Bitrate overkill?

[Yirkin]

Hi everyone,

Is there a point of diminishing returns when it comes to choosing a bitrate? If I start with an AVI encoded at 916kbps data date, is an mpg encoded at 8000 going to take advantage of all its bits? Is there a point depending on how the original was encoded where say a 5000 bit rate is as good as its going to get and choosing a higher rate is just bloating the file size? I wonder because I don’t think you can improve on the source just by going overboard and generating a huge file. Also, how does this equate to audio? The AVI is listed as 128 bit layer 3 audio, would the 384 bit layer 2 audio that TMPGEnc defaults to be over doing it?

I know I can pick VBR and let TMPGEnc decide for me but I haven’t found a way to see what decisions it has made throughout the video clip so I can learn.

Thanks,

Howard

[txpharoah]

Yes, there is a point of diminishing returns. Throwing resolution or bitrate at crap source will NOT make it any better. You need to find a comparable bitrate, preferably just a hair above the source if keeping ALL quality is the desired outcome.

Do yourself a favor and run some tests with 30 seconds of footage.