What audio type is better for SVCD ?

[iparout]

Hi there,

I just finished encoding my first DVD into SVCD.

However I have a question :

What audio is better for the SVCD ? MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 ?

I used Toolame to encode the audio to MPEG-1, but when I open the SVCD file (mpg) with PowerDVD, the sound had much noise in it, whereas with Windows Media Player, the sound was ok (the video wouldn't open however, because of low Video Memory).

Looks like PowerDVD isn't optimized for MPEG-1 audio.

So I am wondering, is it better to encode the audio to MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 ? What are the pros and cons of each format?

What programme would encode to MPEG-2 audio?

Thx in advance for any answers.

P.S. : Is there any software SVCD-player for the PC ? How can I play the SVCDs on my computer ?

[iparout]

*bum*

please answer.

[iparout]

Well, since this thread isn't haing any replies, I think I'll rephrase the question to make it simple :

What can I do to make PowerDVD play MPEG-1 sound (of a SVCD)flawlessly ? Right now there is much noise into the sound however, when I open the SVCD file with Windows Media Player, the sound seems fine, however the video won't play because of "not enough Video memory".

How can I play a SVCD flawelessly on my computer ?

Please reply if anyone has any ideas.

I have the SVCD ready to be burnt, however I'm worrying I won't be able to watch it.

Thx in advance.

[KuskenLars]

Use MPEG2 audio encoding, gives higher quality at lower bitrates than MPEG1, same as MPEG3 (MP3) is better than MPEG2...

Use MPEG2 to get higher quality...

[RemoteCtrl]

Are you using joint stereo in tooLAME? That does indeed cause some problems with PowerDVD, use normal stereo or dual channel instead.

AFAIK, the only advantage MPEG-2 layer 2 has over MPEG-1 layer 2 are the low bitrate extensions, which aren't very suitable for high-quality enconding anyway.

[StudeBarc]

Using Power DVD engine (I'm using ASUS DVD) to play SVCD's requires using file access mode to the CD itself. Once you get to the mpg file(s) on the disk it should play them fine.
I'm yet to get a software player that'll play SVCD from the disk itself. Try this for a neat little player for windows look for "movieplay" . It's constantly developing and i'll soon bug the author enough to come up with the codecs to play Nero burnt SVCD's!
re The audio issues: If using DVD2AVI then select the DD2.0 Audio track to create the TMPEG working files. Use the standard SVCD (audio at least) template to create your mpg. It will work fine and PowerDVD should be able to play the mpg off HD.

[iparout]

Thx for the replies everyone. I used WinDVD ainstead of Power DVD and the SVCD plaed flawlessly.

@Remote CTRL :
Yes, I'm using joint stereo in tooLAME. The exact command I am using is :

toolame.exe -p2 -b224 *.wav (got it off a batch file).

My questions :

1) Which is better for DVD ripping? Joint stereo, normal stereo or dual channel ?


2) What is the command for MPEG-2 audio encoding in tooLAME ?

Thx in advance.

@KuskenLars : MP3 is MPEG-1 layer 3 not MPEG-3 (I don't know if MPEG-3 actually axists as a format). Just to let you know

[Shabubu]

The new AZID/Lame GUI (doom9.net) has a section for 2lame (and also for SSRC normalization) that will make it easier for ya to set up 2lame.

[RemoteCtrl]

1) Joint stereo is the most flexible choice at bitrates below 192 kbit/s. Normal stereo might produce the best quality at rates above that.

2) MPEG-2 is automatically used when the source uses 16, 22.05 or 24 kHz sample rates(Low bitrate extensions, remember?).

[vitualis]

@ iparout: You may have to check this yourself as I'm not entirely sure, but I didn't think that MPEG-2 Layer 2 audio was even an option in the SVCD specs... which would answer your original question.

@ KuskenLars: MP3 is not MPEG3 audio. MP3 is short for MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio. "MPEG3" does not exist.

Regards.

[iparout]

So, I think I'll go for normal stereo, since my encodings are 224 kbps always.

Will normal stereo produce bigger files than joint stereo, when using the same bitrate ?

@vitualis : I'm 99% sure that MPEG-2 audio is in the SVCD specs.

[Greg12]

i'm 99 percent sure it's

mpeg 1 layer 2

not mpeg 2.

those i did produce some audio files from tmpg with the ending mp2.

[Hateslife]

Let's make this clear.

-Mp3 is MPEG-1 Layer 3.
-Mp2 is MPEG-1 Layer 2.

-MPEG-2 sound was the multi-channel format, which failed.
-You CAN make SVCD's with MPEG-2 sound, but it's hard to find tools, and you'd only be able to play it on a PC...

-MPEG-4 is some kind of new set of standards... ASF, Divx, etc apparently are MPEG-4 formats or something. Beats me, I don't know much about it.

Any good software or hardware DVD player should play SVCD's, since SVCD's are MPEG-2 streams. I know WinDVD, my favorite does. PowerDVD does not. A couple of shitty software players I tried did.