ENCODERS: Which, Where, & How???

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chronicking

Member
:confused: man i encode everything at 16oK/sec w/CBR. i'm sure im loosing quality but i really can't tell the diff. now i can with like 128k or 96k. it sounds muffled. i dunno maybe im gettin old but i thinx 160k is just fine. my question is, if you don't mind me askin, how do i distinguish which encoder my player(MMjb and WMP) will rip with? Where can i get the best encoders for what i need? and my WMP will sometimes not play certain mp3 files while MMjb will. i don't understand this. can someone post a link that might describe encoders and how to maximize their potentials? a good little free program i also use is CDEX. it lets you choose which encoder to use Lame, Fraunhoffer, etc.etc.....which arouses another question, if those encoders are available to CDEX, does that mean all my players and rippers have access to those encoders that come with CDEX?????? as you can tell, im abit confused about all this. if you can help, lemme know!!! lata! :confused:
 
dx

dx

1
EAC for ripping: link. CDEX is a close second though.

Dibrom's 3.90.3 LAME compiles: link

Chris Myden's settings for EAC and LAME (need a little tweaking though) link

You really can't do much better than that. :cool:
 
L

LTR12101B

1
There are 4 basic types of CODEC.

1. ACM (Audio Compression Manager) - compatible with any application that supports Windows ACM codecs. Filetype .ACM
2. Directshow Filter - not sure, but mat be decompression (Play) only, compatible with any appliction supporting DirectShow. Filetype .AX
3. Command Line - for stanadalone use, and compatible ONLY with programs capable of piping to command line encoder - eg. Exactaudiocopy. Filetype .EXE
4. DLL - the only really common example is the LAME DLL - usable by a number of freeware and non-freeware programs. A few other players also have their decoder as a DLL. Filetype .DLL


Any COMPETENT decoder should be able to handle any MP3 encoder, though there have been a few aberrations - eg. LAME can encode using values outside the limits expected by some decoders, though this feature can be turned off.
 
zver

zver

1
encoders

the good way to find which encoder was used is encspot(bit outdated)..also few other utility which you can find at hydrogen audio too..one of them is mpeg collection.... :)
 
C

chronicking

Member
:confused:
on another note , i found something interesting this evening. someone on this thread posted earlier about the Kazaa reading the tag wrong.
here's what i found..........i was ripping(encoding, watever) at CBR(constant bit rate) 160/kps. i thought i couldn't tell the diff. well, many argued with me so i sat down in front of my hi fi at home ( has pc running to amp) and listened over and over to a STone Sour song that i ripped at CBR 160kps, CBR 192kps, & VBR 160-192kps. i could barely notice a diff if any at all. if i did notice a diff it was in the hi freq. range and not the lows (perhaps it was a better encoding of the voice. im unsure). anywayz that was enuff to convince me to use the VBR rate of 160-192kps. using that bit rate was just a bit bigger than the 160 CBR but not near as big as the 192 CBR. that tells me that 160 CBR is close but needs just a little more hard drive space for the complicated parts of the song. since there is no bit rate between 160 and 192 i reccomend using the VBR(variable bit rate 160-192). OK i know wat your thinxing "where the hell is this stoner going with this".
here's the kicker........Kazaa lite recognized all my id3v2 tags that were ripped at 160kps CBR but once i changed to the VBR of 160-192kps the tags were listed wrong thru Kazaa lite ( the my kazaa in the software engine) the times of the songs were wrong (usually longer than they actually are), the sizes of the files were listed wrong as well, and most annoying of all is that Kazaa lite listed the songs ripped at 128kps!!!!!! That's terrible cuz at this higher bit rate the song's quality is much better than at 128!!!! it makes me wonder how many songs ive past by in kazaa becuz of it listing it as 128kps.
Does anyone know how to remedy this. Now MusicMatchJukeBox read the tags correctly. Window Media Player 9 did as well, but the mini Windows media Player 2 read the times incorrectly as well.
Is there some kind of decoder i need to install that is new enuff to read these VBR mp3's accuratley? or just deal with it........ i dunno , do you?



this is a post from another thread in another forum that i posted. kazaa i know is irreletive here i know, but im more concerned with these VBR mp3 encodings of mine. my Windows media Player 6.4.07 won't play half of them but MMJB will. is there a special decoder i need for all my media players to play these mp3's? im encoding mp3's with cdex at this VBR (160-192) i alwayz used to use Fraunhauffer encoders at 160 CBR. im wondering if this VBR is worth it. does anyone have any input on this subject......lemme know, thanx

update:: hahaha here's a link that helped me a bit
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx
 
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C

celtic_druid

1
There is a mad directshow decoder for wmp, etc.

DirectShow can both encode and decode by the way.

Should point out that I am not talking about the mad filter, it can only decode, but rather the directshow arcitecture in general.
 
F

FrightfoO

Member
EncSpot is a good MP3 analyzer as zver mentioned.

EncSpots scans & analyses MP3 files. It can determine the used encoder with very good accuracy and dig out all the possible information of the file. EncSpot also gives you warnings about low quality MP3 files, such as the ones encoded with XING or encoded with too low bitrate.

Regarding Kazaa - I don't really know when they're going to change that, but it has always been an issue that it doesn't read VBR correctly. They may change this in later versions of Kazaa Lite K++, but I'm not too sure about that.

If EAC is set up correctly using LAME and --alt-preset standard (following Chris Myden's guide that dx posted) it'll certainly end with high quality MP3. --alt-preset standard uses VBR (averaging 192 kbps, but much higher quality than CBR 192 kbps).

Percepted sound/audio quality can be somewhat determined from the type of music. Heavy Metal may need to be encoded at a different bitrate than say Pop music.
 
C

catachresis

1
This has been a terrific thread. My thanks to all the contributors. I was especially pleased with Chris Myden's EAC settings page (Thanks DX!).

Cheers!
 
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