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  1. Another issue I continue to battle with is that most apps, AviDemux and AutoGK excluded, have a setting to save audio in output AVIs to CBR but end result is always VBR audio. The 3 freewares in question so far are:

    - XMedia Recode
    - Any Video Converter
    - MediaCoder

    Does anyone know of a third freeware video converter, besides AviDemux or AutoGK, that actually does produce AVIs with CBR audio?

    AviDemux and AutoGK are not good for dumping a bunch of files in for more batch-like processing. Every video has to be loaded into these 2 converters tediously one-by-one whereas the 3 above that don't produce CBR audio do support dumping a bunch of files in at once to convert but don't give proper CBR audio outcome. Any Video Converter advised me nearly 2 years ago that they'd fix the CBR audio option so that it does produce CBR but so far, they've not lived up to that promise.

    Thanks in advance!

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  2. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    XviD4PSP 6.04 Portable

    I just took a sample clip I have that was a 1080p MKV with 5.1 AC-3 and ran it through XviD4PSP making a standard 640 width XviD with MP3 audio and it does CBR audio.

    Here's the MediaInfo output of the converted file:

    Code:
    General
    Complete name                            : J:\VIDEOS\samplevideo.avi
    Format                                   : AVI
    Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
    File size                                : 23.1 MiB
    Duration                                 : 53s 808ms
    Overall bit rate                         : 3 606 Kbps
    Writing application                      : XviD4PSP 6.0 / 53.6.0
    
    Video
    ID                                       : 0
    Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
    Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
    Format settings, BVOP                    : 1
    Format settings, QPel                    : No
    Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
    Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
    Codec ID                                 : XVID
    Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
    Duration                                 : 53s 679ms
    Bit rate                                 : 3 344 Kbps
    Width                                    : 640 pixels
    Height                                   : 360 pixels
    Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
    Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
    Color space                              : YUV
    Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
    Bit depth                                : 8 bits
    Scan type                                : Progressive
    Compression mode                         : Lossy
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.605
    Stream size                              : 21.4 MiB (93%)
    Writing library                          : XviD 64
    
    Audio
    ID                                       : 1
    Format                                   : MPEG Audio
    Format version                           : Version 1
    Format profile                           : Layer 3
    Mode                                     : Joint stereo
    Codec ID                                 : 55
    Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
    Duration                                 : 53s 808ms
    Bit rate mode                            : Constant
    Bit rate                                 : 256 Kbps
    Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
    Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
    Compression mode                         : Lossy
    Stream size                              : 1.64 MiB (7%)
    Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
    Interleave, duration                     : 24 ms (0.57 video frame)
    Writing library                          : LAME3.98.2
    I had the program down convert the 5.1 audio to 2.0 Stereo for the MP3 conversion. It does that

    Anyway here is the website for XviD4PSP: http://www.winnydows.com/
    Last edited by FulciLives; 31st Aug 2012 at 02:50.
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    At least one of the free converters you list as not doing what you want, MediaCoder, definitely does. I've just tried it. Were you using a predefined preset or setting the converter up manually? Also, which version of MediaCoder were you using? There are several.
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  4. Originally Posted by Slipster View Post
    At least one of the free converters you list as not doing what you want, MediaCoder, definitely does. I've just tried it. Were you using a predefined preset or setting the converter up manually? Also, which version of MediaCoder were you using? There are several.
    Like many of the other freeware converters I have, yes, MediaCoder SAYS it's going to output in CBR audio, but it doesn't. Any Video Converter is the same. XMediaRecode is the same. Only AviDemux and AutoGK conform to the CBR audio they say they will.

    The test is with VirtualDub. Whenever there's VBR audio, a popup tells you when you load the file.

    Anyway, I have stayed with AnyVideo Converter through various versions and have written to the developers twice but they haven't bothered to fix this bug a year later! So I'm not going to continue bothering with MediaCoder. I don't like the fact that it needs my firewall's permission to run, either.

    Anyway, thanks. I'll keep looking for an alternative when AviDemux can't work with a file.
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  5. Originally Posted by FulciLives View Post
    XviD4PSP 6.04 Portable

    I just took a sample clip I have that was a 1080p MKV with 5.1 AC-3 and ran it through XviD4PSP making a standard 640 width XviD with MP3 audio and it does CBR audio.
    [snip]

    Anyway here is the website for XviD4PSP: http://www.winnydows.com/
    Thanks, this looked promising indeed. Then I tried it and saw it didn't work for me so then then hunted down info for it. Sure enough, saw that it requires .NET Framework, so there goes that for me (https://www.videohelp.com/tools/XviD4PSP). Unless the portable version doesn't require .NET??

    I doubt that that'll be the case, but just in case, going to ask anyway. Anyone know about the portable version needing .NET Fr., too??

    I avoid .NET since I carry a lot of programs around with me to friends, etc., houses and to work. I never know what I'll find on the host computer so tend to stick with non-.NET stuff.

    Thanks. I dusted out my AutoGK though it handles only AVIs, unlike AviDemux which just does so much more. But I'll keep looking.
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    Originally Posted by Diana (Cda) View Post
    Anyway, I have stayed with AnyVideo Converter through various versions and have written to the developers twice but they haven't bothered to fix this bug a year later! So I'm not going to continue bothering with MediaCoder.
    I don't think it's a bug in MediaCoder as when I tell it to encode the audio in MP3 in CBR, it definitely does. I've checked it for you with MediaInfo. Either you have an incorrect setting somewhere in MediaCoder, a buggy version of MediaCoder (ie, not the latest version as it's fine here), or it's being misreported by VirtualDub.
    Last edited by Slipster; 4th Sep 2012 at 18:15.
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    Why the heck are you worried about putting Xvid4PSP on OTHER people's computers? I get the whole avoiding Net framework reason you have, I really do, but I think you're just a little out in la-la land on this particular program. Again, why on earth would you possibly want to go around installing it on computers you don't own? The author chose to put Window's dependencies in it. I'd be happier without it too, but it's a great program. The portable one DOES require Net framework too.

    Note that it's not free but Divx Converter can also create CBR MP3 audio in AVI containers. It calls them .divx files, but you can rename them to .avi. It's an AVI container for all intents and purposes.
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  8. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    Honestly I don't get the avoidence of NET framework for the reason given.

    Obviously once the encoding is done the file is a normal file that will play without the need for NET framework. Only the program needs it while running. Why are you worried about other people's computers then? Makes no sense.

    I've given you a solution ... a program that does what you want using the operating system you use and yet you reject it?

    Sigh.
    "The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
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  9. Hi, everyone. Been trying out apps today, but after trying another half dozen with same undesirable non-CBR output, I went back to see if I could fix what AviDemux does. Although a lot of apps _say_ they do CBR audio, output nearly always turns out to be VBR. And AviDemux just doesn't seem to like FLVs. 99% of the time, these AVIs with VBR audio result is out-of-synch sound. And I now dl even more FLVs than before (movie trailers, information on apps, info for family, etc., etc., etc.).

    After a few hours today, I found something that _so_far_ has produced good results with CBR using my existing AviDemux. I just don't know if it's luck with the 7 FLVs I just re-encoded to AVI or if this will always work.

    One of the pages I got to via googling was this one (http://mysmartsymbian.blogspot.ca/2009/03/fixing-out-of-sync-audio-of-flv-flash.html) which showed where to see if audio/video would be in-synch. Something new to me, if you also don't know this, look at the duration of audio and video in the properties of the video in AviDemux (FILE > INFORMATION or ALT+RETURN for my version of AviDemux) - and the durations listed in each case showed a difference in length between audio/video.

    But if you're like me, you've gone the save-to-MP3 route before and that didn't work. AviDemux never seems to like audio from FLVs. I always get an MP3 file that is just one long screeching sound or that is a raw format I don't know what to do with. So I tried a different approach with a different app. Normally I'd have used VirtualDub to separate out the WAV file but VD supports few file formats. The freeware Any Video Converter, though, has an option to output to MP3 so I ran all the FLVs through that to get the MP3s and they worked well.

    The 2nd part took a couple of tries. When I drag-'n-dropped an FLV into AviDemux, I got the usual error message:

    ---------------------------
    Confirmation
    ---------------------------
    H.264 detected If the file is using B-frames as reference it can lead to a crash or stuttering. Avidemux can use another mode which is safe but YOU WILL LOSE FRAME ACCURACY. Do you want to use that mode?
    ---------------------------
    Yes No
    ---------------------------

    But I chose YES for all the FLV videos today rather than the no I usually choose. Unlike the usual case, selecting NO with these FLVs produced out-of-synch audio even though the audio source was a separate file. So by choosing NO, I was right back where I started with out-of-synch issues. However, the YES option seems to work! Dump FLV in, choose YES for the error message, change audio to point to an external MP3, then re-encode to AVI using my usual settings. So far, so good.

    So putting this out there in case anyone else wants to try this and to see if the 7 FLVs I got today was not just a fluke.

    **************
    So if this indeed does work reliably all the time, I still get to use freewares that work as standalones (even if not true portable apps) _without_ any .NET - AviDemux and Any Video Converter. Anyone who is a power user like I am who has tons of apps of all kinds and who has to quite regularly wipe/reinstall their OS (I test so many apps - today is an example - that I can crash my system quite quickly) will also understand how neat it is to perhaps now have a solution with a portable/.NET-free ap already on hand.

    Keeping my fingers crossed, anyway.

    Cheers,
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  10. Oh, p.s., the solution from that blogspot page, http://mysmartsymbian.blogspot.ca/20...flv-flash.html, didn't work worth beans for me, btw. I should have mentioned that. I fiddled and fiddled with frame rate and often would get even wider discrepancies between audio/video with no rhyme or reason. So it didn't seem like a good solution. Cheers.
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  11. Don't believe the audio is VBR just because VirtualDubMod has a little cry when you open an AVI.

    I tried two of the programs you mentioned. AnyVideoConverter did seem to produce an AVI where the MP3 bitrate varied slightly. MediaCoder produced an AVI with CBR MP3 audio which VirtualDubMod sees as VBR. MediaInfo says it's CBR. I don't fully understand how MP3 headers work but I think it's possible for CBR MP3s to have a VBR header. Whatever the reason, after I opened the AVI produced by MediaCoder with VirtualDubMod (and told it not to re-write the header) I then used it to demux the MP3 audio. When it was done I added the demuxed MP3 to the AVI and VirtualDubMod failed to complain about it being VBR.

    The rule of thumb is probably this (assuming after you've encoded the video the resulting AVI contains video and audio which are in sync): When you open the encoded AVI using VirtualDubMod and it complains about the audio being VBR and asks if it should rewrite the header and you tell it "yes".... if you then resave the AVI and the audio is still in sync from beginning to end it was most likely CBR in the first place. If the audio goes out of sync then it really was VBR.

    There's lots of reasons why you may have audio sync issues and it doesn't necessarily mean it's because the audio and video streams have slightly different durations. That's not uncommon. It's possible the original audio stream is delayed relative to the video, the video mightn't use a constant frame rate, there may be gaps in the audio stream which aren't being compensated for when converting etc.... but chances are it's nothing to do with the output file containing VBR audio rather than CBR audio.

    Any reason why you have a dislike for VBR MP3? If you're worried about it due to the warning offered by VirtualDubMod then don't be. It's a paranoia left over from the dark ages. VBR MP3 in an AVI is perfectly okay.

    I've not used AVIDemux and I've probably only converted a couple of flv files in my life, but generally AnyVideoConverter seems to be one of the better programs when it comes to maintaining audio sync with "problem" video.
    You might want to try ffcoder. I'm pretty sure it'll handle flv files and I'm fairly sure it'll output CBR MP3 audio if you tell it to. It also has batch encoding abilities where it'll automatically re-encode any files you add to a particular directory. I don't have it installed on this PC so I can't give you any more details but it's probably worth a look.

    Failing all of the above.... maybe you could upload one of the flv files you're having trouble with, in terms of not being able to re-encode it while maintaining audio sync. I'm sure someone will be able to look at and tell you the actual reason why it's happening.
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  12. Hi, thanks.

    Yes, yesterday I came across a site that said that video files with VBR might have the headers incorrectly labelled and that VD catches that and in order to fix this, to run those files in VD as both video and audio as direct stream copy (so no re-encoding) and that that should fix the problem. That set up instructions didn't work so not sure if it's actually a case of incorrect VBR labelling or not. AviDemux and AutoGK have always both produced CBRs without fail - all other video conversion apps I have are not reliable like this despite saying CBR. Too bad AviDemux fails with audio-synch all the time with FLVs and that AutoGK only handles a very small set of file formats, FLV not being one of them.

    The AviDemux fix that I tried yesterday that I posted above actually did not work 100% of the time with the remaining files I tried yesterday. So I found that sometimes choosing NO to the error message did work. So far, the rest of the files I tried _did_ work, it was that sometimes I had to choose YES to the error message and sometimes NO. A quick peek in AviDemux to see audio and video duration was enough right afterwards to preview if there would be audio-synch issues or not. Neat trick to see before going to effort and time needed to see final results after re-encoding. So far, all videos I've tried with this method have worked, as long as I remembered to try one over the other (YES or NO to error message).

    Thanks re FFCoder. I had stopped at the point I got to that app yesterday when I did all those app trials. By that point I was getting a headache. I'm sure 1 of the other apps I tried yesterday, WinFF, will also do this, but I couldn't find the code to ensure CBR audio output and only got VBR with the actual presets. Perhaps FFCoder's gui will make it easier to figure out how to set CBR. If I didn't have audio-synch issues or need to crop any video at any given moment, I wouldn't bother with the whole CBR-VBR issue but CBR gives the least amount of trouble so best to just have that as a standard and stick with it.

    I'll report back. Cheers.
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  13. Drat, FFCoder requires .NET framework 2**. There goes that. I'm not a Windows fan at all. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I have literally hundreds and hundreds of windows apps I use with regular to fairly regular frequency, I'd have switched to Linux years ago. <sigh> So in the end, the promising FFCoder is out. One thing I have come to conclusion of in last few months is how much better a commandline app with windows gui produces more reliable results when it comes to video conversion. Strange, but there it is.

    Still hoping I can run across better instructions for CBR in WinFF. So far, all I've found googling hasn't yielded anything that works.



    ** Thanks just the same. The page where each app is shown in VideoHelp is usually good at showing specs but this one doesn't mention .NET (https://www.videohelp.com/tools/FFCoder). So I went ahead and dl it to try. But when it didn't work, I suspected the .NET thing and sure enough, it requires it (http://www.digital-digest.com/software/FFCoder.html).

    Cheers.
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  14. Originally Posted by Diana (Cda) View Post
    Yes, yesterday I came across a site that said that video files with VBR might have the headers incorrectly labelled and that VD catches that and in order to fix this, to run those files in VD as both video and audio as direct stream copy (so no re-encoding) and that that should fix the problem.
    It should work as long as you let it re-write the VBR header. If you don't I doubt it'd make a difference. If the audio is really VBR and you re-write the header then after saving the AVI the audio will most likely be out of sync.

    Originally Posted by Diana (Cda) View Post
    That set up instructions didn't work so not sure if it's actually a case of incorrect VBR labelling or not.
    Do you have an audio player which displays the bitrate in real time? I've got foobar2000 setup to do it so it's very easy to tell if an MP3 is VBR or CBR. I just open it using foobar2000 and look at the bitrate while it's playing.

    Originally Posted by Diana (Cda) View Post
    If I didn't have audio-synch issues or need to crop any video at any given moment, I wouldn't bother with the whole CBR-VBR issue but CBR gives the least amount of trouble so best to just have that as a standard and stick with it.
    I'm still not sure I understand the VBR concern. Audio sync shouldn't be effected by whether the audio is VBR or CBR. If you're going to have audio sync issues when converting video it'll probably happen either way. I've not yet had an issue playing an AVI which contains VBR MP3 audio using any device, ever. The whole VBR audio in AVI debate is very, very old and relates to whether the AVI container officially supports VBR audio, but it's fairly irrelevant because you can put VBR audio in an AVI and any AVI capable player will play it correctly and that's not going to change. Even VirtualDub has an option to disable the VBR MP3 warning. No other program I'm aware of makes a fuss over AVI audio being VBR.

    If all else fails (and it's the long way to go about it) trying converting the FLV file to AVI using AnyVideoConverter. In AVC's options set the default audio sync to maximum and choose "default" instead of "basic" for the audio sync when encoding the flv. Use huffyuv as the video codec and PCM for the audio. The resulting AVI will contain lossless video and audio and the audio should be in sync. Then use AutoGK to convert that AVI. It's my "last resort" method when nothing else seems to work.
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  15. Member AlanHK's Avatar
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    GSpot can tell you reliably if a video has VBR or CBR MP3.

    VDubMod is very old and out of date. I use it to test and edit Avisynth files, but for most other uses it's obsolete.

    If you need some other of the "mods", try the version at http://tongari.at/ which is based on VDub 1.7.8, rather than the 1.5 that VDubMod is.

    Or, if you can use AC3 audio, try that. I think it's possible to have VBR AC3, but never seen it. Every encoder seems to only make CBR.
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  16. ENTJ DrDeceit's Avatar
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    I use Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate for all of my audio conversion

    It can even upmix from stereo audio to 5.1 surround
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