Select one, then press the Start Processing button and you're under way.

If you prefer more control, you can of course configure BeSweet just the way you want it. First of all, you can configure all the codec agnostic settings. Once you have done that, select the AC3 tab to configure the AC3 encoder. The first choice you have to make is set the number of channels of the output:

If your source only has 2 channels, Stereo is the obvious choice here. If your source has 5.1 channels and you want to keep all the channels, you have to select 5.1.

In the Bitrate section, you can then configure the bitrate.

5.1 AC3 is normally encoded at 384 kbit/s, whereas 2.0 AC3 normally uses 192 kbit/s. Going below 256 kbit/s for 5.1 AC3 will result in significant quality degradation, and the same applies when going to 128 kbit/s or lower for 2 channel audio.

AC3/MP2/MP3/WAV -> AAC

Select one, then press the Start Processing button and you're under way.

Note that the presets are divided into two sections: HE and LC, corresponding to HE AAC and LC AAC respectively. If you have standalone compatibility in mind, better check if your device supports HE AAC. For PC playback, you can safely use HE AAC.

If you prefer more control, you can of course configure BeSweet just the way you want it. First of all, you can configure all the codec agnostic settings. Once you have done that, select the AAC tab to configure the AAC encoder. The first choice you have to make is set the number of channels of the output:

If your source only has 2 channels, Stereo is the obvious choice here. If your source has 5.1 channels and you want to keep all the channels, you have to select 5.1.

In the Bitrate Management section, you can then configure the bitrate.

Check Constant Bitrate Mode to enable CBR output, and select a bitrate afterwards. In Variable Bitrate Mode, you can only chose from a list of presets. Streaming or Normal are most applicable for DVD backups. To get an idea of which preset gives you which bitrate range, click through the AAC presets and look for the appropriate preset name.

Finally we have the AAC Nero Encoder Options:

Check Profiles to select between the HE and LC AAC profile. AS previously mentioned, not every hardware device can handle HE AAC, but if it can, HE AAC allows for lower bitrates at the same quality than LC AAC.

Check Quality to select the encoding mode: Fast uses a new encoding engine whose results may surpass the results of the High mode. Despite what Fast might make you think, encoding speed is the same for both modes.

The other options should not concern you. Export ISO 13818-7 AAC Track allows you to get a raw .AAC file rather than an AAC track inside an MP4 file.

Downmix to Mono would enable mono downmix, but if you need this, better active it in the BeSweet options instead.

BeLight Codec Agnostic settings

The Azid Settings are broken into two parts: Dynamic Compression, which is accessible from the main GUI window, and all the other settings which are only available in the Advanced Settings window.

Dynamic Compression does the same thing your player does during playback of an AC3 file: it reduces the dynamic range so that you can hear weak signals (like voices) better. Leave this at Normal or set it to Light (most players use normal).

BeSweet can resample your audio source using the high quality SSRC resampler. There are two scenarios where you should consider resampling: Your source doesn't have a sampling rate of 48000 Hz and you're encoding a file that is to be put on a DVD. DVDs require 48000 Hz, so resampling is a must. The other scenario is that you have a 48000 Hz source and are encoding for a VCD/SVCD, which requires 41000 Hz. I consider this an optional resampling in this scenario, because DVD players generally can handle (S)VCDs even with an audio sampling rate that is not specs compliant.

Either way, if you need resampling, check Output Sampling Rate and select the appropriate sampling rate from the dropdown.

BeSweet offers different ways of increasing the volume of the output, so you won't have to turn the volume knob on your stereo when watching one of your DVD backups, and wake up all your neighbors if you forget to turn the volume back and putting in an audio CD after watching a movie. One of those options is using Boost.

Checking Boost Mode allows you to select one of the different volume boost options. The options differ in how much different frequencies are being boosted. If you want to use this option, I suggest you experiment to find the proper setting.

The volume increase option I suggest is using BeSweet's OTA.

Check Mode to enable an volume increase option. Depending on which audio codec tab is active, you have 3 options: HybridGain, PreGain and PostGain. If possible, use HybridGain. HybridGain is a combination of the other two modes: PreGain decodes the audio to find out how much the volume can be increased without causing any overflows. This requires two passes over the audio, and is thus the slowest mode. PostGain encodes the audio at the original volume level and then increases the volume after encoding using special mechanisms that are not available for all codecs. HybridGain applies a 10db from the start, and then uses the same mechanism as PostGain to increase the volume level after encoding where applicable.

If you load an audio source, BeLight will automatically look at the filename, and if it contains a delay value, will fill in the delay value. If you have a source for which this is not done, check Delay and enter the appropriate value on your own. Note that delays can be negative (meaning the first X milliseconds of the audio will be skipped), or positive (in which case BeSweet adds X milliseconds of silence at the beginning).

View or Edit BeSweet Command Line allows you to preview the commandline BeLight has created, and to edit the commandline.

All other generic settings are available if you click on the Advanced Settings button.

First of all we have the Azid Settings

If your input is a 5.1 channel AC3 (the default for most DVDs), and your output is to have only 2 channels, you'll want to put the LFE (subwoofer) channel into the main stereo channels and reduce its volume level to prevent distortion during explosions and such. Hence check LFE to LR Channels and set it to -3dB. If your input is a 2 channel source or your output is to have 5.1 channels, uncheck this option.

Output Mode allows you to configure the surround downmix mode. Check if if your input has 5.1 channels and the output has 2.0 channels. Stereo creates a 2.0 channel downmix without any surround channels. Setting it to dplii creates a Dolby Surround 2 compatible downmix which yields the best quality for Dolby Surround 2 compatible stereos, while remaining compatible to stereo and Dolby Surround capable setups. Finally, dpl would create a standard Dolby Pro Logic Downmix.

Dialog Normalization Reduction can be used to reduce audio volume normalization for the center channel.

Checking Normalize to allows you to force normalization to a specific volume level (that is to level out the dynamic range so that voices and other quiet sounds on the original DVDs can be heard properly in the end). I suggest not to use this option but instead use the BeSweet OTA options in the main window.

Using the SoundTouch options, you can change the length of your audio track:

The one option you are most likely to use here is the Convert Frame Rate from option. Simply plug in the original framerate of your source and the framerate of your converted video and BeLight will adjust the audio length accordingly so that the audio will remain in synch with the video.

Since changing the length of an audio track will change the speed of the audio track, voices will no longer sound the same. That is where the other options come in. Using the Pitch option, you can effectively adjust the tone of voices to match the original movie (something which is not done when American movies are brought to European DVDs, or the other way around). Since SoundTouch is a rather complex subject, I suggest that you use the options not explained here with great care, and refer to the BeSweet commandline manual for the full gist on what all those options do and how they are supposed to be used.

If you want to limit encoding to a certain range of the input file, you can use the Partial Encodings options.

Check Start Point to make BeSweet start encoding at the desired point in seconds from the start of the audio track, and check End Point to set the point up to which BeSweet will encode.

I won't go into the External Plugins as they are too complex to be treated here, so let's proceed directly to the Others options.

If you are interested in using the SuperEqualizer, please refer to the SuperEqualizer thread in the forum.

You can use Append Silence of to add silence to the beginning of your output. I don't see much use for that in DVD backups, because you can also use the Delay option to add silence, so this seems kind of redundant.

By default, when writing MP3 files, BeSweet adds an ID3 tag identifying the file and indicating that it was created by BeSweet. You can check No ID3 Tags to disable this mechanism.

You should always keep Output Log File checked so that BeSweet's operations will be logged, and that potential errors can easily be identified. By default, BeSweet will overwrite its logfile for each operation, so you can check Append Log Output to the end of existing file to make sure nothing is overwritten.

For a complete reference of all BeSweet options, please refer to the BeSweet Commandline Reference.

THE END