List of recommended LAME settings, Discussion Options

[beowulf7]

How was the "Quality to File Size" chart found within LAME's wiki page derived?

I also ask, in advance, that someone please add my question's answer to the wiki. Without it, many intelligent viewers may easily ignore the chart (like I have). I think this would be a a tragic outcome if the authors of the chart and/or it's supporting research put any effort into their work.

I don't have an account on wikipedia.org, but anyone who does can update the definition. I agree that the chart you linked to is very useful, as long as however "quality" is measured on the y-axis is accurate.

This is not wikipedia.org but hydrogenaudio's own wiki.

Oops, my bad. Thanks. But it would be nice to see that chart referenced in wikipedia, if it already isn't. (I haven't checked to see if it is or isn't.)

[audiophiler]

this is just a simple question, is it safe to use LAME 3.98 alpha 3? bec i just saw it was released by rarewarez.org last feb.

http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html

thanks.

[outscape]

alpha should never be used beyond TESTING unless it is an "approved" alpha which in your case it is not. to archive your music use only the most recent recommended version which is 3.97b2.

[Diow]

I Have used -q2 and -q0 in same configuration "--preset cbr 320 -ms -qx"(LAME 3.90.3)and I had noticied in the espectral analysis at -q0 comparing to -q2 an fall in high frequencies,that's bad or good? This fall in high frequencies are preventing artifacts? In listening tests I'm not noticied diferences.
And at 320 what is recomended :j-stereo or stereo only?

[shadowking]

I Have used -q2 and -q0 in same configuration "--preset cbr 320 -ms -qx"(LAME 3.90.3)and I had noticied in the espectral analysis at -q0 comparing to -q2 an fall in high frequencies,that's bad or good? This fall in high frequencies are preventing artifacts? In listening tests I'm not noticied diferences.
And at 320 what is recomended :j-stereo or stereo only?

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=28124

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....t=ST&f=15&t=995

[Diow]

Thanks Shadowking,these topics help me so much.

[Jan S.]

Since the wiki now has almost the same google rating as the forum thread (1. vs. 3. with afterdawn in between) isn't it time that we only have it one place instead of two (and it seems like user doesn't update the wiki when he updates the forum thread)?
Especially I'd like to know what user thinks since he is the one updating the forum thread.

[user]

wiki is nice, but one (me) cannot do everything, ie. both at the same time.
wiki can be updated by interested people, ie. everybody of HA.
I have worked on the begin of the wiki-lame-mp3 page on some details.

wiki is wiki, forum is forum, forum-list links to wiki (and iirc vice versa, which results probably to high google rating for both)
ie. as old forum guy who clicks on sticky topics in the special mp3-forum as example, I get the mp3 results.
For clicking to wiki I'd need a special link, which I would not find if I were really an mp3 newbie, and google might output varying, ie. too many results. Furthermore, a sticky topic is good old informative forum tradition.
As for the dynamic updating, the whole list, the wiki also, is work-in-progress, more or less fluently, at the moment less, as a lot has been optimized over time. But if there is progress/ideas/suggestions in whatever case, it can be carried out.
Maybe I am a bit reluctant to edit at wiki, as that is not under personal responsibilty, as the HA-crowd/group/moderators? (moderator with big questionmark, as a wiki is a group project) is responsible. Whereas at the topic, there is felt some responsibility to do something. Maybe the wiki can be adjusted by somebody else of the crowd, so that there is no monoismn of "user".

This post has been edited by user: Sep 29 2006, 11:13

[Cosmo]

Two sources of info is redundant, and will conflict (& perhaps confuse) if they aren't updated simultaneously. I also think that sticky topics are important (though IMO the 4 separate topics seem a bit disorganised/overkill).

Suggestion: One condensed sticky topic:

README: Recommended LAME Versions and Settings

CODE

Recommended LAME Settings - Link to Wiki article
                          - Link to Discussion topic

Recommended LAME Compiles - Link to Wiki article
                          - Link to Discussion topic

Message about LAME versions and alphas

[beto]

IMO the info should be kept in one place only to avoid confusion and conflict. The wiki seems the best place to me because any interested member may maintain it. The burden would not fall onto one person only (user in this case).
The sticky in the the forum should be maintained but only linking to the wiki page IMO.

[Jan S.]

wiki is nice, but one (me) cannot do everything, ie. both at the same time.
wiki can be updated by interested people, ie. everybody of HA.

Isn't this exactly why it is better to have it at one place and especially at the wiki?

wiki is wiki, forum is forum, forum-list links to wiki (and iirc vice versa, which results probably to high google rating for both)
ie. as old forum guy who clicks on sticky topics in the special mp3-forum as example, I get the mp3 results.
For clicking to wiki I'd need a special link, which I would not find if I were really an mp3 newbie, and google might output varying, ie. too many results. Furthermore, a sticky topic is good old informative forum tradition.

Wouldn't it be just as good if the forum sticky redirects to the wiki as it is done in the lossless forum?
That way you find it no matter where you look...
As for google having too many results... Could you explain what you mean? Redirecting the forum thread would only give fewer results if any change at all (?).

As for the dynamic updating, the whole list, the wiki also, is work-in-progress, more or less fluently, at the moment less, as a lot has been optimized over time. But if there is progress/ideas/suggestions in whatever case, it can be carried out.
Maybe I am a bit reluctant to edit at wiki, as that is not under personal responsibilty, as the HA-crowd/group/moderators? (moderator with big questionmark, as a wiki is a group project) is responsible. Whereas at the topic, there is felt some responsibility to do something. Maybe the wiki can be adjusted by somebody else of the crowd, so that there is no monoismn of "user".

I do share your concern over the lack of responsibility at the wiki. Since everybody can edit people could change something they shouldn't. However this does not seem to be a problem at the HA wiki. I have rarely seen it and in the case it does happen it can be easily be reversed. Also you can "watch" the page so you are notified each time that page is edited by someone.

[user]

As others suggested also, we can improve the mp3-forum by making 2-3 topics unsticky,
ie. 1. the sticky about lame compiles,
2. the sticky about lame versions,
the 2 topics by JohnV and Dibrom.
iirc, these issues/topics should be and are dealt with in the list of recommendations/settings.

the 3rd topic which could be made unsticky, is this discussion topic, as it is also linked in the sticky list of settings/recommendations.

Then the mp3-general forum might look immediately easier to overview.

*found the reason, why I could not edit wiki like some time before: Protected wiki page:
Editing access
To prevent spamming this wiki now requires that you have been validated for editing. To be able to edit the wiki you need to:

Be a member at HydrogenAudio forum
Contact Jan S. and ask to get access (which you will get as soon as he sees your message).
Retrieved from "http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Hydrogenaudio_Knowledgebase:Protected_page"

Can you enable it ?

This post has been edited by user: Oct 2 2006, 14:30

[Jan S.]

As it is now "List of recommended LAME compiles" redirects to the wiki.
The 2 others I think should probably be unsticky too if they are linked from the wiki (or that should be done).
But why not redirect the lame settings thread to the wiki too? Are you still against that?


btw.: gave you wiki access a few days ago.

This post has been edited by Jan S.: Oct 4 2006, 19:48

[user]

thanks,
as said above, those 3 sticky topics ( a. lame compiles b. lame alphas c. discussion of recommended list ) could already be made unsticky, because those are linked from the sticky list, and from wiki.
As for the reason of a forum as discussion platform with culture & non-static information, imo the sticky should be filled with content, not only link to wiki. The way the sticky was built up over time, was via the forum.

This post has been edited by user: Oct 4 2006, 21:53

[Torniojaws]

Is it just me, or do the presets in the preset topic omit genre data? I have tried the switches on various different versions of LAME + EAC, and none of my rips have genre data in the ID3 tag. All other data is included just fine, but the genre is always missing, regardless if I used the data directly from freedb, or data that I entered myself. Even if it's one of the standard genres (ie. Metal, or Industrial, or similar), it is not included.

This happens on EAC 0.95 beta 3 and beta 4, with LAME versions between 3.95 to 3.97 b2 and also 3.97 Final that I just tried.

Here's the exact switch I use (though it is the same as on the main thread):

-V 2 --vbr-new --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

This post has been edited by Torniojaws: Nov 16 2006, 17:53

[arpeggio]

Here's the exact switch I use (though it is the same as on the main thread):

-V 2 --vbr-new --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

In your command line the genre switch is missing. You should add --tg "%m".
I'd recommend to add the switch --ignore-tag-errors as well. It will prevent Lame.exe from crashing if you enter a type of genre that is not in the Lame genre list.

Your command line could look like this:

CODE

-V 2 --vbr-new --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ignore-tag-errors --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" --tg "%m" %s %d

Cheers!

[beowulf7]

I upgraded from 3.97b2 to 3.97 (final release). I didn't notice any obvious differences. Apparently, 3.97 (final) is the same as 3.97b3.

[Style]

Hmm, since I've started using the settings in this post, AQScript->Enforce is now failing. It looks like it doesn't like the ID3 tags. I tried all three versions of ID3 provided, but all fail with different errors:

ID3v1:
-V 3 --vbr-new --id3v1-only --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

ID3v2:
-V 3 --vbr-new --id3v2-only --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

ID3v1 and ID3v2:
-V 3 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

Please let me know. Thanks!

[pdq]

Possibly you are using a genre that LAME doesn't like. Try adding the switch "--ignore-tag-errors".

[Style]

Possibly you are using a genre that LAME doesn't like. Try adding the switch "--ignore-tag-errors".

Well, I'm not getting the error from LAME. LAME says everything is A-OK. I'm getting the errors from AQScript->Enforce. Any ideas?

[robert]

Possibly you are using a genre that LAME doesn't like. Try adding the switch "--ignore-tag-errors".

Well, I'm not getting the error from LAME. LAME says everything is A-OK. I'm getting the errors from AQScript->Enforce. Any ideas?

It seems AQScript want's to enforce you to use some legacy LAME encoder. The "--vbr-new" switch is recommended for 3.97 or newer, if you are using some older LAME version, drop this switch from your command line.

This post has been edited by robert: Jan 2 2007, 23:23

[_Raziel-BG]

Could someone be so kind as to explain the difference between the -V and -q parameters. They both are concerning quality but can be separately tuned. What is the exact difference?

[Jebus]

Could someone be so kind as to explain the difference between the -V and -q parameters. They both are concerning quality but can be separately tuned. What is the exact difference?

-V determines the bitrate used. Lower -V levels make for larger files, and better quality.

-q determines how detailed the psychoacoustic algorithm should get. Higher -q levels make for longer encoding times, but theoretically better quality ones (at the same bitrate).

in practice, there is no proof that any -q levels beyond -q3 actually make a quaity difference, but they sure slow things down. -q3 is used by the presets. Basically, don't mess with the -q level.

This post has been edited by Jebus: Feb 2 2007, 22:05

[_Raziel-BG]

Could someone be so kind as to explain the difference between the -V and -q parameters. They both are concerning quality but can be separately tuned. What is the exact difference?

-V determines the bitrate used. Lower -V levels make for larger files, and better quality.

-q determines how detailed the psychoacoustic algorithm should get. Higher -q levels make for longer encoding times, but theoretically better quality ones (at the same bitrate).

in practice, there is no proof that any -q levels beyond -q3 actually make a quaity difference, but they sure slow things down. -q3 is used by the presets. Basically, don't mess with the -q level.

Thank you for the quick response.

P.S.: One more thing puzzles me. In CDex when I select either preset standard or extreme, they both use VBR quality 2, whereas the first post in the topic with the lame settings says that preset extreme is VBR0. CDex uses lame_enc.dll 3.97. Am I missing something?

This post has been edited by _Raziel-BG: Feb 2 2007, 22:28

[UrbanVoyeur]

in practice, there is no proof that any -q levels beyond -q3 actually make a quality difference, but they sure slow things down. -q3 is used by the presets. Basically, don't mess with the -q level.

But you can't deny the placebo effect of -V0 -q0. Nothing feels quite so right as overkill.