diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index be9e3c5..f300c59 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 use libmagic to determine file types?
 add av_freep cleanup to raii interface for libav* (probably replacing unique_ptr in that case)
 raii-ify the muxing function
-fix muxing fps/bitrate issue
 scale video thumbnails to same size as image thumbnails (500 in either dimension, same aspect ratio)
 crosspost title
 thread pool for workers. rehurn std::promise?
diff --git a/src/test.cpp b/src/test.cpp
index 2a03bf3..43e21f1 100644
--- a/src/test.cpp
+++ b/src/test.cpp
@@ -21,9 +21,19 @@
 #include <utility> //move
 #include <tuple>
 
-#define DEBUG
+#define DBG_LEVEL_NONE    0
+#define DBG_LEVEL_NORMAL  2
+#define DBG_LEVEL_VERBOSE 3
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#define DEBUG_LEVEL DBG_LEVEL_NORMAL
+
+#if defined(DEBUG_LEVEL) && DEBUG_LEVEL >= DBG_LEVEL_VERBOSE
+#  define LIBAV_SET_LOG_LEVEL() av_log_set_level(AV_LOG_INFO)
+#else
+#  define LIBAV_SET_LOG_LEVEL() av_log_set_level(AV_LOG_FATAL)
+#endif
+
+#if defined(DEBUG_LEVEL) && DEBUG_LEVEL >= DBG_LEVEL_NORMAL
 #  define DEBUG_PRINT(...) do{printf(__VA_ARGS__);}while(0)
 #else
 #  define DEBUG_PRINT(...) do{}while(0)
@@ -38,6 +48,8 @@
 #include "reddit.hpp"
 #include "matrix.hpp"
 
+#include <limits> //numeric_limits
+
 extern "C"{
 # include <libavcodec/avcodec.h> //AVCodecContext, AVCodec
 # include <libavformat/avformat.h> //AVFormatContext
@@ -58,7 +70,7 @@ extern "C"{
 //with the new code that fixes invalid input pts/dts, now the output framerate/bitrate is off
 bool mux_audio_video(const raii::string_base& audio_file, const raii::string_base& video_file, const raii::string_base& output_file){
 	REGISTER_LIBAV();
-	av_log_set_level(AV_LOG_FATAL);
+	LIBAV_SET_LOG_LEVEL();
 
 	AVOutputFormat* out_format = NULL;
 	AVFormatContext* audio_context = NULL, *video_context = NULL, *output_context = NULL;
@@ -94,17 +106,10 @@ bool mux_audio_video(const raii::string_base& audio_file, const raii::string_bas
 			audio_index_in = i;
 
 			AVStream* in_stream = audio_context->streams[i];
-			AVCodec* codec = avcodec_find_encoder(in_stream->codecpar->codec_id);
-			AVCodecContext* tmp = avcodec_alloc_context3(codec);
-			avcodec_parameters_to_context(tmp, in_stream->codecpar);
-			AVStream* out_stream = avformat_new_stream(output_context, codec);
+			AVStream* out_stream = avformat_new_stream(output_context, NULL);
 			audio_index_out = out_stream->index;
-			if(output_context->oformat->flags & AVFMT_GLOBALHEADER){
-				tmp->flags |= AV_CODEC_FLAG_GLOBAL_HEADER;
-			}
-			tmp->codec_tag = 0;
-			avcodec_parameters_from_context(out_stream->codecpar, tmp);
-			avcodec_free_context(&tmp);
+			avcodec_parameters_copy(out_stream->codecpar, in_stream->codecpar);
+			out_stream->codecpar->codec_tag = 0;
 
 			break;
 		}
@@ -114,17 +119,10 @@ bool mux_audio_video(const raii::string_base& audio_file, const raii::string_bas
 			video_index_in = i;
 
 			AVStream* in_stream = video_context->streams[i];
-			AVCodec* codec = avcodec_find_encoder(in_stream->codecpar->codec_id);
-			AVCodecContext* tmp = avcodec_alloc_context3(codec);
-			avcodec_parameters_to_context(tmp, in_stream->codecpar);
-			AVStream* out_stream = avformat_new_stream(output_context, codec);
+			AVStream* out_stream = avformat_new_stream(output_context, NULL);
 			video_index_out = out_stream->index;
-			if(output_context->oformat->flags & AVFMT_GLOBALHEADER){
-				tmp->flags |= AV_CODEC_FLAG_GLOBAL_HEADER;
-			}
-			tmp->codec_tag = 0;
-			avcodec_parameters_from_context(out_stream->codecpar, tmp);
-			avcodec_free_context(&tmp);
+			avcodec_parameters_copy(out_stream->codecpar, in_stream->codecpar);
+			out_stream->codecpar->codec_tag = 0;
 
 			break;
 		}
@@ -150,7 +148,10 @@ bool mux_audio_video(const raii::string_base& audio_file, const raii::string_bas
 	}
 
 	int64_t video_pts = 0, audio_pts = 0;
-	int64_t last_video_dts = 0, last_audio_dts = 0;
+
+	//took me 2 days to realize I had to initialize these to the smallest possible int64 value instead of just 0
+	int64_t last_video_dts, last_audio_dts;
+	last_video_dts = last_audio_dts = std::numeric_limits<int64_t>::min();
 
 	while(true){
 		AVPacket packet;
@@ -208,7 +209,7 @@ bool mux_audio_video(const raii::string_base& audio_file, const raii::string_bas
 		//if dts is out of order, ffmpeg throws an error. So manually fix. Similar to what ffmpeg does in ffmpeg.c
 		if(packet.dts < (*last_dts + !(output_context->oformat->flags & AVFMT_TS_NONSTRICT)) && packet.dts != AV_NOPTS_VALUE && (*last_dts) != AV_NOPTS_VALUE){
 			int64_t next_dts = (*last_dts)+1;
-			if(packet.pts >= packet.dts && packet.pts != AV_NOPTS_VALUE){
+			if(packet.pts >= packet.dts){
 				packet.pts = FFMAX(packet.pts, next_dts);
 			}
 			if(packet.pts == AV_NOPTS_VALUE){