Don't forget that a number of networks already broadcast exclusively in 16:9 aspect ratio 1080i/720p high definition:
HDNet HBO HD ESPN HD
Watching a sports program in high definition is just amazing; I've seen playback from Digital VHS of the Super Bowl in high definition and it's almost like "being there." =)
Actually, most movies today are shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, NOT 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This is because the 1.85:1 aspect ratio is the hard-matted default aspect ratio of the large movie cameras from Panavision and Arriflex.
It's only blockbuster movies that are shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, mostly to give a bigger sense of epic sweep. For example, the three Lord of the Rings movies are shot this way because we are talking three movies that we can easily call epics.
The reason why every HDTV system around the world chose 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio is that it's very close to the 1.85:1 aspect ratio used by movie cameras.
Except for file system, today's Windows XP has essentially fulfilled the original Cairo concept anyway. With WinFS replacing NTFS 5.0 in Windows Longhorn, it now fulfills the concept of Cairo as described back in 1995.
I don't think the Linux crowd can be absolved from the pre-announcement hype, either.
Take for example the current Linux 2.4.x kernel. Just how much delay before the first Linux 2.4.0 finally came out, despite a lot of promises? We do know that the 2.5.x development kernels for 2.4.x kernels have been released, but will the final versions be called 2.6.x or 3.0.x? And how long will THAT that take before it is released in a form that the major Linux distributions will bundle?
I think people forget that Windows Longhorn will deliver sometime in 2005, not at the beginning of 2005.
That gives the company lots of "padding" time to make sure a lot of the new features in Windows Longhorn work correctly, especially the replacement for NTFS. Given that Microsoft was founded in 1975, what better 30th anniversay present than to officially release Windows Longhorn to celebrate?
I think what Microsoft is aiming at is NOT a closed architecture per se, but more like better standardization of the design of the interior of the computer itself in a smaller form factor, a machine that is designed for better communications by telephone and broadband Intranet/Internet connections.
Expect within a few years smaller form factor desktop computers that follows the HP-Microsoft Athens ideal, even though the motherboards will likely sport different CPU's, motherboard chispets and video chipsets.
I think you've been watching too many badly-produced Supplementary DVD discs. =)
Go take a look at the superb Supplementary discs produced by Jeff Kurtti; among his credits are the discs for Atlantis: The Lost Empire Collector's Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition. The supplementary discs I mentioned offer a huge amount of background information on the movie during its production, and they also sport an excellent disc navigation system that make accessing the disc information quite easy.
Alas, the quality of commentary tracks can be quite variable, as your message mentions.
I do know that the commentary tracks done by Don Hahn, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis: the Lost Empire Collector's Edition and Beauty and the Beast Plantinum Edition are quite insightful and excellent.
The gold standard for commentary tracks on DVD is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition with its FOUR commentary tracks--most of which was excellent and give new insights to the how the movie was made.
Actually, the AGM-129 ACM uses better understanding of stealth technology than the F-117A, which is based on Lockheed's original research into reducing observability of an airplane.
Because of the AGM-129's design, it probably has a very small fraction of the F-117A's radar cross section, even lower noise levels and just about zero IR signature.
I still see the possibility of restarting the AGM-129 production line, essentially trading in older ALCM's for the ACM on a one-to-one basis.
Any other form of delivery can be stopped by conventional means.
I think there was one strategic weapon system that really scared the Soviets: the AGM-129A Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM). Unlike the earlier Boeing ALCM, the ACM (now supported by Raytheon) has extremely low radar-cross section, very quiet engines, improved guidance systems and somewhat longer range than the earlier ALCM (about 3,000 km or 1,863 miles).
With ACM, Soviet ground detection radars would be rendered obselete, and its very low noise signature meant ACM could also avoid detection by noise sensors, too. That meant ACM would stand a pretty good chance of reaching its target before radar-guided defenses could "engage" the target. 460 AGM-129A missiles were built, though there is talk of restarting AGM-129 production with a conventional unitary or cluster muntion warhead version assisted by GPS guidance that will allow the older ALCM to be phased out.
I think while it's within easy reach to build what amounts to a large RC model powered by a pulsejet engine and guided by GPS, there are a number of issues he needs to address:
1. The pulsejet ain't going to be quiet. The motorboat sound of pulsejet engines are going to be dead giveaways of its presence. It'll be better to use a small RC jet engine with careful exhaust design to muffle the jet engine sound or a modified RC piston engine that drives a multibladed propeller so the engine runs at a lower speed to reduce engine noise.
2. A 10 kilogram warhead isn't going to do much in the way of damage, unless it dispenses a really toxic biological agent like botulin poison.
3. Guiding the DIY cruise missile is going to be a very tricky proposition. While GPS will get the missile to the general target area, the lack of the ability to avoid obstacles and to fly very low to avoid most radars means the missile will have to cruise at about the same altitude as the V-1 (about just over 1,000 meters off the ground), which means it can be intercepted by modern ground AA systems.
Back in 1993, Internet access was mostly in text mode, so you really didn't need that much computer processing power to access it.
Today, Internet access is through web browsers reading highly-formatted graphical pages, Macromedia Flash/Shockwave graphics, and streaming audio/video, much of it through 384 Kbps and faster download speed broadband connections. This requires a LOT more computing power, to say the least.
Also, the needs for high-end games and multimedia processing has really bumped up the need for faster machines. Would you want to process your photos downloaded from a modern two-megapixel or higher-resolution digital still image camera on a 1993 vintage machine, let alone video movies downloaded via the IEEE-1394 connection from MiniDV and MicroDV camcorders? I didn't think so.
Take for example Adobe's new Photoshop Album program for digital still camera users. You really don't want to run this on a Celeron A 400 MHz CPU, since Photoshop Album--derived from the current professional Photoshop program--requires a good amount of CPU processing power to process images. The program would be more appropriate for CPU's that sport MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow! and/or 3DNow! Professional CPU instruction extensions.
While Tom's Hardware recommendation of boards that use the nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200-8x may be fine for current games, it's going to end up being a wasted expenditure when games that use the full DirectX 9.0 functionality start arriving later this year. Given that ATI's Radeon 9500, 9600, 9700 and 9800 support DX9 functionality in hardware, small wonder why ATI sales have gone up quite a lot recently.
Chances are pretty good that Doom III, EverQuest II, and a good number of other "hot" games coming out for the next few years will implement DX9 support; once that happens the fact that GeForce4 Ti4xxx chipsets won't support DX9 functionality means the new games are going to bog down with the older cards. Why do you think nVidia is preparing to release the NV35 chipset, which is essentially finally delivering on the promises of the GeForce FX 5800 chipset?
ADV Films has announced the first season of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon on subtitled UNCUT DVD just within the last few weeks. It'll be out in July in a US$149.95 box package that covers all 46 episodes of the first season.
I will warn you the original uncut version is quite a bit darker and more mature in subject matter than the DiC "adaptation" released in 1995, so you might want to view it before showing it to anyone under 13 years old.
We have to understand that Anime Network has just only started on its rollout!
Thank God that Comcast--who is underwriting part of the cost of the network--is the largest cable system provider in the USA (I think). At least here in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Sacramento, CA area, due to the fact Comcast owns the cable systems, it means Anime Network will likely roll out as part of digital cable packages later this year. =)
Yeah but, people aren't really switching to PNG obecause IE doesn't support it.
Then how come I can display.PNG files in Internet Explorer 5.0 and newer? Go to Herdthinners.com (one of the online distribution sites for Bil Holbrook's Kevin and Kell daily comic strip) and the strip is displayed in.PNG format.
Looking at your comments, I think the Ogg format is going to have to fight an uphill battle for acceptance for the reasons you mentioned.
Sure, the MP3 format may be disliked by the RIAA, but the very fact almost EVERY hardware manufacturer supports the format bodes well for its future. I mean, when you have portable CD players, automotive CD players and even DVD console players supporting MP3 format audio burned onto a recordable CD, that says a lot about the MP3 format acceptance.
The AAC format will survive because of Apple's sheer marketing influence, even though Apple has such a small share of the overall computer market. The very high popularity of iPod will at least guarantee that the AAC format can survive, since AAC is one of the native storage formats for iPod players. I wouldn't be surprised that AAC gets a good amount of third-party hardware support, since AAC does have Digital Rights Management (DRM) support, something the RIAA really likes.
As for the Ogg format, you can forget about its success except among the very serious geek crowd. The fact that you can't play Ogg-formatted files on portable and automotive CD players out of the box bodes poorly for widespread acceptance of the format.
I'm really surprised that the creators of Penny Arcade has not been offered legal help by either the ACLU or the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); the latter would likely offer assistance since Penny Arcade is primarily distributed via the Internet.
You DO remember the original hockey puck mouse pointer that came with the iMac, right? That was an ergonomic disaster, to say the least--it never really did fit comfortably in your hand like the current mouse pointer Apple includes with their current machines.
I just really hope that Apple has made the mouse just big enough so it the disc on the new mouse design is easily handled even by larger-sized hands and/or finters.
I think while the new Apple mouse design borrows some of the concepts from the Intellivision controller, I worry the disc will end up being too small in size (especially given Apple's penchant for building relatively small-sized mouse pointers), which will cause unintended scrolling, especially if you have big hands and/or fingers.
This isn't like the iPod, where the disc controller is fairly large and easy to manipulate even with larger-sized fingers.
While the new Apple patent sounds like a good idea, I have concerns that if Apple doesn't design that unusual button correctly you're going to end up with a lot of unintended screen scrolling.
Given that later releases of MacOS 9.x and the current MacOS X releases support the full functionality of the two-button mouse with scroll wheel natively (e.g., compatible with USB-port mouse pointers from Microsoft and Logitech), Apple should just "bite the bullet" and get Logitech to build a scrolling mouse that complements the shape of the current Power Macintosh boxes and iMac machines.
Isn't the Chaos Computer Club one of the older existing hacker groups in the world, at least by the modern definition? I believe the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker group started quite a bit later than CCC.
Besides, the Macromedia Flash plug-in is a relatively small download--well under 1 MB! Compare that against the download you need for Windows Media Player 9.0, RealOne or QuickTime 6.0 with its 10+ MB sized downloads.
I think when the Complete Set comes out (if that is possible) maybe some time in 2005 it'll just be a repackaged Extended Edition sets with only a very tiny amount of tweaking to the first two movies. I don't think Peter Jackson wants to spend even more time to do all-new edits of all three movies just to satisfy the completist crowd. =(
I think you have to understand why we're getting two different releases of each LoTR film on DVD.
The first edition is the version we originally saw in the theaters, the version that is likely to be a big hit in the rental market (Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, etc.). The second edition is the long edition movie on two discs with added scenes, Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks, multiple track commentaries and two-disc Supplementary material set intended for the serious videophile and serious movie fan. For historical reasons, I think it's actually better to have both editions available.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget that a number of networks already broadcast exclusively in 16:9 aspect ratio 1080i/720p high definition:
HDNet
HBO HD
ESPN HD
Watching a sports program in high definition is just amazing; I've seen playback from Digital VHS of the Super Bowl in high definition and it's almost like "being there." =)
Actually, most movies today are shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, NOT 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This is because the 1.85:1 aspect ratio is the hard-matted default aspect ratio of the large movie cameras from Panavision and Arriflex.
It's only blockbuster movies that are shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, mostly to give a bigger sense of epic sweep. For example, the three Lord of the Rings movies are shot this way because we are talking three movies that we can easily call epics.
The reason why every HDTV system around the world chose 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio is that it's very close to the 1.85:1 aspect ratio used by movie cameras.
Except for file system, today's Windows XP has essentially fulfilled the original Cairo concept anyway. With WinFS replacing NTFS 5.0 in Windows Longhorn, it now fulfills the concept of Cairo as described back in 1995.
I don't think the Linux crowd can be absolved from the pre-announcement hype, either.
Take for example the current Linux 2.4.x kernel. Just how much delay before the first Linux 2.4.0 finally came out, despite a lot of promises? We do know that the 2.5.x development kernels for 2.4.x kernels have been released, but will the final versions be called 2.6.x or 3.0.x? And how long will THAT that take before it is released in a form that the major Linux distributions will bundle?
I think people forget that Windows Longhorn will deliver sometime in 2005, not at the beginning of 2005.
That gives the company lots of "padding" time to make sure a lot of the new features in Windows Longhorn work correctly, especially the replacement for NTFS. Given that Microsoft was founded in 1975, what better 30th anniversay present than to officially release Windows Longhorn to celebrate?
I think what Microsoft is aiming at is NOT a closed architecture per se, but more like better standardization of the design of the interior of the computer itself in a smaller form factor, a machine that is designed for better communications by telephone and broadband Intranet/Internet connections.
Expect within a few years smaller form factor desktop computers that follows the HP-Microsoft Athens ideal, even though the motherboards will likely sport different CPU's, motherboard chispets and video chipsets.
I think you've been watching too many badly-produced Supplementary DVD discs. =)
Go take a look at the superb Supplementary discs produced by Jeff Kurtti; among his credits are the discs for Atlantis: The Lost Empire Collector's Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition. The supplementary discs I mentioned offer a huge amount of background information on the movie during its production, and they also sport an excellent disc navigation system that make accessing the disc information quite easy.
Alas, the quality of commentary tracks can be quite variable, as your message mentions.
I do know that the commentary tracks done by Don Hahn, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis: the Lost Empire Collector's Edition and Beauty and the Beast Plantinum Edition are quite insightful and excellent.
The gold standard for commentary tracks on DVD is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition with its FOUR commentary tracks--most of which was excellent and give new insights to the how the movie was made.
Actually, the AGM-129 ACM uses better understanding of stealth technology than the F-117A, which is based on Lockheed's original research into reducing observability of an airplane.
Because of the AGM-129's design, it probably has a very small fraction of the F-117A's radar cross section, even lower noise levels and just about zero IR signature.
I still see the possibility of restarting the AGM-129 production line, essentially trading in older ALCM's for the ACM on a one-to-one basis.
Any other form of delivery can be stopped by conventional means.
I think there was one strategic weapon system that really scared the Soviets: the AGM-129A Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM). Unlike the earlier Boeing ALCM, the ACM (now supported by Raytheon) has extremely low radar-cross section, very quiet engines, improved guidance systems and somewhat longer range than the earlier ALCM (about 3,000 km or 1,863 miles).
With ACM, Soviet ground detection radars would be rendered obselete, and its very low noise signature meant ACM could also avoid detection by noise sensors, too. That meant ACM would stand a pretty good chance of reaching its target before radar-guided defenses could "engage" the target. 460 AGM-129A missiles were built, though there is talk of restarting AGM-129 production with a conventional unitary or cluster muntion warhead version assisted by GPS guidance that will allow the older ALCM to be phased out.
I think while it's within easy reach to build what amounts to a large RC model powered by a pulsejet engine and guided by GPS, there are a number of issues he needs to address:
1. The pulsejet ain't going to be quiet. The motorboat sound of pulsejet engines are going to be dead giveaways of its presence. It'll be better to use a small RC jet engine with careful exhaust design to muffle the jet engine sound or a modified RC piston engine that drives a multibladed propeller so the engine runs at a lower speed to reduce engine noise.
2. A 10 kilogram warhead isn't going to do much in the way of damage, unless it dispenses a really toxic biological agent like botulin poison.
3. Guiding the DIY cruise missile is going to be a very tricky proposition. While GPS will get the missile to the general target area, the lack of the ability to avoid obstacles and to fly very low to avoid most radars means the missile will have to cruise at about the same altitude as the V-1 (about just over 1,000 meters off the ground), which means it can be intercepted by modern ground AA systems.
I have news for you.
Back in 1993, Internet access was mostly in text mode, so you really didn't need that much computer processing power to access it.
Today, Internet access is through web browsers reading highly-formatted graphical pages, Macromedia Flash/Shockwave graphics, and streaming audio/video, much of it through 384 Kbps and faster download speed broadband connections. This requires a LOT more computing power, to say the least.
Also, the needs for high-end games and multimedia processing has really bumped up the need for faster machines. Would you want to process your photos downloaded from a modern two-megapixel or higher-resolution digital still image camera on a 1993 vintage machine, let alone video movies downloaded via the IEEE-1394 connection from MiniDV and MicroDV camcorders? I didn't think so.
Take for example Adobe's new Photoshop Album program for digital still camera users. You really don't want to run this on a Celeron A 400 MHz CPU, since Photoshop Album--derived from the current professional Photoshop program--requires a good amount of CPU processing power to process images. The program would be more appropriate for CPU's that sport MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow! and/or 3DNow! Professional CPU instruction extensions.
While Tom's Hardware recommendation of boards that use the nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200-8x may be fine for current games, it's going to end up being a wasted expenditure when games that use the full DirectX 9.0 functionality start arriving later this year. Given that ATI's Radeon 9500, 9600, 9700 and 9800 support DX9 functionality in hardware, small wonder why ATI sales have gone up quite a lot recently.
Chances are pretty good that Doom III, EverQuest II, and a good number of other "hot" games coming out for the next few years will implement DX9 support; once that happens the fact that GeForce4 Ti4xxx chipsets won't support DX9 functionality means the new games are going to bog down with the older cards. Why do you think nVidia is preparing to release the NV35 chipset, which is essentially finally delivering on the promises of the GeForce FX 5800 chipset?
ADV Films has announced the first season of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon on subtitled UNCUT DVD just within the last few weeks. It'll be out in July in a US$149.95 box package that covers all 46 episodes of the first season.
I will warn you the original uncut version is quite a bit darker and more mature in subject matter than the DiC "adaptation" released in 1995, so you might want to view it before showing it to anyone under 13 years old.
Folks,
We have to understand that Anime Network has just only started on its rollout!
Thank God that Comcast--who is underwriting part of the cost of the network--is the largest cable system provider in the USA (I think). At least here in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Sacramento, CA area, due to the fact Comcast owns the cable systems, it means Anime Network will likely roll out as part of digital cable packages later this year. =)
Yeah but, people aren't really switching to PNG obecause IE doesn't support it.
.PNG files in Internet Explorer 5.0 and newer? Go to Herdthinners.com (one of the online distribution sites for Bil Holbrook's Kevin and Kell daily comic strip) and the strip is displayed in .PNG format.
Then how come I can display
Looking at your comments, I think the Ogg format is going to have to fight an uphill battle for acceptance for the reasons you mentioned.
Sure, the MP3 format may be disliked by the RIAA, but the very fact almost EVERY hardware manufacturer supports the format bodes well for its future. I mean, when you have portable CD players, automotive CD players and even DVD console players supporting MP3 format audio burned onto a recordable CD, that says a lot about the MP3 format acceptance.
The AAC format will survive because of Apple's sheer marketing influence, even though Apple has such a small share of the overall computer market. The very high popularity of iPod will at least guarantee that the AAC format can survive, since AAC is one of the native storage formats for iPod players. I wouldn't be surprised that AAC gets a good amount of third-party hardware support, since AAC does have Digital Rights Management (DRM) support, something the RIAA really likes.
As for the Ogg format, you can forget about its success except among the very serious geek crowd. The fact that you can't play Ogg-formatted files on portable and automotive CD players out of the box bodes poorly for widespread acceptance of the format.
I'm really surprised that the creators of Penny Arcade has not been offered legal help by either the ACLU or the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); the latter would likely offer assistance since Penny Arcade is primarily distributed via the Internet.
You DO remember the original hockey puck mouse pointer that came with the iMac, right? That was an ergonomic disaster, to say the least--it never really did fit comfortably in your hand like the current mouse pointer Apple includes with their current machines.
I just really hope that Apple has made the mouse just big enough so it the disc on the new mouse design is easily handled even by larger-sized hands and/or finters.
I think while the new Apple mouse design borrows some of the concepts from the Intellivision controller, I worry the disc will end up being too small in size (especially given Apple's penchant for building relatively small-sized mouse pointers), which will cause unintended scrolling, especially if you have big hands and/or fingers.
This isn't like the iPod, where the disc controller is fairly large and easy to manipulate even with larger-sized fingers.
While the new Apple patent sounds like a good idea, I have concerns that if Apple doesn't design that unusual button correctly you're going to end up with a lot of unintended screen scrolling.
Given that later releases of MacOS 9.x and the current MacOS X releases support the full functionality of the two-button mouse with scroll wheel natively (e.g., compatible with USB-port mouse pointers from Microsoft and Logitech), Apple should just "bite the bullet" and get Logitech to build a scrolling mouse that complements the shape of the current Power Macintosh boxes and iMac machines.
Isn't the Chaos Computer Club one of the older existing hacker groups in the world, at least by the modern definition? I believe the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker group started quite a bit later than CCC.
Besides, the Macromedia Flash plug-in is a relatively small download--well under 1 MB! Compare that against the download you need for Windows Media Player 9.0, RealOne or QuickTime 6.0 with its 10+ MB sized downloads.
Don't get your hopes up, though.
I think when the Complete Set comes out (if that is possible) maybe some time in 2005 it'll just be a repackaged Extended Edition sets with only a very tiny amount of tweaking to the first two movies. I don't think Peter Jackson wants to spend even more time to do all-new edits of all three movies just to satisfy the completist crowd. =(
I think you have to understand why we're getting two different releases of each LoTR film on DVD.
The first edition is the version we originally saw in the theaters, the version that is likely to be a big hit in the rental market (Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, etc.). The second edition is the long edition movie on two discs with added scenes, Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks, multiple track commentaries and two-disc Supplementary material set intended for the serious videophile and serious movie fan. For historical reasons, I think it's actually better to have both editions available.