Cbr Mp3 Vs. Vbr/auto

[Bardmaster]

In AutoGK's AUTO mode for audio, it indicates it's a form of VBR. But the DivX guide strongly recommends CBR for its AVI files. Any thoughts?

[Brother John]

PC playback is extremely unlikely to be affected by CBR/VBR anyway. On a standalone it depends on your player's capabilities.

[Bardmaster]

Sorry I should have elaborated: I am working on ripping my entire DVD collection to a media server which streams A/V to a media bridge from D-Link (DSM-520), which btw seems to work best with DivX AVI video. So actual playback will be on an LCD TV.

I've been defaulting AutoGK to CBR MP3 with a 192k bitrate. This has worked well (except in some cases where the sound is not in synch, but that appears to be related to other issues such as multiple angles), and Lenox appears to prefer XviD which might be more compatible with VBR, don't know.

[jggimi]

Video and audio are demuxed and dealt with separately, so a discussion of audio compatibility is a "dog that won't hunt" as they say in certain parts of the U.S.

The issue with CBR vs VBR (or ABR, really) has to do with the AVI container, and what is demuxing it into streams, and the audio stream decoding.

There are camps that will pick one or the other, and be very vocal about it, and say you *must* use one or the other.

That's wonderful, for them. :rolleyes:

Try an encoding one way, then the other. See what you like best, yourself, when you watch and listen, in your environment, with your equipment.

(I happen to prefer ABR mp3 over CBR mp3 with my content and my equipment and my ears. But I won't insist you must prefer it as well.)

[Bardmaster]

LOL - as with most of this science, there is little in the way of empirical truths, and more on subjective, "experience-driven" answers. "There is no one truth: the answer lies within." :D I'll stick with my CBR because it's what the Lords of DivX decree...and unless the sound is off-sync I'll likely never notice the difference anyway.

I certainly appreciate the community spirit of this and the VideoHelp forums, and the altruistic nature of most of the A/V enthusiasts who post here. I've learned a lot about the tricky, often frustrating but ultimately rewarding, hobby of video ripping and encoding in the past month or so.

Sorry to wax poetic, hope I didn't break the rules.:p

Hail Doom9! :thanks:

[jggimi]

Lovingly ripped off from a 35-year old TV show:Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?

[looking down and seeing the insect] Young Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?

Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not? Did you lose your DTS decoder?With gentle apologies to Warner Bros. Television.