An Idea
2004-01-03 21:39:49
I was just wondering if it would be possible to fuse a general audio codec, such as Vorbis, with a speech codec, such as Speex, so that if there happened to be any speech-only portions of an audio stream, the encoder could switch to speech mode and save an incredible amount of bits, just like good VBR codecs switch to an incredibly low bitrate when silence is detected. This might not be so useful for music, as very few song have any significant amount of pure speech in them. However this could be revolutionary for audio that is mainly speech but also contains musical interludes or applause from an audience, which is often garbled by speech codecs. Although I think its most interesting use might be in encoding audio from movies which have a lot of dialogue, this could, theoretically, make single CD rips plausible in many cases where they were not before. Cons: -The change in sample rate for speech might not be possible. (you tell me) -Movies often have a lot of background noise which might mean that the speech codec would never be able to be used (possibly the threshold could be changed: file size vs background detail) -Compression would take longer, possibly a lot longer -This would definitely break compatibility with the past form of the audio codec -Implementation could be excruciatingly difficult, I suppose Anyway I am interested in hearing anyones comments/thoughts especially relating to development potential. edit: I didn't know where to put this post so any mods/admins can move it if they feel it is better suited elsewhere.