I was wondering what the typical settings most people use for the decode of a DVD's AC3 track. I've been using "-h -v -V5" for a bit which gives me around 110kbps on a normal track. I'm bit worried though I'm not utilizing LAME as much as I could be, maybe using some sort of preset.

My goal is to get a sub-128kbps track (any kbps counts on a 1:30 hour track) to fit with the movie on to one CD (exceptions only for 2:30 hour and longer films). I want relatively transparent sound without any MAJOR degradation in sound quality (18Khz lowpass is ok, though).

And PLEASE don't tell me to use what sounds best to me, I'd like to know what the majority of people find acceptable.

Many thanks in advance.

if you had cared to browse around the forum you would have stumbled upon the --APS parameter which are dibroms tuned and tweaked settings

try something like lame.exe --alt-preset xxx
where xx is you wanted bitrates

these paramteres contains sourcode tweak you cannot archieve with normal parameters

Do you have to use MP3 for the audio? I'd suggest using Vorbis instead. You could get away with a much lower bitrate than LAME and have higher quality as well. LAME really isn't a good choice for low bitrate (sub 128kbps) audio encoding. If you have to use MP3, there are better choices like some of the Fhg encoders.

Only standard,extreme and insane -profiles contain internal codelevel tweaks.
--alt-preset [bitrate] does not.

Vorbis would be your best bet, but for movie audio try --alt-preset [bitrate] --lowpass [lowpass]

The 18khz lowpass for sub-128kbps track is quite high, but for movie-audio it could just make it without too much degreation.

Anyway, you should still try Vorbis like Dibrom suggested.

Relatively transparent is a very relative concept..

what FhG encoders are reccommended for sub-128kbps encodes?

I'd personnally use the encoder in CEP 2 pro.

I've experimented extensively (though it's been awhile) with FhG at really low bitrates (like 24kbps mono or 48kbps stereo) for use with Live365.com streaming, and it isn't too bad. Artifacts are obvious, but not too horrendous -- which suggests that FhG really is a better choice if MP3 is required at low bitrates. Of course there are better low-bitrate alternatives than MP3 these days...

P.S. imho at bitrates lower than 128k (no matter the codec), it's better to use a lowpass well below 18KHz, as it will reduce artifacting. It just isn't reasonable to expect "hi-fi" at low bitrates... you can't squeeze blood out of a stone.

I've tried Ogg for DVD-rip audio tracks before, but I've only run into massive problems. I was delighted with the quality (Vorbis being a "pure" VBR encoder) and bitrate (-q 4 got me what i needed), but after installing the DirectShow codecs and making an OGM with OggMux (0.9.3 I believe) all I got was a black screen as the video playback (audio was fine, though). I also tried simply muxing the Ogg into an AVI (also with DivX5), but Nandub kept crashing on me when I wanted to do that

EDIT: But the Fraunhofer encoders don't support VBR (or ABR), do they?

Yes, most of them do. However, no plain MP3 encoder, VBR or otherwise, will really give you good quality at those bitrates. Certainly not transparent, and most likely not even without offensive artifacts. As I already said, LAME isn't a good choice for low bitrates, and it's VBR mode especially isn't tuned to work very well at low bitrates. I don't know if the Fhg codecs with VBR are decent at low bitrates (in regards to VBR alone) or not.. but at least with CBR they are usually better than LAME. Fhg has tuned their codec for low bitrates. LAME has mostly been tuned for higher bitrates. In addition, LAME doesn't even support some techniques that help with low bitrate encoding like Intensity Stereo, while the Fhg encoders do. I'd really suggest trying to give Ogg another go.. if you can sort out your problems with it, it's definitely the way to go if you're concerned with audio quality. There should be some guides out there, either on doom9.net or everwicked.com, that can help you with this..

It is a real point that Lame is not supporting IS, and IS is really helpfull at low bitrates.
However, you might be surprised by low bitrates results of Lame (using alt-presets) compared to FhG.

I am not saying that Lame is better (or worst), but just that results are surprising considering that there is no IS.

There are some issues with DivX5 playback filter and the DirectShow .ogm filters. Depending on the features you used on the video encoding, sometimes the official DivX playback filter won't work, sometimes ffdshow won't work. But when one fails, the other works, so...

What I currently do is go the Ogg way: audio in Ogg Vorbis, video in DivX5. I keep ffdshow AND the official DivX5 playback filter installed. When one doesn't work (I always try ffdshow first) I uncheck the DivX5 codec association from ffdshow, and that makes the official DivX5 filter kick in the next time. So with 30 seconds of trying, I get to watch the movie anyway... (I think the issue is related with "Smooth playback" option in the official decoder filter, too, or maybe the "Double buffering" option, so that's some couple more thinks to try before giving up on DivX5 in .ogm files... Try it again!)

And I have the added advantages of nicer quality audio, nicer quality video due to the saved space (slightly lower bitrate requirements for the audio + slightly less overhead of .ogm files = more bitrate for the video), and what I loooooove the most: instant seeking!!! First time I saw it, I couldn't believe it...

OT: these days I am going to give a shot at Mode2 cds, possible only with .ogm files, not with .avi files... 100 MB more of space! B)