ITunes & Constant Bit Rate

Hi. Okay this is my first time posting here. Up till now I've been decently satisfied with my iPhone. However right now I'm trying to import some songs from a CD that I own onto my computer and into my iTunes Library.
Okay so I watched the tutorial video. I did a little research online and I found the way to change the import settings.
I want a HIGH QUALITY music file in the .aac format at a CONSTANT BIT RATE.
Following me so far? With that in mind when it came to the 1st screen I selected "Custom" and I choose
Stereo Bit Rate: 320
Sample Rate: 44.100 kHz
Channels: Auto
Within this window the option "Use Variable Bit Rate" was SELECTED.
I unchecked/deselected it because I want a CBR (Constant Bit Rate).
And then I hit "Okay" thinking that I had done everything correct and perfectly.
Then I was back at the Main Pain. I hit Import CD hoping it would use the custom settings. However when I went to the folder to my shock and surprise it was giving me music files with a varying bit rate.
Some files were 325. Others were 321 and a few 319. This is NOT what I wanted and not what I expected from iTunes. I tell it to not use VBR it should be doing CBR right?
So that's why I'm hear. What do I need to do to get this to WORK the way I want it to? Or should I just give up and use another program like Windows Media Player to rip my songs into .mp3? I'd rather use .aac since I hear it's better quality and it's the evolution of mp3.
Any help would be greatly appreciated....
Message was edited by: TheLionOfAzzalle

It's still NOT working.
I've done exactly the way you suggested. I've also tried it with "use error correction" and it still doesn't give me what I want.
The only thing that sorta produces what I want is when I put it to mono and start the importing process the files all come out at the same bitrate.
However the highest bitrate I can get with that is 160. And that's not what I want.
I'm about to just give up. On top of iTunes being ridiculous slow on all Windows computers I now find that importing songs is a complete hassle.

Similar Messages

Trying to make MPEG2 HD 422 Transport stream at constant bit rate

I am trying to make a Compressor Preset to make MPEG2 HD 422 Transport stream 1920x1080i with a Constant Bit Rate of 15 Mbps and Open GOP structure . but when I select MPEG transport stream I can't make it a Constant Bit Rate and the GOP structure is set to Closed and "Grayed Out"
I am making files for our Playout Server and this is the specs requested by the manufacturer.
Is there a way to make this setting or do I just need to go to Adobe Media Encoder?

K47MU-D wrote:
Is there a way to make this setting or do I just need to go to Adobe Media Encoder?
Media Encoder is a very good choice for what you need to do.
Other than bit rate, Compressor offers very little in the way of adjustments to their presets for program streams and transport stream.
Good luck.
Russ

Export to .m2t constant bit rate

I need to export out of FCP a film as an mpeg transport stream, file prefix .m2t i'm currently using compressor 3.0.5 but it will only give me variable bit rate for out put which is no good. Can anyone tell me if compressor 3.5 corrects this problem or if there is a third party piece of software that I could use ? I looked at lumiere hd but i'm not sure if they are still in business.
export setting are as follows.
1920 x 1080 progressive, at a constant bit rate of 15 or 20 mbps per sec.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks Wally, it may come to that. Today I bought the up grade hoping that this would solve the problem but no just the same if I want to compress a HD file, into a .m2t file it still greys out the CBR option. A friend who has a similar system and was working in FCP 6.0.3 was able to produce them but said it was a bit involved, gave me a copy of one of his saved settings. I opened it in compressor and in the inspector summary it read as you would hope. However when I clicked on the inspector tabs, it defaulted to VBR. ***! Don't really know what to think. What could be effecting the changing of settings in compressor in such a way. I checked the preferences but there was nothing there that stood out as being relevant .... I thought about doing a total clean install but it seems rather extreme and without guarantee of sorting it.

How to encode 50 MB constant bit rate I Frame only MPEG-2 Program Stream

I want to do a test upload to a digital programme delivery service. I'll be encoding a short clip for FTP upload.
The specs the company sent says material should be encoded as follows:
"50 MB constant bit rate I Frame only MPEG-2 Program Stream direct from digital source."
Can anyone translate this into Compressor settings?
Material also must have timecode.
Thanks

50MB constant bitrate? I hope you meant 50 Mbps... hehe. Hmmm... 29 Mbps seems to be max, using Compressor.
To get a constant bit rate (CBR), choose One Pass CBR under the Quality tab in the Inspector.
I am not sure if Compressor can do I-Frame only, but it can give you an IP GOP structure. Setting the GOP Structure to IP, and the GOP Size to the lowest possible gives you the best possible quality, but also the largest file size.
For audio, choose AIFF, and make sure it gets the same name as the .m2v, but of course with the right .aif suffix.
To make an MPEG-2 Program Stream, you need to use MPEG Streamclip (freeware).
Open the .m2v file in MPEG Streamclip (the audio should automaticly load with the video file if they have the same file name). Choose the file menu and choose Covnvert To MPEG Using MP2 Audio.

Constant bit rate MPEG2?

Hi,
I've been asked to supply a file in 1920x1080 MPEG2 constant bit rate format, but I can't seem to select CBR as an option if it's 1920x1080 MPEG2... does anyone have a solution?
Paul

Again, I can't quite figure it out. Here's what's happening on my screen:
I select Apple ProRes 422 as the target (and check that the output frame rate and size are the same 25fps, progressive, 1920x1080 as the source)
I go to the inspector window, and change file format to MPEG2, select Generic for stream usage, HD 1920x1080 for the video format... and can only One or Two Pass VBR. (Same result with HD DVD or BluRay as the stream usage settings; I can select CBR for non-HD formats.)
What am I missing?

Constant Bit Rate CBR for HD

Why is there no option for HD MPEG-2 streams with a constant bit rate (CBR)? This is standard across broadcast formats, so why no option? And why no answers to this question? It's been asked for some time here.

Why is there no option for HD MPEG-2 streams with a constant bit rate (CBR)? This is standard across broadcast formats, so why no option? And why no answers to this question? It's been asked for some time here.

Constant Bit Rate H264

Hi all.
Im converting a movie for real time streaming, but i have a problem because the data rate change. I want to keep the same bit rate in the movie for streaming, but i have not seen the Constant Bit Rate CBR option in my Quick Time Pro 7.02.
How can i do it?

Here are screenshots. I tried a couple of tests and seems that the bit rate it resets to is random. For instance, I just set the bit rate to 35 and clicked OK. Then I went back into the settings and set it to 25 and clicked OK. Then I started the compression and it had reset itself back to 35. Then I deleted the source file, re-imported it, used the same blu-ray preset, and changed it to CBR 23mb/s, but when I started the encode it had jumped to 25. I stopped it, went into the settings, changed it to 18 and clicked OK. Then I went back into the settings and it was back at 25. Here are some screenshots of what's going on, taken within a couple seconds of each other.

50 MB constant bit rate I Frame only MPEG-2 Program

'50 MB constant bit rate I Frame only MPEG-2 Program'
What does that all mean, and how do I go about to find all these settings?
It's for a commercial.
Niel

You're going to have a much easier time doing this in Compressor 3 than in 2, but what I'm assuming you're talking about here is a Program stream (multiplexed file) very similar to a transport stream.
These MPEG-2 encoded files are used for broadcast and have both the audio and video contained in one file as opposed to DVD which requires those assets separated into elementary streams.
If you're using Compressor 2, create a custom MPEG-2 setting and in the extras tab of the Encoder Pane select the Multiplexed option. Note though, that you will only be able to take the bit rate up to 20Mbps and it will only create a transport stream.
In Compressor 3 you can choose between Program and Transport streams and you can increase the bit rate up to 40Mbps.
BG

ITunes song bit rate

All the music I download from the iTunes shop comes as 128 kbps bitrate. I seem to recall setting this up when I created my account, but would like to increase it to a higher bit rate. Does anyone know how I might do this?

He's referring to downloads from the iTMS, which is a constant 128 kbps. There is no "setting" for that.
True, but there are songs in the iTMS which have a higher bitrate than that. Not many, but a couple here or there.
The bitrate is basically set by the artist/uploader/encoder. This stuff isn't encoded "on-the-fly" at Apple. They don't set the bitrate at which people download the stuff. If some independant artist wanted to use a higher bitrate when putting their music on the store, I don't think there's anything preventing them from actually doing it.

TS5181 iTunes radio - Bit Rate and recording

There is an ongoing comparision to Pandora however, I suggest that Pandora offers a better value by far:
1. iTunes Radio does not state bit-rate
2. Pandora One is 192kb for $40/yr, with no adds; free Pandora is 64kb and has adds
3. PandoraJam permits recording to Mac, $15 one-time cost, 192kb unlimited downoads
4. iTunes Match, at $25/yr, permits saving current and paid misic to iCloud plus no adds, but STILL charges $1.29/song.
NOTE: I am pro Apple and nearly all my IT devices are Apple however; this is a difficult business case.
Can anyone tell me why iTunes Radio would be a better deal?

I'm curious as well what the bit rate is for iTunes Radio and am suprised Apple hasn't published it.
Forbes.com is doing a followup story soon which will compare iTunes Radio, Spotify and Pandora that you may want to check out.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amadoudiallo/2013/09/18/apple-releases-itunes-radio- a-pandora-alternative/
Amadou Diallo, Contributor 1 day ago
Apple has a history of withholding geek-oriented specs on consumer-oriented products. By their silence I think we can assume that it’s not higher than what Pandora’s max setting offers. And it certainly wouldn’t make sense for the rate to be greater than the 256 kbps of iTunes purchases.
There’s also the possibility that Apple is offering adaptive rates depending on whether a user is connected over WiFi or cellular.
I’m working on a story comparing aspects of iTunes Radio, Pandora and Spotify (stay tuned) and I’ll report on whether there’s an audible difference between them.
Also found a post on Macrumors by someone who did their own "test" yesterday who is suggesting that it is 256 kbps similar to what you get for iTunes purchases.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1639713
Money and "value" aside, I've been listening to iTunes Radio for a day now on my Denon AVR and B &W surround sound system via airplay streaming to my AppleTV and it sounds as good as Pandora One -- and I think the playlist alogorithim is superior to Pandora as I'm hearing a bunch more variety and music I like on a station I created similar to one I have on Pandora.

Constant Bit Rate or One Pass VBR?

I'm about to burn a 90 minute DVD and I don't know if I should use CBR or One Pass. The footage is old and has lots of noise. My bit rate equation (560/x) comes out to about 6.2. If I use One Pass VBR can I go higher on the max than 6.2? I know I'll need a little room for audio. I'm going to use an
A/C at 192. What do you think?
John

The footage is old and has lots of noise.
Then it might need a higher bitrate. . . Even though the noise is ugly, at a low bitrate it would get even uglier.
Noise has a lot of info , it's like (for lack of a better example) a shot of a tree with lots of leaves blowing around. Lots of information which needs a higher bitrate to do it justice.
Just like David pointed out, do a test & see what is needed for your footage.
Bill
PowerMac G5 Dual 2GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3) DVD Studio Pro 4.02 + Windows XP

Constant Bit Rate / ATSC HD Formats / NOT AVAILABLE?

Compressor does not allow CBR as an available compression format for any HD formats- Only NTSC.
This has been a bit of a frustration for us, as a number of HD playout hardware manufacturers require CBR files types for their compressed media.
Does anyone know if Apple Pro Apps have any plans to support CBR for HD formats in the future...?
Thanks;
Benjamin Lein

good question... i've been trying to find out about creating a MPEG 422 CBR for XDCAM is it possible?

Random import bit rates?????????

My import settings are set to: 192kbps 48Khz AAC with NO variable bit rate. For some random reason itunes stated importing my music at random bit rates usually 3 to 7 kbps below my set rate. I decided to "factory refresh" my computer as it was time hoping it would fix the issue but nothing had seemed to fix it unless I install itunes 6.X and even then its a pain. 192 MP3 works great but the AAC encoder is having issues. Any suggestions? itunes says: "encoded with itunes v7.5.0.20, quicktime 7.3.1." is there a new codec or anything.

As I believe first came to light in this thread - courtesy of a heads-up from Flynn and verification and a workaround (if it really bothers you) by b noir - there was a so-far undocumented change in the new version of QuickTime (QuickTime actually being responsible for encoding song files in iTunes) which came bundled with iTunes 7.5.
QuickTime no longer supports Constant Bit Rate Encoding. In its place is Average Bit Rate Encoding.
Although this change is not reflected in the iTunes User Interface, it accounts for the new state of affairs that you noted.

Custom bit rate of 192kbps coming out as all sorts

Started importing some more CDs today and the bit rates for the imported files are showing anything between 187 and 195 kbps ?????
The rest of my library shows as 192 kbps all 4000+ tracks.
Anyone explain, as I have not got variable bit rate selected in preferences ( that was my first thought ).
It also happens on converting too.
Message was edited by: Airsculpture

As far as I know, Apple's implementation of AAC never had a true "constant bit rate" (CBR) mode. AAC files encoded by iTunes have always varied slightly, even dropping the bit rate close to 0 kbps on portions of "digital silence." You can verify this by opening an old AAC file in Quicktime and selecting "get info" to view its actual average bit rate. Previously, iTunes simply displayed your target bit rate. I don't think there has been any actual change in how iTunes/Quicktime encode CBR, it is simply that it is being displayed differently.

Bit rate standards for Compressing video for Captivate

I have been trying to decide whether rto use constant bit rate or a variable bit rate when compressing my video to embed in Captivate.
I have been told by Connect support that a constant bit rate is better for deploying video in Presenter but I am wondering if anyone has information as whether that is also true for Captivate. We are using captive as a means to offer a series of video question and answer sequence for a client of ours, and I am interested in getting the best quality with the smoothest performance in a progressive download flv format
For a simple talking head I am tempted to use a variable bit rate but, I cannot find anything in the seaces I have made that talk about the spec or any pros an cons to that quetsion for Captivate.
Doee anyone have any expereince with that?

I have always used constant bitrate for videos imported into Captivate and that has worked fine. However, I never tried using variable bit rate so I don't know if it will work better or worse.
My guess is that it would be better to go with constant bitrate though because Captivate do have some funny issues with FLV's sometimes and it's probably better not to "stress" captivate ;o)
/Michael
Visit my Captivate blog with tips & tricks, tutorials and Widgets.

ITunes & Constant Bit Rate

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for