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Question CBR Audio Options on Amazon

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radiah

radiah

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There are no options to get DD+ audio for Amazon CBR downloads. Going to CBR or HEVC encoding give all available DD+ options.
I did do a search beforehand, however, I didn't find a topic that really matched my query. Since this seems to be a program issue and not a detection/download issue, I have not made a logfile.
Is there a quick fix for this on my end? Thanks.
-Radiah
 
No, I am afraid not, sorry. Use VCBR you will get a better picture. HEVC is my best option, I use it all the time.
 
To try to quickly cover it...once upon a time, Amazon attempted to keep files about the same size.
CBR normally produces a larger video file. So, Amazon applied a lower Audio file to compensate.
VBR normally a smaller file. Amazon allowed a larger Audio file.

It's NOT a Program Issue. The MPD files are set up this way.

Manually, a way around it is to grab the CBR file and then lower the resolution and grab the VBR file.
Use MKVToolNix and take the CBR Video and the Higher quality Audio and combine them.

That's the quick way...two different MPD files have to be requested though.

There have been requests for AS to automate the process and offer it in one step. In a perfect world where all files are available in both
CBR and VBR, this would be easy....but that's not usually the case. It's been discussed at length multiple times and the outcome is usually
CBR offer no real advantage over VBR, so download VBR. Some people agree...others don't.

You mixed it up though.....for example...Shelter on Amazon CBR gives you 192Kbps Audio and (C)VBR gives you 640Kbps Audio.
 
RedFox 1 said:
No, I am afraid not, sorry. Use VCBR you will get a better picture. HEVC is my best option, I use it all the time.
Click to expand...

That's not really true. I have found some disgustingly low bitrate CVBR on Amazon while the CBR is so much better in quality compared to (and no, I don't just mean bitrate). The CVBR method Amazon is using these days is not as good as it used to be, they have changed it many times over the years.

It's a hit and miss and you never really know what you're going to get with CVBR.
 
radiah said:
Thanks for the quick response guys! MKVToolNix to the rescue! ;-)
Click to expand...

If the audio is only DDP 2.0, the bitrate will be a max of 224kbps on the CVBR and 128kbps on the CBR.

If the audio is DDP 5.1, the bitrate will be a max of 640kbps on the CVBR and 192kbps on the CBR.

I find more TV shows will offer the DDP 2.0 and have no 5.1 option. Movies tend to have the 5.1 option, depending on how big the film is. Indie films and lower budget films tend to only offer the DDP 2.0 option.

As the user above mentioned, definitely will need to grab both and mux the streams together.
 
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VCBR is always the better option as far as I am concerned. We have discussed this ad nausium and I think most of the members agree with me. If CBR is your choice , enjoy it. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason to mux them together, but it’s always the users choice.
 
RedFox 1 said:
VCBR is always the better option as far as I am concerned. We have discussed this ad nausium and I think most of the members agree with me. If CBR is your choice , enjoy it. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason to mux them together, but it’s always the users choice.
Click to expand...

That's fine if you prefer CVBR, but saying "Use VCBR you will get a better picture" is not necessarily true. I disagree and users should be able to decide on their own without someone telling them to just choose the CVBR and be done with it. Sure, most users probably won't notice and they probably don't care or pay attention to the actual quality of the video.
 
evil_silence said:
That's fine if you prefer CVBR, but saying "Use VCBR you will get a better picture" is not necessarily true. I disagree and users should be able to decide on their own without someone telling them to just choose the CVBR and be done with it. Sure, most users probably won't notice and they probably don't care or pay attention to the actual quality of the video.
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what I said both post it should be a users choice. But we will not have a CBR codec with 640kbps.
 
evil_silence said:
That's not really true. I have found some disgustingly low bitrate CVBR on Amazon while the CBR is so much better in quality compared to (and no, I don't just mean bitrate). The CVBR method Amazon is using these days is not as good as it used to be, they have changed it many times over the years.

It's a hit and miss and you never really know what you're going to get with CVBR.
Click to expand...
from my experience, this tends to be true like 90% of the time. i opt for CBR when there is grain, but to save space i go for 720p for TV. for movies, i get both CBR nad CVBR, whichever was last set in the AS options since im too lazy to change everytime, lol. i get a lot less banding with CBR than CVBR. i think. im probably placeboing half the time, tho. haha. as for the audio, with CBR if surround is available it tops at 192kbps. CVBR gets full 640kbps. it is what it is. im happy either way.
 
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I do believe CBVR is a much better choice. And that’s why AMAZON prefers it.
 
RedFox 1 said:
I do believe CBVR is a much better choice. And that’s why AMAZON prefers it.
Click to expand...
You know...I actually thought of messaging you to close this thread after the OP was satisfied with the answer as NOT to start this
conversation again about which is better.....leave it at...use which one you like best. End of story.
 
Jimc115 said:
You know...I actually thought of messaging you to close this thread after the OP was satisfied with the answer as NOT to start this
conversation again about which is better.....leave it at...use which one you like best. End of story.
Click to expand...
Usually I only close a thread if the OP asks, or if it gets out of hand. I agree this has been discussed to death, everyone should be able to state there views. (Even me);) I usually agree with everything you post, we have the same view on many things, and I do appreciate all your feedback as well as all the other members. Lets let it stay open and maybe when its a few weeks old it will die on its own;)
 
On my calibrated 83" OLED I disagree that CVBR is superior. It is only superior to Amazon because it is less bandwidth and therefore cheaper to stream. To each their own however. I think Redfox needs to invest the time in allowing us to identify the dialog boosted tracks...
 
I wasn't arguing that one was better than the other. It is not a one-size-fits-all situation and it really depends on the media. Users should really grab both and compare if they care about quality.

I have found some very high quality CVBR encodes, and some that are so low in bitrate that it's blocky and not as smooth as the CBR. Again, it depends.

It's not all that much work to mux a better looking CBR video with the higher quality audio track.
 
I don't know why AS not implementing highest audio with CBR format.
As a workaround, we can download cbr video ( less bit rate audio) then vbr audio ( with less bit rate video) and then mix cbr video and vbr audio so that we can get highest audio
I do this all the time
 
cartman0208 said:
that was explained above

Working around that might mess up the code and I guess the dev's have enough on the table ...
Click to expand...
I agree...especially for only ONE provider. It's not difficult to do it manually.
 
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