TMPGEnc audio encodes

[dkelly701]

I have a sort of follow up question to the one I posted below about ripping and converting a DVD soundtrack to CD. Fulcilives talked about TMPGEnc not being a very good software for converting audio files. In my browsing around on this forum, I have heard that sentiment repeated several times. I have seen recommendations to use TMPGEnc to encode the video only and BeSweet to separately do the audio. I am using TMPGEnc 3.0 Xpress (version 3.1.5.82) with AC-3 plugin. I am wondering if the biases against TMPGEnc was the freeware version and, if so, is this current version better?

I have encoded several times using different sources and the audio results seemed flawless to me. I am a beginner at all of this so I admit my ear is untrained (as well as my eye when it comes to video), so I know my opinion is not as informed as the many experts on this board. Have any of the experts used this version of TMPGEnc to encode audio and compare its output with other encoders (BeSweet, etc.)? If so, and it is not as good, how so? I really like TMPGEnc and if the end result is just as good, I would use it for both video and audio. If it is not, even though I am not experienced enough to see it, I will use BeSweet instead.

Thanks.

[ZippyP.]

All that really matters is how it sounds to you, don't worry about other opinions so much. IMHO, any other method will not make any dramatic difference, and maybe no difference depending on the source. If you think it sounds good on your system then keep at it.

[johns0]

Tmpgenc xpress is good to encode audio with the ac3 plugin,the only time you will have problems if the source audio is vbr mp3 which tmpgenc chokes on.

[SatStorm]

From my experience, TMPGenc audio engine use to do a terrible job on upsampling / downsampling audio (44100 > 48000 and vice versa). That's why we use external audio converters for this, by tradition. Latest TMPGenc versions must be far better for this, but noone really test it...
I'm not an user of TMPGenc Xpress and I'll never be. TMPGenc plus is more than enough for my needs (and the schocking part: Seems like even the semi freeware TMPGenc is enough when you encode to CQ VBR....)

[reboot]

I can honestly say that the audio encoder in tmpgenc plus hasn't improved at all, no matter what version.
The whole tmpgenc thing needs a major recoding overhaul.

[dkelly701]

When you say terrible job do you mean speed, quality of output, usability, etc? Again, I admit I have an untrained ear, but I don't hear the difference between something I encode with TMPGEnc and BeSweet. However, if the final product is better, I do want to use BeSweet (who know, my ear may improve with time). If I had something specific to look or listen for, I might even be able to tell the difference!

[reboot]

I meant out of sync, and it will choke completely on VBR mp3 input.
I use ffmpeggui a lot, transcode to ac3, then import to DVDLab Pro for authoring.
I also have started using tmpgenc's AC3 encoder (I paid for it, figure I should at least try it)
I NEVER use a "video" encoder to encode audio, and that includes Canopus, Mainconcept, tmpgenc, whatever.
The only time I let Canopus do audio, is when i'm doing a PAL -> NTSC conversion, because it's particularily good at keeping sync.
Tmpgenc is just too slow. It's code is archaic, it's engine outdated, and in dire need of a total rewrite.

[dkelly701]

Thanks reboot. I haven't done anything with mp3 output so no experience there. I think even my ears will detect out of sync issues so I will definitely look for that. You say that you are using the TMPGEnc AC3 encoder. If I have that, isn’t that what I am using when I use TMPGEnc 3.0 express to encode video and audio at the same time? Sorry if these are stupid questions. I am not trying to be hard headed, just trying to figure things out.

[reboot]

Nope. The AC3 engine is an addon that you must pay for. It is not automatically included in the download (AFAIK).
Most encoders default to mp2 audio.

[TheFamilyMan]

Plain and simple answer:

The "default" audio encoder in TMPGEnc, which encodes audio to MP2, does a terrible job at encoding MP2. Encoding voice may be acceptable, but music sucks (I know from first hand experience).

If you're using the AC3 plugin, you are not using the default encoder. If you're happy with the results, trust your ears that the AC3 encoder you're using does a good job.

[dkelly701]

I purchased the AC3 plugin and I am using that to encode. So it appears that using this plugin, my audio will be on par with Besweet and I shouldn't need to encode separately .

[reboot]

It'll be far better than besweet, in my experience.

[MpegEncoder]

ffmpeg does a fine job of coverting LPCM to AC-3

[celtic_druid]

liba52 is not well tuned at all so yes, TMPGEnc's AC3 plugin should give better quality output than ffmpeg, BeSweet, etc.