why 128 instead of 192 mp3 suggested?

[medman2000]

Just curious, and I think this has been covered before in previous years but can't find that post.

When I buy an MP3 at amazon, it comes as 192 bit. When ripping CD to get song, the LOR help page suggests ripping to 192 then changing to 128 in Audacity. Is this just a memory/file size issue or is there another reason to use the lower bitrate?

Thanks!

[-klb-]

In part, it is that 128 is probably better quality than the FM transmitter, or outdoor listening condition. Additionally, the MP3 decoder chip used in the director and mini director may not be reliably able to handle the higher bit rate.

But the key part is that nearly all downloads will be variable bit rate files that WMP can not accurately position timewise when LOR asks. Recoding in Audacity allows you to convert to a constant bit rate file that WMP will position much closer to where requested when LOR plays a visible range, or any selection other than full range.

[medman2000]

Gotcha, thanks! Don't need anything higher than 128 for an fm broadcast anyway, and make sure constant not variable bit rate. Thanks!

[Steve Constantino]

I used 250k and 320k for a side job I was working on. It worked fine. 128k sounds like crap. I don't use mp3's in my show at all. I only use wave files.

Steve

[wallleyes]

Steve Constantino wrote:

I used 250k and 320k for a side job I was working on. It worked fine. 128k sounds like crap. I don't use mp3's in my show at all. I only use wave files.

Steve

Will an mp3 director work with wav files?

[Steve Constantino]

wallleyes wrote:

Steve Constantino wrote:

I used 250k and 320k for a side job I was working on. It worked fine. 128k sounds like crap. I don't use mp3's in my show at all. I only use wave files.

Steve

Will an mp3 director work with wav files?

I don't think wav files will work. But I never tried.

[Guest wbottomley]

Steve Constantino wrote:

wallleyes wrote:

Steve Constantino wrote:

I used 250k and 320k for a side job I was working on. It worked fine. 128k sounds like crap. I don't use mp3's in my show at all. I only use wave files.

Steve

Will an mp3 director work with wav files?

I don't think wav files will work. But I never tried.

Only files that work with the director cards are mp3's at 128kbs bitrate.

[Steve Constantino]

Mountainwxman wrote:

Only files that work with the director cards are mp3's at 128kbs bitrate.

WRONG!!! I have used 320k bit rate on 2 different jobs. Both using LOR MP3 player. It works just fine and sounds a lot better. In the LOR manual for the MP3 player it says "Songs (audio files) for use with the DC-MP3 must be encoded as MP3 files. Constant bit rate (CBR) at 128k bits/second is best." LOR says 128K is best but other bit rates will work.

[Dennis Cherry]

You can use any bit rate you want.

The higher the bit rate the bigger the MP3 file, it will take up more memory on the SD card but with today's memory cards that is not a issue.

The only thing you need to watch is if you have a song that is a WAV file, the LOR utilities do not check if it is a MP3 file, just goes ahead and adds it to the list and changes the WAV extension to MP3. The director will see the encoding as wrong and will skip the sequence and go to the next one on the list.

I know this from personal experience.

[LightORamaDan]

Steve Constantino wrote:

I used 250k and 320k for a side job I was working on. It worked fine. 128k sounds like crap. I don't use mp3's in my show at all. I only use wave files.

Steve

In general a MP3 file encoded at 128kbps sounds good. With that much data the output of the decoder can achieve FM broadcast quality. The MP3 Director can handle a variety of different MP3 encoding schemes (both constant bit rate and variable bit rates) and it can handle a variety of speeds.

However it is highly recommened that you use only 128kbps encoded using a constant bit rate. There are a number of reasons for those recommendations and those reasons include things like the speed of the SD card, the complexity of the Sequence file associated with the MP3 file and the list goes on.

So a one person with their setup (SD card, MP3 file, Sequence File) may find that they can run a MP3 file encoded at 320 while another person may find that with their setup they CANNOT run a MP3 file encoded at a speed faster than 128. Regardless of the (SD card, MP3 file and Sequence File) every setup should work okay at 128.

Dan

[Guest wbottomley]

Steve Constantino wrote:

Mountainwxman wrote:

Only files that work with the director cards are mp3's at 128kbs bitrate.

WRONG!!! I have used 320k bit rate on 2 different jobs. Both using LOR MP3 player. It works just fine and sounds a lot better. In the LOR manual for the MP3 player it says "Songs (audio files) for use with the DC-MP3 must be encoded as MP3 files. Constant bit rate (CBR) at 128k bits/second is best." LOR says 128K is best but other bit rates will work.

Really?

I must have started using LOR yesterday.

[lightzilla]

The Mini MP3 Director/Player played my 192 bit rate MP3 sequences just fine and it sounded fine coming over the FM station I had it set too.............but Light O Rama Dan summed it up why only 128 BR should be used.

I also did a 22 minute sequence that after 10 minutes should have stopped playing but it played the whole 22 minute single sequence.

I knew about this rule 10 minute sequence rule that was in place but I thought I would give a test and see if a story telling sequence would play through and it did.......the 22 minute sequence that I placed on a SD card played.

I think that because there were words at first, then a song, then words, then a song...........I guess the MP3 Director unit figured they were all different sequences or maybe because there were small pauses in between.........it worked anyway.

Of course that all changed for 2010................now that 10 minute rule no longer applies.

I could post a video link but I ran out of space on the SD card while filming and so only 12 or 14 minutes of the sequence was captured.

[Greg Young]

Actually 128K can sound just fine, depending on how it is is encoded, and the quality of the audio stages of the transmitter/amplifier being used.

I had a few songs in 128K left over from when I ran the show using a director, and 320K's which I used back when running it on a pc (which I am back to doing these days). Suffering a bit from OCD, as all major decorators do, I thought I might be losing out some on the audio quality.

To see how much I might be losing I took a wav of a song (Sleigh Ride by Andy Williams which has a good range to test) and converted it to both 320K, and to 128K. My wife then selected the audio format the pc would play (wasn't running any sequence for the test) without me being aware of which format was chosen - wav- 128K mp3 - 320K mp3

It was very difficult to hear any difference between the two mp3s. The treble, midrange, and base sounded pretty decent with both. The wav did have a better high end response (treble). These tests were made using a set of very good pc speakers.

When listening over the air, on my home stereo system, the results were as above.

When listening with a good car stereo I could not hear any difference.

So bottom line if you are really concerned with audiophile quality, use wavs and run your show with a pc. (Actually you could argue for true audiophile quality you need to stick with vinyl, but I won't go there!)

If you want a very good sounding show go with 128K mp3s. I use those for a commercial show I do for our region's botanical gardens, and have never had a negative comment as t othe sound.

The average non audiophile/non-musician won't be able to tell the difference!

This is just my experience, so take it for what it is worth.

Greg

[Max-Paul]

Great thread!!!!!!!!

[LightORamaDan]

Max-Paul wrote:

Great thread!!!!!!!!

Lets just make sure it does not get out of hand!

[toddmoon]

This last year I did not have the time to create vary many new sequences for my light show additions. The first couple of days I only had a couple of sequences to work with. I wanted to have some variety but I did not have the time to do it.

So I imported sequences that I had created for the 4th of July and pasted the sequences into Christmas music songs. I played them at the end of the evening. No one noticed or seemed to care.

I think it is the same thing with the bit rate on the music. Beyond those of us that obsess about it now one knows or cares about it. I have an old computer that is not up to date with various music files and speeds so I just do all of my music in mp3 128 and that way I never have issues with creating a sequence on one computer only to find out it does not work on my old dedicated computer that I use for my shows.

If you want to take the time to make sure the higher byte rate works and the file format works on your show I'd say go for it. I just have not had the time to chase issue's like that down. It just makes it simpler for me and my setup to stay with MP3 128.