I have converted some DivX and Xvid encoded video to MPEG2 for DVD and I have found that I am loosing some subtle audio quality.

My source files have 160kbs encoded stereo audio which sounds very good and crisp.

I use TMPEGenc with tooLame audio plugin. I mimiced the audio settings of the source - i.e. 160kbs audio. My thinking here was that the source was 160kbs so a higher bitrate would not help me out. What I do not know is if I am not comparing apples to apples. I.E. in my source, the audio is probably mp3, is this true for the MPEGII DVD format audio?

Is this the first point I went wrong? Should I have accepted the default from the DVD template for the Audio bit rate?

Obviously I have some work to do on my end to experiment with this- I am wondering if I

a. use VirtualDub to strip out the audio, then just encode the video, then feed TMPEGDVDAuthor the VIdeo and Audio separately, would that maintain the quality?

or

b. if I encode the audio/video at once (with tooLame setup) at a higher bitrate?

Just curious what the best way to keep 100% of the source audio quality is.

Thanks, Chops1400