SERMONAUDIO TIP — New HIFI Support for Higher Bitrate Audio+Video!
Attention broadcasters!
We have recently completed an important infrastructure overhaul which involved replacing our entire line of webcast and media servers to enable us to support higher bitrates for archived MP3/Video content as well as LIVE Webcasts!
HIFI-Enabling your broadcaster account will now allow you to upload MP3s encoded at up to 64kbps bitrate and Videos encoded at up to 340kbps bitrate. For live webcasters, you can now select higher bitrates for both audio and video webcasts.
64kbps Update 11/6/09! We have increased the maximum allowable bitrate for AUDIO MP3s to 64kbps. Auto-conversion will still work if you upload at any bitrate. We have found that setting your sample rate to 44khz sounds best. But please be sure to use MONO for all MP3 uploads for optimum quality. Attention Radio Stations: get your high-quality 64kbps programming content directly from SermonAudio.com!
16kbps Auto-Generate. When uploading HIFI audio content, the system will automatically generate a lower-bitrate version of the MP3 (16kbps) for dialup users.
Affordable! A single flat-fee of $10/month (added to your base monthly fee) HIFI-enables your account for ALL media content including MP3s, videos, and live webcasts! There are no additional fees related to HIFI-enabled content. But please note that you must keep the HIFI option enabled to access any previously-uploaded HIFI content.
Encoding with HIFI. Please refer to the relevant HELP pages for updated information on encoding bitrates. To learn more about encoding MP3s and Videos with HIFI bitrates, please click here.. To learn more about using HIFI bitrates for live webcasts, please refer to STEP #6 and STEP #11 on this page..
Subset Filters. You can easily find HIFI content by selecting the HIFI-Only subset filter in any sermon listing. To learn more about subset filters, please click here…
For more information about this new service or to request activation of this option, please log into the Members Area and take a look in the "Personal Info" section.
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David T. wrote: 16-bit MP3 is junk, and sounds terrible. It is sad that sermonaudio will only support that unless you upgrade.
16kbps bitrate MP3s are still very suitable for voice-only quality. There are things you can do to improve the audio quality of even a low bitrate MP3. Take a listen to the following sermon for an example of a well-encoded MP3 which sounds very good even at 16kbps:
There are many reasons why we require the lower 16kbps bitrate for all sermons uploaded to SermonAudio. Not the least of which is that many of our listeners are still on dialup or on mobile phone access and it makes the streaming and downloading experience much better for them.
Grace Church, Downingtown, PA wrote: Dear SermonAudio.com, What is the recommended sampling rate for 32Kbps MP3 files? Thanks, GraceChurch.SermonAudio.com
Much of it depends on your recording equipment. But a general rule of thumb for 32kbps bitrate is to use 22khz sampling rate. (For 16kbps bitrate, the general rule is to use 11khz sampling rate).
128kbps stereo encoding would be "mid-fi" for music, with it's expanded spectrum of sound, however for voice 32kbps mono is hi-fi. In fact, many voice optimized codecs don't even giver a 32kbps option, topping out at around 20 kbps (windows media 9 voice)
As a listener, I highly recommend that broadcasters use the "hifi" (since when is 32kpbs "hifi"? 128kbps is lo-fi) option if they can. It doesn't make the file size significantly larger, and the difference in quality is noticeable. I'm surprised that this slight increase in encoding makes such a big difference, but it's noticeably better audio.
I've also noticed that it helps when a pastor trails off into a whisper, as many do during sermons. The voice in 16kbps sound is often lost in the background noise during a whisper (even turning up the volume doesn't help bring out more sound), but the 32kbps preserves more of the voice.
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Today's Quote
Faith is the outstretched hand of the soul taking what Christ offers. ... S. M. Zwemer
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Subset Filters. You can easily find HIFI content by selecting the HIFI-Only subset filter in any sermon listing. To learn more about subset filters, please 
8/25/09 1:59 AM
128kbps is lo-fi) option if they can. It doesn't make the file size significantly larger, and the difference in quality is noticeable. I'm surprised that this slight increase in encoding makes such a big difference, but it's noticeably better audio.
