I disagree. There's more to life, the universe, and everything than the advancement of human knowledge alone. Sports are a great amusement, and I wouldn't choose to live in a world without them. No, they're not going to improve society, fight world hunger, cure AIDS, or end inner-city violence. But looking at their entertainment factor alone, they're worth the mega-bucks spent by competing corporations, the occasional uber-fan, and the general competition prompted by fanaticism.
The way I see it, the world is a more enriching, entertaining, vivid experience with a diverse realm of experience. It's great to have a cause like the advancement of science and/or knowledge. But a world that was only science/knowledge wouldn't be worth living in. It'd be a chore to go through...like a rice cake with no topping.
Of course, this is open to debate, but in my opinion the benefits of going all digital far outweigh the setbacks. As far as pixelation, this is a problem that exists both on film and on digital media. You still have a film grain on Hollywood-quality film that's going to limit the size of the picture you can display. Just like when you go to the store and buy film for your camera, you can choose between 100 speed, 200 speed, 400 speed, 800 speed, ad infinitum. The faster speed films are great for action photos, but have a large, ugly film grain that is discernible even on small 4x5 prints. The way to eliminate visible pixelation in digital pictures is to just increase the quality of the storage medium. This is evident in the recent movie Titan A.E. which, when stored digitally, was several terabytes in size, more than ample to remove any visible pixelation, even on the big screen.
As far as real color, 32-bits is 2^32 possible colors. This means 4294967296 possible colors. The human eye can only distinguish a few million. And on film, though you have an incredible color range on most prints, there is still a perceivable skew based on the type of film used. Some films will be brighter than others, some are darker. Some are more obviously red. That's why when filming a movie, most production houses stick to one type of film. If they use more than one, you'll notice a difference on the screen both in color and in film grain size.
In my opinion, digital media doesn't solve the problems of film grain and color limitations, but film grain can only be reduced so much by various chemicals, whereas pixelation can be reduced to a size infinitesimally small that lens quality will be a greater limitation on the quality of a picture than storage media. Furthermore, digital recordings will always preserve the same color, no matter how many times it is copied or transferred, unlike analog alternatives. Personally, I'm happy living with 32 bits. I can't tell a difference, but if you can, feel free to stick with VHS.
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"Better Living Through Hypocrisy, It's The New Opiate"
All the previous movies have had somewhat more interesting titles. "The Phantom Menace" "The Empire Strikes Back" "The Return of the Jedi" and of course the all time favorite "Star Wars." I would have hoped for more than "The Rise of the Empire." It just seems somewhat bland in comparsion. Of course, there's no way to be sure this is even the working title, and I'm sure it'll be changed before the film comes to the silver screen.
A year ago I got my first VISA card and promptly took a 3-month jaunt to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I planned to use the new card as my primary means of cash flow. However, upon arrival there I found that none of the ATMs would accept the card and I was unable to access my account through any of various networks. I'm not certain that this was something VISA did...perhaps EVERY ATM in Buenos Aires with the VISA ensignia on it malfunctioned (and I tried about 30). But the only fault of the card was at the ATM...it still worked perfectly for purchases. It was quite a headache for me at the time, but I must support any kind of technology that keeps my money a little more secure...even if I'm not legally obligated to pay for unauthorized uses of my credit card number.
That's an idealist viewpoint. When confronted by a corporation, the "little guy" generally does not have the resources, time, or ambition to stand his rights. There are usually more pressing concerns such as the next month's paycheck. Corporations, however, have oodles of money stored away in investments. I heard once that the GM company has more than $20 billion dollars in various places. For these reasons, if a company has to fight a legal battle against the "little guy" it can usually either scare the opponent away, or bleed the unfortunate person dry.
In my opinion, the American government and economy simply sucks. Thomas Jefferson said that when a government started to do things that the people were against, it was time to get a new government. It was this attitude that led him to the American Revolution, and he totally advocated just the same action if the nation he helped found ever lost it's integrity. I support this premise 110%. Unfortunately, I'm just one faceless "little guy" without the resources, time, or ambition to change anything.
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I disagree. There's more to life, the universe, and everything than the advancement of human knowledge alone. Sports are a great amusement, and I wouldn't choose to live in a world without them. No, they're not going to improve society, fight world hunger, cure AIDS, or end inner-city violence. But looking at their entertainment factor alone, they're worth the mega-bucks spent by competing corporations, the occasional uber-fan, and the general competition prompted by fanaticism. The way I see it, the world is a more enriching, entertaining, vivid experience with a diverse realm of experience. It's great to have a cause like the advancement of science and/or knowledge. But a world that was only science/knowledge wouldn't be worth living in. It'd be a chore to go through...like a rice cake with no topping.
Of course, this is open to debate, but in my opinion the benefits of going all digital far outweigh the setbacks. As far as pixelation, this is a problem that exists both on film and on digital media. You still have a film grain on Hollywood-quality film that's going to limit the size of the picture you can display. Just like when you go to the store and buy film for your camera, you can choose between 100 speed, 200 speed, 400 speed, 800 speed, ad infinitum. The faster speed films are great for action photos, but have a large, ugly film grain that is discernible even on small 4x5 prints. The way to eliminate visible pixelation in digital pictures is to just increase the quality of the storage medium. This is evident in the recent movie Titan A.E. which, when stored digitally, was several terabytes in size, more than ample to remove any visible pixelation, even on the big screen.
As far as real color, 32-bits is 2^32 possible colors. This means 4294967296 possible colors. The human eye can only distinguish a few million. And on film, though you have an incredible color range on most prints, there is still a perceivable skew based on the type of film used. Some films will be brighter than others, some are darker. Some are more obviously red. That's why when filming a movie, most production houses stick to one type of film. If they use more than one, you'll notice a difference on the screen both in color and in film grain size.
In my opinion, digital media doesn't solve the problems of film grain and color limitations, but film grain can only be reduced so much by various chemicals, whereas pixelation can be reduced to a size infinitesimally small that lens quality will be a greater limitation on the quality of a picture than storage media. Furthermore, digital recordings will always preserve the same color, no matter how many times it is copied or transferred, unlike analog alternatives. Personally, I'm happy living with 32 bits. I can't tell a difference, but if you can, feel free to stick with VHS.
=====================================
"Better Living Through Hypocrisy, It's The New Opiate"
All the previous movies have had somewhat more interesting titles. "The Phantom Menace" "The Empire Strikes Back" "The Return of the Jedi" and of course the all time favorite "Star Wars." I would have hoped for more than "The Rise of the Empire." It just seems somewhat bland in comparsion. Of course, there's no way to be sure this is even the working title, and I'm sure it'll be changed before the film comes to the silver screen.
A year ago I got my first VISA card and promptly took a 3-month jaunt to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I planned to use the new card as my primary means of cash flow. However, upon arrival there I found that none of the ATMs would accept the card and I was unable to access my account through any of various networks. I'm not certain that this was something VISA did...perhaps EVERY ATM in Buenos Aires with the VISA ensignia on it malfunctioned (and I tried about 30). But the only fault of the card was at the ATM...it still worked perfectly for purchases. It was quite a headache for me at the time, but I must support any kind of technology that keeps my money a little more secure...even if I'm not legally obligated to pay for unauthorized uses of my credit card number.
That's an idealist viewpoint. When confronted by a corporation, the "little guy" generally does not have the resources, time, or ambition to stand his rights. There are usually more pressing concerns such as the next month's paycheck. Corporations, however, have oodles of money stored away in investments. I heard once that the GM company has more than $20 billion dollars in various places. For these reasons, if a company has to fight a legal battle against the "little guy" it can usually either scare the opponent away, or bleed the unfortunate person dry.
In my opinion, the American government and economy simply sucks. Thomas Jefferson said that when a government started to do things that the people were against, it was time to get a new government. It was this attitude that led him to the American Revolution, and he totally advocated just the same action if the nation he helped found ever lost it's integrity. I support this premise 110%. Unfortunately, I'm just one faceless "little guy" without the resources, time, or ambition to change anything.