should definitely give the vlc backend a try.

Thanks, it seems similar to the first bug, but I don't know if its relative

Mamarok wrote:Also please make sure to disable 3rd-party scripts if Amarok starts misbehaving to rule those out first.

Well I don't have 3rd-party scripts and even disabled built-in scripts just in case.

Mamarok wrote:Please also keep in mind that the phonon-backend-gstreamer is buggy due to the transition to the gstreamer 1.0 libraries not being done yet where a lot of bugs should be fixed.

I do use gstreamer but I don't think its related, music isn't even playing... I think its more on the interface side, like for example sometimes a content window will no open, or open with delay.
Just few moments ago I had to reboot my machine fro a lockdown, while focused on Amarok.

I'll do the debug thing and see if something pops-up.

Okay so here is one little part of the log:

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amarok: BEGIN: void Collections::CollectionLocation::prepareMove(const TrackList&, Collections::CollectionLocation*)
amarok:   BEGIN: void Collections::CollectionLocation::startWorkflow(const TrackList&, bool)
amarok:   END__: void Collections::CollectionLocation::startWorkflow(const TrackList&, bool) [Took: 0s]
amarok: END__: void Collections::CollectionLocation::prepareMove(const TrackList&, Collections::CollectionLocation*) [Took: 0s]
amarok: [CollectionLocation] FFmpeg is not installed or does not support any of the required formats.
amarok: BEGIN: virtual void Collections::SqlCollectionLocation::showDestinationDialog(const TrackList&, bool, const Transcoding::Configuration&)
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] Path "/home/guiu/Music/Library"
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] used: 77667147776
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] total: 225294716928
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] Free space 147627569152
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] transfersize 151942171
amarok:   [SqlCollectionLocation] 147475626981
amarok:   st3.1


Its very verbose and hard to track, but one little thing got my attention:

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amarok: [CollectionLocation] FFmpeg is not installed or does not support any of the required formats.

Strange as I'm sure ffmpeg is manually installed, as is some of the necessary format specific packages....
Any idea on why this link isn't working?

By the way, how I get the debug output to write to file, I've tried "| tee amarok.log" but nothing got through.

==IMPORTANT UPDATE==
Just got the transcode window showing.... change the phonon back end form gstreamer to vlc and now it shows up.
Thanks, I would never have guessed...
The only issue with the vlc back end, is the lack of replay gain... But I've guess I can work without that...

But still, this seems like relevant bug, it should at least be documented somewhere.

Please see https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=317902, already fixed in the development branch. Does that answer your question?