Inconsistent bitrate message in Maestro

[TIB]

Hi,

I'm trying to author back the movie The Royal Tenenbaums. When I load up the audio files into DVD Maestro I get a message as (Inconsistent bitrates where found among audio frames. Bitrate should be constant througout the stream). I have already seen suggestions with regards this kind of problem in the forum advising to remove the last chapter with Smartripper. However the problem is that I have demuxed the files already so I have 1 movie file and 2 seperate audio files. Has anyone any idea the way I could overcome this problem?

Thanks for your help,

[auenf]

in DVD the video can be VBR, but the audio MUST be CBR, this error message is telling you that there is a variance in the bitrate.

the removing the last chapter usually works, or decode the audio to .wav and reencode will work as well.

cause you have already demuxxed the files, it will be hard to cut the files exact without muxxing (use tmpegenc), which is probably easiest.

Enf...

[cinephile]

You can use AC3Machine and BeSweet to convert the AC3 VBR file to an AC3 CBR file.
I've found this on later Disney titles.
Hope this helps.

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by auenf
the removing the last chapter usually worksOriginally posted by cinephile
You can use AC3Machine and BeSweet to convert the AC3 VBR file to an AC3 CBR file.i would suggest that you re-encode (with BeSweetGUI/AC3Machine/SFSE) the last chapter into the same bitrate of the rest.

[dinston]

I think I found an elegant solution to this problem.
Use azid:

azid -N vts_01_T02_Delay_-66ms.ac3

and you'll see:

[00:00:00.000] +------ BSI -----
[00:00:00.000] | Bitrate: 384 kbit (48 kHz)
[00:00:00.000] | Mode: Complete Main (CM)
[00:00:00.000] | Audio mode: 3/2 L,C,R,SL,SR+LFE
[00:00:00.000] | Center mix level: -3.0dB
[00:00:00.000] | Surround mix level: -3.0dB
[00:00:00.000] | Dialogue level: -27dB
[00:00:00.000] | Stream: Copyright protected, Original stream
[00:00:00.000] +----------------
[00:00:01.984] +------ BSI -----
[00:00:01.984] | Bitrate: 448 kbit (48 kHz)
[00:00:01.984] | Mode: Complete Main (CM)
[00:00:01.984] | Audio mode: 3/2 L,C,R,SL,SR+LFE
[00:00:01.984] | Center mix level: -3.0dB
[00:00:01.984] | Surround mix level: -6.0dB
[00:00:01.984] | Dialogue level: -27dB
[00:00:01.984] | Mixlevel: 105dB SPL
[00:00:01.984] | Roomtype: Large room, X curve monitor
[00:00:01.984] | Stream: Copyright protected, Original stream
[00:00:01.984] +----------------

So only in the first 2 seconds the bitrate is inconsistent.
Seems there may be an extra cell or something in the VOB.
Use BeSplit to cut the 1st 2 seconds:

BeSplit -core( -input vts_01_T02_-66ms.ac3" -prefix T02 -type ac3 -ending ) -split( 2 )

Then add a 1934ms (2000-66) delay with "Ac3 Delay Corrector".
This worked perfectly for me.

[timekills]

AC3Machine made (relatively) fast but definitely easy work of the VBR AC3 file in The Royal Tennebaums. It is the 5.1 (3_2) channel AC3, as mentioned eariler.

Simply load it into AC3machine, make sure nothing in Azid Doenmix is checked (we're keeping it 5.1, obviously), nothing in SSRC needs to be checked (already 48 KHz), Overall Ouput Config should be cheked for 5.1 (you can add compression if you desire and Auto Find maximum gain if you wish as well), the Set Delay should already be preset (-66 ms in this case).

The IMPORTANT part is the AC3 Encoding options - bitrate. Set it to what the majority of the file is or the highest of the VBR rates, typically 448 kbit for 5.1

Then go! Soon enough you'll have a CBR AC3 file that DVDMaestro (and other authoring programs) will like.

BTW, I even tried de-muxing all 5.1 channels into separate WAV files and then remuxing into AC3 using APack that comes with DVD Studio pro on my Mac G4, and it balked too. So the best answer really is reencoding at CBR. Plus you don't have to worry about changing the delay or synch problems.