[vdr] Slightly OT: Divx with mpeg layer-2 audio?

["Sven Karlsson" <svenka@it.kth.se>]

Hi,

Do anyone know if it is even remotely possible to generate a
avi/divx/whateve file with mpeg4/Divx video and mpeg layer-2 sound.

I often transcode my vdr recordings to divx to save space when storing the
recordings for a long period of time. However, I also often encounter sound
defects in the transcoding process. These artifacts are probably due to
errors introduced when decoding from layer-2 and later encoding to layer-3.
Since the bitrate of the layer-2 audio in the channels I'm interested in is
not that high (256kbit/s) a valid option would be to simply put the layer-2
stream as is into the avi file.

Does anyone know any tools that can do this out-of-the-box? Do anyone have
any experiences to share regarding this?

And to avoid the most obvious questions: I tested encoding with different
levels of and types of normalization. I've also tested several different
leyer-3 encoders and experiemented with different datarates (always at least
128 kbit/s) and encoding options. Still there are noticable artifacts and
distortion that are not present in the  original layer-2 stream. The source
streams are "fixed" with PVAstrumento.

I'm also interested in hearing what people do to avoid transcoding artifacts
in the mpeg4 video stream. Is there a FAQ/howto somewhere for these things?

Best regards
 Sven