[Lisa]

Well, the title says it all.

I've been using CDex for encoding but lately I wanted better quality so I went for alt preset standard. But with an upgrade version the settings seemed to have changed. Could be something I did. But now I don't know the exact settings anymore.
So what I want to know.
What is the lowest bitrate and what is supposed to be the highest? And what VBR quality? 'My' CDex says VBR4 at the moment. Is that right?

 

[atici]

Why don't you check Hydrogen Audio forums ?

It has nothing to do with CDEx but the version of LAME you're using. You should be using --alt-preset for highest quality, therefore you don't have anything you can change apart from that in the command line.

Quality goes like this:

--alt-preset extreme
--alt-preset standard
--alt-preset medium


-Z switch is for a little bit higher quality with somewht higher bitrate, -Y switch is a little bit lower quality for somewhat lower bitrate (to be used with -alt-presets).

Check this it explains everything.

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally posted by atici Why don't you check Hydrogen Audio forums ? It has nothing to do with CDEx but the version of LAME you're using. You should be using --alt-preset for highest quality, therefore you don't have anything you can change apart from that in the command line. Quality goes like this: --alt-preset extreme --alt-preset standard --alt-preset medium -Z switch is for a little bit higher quality with somewht higher bitrate, -Y switch is a little bit lower quality for somewhat lower bitrate (to be used with -alt-presets). Check this it explains everything.

The info you gave me I allready found w/ a google search. But the reason I asked is because I went from 320 kb as highest bitrate to 224 kb. And I found that a bit strange.

alt preset standard is the highest I'm encoding for now cause I work on a laptop with a 6 gig HD. Currently I have 1 gig free.

I'm planning on getting a new pc soon and that will allow me to make larger files better quality mp3's

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lisa The info you gave me I allready found w/ a google search. But the reason I asked is because I went from 320 kb as highest bitrate to 224 kb. And I found that a bit strange.

A little confused. Are you trying to go higher than 320 (mp3 max), or did you go from 320 to one of the presets (which will be lower than 320)? Don't have CDex (on Mac) so can't see settings.

 

[blessingx]

It appears CDex also allows MPC encoding. Is this correct? If so you may want to try that for higher quality over MP3.

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx A little confused. Are you trying to go higher than 320 (mp3 max), or did you go from 320 to one of the presets (which will be lower than 320)? Don't have CDex (on Mac) so can't see settings.

With one version of CDex the settings were
128kbps minimum - 320 max.
The other versions settings were 128 - 224

I'm just trying to figure out wich one is supposed to be the alt-preset standard setting.

 

[atici]

If space is your main consideration and you're not planning to play it on quality equipment, then MPC might not be your best option. Try Ogg Vorbis -q4 or AAC at 96 kbps VBR instead. You need to check Hydrogen Audio forums for information on encoding.

If you definitely want to stick with MP3 try
-Y switch which is going to lower the bitrate with minimal drop in quality. Other than that you have no control over the highest bitrate with preset settings, it's the average bitrate you should mind about usually. If it consumes more than you want you need to use one preset lower and compromise in quality or use a different codec (like Ogg or AAC).

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx It appears CDex also allows MPC encoding. Is this correct? If so you may want to try that for higher quality over MP3.

It does have something called "External Musepack Encoder". That's mpc right???
I'll try this later, see what the possibilities are.

But I'm encoding for a mp3 player so mpc won't work on that.

 

[atici]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lisa I'm just trying to figure out wich one is supposed to be the alt-preset standard setting.

None. Alt-preset standard is alt-preset standard. Check this . You might need to change the LAME DLL (because some can't use alt preset settings) version you have if you want to use DLL. Or switch to command line encoder.

There's no way to achieve "alt-preset standard" other than itself. No playing with other switches (like min/max bitrate, stereo separation etc.) would make it alt-preset standard. It's a way to tell LAME "I give you full control over the encoding process as long as you give me standard quality files".