BeSweet Volume Drop

[rixware]

I've been using BeSweet (with BeSweetGUI) for creating AC3 files for a very long time. But suddenly (within the last couple of months, I don't know when exactly) it has started creating files that are less than half the volume of the source MPA files.

I didn't change anything (that I know of), but since I discovered this I have tried messing with any setting I could try, and I've tried BeLight as well, but nothing changes. The problem is, I think, with BeSweet itself. I've tried reinstalling, but no change.

Here's the kicker: If I use BeSweet to first convert from MPA to WAV, and then from WAV to AC3, the resulting AC3 is fine. But if I go directly from MPA to AC3 I get the volume drop.

Thanks for any help!

Rick
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[rixware]

Well, it looks like I must be the only one to have experienced this, meaning it's probably something (codec-related?) on my system.

Any suggestions on steps/tools for trouble-shooting?

Thanks!

Rick
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[freebird73717]

Besweet is not known for being the most stable of apps. I don't know what could be causing your problems but I will suggest you drop besweet and try using aften and one of it's guis.

[AlanHK]

When you use BeSweet's Gui, you are shown the command line and it's also put in the log file.
Unless you've been deleting this, you can open this (text) file and see the command line used for every conversion you've made. So look back and compare the command lines and see if anything has changed.

My logfile is Besweet.log, in the BeSweet program folder.


If you can't work it out, you could post the command line in an appropriate forum -- perhaps
Doom9. However the author of BeSweet, DSPguru, hasn't been active for a couple of years and the app had no updates for a long time.

If you get no joy, I second freebird's recommendation, use aften. That's the current state of the art for AC3 encoding.

I haven't used BeSweet for AC3 for a while, but this is from the logfile from when I was doing so, converting from AVI (MP3) to AC3:

BeSweet v1.5b31 by DSPguru.
--------------------------
Using VOBInput.dll v1.3 by DVD2SVCD (http://www.dvd2svcd.org)
Using hip.dll v1.19 by Myers Carpenter <myers@users.sf.net>
Using AC3enc.dll v1.20 (Feb 18 2004) by Fabrice Bellard (http://ffmpeg.org).

Logging start : 07/06/06 , 00:24:12.

P:\BeSweet\BeSweet\BeSweet.exe -core( -input Q:\Adder\1_The_Foretelling.avi -output Q:\Adder\1_The_Foretelling - New - [06.07.2006] - [00.24.12].ac3 -logfilea P:\BeSweet\BeSweet.log ) -ac3enc( -b 128 ) 

[00:00:00:000] +------- BeSweet -----                          
[00:00:00:000] |  Input : Q:\Adder\1_The_Foretelling.avi
[00:00:00:000] |  Output: Q:\Adder\1_The_Foretelling - New - [06.07.2006] - [00.24.12].ac3
[00:00:00:000] |  Floating-Point Process: No
[00:00:00:000] |  A/V Delay found : 0msec
[00:00:00:000] |  Source Sample-Rate: 44.1KHz
[00:00:00:000] +------- AC3ENC ------
[00:00:00:000] |  Bitrate method  : CBR
[00:00:00:000] |  AC3 bitrate     : 128
[00:00:00:000] |  Channels Mode   : 2.0
[00:00:00:000] |  Error Protection: Yes
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------
[00:33:30:885] Stream error : Sync found after 56 bytes
[00:33:30:916] Conversion Completed !
[00:33:30:916] Actual Avg. Bitrate  : 127kbps
[00:01:43:000] <-- Transcoding Duration

Logging ends : 07/06/06 , 00:25:55.

[rixware]

I had no idea that log file was continuous. I just assumed it got overwritten with each conversion.

So I checked it and the command lines for conversions from last summer (which worked fine) are identical to command lines from the last couple of days (which did not). No joy there.

I've heard it said that BeSweet is buggy, but it's been rock solid for me for so long (five years at least) that I had stopped thinking about it. It's been one of the most stable parts of my whole software suite.

Still, I'll give aften a try. Thanks for the help.

Rick
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[guns1inger]

Is this volume drop apparent only on your PC, or on other playback equipment ?

Have you done an objective comparison of an old source and new one to confirm it is BeSweet that has changed >

For example, AC3 Filter has it's own volume controls that are independent of Window volume control. If these have been changed, it will affect AC3 playback.

[rixware]

The volume drop is apparent in the files when looking at the waves (and then, of course, every step of the way after that, all the way to the DVD player):

- The MPA files are recorded at the desired volume.

- MPA to AC3 in BeSweet results in a volume drop of about 80%.

- MPA to WAV in BeSweet results in NO volume drop.

- WAV to AC3 in BeSweet results in NO volume drop.

The problem happens only when going from MPA to AC3. So my current work-around is to make a WAV file first and then make an AC3 file from that. It doubles the conversion time, which is a real pain given the quantity I'm doing.

What bugs me is that I've been using this software for so long without anything like this ever happening before. I just can't figure out what has changed on my system...

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[rixware]

It looks like Afton only does WAV to AC3. Is this true?

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[guns1inger]

Try DAudioK instead. I only work with wavs as source unless working through a front end like FAVC, so the question have never arisen when I've used Aften. DAudioK will also produce AC3 audio, and will take a variety of source formats.