Are any other HDHomeRun PRIME users in Comcast MPEG-4 markets seeing a ridiculously low audio bitrate for some stations? I just noticed that Comcast is using a very low bitrate for my NBC station:
Yep, you're reading that right... 224kbps for Dolby 5.1. Eek.
I'm wondering if this is a local issue or if, god forbid, this is something they are actually doing intentionally.
(According to RabbitEars, KNTV's ATSC1 broadcast uses 384kbps for Dolby 5.1 on both their main transmitter as well as on their KSTS transmitter. They do not broadcast in ATSC3 yet.)
Track #1: ATSC A/52A (AC-3)
5.1(side) eng 384kbps
FIOS
Any chance it’s actually EAC3 in which case that bitrate is actually excellent?
224 is low for standard AC3 but I’m not sure I’d classify it as so-low-it-must-be-a-mistake low.
The EAC3 features weren't added until A/52B (https://muygs2x2vhb2pjk6g160f1s8-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A52-2018.pdf). But the Channels DVR info says that the bitstream is a A/52A. So I don't think it's EAC3.
Not sure what Channels DVR uses, ffprobe?
Try opening it in MediaInfo to verify.
Both my OTA and Comcast Cable recordings of the Super Bowl are AC-3 384kbps, 48.0 kHz sampling rate.
I would think the Super Bowl was a National feed and don't see how it could be different in certain areas.
Here's someone else getting 224kbps audio off their PRIME
Comcast converts everything to 720p MPEG-4 at around 3-7mbps and I'm pretty sure they recompress the audio too (even though the audio remains as AC-3).
Oof, I guess it's not just me then. Although based on their channel number, I think there's a good chance they were also watching KNTV.
