How do I improve audio quality in vcd/svcd?

[Colonel_Starr]

I use

Smartripper 2.41
DVD2AVI
TMPGEnc PLUS
Nero

On both vcd and svcd the audio especially on certain sounds (sirens, dog barking) is weird, low and sounds like it's in a tin or something.

Could someone tell me the best (easiest) way to improve the quality preferably without making the file size too much bigger.

Also in my dvd players setup menu in the audio it refers to the audio as 96 Khz PCM OUT : 96 Khz>48 Khz. Now while I don't understand that completely I am wondering if a change in the audio settings in TMPGEnc from 44100 to 48000 would make a difference, and upping the bitrate?

What about audio options in DVD2AVI, could this help? I won't change as I don't know what I am doing with it exactly, yet

I am lost on this so all help is very much appreciated Thanks

[kinneera]

Other quality considerations aside for the moment, TMPGEnc does a notoriously poor job of converting 48Khz audio to 44.1Khz. The quickest/easiest solution is probably simply to use tooLame as a plugin audio encoder in TMPGEnc. An intermediate, better quality solution is to tell DVD2AVI to do 48->44.1 downsampling when creating the d2v and wav file. The highest quality solution is to run a two-pass 48->44.1Khz conversion using SSRC, a tool designed specifically for that purpose. None will affect the final filesize, as that is determined solely by bitrate.

[Colonel_Starr]

Thanks or the info m8

[Colonel_Starr]

Does anyone know the settings to change for SSRC or DVD2AVI? Do I keep the audio in DVD2AVI at

Audio Format : Auto Select

and in the 48>44.1 section I have it set to off. Should it be high/ultra high etc.

Then what is the best method for muxing, I mean do you mux it with the .d2v or an Mpeg?

Thanx from a newbie!

Cool 8)

[kinneera]

If you go the SSRC route, leave 48>44.1 off in DVD2AVI. Then use SSRC (a command-line tool) as follows: "ssrc.exe --rate 44100 --twopass [input.wav] [output.wav]".

If you want DVD2AVI to take care of it, you will want to use either high or ultra-high. Ultra-high will take quite a bit longer than high, its up to you whether the quality difference justifies the tradeoff in time.

If it is VCD, you can mux with TMPGEnc. If it is SVCD, I strongly suggest multiplexing with bbMpeg.

[Urbs]

kinneera:

Where can we get SSRC?

Who makes it?

....can you give us a web address maybe?

Thanks,

[kinneera]

At doom9.org under downloads/audio tools:

http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Audio/ssrc-1.29.zip

Seems like this would be a good tool to put under the tools section on this site as well...

[Colonel_Starr]

Again big thanx, but one last question.

What is it best to mux with, i.e an m2v, d2v or Mpeg etc, for best results?

8)

[kinneera]

Multiplexing merely refers to the process of combining the video and audio stream(s) into a single MPEG file, with system stream padding and proper header. For MPEG2, you will generally see the elementary video stream as m2v. For MPEG1 it is most often m1v. For both, the elementary audio stream's extension will be mp2. You select these as the inputs in TMPGEnc or bbMPEG, and an MPG or MPEG is the output.

[Colonel_Starr]

I found the gui for ssrc too, but am unsure of how to use it. I gave it a go anyway and ended up with 2 .wav files

AC3 T01 3_2ch 448Kbps 48KHz_44k-16.wav
AC3 T01 3_2ch 448Kbps 48KHz.wav

Is this correct? So now I use the top one as audio source and bin the other one, yes?

Appreciate the info m8. :P

[kinneera]

I haven't used the GUI for SSRC myself, but it sounds like you got what you need. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can verify by playing the wav back in a media player that reports bitrate and sampling frequency of the file - MusicMatch is a good one. It should be 1411Kbps and 44.1Khz if the conversion succeeded.

[Colonel_Starr]

Great, thanx a lot. 8)

[Colonel_Starr]

So now I do as normal and encode with TMPGEnc as usual except using the 44.1 wav instead? Or do I need to do more? As all I have is wav, d2v and vobs (obviously).

[Truman]

Yes, you have to encode the .vob to m2v ( m1v, mpv), using the dvd2avi frameserver. You may load the downsampled .wav file as audio source as well, or use a different audio encoder like tooLame or I-media audio MPEG pro ( my favorite one). Then multiplex both with TMPG or bbMPEG.
<-----Have a look at the guides.

[Colonel_Starr]

Hey all again

Would I get the same good results using ssrc if I used it as in Pinnoys guide where it is used with toolame as external tools in TMPGEnc. Or would I be better off using these tools seperately then encoding?

I know, more questions.

Thanks

[kinneera]

Setting them as external tools in TMPGEnc will provide the exact same functionality as if you use them separately.

[Colonel_Starr]

I don't actually have a m2v, so instead of encoding that and then muxxing is it just as good to encode the wav with TMPGEnc along with a d2v which I do have then?

That would be cool as then I could use 'source range' which I like.

Cheers.

[kinneera]

Yes, you can frameserve a d2v from DVD2AVI into TMPGEnc and load the processed wav as your audio source.

[Digifreak]

I just read on a doom9 DVD2SVCD tutorial that you don't really need to downsample 48>44khz. Though SVCD spec. is 44, since most of us are playing these on a 48khz capable DVD player, the SVCD can be encoded with the 48khz soundtrack. 48>44 downsampling is certainly going to be a degradation of quality. Worth a shot, would like to hear from anyone who does/has done this.

[Colonel_Starr]

Thats great guys.

Thanks a lot.

[kinneera]

A word of warning...even though DVD players understand 48Khz audio on DVDs, they often do not understand it on VCDs and SVCDs - its a firmware issue.

For best compatibility, do the conversion.