Audio Bit Rate in BeyondTV4

[k33p0u7]

I was wondering if there was anyway of selecting a higher audio bit rate in BeyondTV4? The highest I can find is 224000 bps. I was wondering if you can go to something like 256000bps. I can go to 256000pbs in my ATI media center and the sound is much better.

[not_Shorty]

I use 384Kbps with my PVR-250 cards. Just edit the userprofiles.xml file and change it to whatever you like, and test it out. I really don't know why you can't select anything higher than 224, when the cards are capable of much higher with much better quality. This has been brought to snapstream's attention a few times, with no response given for some reason.

[k33p0u7]

Thanks...I will try taking a look at the userprofiles.xml and experiement.

[k33p0u7]

I tried editing the userprofiles.xml and changed the audio bitrate to 256Kps. I went into the settings and I can only see 224Kbps for MPEG2 recordings (this is my default). Even though you can only see 224Kbps will it use the setting in userprofiles.xml and record at 256Kbps? Does the userprofiles.xml influence audio bitrate in MPEG2 settings?

[not_Shorty]

userprofiles.xml contains all your custom recording qualities. It takes a bit of reading to figure out the format it uses, but you should be able to find the particular quality profile that you're trying to modify and then change its audio bitrate to whatever you'd like. Yes, the web UI shows incorrect information, but if you try a recording you should see in the log that the custom rate you set should have been used. Not to mention the files themselves should contain audio at the bitrate you've set. It works just fine for me at 384Kbps with my Hauppauge PVR-250 cards, but I don't know if your cards have the same capability, bitrate-wise, as mine do. You should be able to experiment a bit and see if you hit a ceiling, perhaps it might error out after a certain point. All I know for sure is my PVR-250 cards have no problem with 384Kbps.

[k33p0u7]

Originally Posted by not_Shorty

userprofiles.xml contains all your custom recording qualities. It takes a bit of reading to figure out the format it uses, but you should be able to find the particular quality profile that you're trying to modify and then change its audio bitrate to whatever you'd like. Yes, the web UI shows incorrect information, but if you try a recording you should see in the log that the custom rate you set should have been used. Not to mention the files themselves should contain audio at the bitrate you've set. It works just fine for me at 384Kbps with my Hauppauge PVR-250 cards, but I don't know if your cards have the same capability, bitrate-wise, as mine do. You should be able to experiment a bit and see if you hit a ceiling, perhaps it might error out after a certain point. All I know for sure is my PVR-250 cards have no problem with 384Kbps.

Hi Thanks for all the good information......I was wondering where the log file is located you mentioned above?

[k33p0u7]

Hi There:

I tried to do the edits suggestion and it doesn't work. I have an ATI TV Wonder card that I have been able to set the audio bit rate to 384Kbps in the past and it sounds great when played back. Is there anywhere else I can over ride the audio bit rate settings in BeyondTV 4?

[DonK]

Not really.

The audio rates were set like that from the start to maintain DVD spec compatibility.

Yes, there are higher rates available to hardware encoders, but it was set at 224 maximum for compatibility and space issues.

Remember, there are also people doing software encoders and that's where the performance can hit hard.

[k33p0u7]

Originally Posted by DonK

Not really.

The audio rates were set like that from the start to maintain DVD spec compatibility.

Yes, there are higher rates available to hardware encoders, but it was set at 224 maximum for compatibility and space issues.

Remember, there are also people doing software encoders and that's where the performance can hit hard.

Thanks for the information.....One question; I thought 256Kbps was the minimum audio bit rate for DVD.....Isn't 224 on the low side for the audio track in DVDs?

[not_Shorty]

the 224Kbps max is probably just what the software encoder that snapstream is using is capable of, or what they artificially limited it to. As I said, 384Kbps works just fine with my PVR-250 card, which encodes the audio on the card in its hardware. As for bitrate minimums, I don't believe there are any specified minimums for a DVD, only maximums.