Audio bit rates - capture and conversion

[drak23]

Hello again:
I've been doing some audio editing and I wonder if someone can clarify a couple points -

My audio settings for captures using VirtualDub are 48 kHz, 16 Bit, stereo, 187 kbits/sec. However when I load my Huffy AVI captures in TMPGEnc the audio tab shows the bit rate to be 384kbits/sec. My questions are:

-should I leave this setting alone or drop it back down to the setting closest to the one used in VDub (192 kbits/sec).

-When using a bitrate calculator such as the one on this site (https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm) which rate should I use?

Thanks,
Drak

[DJRumpy]

You should set the output according to what you find acceptable, or within spec. If your creating an VCD/CVD/SVCD, you should find 224kb/s acceptable. Some will lower this bitrate to free up more for the video stream. Some will increase the bitrate for better audio. It's a matter of personal preference. The standard used by most for VCD, and SVCD is 224 though. Try that, and see if you find it accpetable.

[drak23]

Thanks DJRumpy. These captures are for DVD quality so I don't mind going for the higher values, I guess I'm just wondering if it makes sense to process at 384 kbits/sec in TMPGEnc when I'm only capturing at 192kbits/sec in VirtualDub. Any thoughts?

Drak

[DJRumpy]

If you captured uncompressed or lossless compessed audio at a lower bitrate, you might require a higher bitrate with MPEG-1 audio to retain the quality, since MPEG-1 is not a lossless codec. Your trying to compare bitrates for two entirely different codecs. It just doesn't work well, as the requirements for each are different. Your ear will have to be the judge. Generally for two channel audio, 224kb/sec is sufficient. For 4 channel audio or higher, consider 384, or 448kb/s for MPEG-1, or AC3 audio.

[drak23]

Aha, NOW it becomes clearer (in spite of the dark side cloudiness). Thanks for the info!

Drak