224kbps VCD audio vs. 192-160...that much difference?

[oc714native]

I am compressing 1.5 & 2 hour movies in TMPGEnc onto 1 VCD using newgen's guide listed here in the forums and it's working out pretty good...I've read that lowering the audio quality for longer movies improves the video quality, so my question is:

is there that much difference between the default audio bitrate of 224kbps versus say 192, 160 or even 128? Can you you really hear the difference between a movie encoded at 224 and one encoded at 160? I know with MP3's it's not a huge thing (i.e. 192 vs. 224), but since this is "MP2" audio I have no idea if it's a difference you can hear. thanx for any advice

[MOVIEGEEK]

I've reduced the audio to 112kbps and it sounded the same on my
system.

[oc714native]

maybe a stupid question, but does it sound OK when played back on a generic DVD player hooked up to a plain old TV?

...and did you see any noticeable video quality improvement by lowering the audio quality? thanks

[vitualis]

I think that it makes a difference.

224 kbit/s MP2 is near perfect and I've never heard an audible MPEG artifact at this bitrate.

However, MP2 is much less efficient than MP3 at lower bitrates and artifacts come at higher bitrates. Furthermore, if you play your VCDs through a good audio system (as to PC audio system), them will become even more obvious.

However, it ultimately depends on your ears, and if you can't hear the difference, that's all that counts right?

BTW, using an audio bitrate other than 224 kbit/s for a standard VCD is non compliant (i.e., you are making an XVCD).

Regards.

[oc714native]

However, it ultimately depends on your ears, and if you can't hear the difference, that's all that counts right?

BTW, using an audio bitrate other than 224 kbit/s for a standard VCD is non compliant (i.e., you are making an XVCD).

Regards.[/quote]

thanks for the info Michael. I'm going to try an experiment with a 90 minute vid capture and experiment with 160 audio and see what results I get. Goes without saying that with VCDs it seems to be all about experimentation and what works for the individual...

[Kdiddy]

Ive never had a problem out of 160 uaing BeSweet, but yes, its different from person to person. Either way 224 s. 160, it still aint DD 5.1 or DTS for that matter, so obviously itsnt going to be crystal clear perfect.

[MOVIEGEEK]

oc714native,
If your making one of Elvis' movies definately use a higher
audio rate!
The "King"lives in the sky eating a bannana creme pie

[oc714native]

viva las vegas MOVIEGEEK

(and don't forget peanut butter and banana sandwhiches )

ROTFLMAO!

[Digitizer]

IMO, you can not go below 160 kbps with either mp3 or mp2. Below that it starts sounding like crap. It depends on what you do. If it is just speech, sure you can go with 128, but for music I follow the rule. In fact, now that I have ma'DVD burner, my MPEG-2's have audio bitrate @ 320 kbps If you think I am running out of disks... I am running out of shit to burn!

[oc714native]

well I have about an hour to go on a 2 hour movie that's encoding at 160kbps, so we'll see what it sounds like when I'm done....I'll post back here after I burn