VirtualDubMod, BeSweet and Bitrate Questions

[Kero777]

Question 1) BeSweet is an excellent program for compressing wavs that are rendered from a video program, but for some reason even though I've done it before, I just don't like the thought of taking out the audio from my video and muxing it back in. I feel like the audio and video will be off slightly after spending so much time syncing them together! Even when I create a loop region for my render, I check the length of the video's original audio and the audio I exported separately from Vegas and they usually differ in length (very very slightly, but there is still some difference in length). Anyway, after exporting with the audio attached, I tried VirtualDubMod's audio compression and it seems to work good for me, but people seem to talk down about it. The only problem I've have with it was that some players will not play the MP3 audio if the music is above 224Kbps. I've gone higher with BeSweet (320Kbps) and it plays back fine on every video player though. Weird... Are there any problems with VirtualDubMod's audio compression that I should be aware about besides the kbps especially if I am converting the audio when it's attached to my video (exported from my editing program)? And if so, should I just suck it up and use BeSweet?

Question 2) Now, my original audio source was 44100Hz and 320kbps. But like I said, some common video players have trouble playing audio higher than 224kbps. I really wanted to use 320kbps since it was the same as the original, but it doesn't play correctly on Winamp or Windows Media Player (Media Player Classic plays it back fine though). I imported some awesome AMVs that I downloaded from this site into GSpot to see what bitrate they played back as. The most common was 192kbps, but I did see a lot 128kbps which surprised me. Is there a reason for this besides playback issues? Maybe file size? I just puzzles me that even though a bitrate of 224 is supposed to be very close to "CD Quality" people seem to chose a lower bitrate for their final. Is there really a big difference in quality between 192kbps and 224kbps or 192kbps and 320kbps?

Question 3) Do you think I could be doing something wrong during the conversion process if the original MP3 with a bitrate of 320 plays fine in Winamp, but after the conversions (uncompressed wav in Audacity and then back to a 320kbps Lame Mp3 in VirtualDubMod) it doesn't play right in the same program?

*Reads over what she just wrote* I'm really looking into quality too much huh? Thanks so much for reading! Sorry if my grammar/spelling is bad right now. I am dead tired.

[post-it]

1) you must have a different version of VDmod than I've ever run across; it has no Audio Codec setting that I've ever seen.

2) setting are mostly 192K from most Audio Editors. 224K was only used if the sounds needed some "Depth" to them. On the other side of this question is 44,000 vs 48,000 .. 48,000 can hold more Mid-Tones better than CD's ever could -- in fact, 96,000 is best for Ultra Clear Bells and High Frequency Tubular Bell reproduction. 44k, 48k, 96k, it all depends on "what you are trying to Listen To"

44k @ 192k is CD Quality while 48k @ 224k would be Live Music Quality. 96k @ 192k is just showing off

3) many people swear by LAME, I never cared for the concept myself but is does make AVIsynch a lot easier to use

-- just an Audiophiles opinion

[Purge]

i can't believe that exporting your audio seperately puts the vid of slightly. Theres no reason for that to happen.

i think the reason for some players being not able to play avis with mp3s with higher bitrates is because they are encoded using VBR(variable bitrate). Using CBR(constant bitrate) is suppose to work better

Q1) virtual dub doesn't compress it "dubs"/mux - the compressor you chose compresses the audio

[Keeper of Hellfire]

The most common was 192kbps, but I did see a lot 128kbps which surprised me. Is there a reason for this besides playback issues? Maybe file size?

I think file size is the reason, not playback issues. The vast majority of people (including me) can't tell you any difference between 128 kbps and higher bitrates, so why should they waste space and bandwidth? I think the only reason for the most people to use 192 kbps is because EADFAG suggests it.

[Qyot27]

The vast majority of people (including me) can't tell you any difference between 128 kbps and higher bitrates, so why should they waste space and bandwidth? I think the only reason for the most people to use 192 kbps is because EADFAG suggests it.

It's a long-existing standard that 192kbps is when MP3 hits transparency (or thereabouts). I can certainly tell 128kbps depending on how it was encoded - LAME has improved the quality output a lot, but there are still deficiencies sometimes.

Even though the charts for AAC report that it approaches transparency around 128kbps, I still use 192kbps for it out of habit (and because it obviously doesn't hurt anything; 1 or 2 MBs over what it'd be at 128kbps isn't really a big deal, IMO).

I've never cared for compressing through VDubMod simply because I find it somewhat cumbersome, where I could just encode through dBPowerAMP Music Converter (old version; I never upgraded to the MP3-crippled releases) with the newest version of LAME plugged in and then just mux them together afterward.

Also, as has been mentioned, CBR is what is most reliable when using AVI (and the ABR settings don't count - those still often react like VBR does as it's essentially VBR-lite). My suggestion if you really want to use higher-bitrate MP3 or VBR is to use either MP4 or MKV, as they support those properly.

[Kero777]

Thanks for replying everyone! I will use a different audio editor. I have a problem though.

I exported my PCM Wav File from Vegas and the length is 5:00:50. It is the same exact length as the audio that is attached to my video which is what I want. I used BeSweet to take that uncompressed wav and convert it to an MP3. Now, I ran into a problem. The Mp3's length ends up being longer. It is 5:00:95. Yes, it does make a difference in timing too. Does anybody know what is going wrong with BeSweet? Otherwise I will have to stick to VirtualDub for this.

[Kero777]

Gah, it even does this when I compress in VirtualDubMod too UNLESS if the audio stream is already in video exported from Vegas and I compress to Lame MP3 during the second pass. O_o I start out with 5:00:50 and end up with something like 5:00:29. VirtualDub is telling me that they are different lengths when I go to my streams list after I encode my final. G-Spot seems to have the same length though except when I export the audio separately, the correct way... It's fine if I just export my video with the sound and never take it out. Could anyone please give their suggestions/thoughts or maybe even do a quick test themselves? Sorry for all these questions. I'm just really stressing out.

[post-it]

match the Audio to the Video ... ok, hehe -- this is a little extreame

[post-it]

match the Audio to the Video ... ok, hehe -- this is a little extreame

.. I erps'd

[Scintilla]

By the way, the thing with bitrates above 224kbps not playing back correctly in WMP6.4 (inter alia) is specific to LAME; if you use the Radium MP3 codec instead, it should be fine.