When a minimum bitrate isn't really a minimum bitrate??

[LisaB]

"Enable padding not to be lower than minimum bitrate"

Well, that is one of the options in the settings for 2-pass VBR in TMPGEnc. It suggests that if you don't check it, then the bitrate might fall below the minimum bitrate. Huh? Isn't this a contradiction? If the minimum bitrate isn't really a minimum bitrate, then what is it?

[Styro]

Sounds like it would be a suggestion. As in "Please do not let the rate fall below x". Then the padding choice tells it how hard to try. With no padding it tries to conform, but the rate may fall frequently. With padding the rate shouldn't fall, but things also happen.

I try to put my VBR min rate at 0 (zero). If there is a long freeze-frame period the rate can drop out completely if need be.

Some 'pros' may want to chime in here...

- Styro

[ZippyP.]

Not a "pro" here, but...

My Apex craps out and freezes unless the min is at 300 (padding enabled).

[txpharoah]

Two barriers where players like "crap out" -- the 2.0 MB/S barrier on MPEG2, and the 500k barrier on any MPEG file. They fall within the ranges pretty closely usually. Go higher, buy more discs. Most players will have issues if you try to go too high or too low on bitrates. My Toshiba stalls on anything below about 500k and give problems below 900k.