• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

    Read BEFORE posting Trades & Request

2.0 to 5.1 question for you guys

Just wanted to chime in and add that (for mac users) Final Cut Pro X has some pretty nice built-in surround sound tools.

Not only can it up-convert to surround sound, it has a sound stage you can play with each individual audio "track" as to how it maps to the various surround channels. It's got a bunch of presets (for example, "ambience," "dialog," music"), and also lots of sliders, etc. to customize things. Most of it is way beyond my level of expertise, but it's there for people who know what they are doing. ;-)
 
2nd @secior's FCPX recommendation. i was able to convert easily a stereo song into 5.1 to match the rest of the soundtrack. it's not true 5.1, but good enough for my purposes.

questions re: 5.1 bit rates: at what bit rate do you dudes & dudettes usually encode audio? 640 kbps? 384? other bit rates?

thanks in advance.
 
ssj said:
questions re: 5.1 bit rates: at what bit rate do you dudes & dudettes usually encode audio? 640 kbps? 384? other bit rates?
Click to expand...

You need to specify which codec you envisage using because some are better at compressing than others. In other words, it's meaningless to ask about bitate without reference to codec. The bitrates you listed are common ones for AC-3, so I assume that that's what you have in mind.


  • 384kbps is the lowest bitrate that you can get away for 5.1: go higher if you possibly can.
  • For DVD, the spec limits you to 448kbps, so use that.
  • For AVCHD and BD (and, of course, containers such as MKV), you can go to 640kbps and should do if you value quality.
 
correct, captain, AC3. thanks for the edumacation!

will use 640 kbps, then, on my final encode.
 
another question, khajiiti:

should i encode with AAC or AC3? handbrake's options for bit rates are lower for AAC encoding than for AC3, so should i presume that AAC encoding is of higher quality for a given bit rate?

and will AAC audio present compatibility issues on non-Apple devices?

gracias in advance, amigo.
 
ssj said:
handbrake's options for bit rates are lower for AAC encoding than for AC3, so should i presume that AAC encoding is of higher quality for a given bit rate?
Click to expand...

Yes.

and will AAC audio present compatibility issues on non-Apple devices?
Click to expand...

Nowadays, there should be few compatibility issues with AAC, but AC-3 is the older codec and is universally supported, so it's the safe option.

should i encode with AAC or AC3?
Click to expand...

It really is up to you. You mentioned Handbrake, so I assume that you are releasing a file rather than a disc. (For AVCHD/BD/DVD, you should, of course, pick AC-3.)

If I need to encode audio in a lossy fashion (and I rarely do), I still use AC-3 because I know everything will play it. Moreover, the superior compression offered by other codecs does not matter to me, because I feel no need to hit a particular file-size when I'm not aiming to fit the result on a disc. Besides, the audio stream should be far smaller than the video stream, so selecting AAC rather AC-3 makes an inconsequential difference to the file-size, in my opinion.

gracias in advance, amigo.
Click to expand...

No problema.
 
Fantastic, captain. I just got schooled!

tenkyu.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom