Re: OT: converting vinyl - suitable bitrate

Scott wrote:
I know this is strictly off topic but I thought the assembled wisdom
in this group about bitrates would produce an informed reply.

I have bought one of these USB turntables. As I understand it the
first stage will be to convert LP tracks to WAV files. I understand
iTunes is capable of importing these. I know you can choose the
bitrate in iTunes (with the default 128 kbps). Clearly, the highest
bitrate will produce the best sound but will limit the number of
tracks on the iPod. I know I could buy a larger capacity iPod.
However, I am planning to compromise.

I don't want to emulate the quality of DAB radio. I know AAC is far
more efficient than MP2. These LPs are not new, very old in fact so I
won't be getting perfect quality. So I was thinking about using 160
kbps but I could use 192 kbps if that would help. Any thoughts?

Recording from a vinyl source often gives you clicks and a bit of hiss. When you can't eliminate those these clicks and hiss take a lot of bits to encode properly. So to get proper sound quality from a vinyl source often requires a high bitrate.
Remember that after discarding the LPs you only have the file and you cannot ever increase the quality again. Taking in mind that storage will cost half as much in 18 months and then again in the next 18 months, there is every reason to use a decent bitrate.

I would use more than 192 kbps for the AAC files. When you have a half-empty Terabyte media player in a few years you will be very sorry if you didn't.

gr, hwh
.

Relevant Pages

  • NY Times / Wheres the Other Half of Your Music File?
    ... bitrate of 256 kilobits per second (kbps), ... To careful listeners, or those with good audio equipment, more data ... The degradation of CD quality into something even ...
    (rec.music.gdead)
  • Re: How to determine VOB encoding quality?
    ... > excess of what is required (based upon the video quality ... achieve the target quality. ... I calculated the bitrate of the source from the data you ... Single pass VBR or CBR will produce ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.encoder)
  • Re: MPEG2 vs MPEG4/DivX bitrates, file sizes, quality
    ... >>bitrate, given this particular stream. ... > guess MPEG2 smoothes those noise speckles out, ... >>The above does not apply when the image quality is less than excellent, ... change the fact that the MPEG2 encoder, on its own accord, decided to ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.encoder)
  • Re: How to determine VOB encoding quality?
    ... You can usually obtain a better average quality per bitrate ratio by using VBR, as the stream will be better tailored for the content. ... About quality and bitrate estimates they are based on WMV higher encoding efficency, which allows the same visual quality at half to one third of MPEG2 bitrates. ... the quality setting in the encoder properties, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.encoder)
  • Re: RTE trials mobile TV in Dublin
    ... At the right bitrate MP2 it will produce near CD quality as you've ... commit to a particular standard while also minimising cost. ...
    (alt.radio.digital)