Optimal Audio Sample/ Bit Rate for DVD?

In using recorded material to add to DVDs for family and friends, that is, non-commercial, what is recommended formatting for the audio file? Soundbooth seems to default to 48000 Sample Rate/32 Bit but if I use that am I achieving anything over a simple 44100 Sample Rate/16 bit, since the human ear cannot detect above 20000Hz? I want the DVDs to sound as good as possible in STEREO.I don't want to cross-post, so sorry if this is wrong forum.
Thanks...

I'm not positive about this, but I think they used 48KHz simply because most professional audio/video gear uses that same sample rate. This makes it easier to tramsfer audio from DV, DAT, etc. without the need for resampling.
As for why 48 in the first place? This has to do with the Nyquist limit... and that's way too deep for this thread!
Higher bit depth is another thing all together: This represents the number of possible volume levels (dynamic range) of each sample. 16 bit has 65535 levels which is a dynamic range of 96 dB. This is fine for final delivery -- assuming that the audio was well-mastered at an appropriate volume level.
During recording and editing, however, where it is likely that adjustments to dynamics (compression, expansion, noise gating, fading) and effects will be applied, it is best to use a higher bit depth so that less information is lost (quantized) on successive transformations of the audio. It also will keep broadband noise from creeping in when the audio is amplified.
For example, if you have audio recorded in 16 bit and then you amplify it to be 20 dB louder, your dynamic range has decreased to 76 dB and the noise floor has been raised -- meaning there is a constant whitenoise "hiss" in the background.
32 bit audio is different. The dynamic range is sufficient enough so that moderately large amplification will not neccessarily result in audible background noise.
The 32 bit audio is then downsampled during mastering to 16 bit for final delivery (often with aid dithering, noise shaping, etc. to avoid distortion and give the "illusion" of greater dynamic range)
I do agree that 48 KHz is a little bit silly for DVD when the audio is AC3 compressed anyway. I am fairly certain that none of these ultrasonic frequencies will survive AC3 encoding -- even at high rates.

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joewherefast wrote:
Hello, I don't have a Mac yet, but am going to get the mini soon and do some acoustic/keyboard stuff in Garage Band to get back into recording. What is the sample and bit rate for the new version? I had read that older versions were 16?
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The sample rate is fixed at 44.1kHz. The bit depth (audio resolution) is selectable at either 16 bits or 24 bits.

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Thanks for all your help, David S, but the point is
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Hi, Evelyn.
For spoken word recordings, 32 kbps is generally considered an acceptable setting.
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Sample & bit rate

I have a two part question:
1) I have a Presonus Firebox that allows me to record up to 24 bit/96k. I am wonder if I should take advantage of this and use those settings in audio midi setup for when I record into GrarageBand? Is it worth the extra file size? Is there a noticeable quality gain? Will 96k work with GB?
2) I know GB is only 16 bit and that CD's that it will be mixed to are at 16 bit/44.1 kHz. But what about if I record a song in GB at 24 bit/96k, mix down to iTunes, and put it on my ipod as an AIFF will the increased quality show up there? What about on an Audio DVD made from itunes with iDVD.
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Not that it's relevant in the context of GarageBand, but it might be useful to clarify the effect of sample rate and bit depth.
The sample rate affects the frequency response. it is mathematically impossible for a sampling system to correctly render any frequency at or above half the sampling rate (trying to do so produces false frequencies - 'birdies ' - known as aliasing). 44.1kHz effectively limits your frequency response to about 21 kHz, 48kHz to about 23 kHz, and so on.
The bit depth affects the noise floor: 16-bit gives a theoretical noise floor of about -90dB below peak: 24-bit gives a theoretical noise floor of about -138dB below peak. -90 is pretty well inaudible: but remember that when adding tracks together the noise, being random, is added (3dB per track if they are the same level when mixed - of course the peak level increases too). The digital noise, if it becomes audible, is far more annoying in its sound than good old-fashioned tape hiss.
In practice, GB's restriction to 44.1/16-bit isn't really that much of a problem: of course 96/24 would be better, but you gets what you paid for!
Incidentally, don't confuse bit depth with bit-rate, which is a combination of the sampling rate and the bit depth, and is fixed for uncompressed files: but of course as you compress files with MP3 or similar you reduce the bit-rate by leaving out information, even though the sampling rate is the same.

Optical audio out bit rate

I downloaded some 96khz/24bit flac files and tried to play them on my MacBook of late 2007. First, I used Songbird to play the files and hook up my Cambridge Audio DacMagic via USB but observed that the output was only at 44.1khz, I.e. just CD quality. Then I read that that's the limitation of USB audio and so I bought a toslink cable to feed the DAC via optical out. Well, it was still only 44.1khz. Wondering if Songbird changed the bit rate, I tried converting the flac file to apple lossless with XLD and then importing into iTunes. iTunes clearly show the files being 27xxkbps and yet my DAC still indicate it is receiving only 44.1khz sample rate. Is this the limit of the MacBook sound card? I could not find this answer from anywhere on apple's website.
When I use AirPlay to stream the file via apple tv and feed apple tv's optical out to my DAC, it showed 48khz. A little better. But I'm really after the full bit rate of 96khz for optimum audio quality.

Hi Maclover,
cheers for the fast reply! Yep that did the trick - typical, the panel was in the only place I didn't think to look, Doh!
Cheers again.

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In Two Pass VBR Best DVD (bit rate defaults to 6.2mbps), if I pump up the bit rate to 9mpbs or higher, will my DVD quality increase? File size is not an issue -- it's a 15-20 minute video.
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Look to see if you still have A.Pack installed on your computer; it should be in the Applications folder on your boot drive. That's what was used for AC3 encoding prior to Compressor 3. In the meantime, you could lower the bit rate of the video in order to use the AIF audio file on your DVD.
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I’m new to the iTunes/iPod thing. A friend told me that he re-sets the bit rate from the default of 128 kpbs to the top of 320 kbps for better quality. [He plays everything off of his computer which is wired to speakers throughout his house and does not travel or drive much so hardly uses his iPod.] I played around a tad with the various rates on the same album and found that a fairly short one used 34.9 MB at 128 kbps, 52.1 MB at 192 kbps, 60.8 MB at 224 kbps and 86.6 MB at 340 kbps. Another friend told me that he noticed a big difference when he played a song off his iPod through his several thousand dollar system if it was imported at 128 kbps. While hard disc space is cheap and I would simply opt for the higher quality setting, the iPods are not so big when one almost triples the file size.
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Monty, this is really going to be up to your ears to decide. All I can tell you is my experience during the 2+ years of owning an iPod. I initially thought AAC @ 128 was satisfactory. I then started experimenting with various bitrates, but kept the AAC format. I decided that 192 was a discernible improvement over the 128. Not to go into a lot of detail, but I, quite by accident, had one album download at 256 & thought, "Wow, this is unbelievably better sound, even over inexpensive computer speakers." At that point, I started importing everything in AAC @ 256 VBR which I feel is pretty darn close to CD quality sound. I have a 60GB iPod that I'm willing to sacrifice some capacity in order to ensure the best audio quality I can. This is also why I do not buy frequently from the iTunes store as I do not feel the 128 downloads are the best quality. I buy & my own CD's, now, to insure good quality. I will by the occasional song from the store when I do not care to buy the whole CD. Hope this helps!

Bit rate for all computer?

Hi all,
I'm burning a DVD in DVDSP 4, I burned and tried it in my MacBook Pro and on normal DVD player and It works perfect, the problem comes when I play it on some not so new PCs, in one of them the buttons (text and silver frame) in the menu seem to repeat in different positions, and in the other computer it plays fine but the audio doesn't work and sounds kind of static... does it have something to do with the encoding bit rate in DVDSP? maybe in Compressor??
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Which Windows program was used to play the DVDs? Hopefully not Windows Media Player.
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The best Bit rate for a 1 hour film

Hi all
Just a quick question does anyone know the best bit rate to use to compress a 1 hour film. I want the best quality possible
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If you're using Compressor and it's a one hour encode then use the CBR setting with a bit rate of 6 or 6.5. Also encode your audio to the industry standard .ac3 file format. The combination of audio and video bitrate is always a compromise between quality and having consumer DVD players stalling or choking because the combined birate is too high.
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Optimal Audio Sample/ Bit Rate for DVD?

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