Fixing bad resampled DVD audio

[silverwolf0]

I have some videos that have very poor audio because the one who previously encoded it used some program with bad resampling. I think I use to get the same effect when I encoded to DVD with TMPGEnc. Upping the sample from 44.1khz to 48khz would ruin the audio. There was a setting for low quality resample and high quality resample in the options, and the high quality fixed the problem, but I don't know why the low quality one even exists or why TMPGEnc defaulted to it in the beginning. Anyway, is there a way to clean up the bad audio in these files or are they permanently damaged?

[guns1inger]

My guess is that it is a permanent problem, however posting a sample might prove otherwise

[jman98]

I agree with guns1inger that the odds are against you. If it was sampled at something like 22 KHz to begin with, I'm not sure that you can ever really fix that. You could convert the audio to WAV format (put each channel in its own separate WAV file) and use an audio editor to try to fix the problems. Audacity is free. I have an copy of Cool Edit and I'd probably use that since I'm familiar with it. Then once you have the WAV files fixed as best you can, you can encode to AC3 with a variety of programs like BeSweet GUI.

Low quality may simply mean a lower bit rate for AC3, like 192 Kbps. I'm just guessing here. There are reasons I can think of why TMPGenc would default to this, but I don't feel like writing a big, long explanation. Let's just say that lower probably causes less problems for inexperienced users.

[PuzZLeR]

I agree with Jman98 on AC3 at 192kbps (which I believe is the low setting for TMPGEnc). You're better off with something like 256kbps. The only hope you have at 192kbps is if, and only if, the source is very clean. Any flaws inherited with a 192kbps encode only become much worse.

I would think this problem is in the domain of something like Sony SoundForge and other professional tools that have filters, plugins, etc available for it. And you'd have to know what you're doing too.

But, like Guns1inger mentions, if you can cut out, and post, a small sample there may be hope. Not sure I can help, but I certainly would be tuning in to see what some experts here do with it.