A great review of the VX924 can be found on this very nice site, which goes into a little more detail on the performance side (ie. colorimetry) can be found here:
I would say that these people had not yet peaked - much like a child who has not yet reached his greatest height because he is still growing. Once the child has finished puberty, the growth stops. Ditto for brain development - you plateau once you have done all the brain exercises.
So far, all the evidence we have shows that brain development is NOT unlimited. Scientists have been trying to show that humans have unlimited learning potential (in fact, this was the assumption for hundreds of years), but so far have failed.
Thanks for the links...good summary!
Interesting quote:
One is that the heritability of IQ rises with age--that is to say, the extent to which genetics accounts for differences in IQ among individuals increases as people get older. Studies comparing identical and fraternal twins, published in the past decade by a group led by Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., of the University of Minnesota and other scholars, show that about 40 percent of IQ differences among preschoolers stems from genetic differences but that heritability rises to 60 percent by adolescence and to 80 percent by late adulthood. With age, differences among individuals in their developed intelligence come to mirror more closely their genetic differences. It appears that the effects of environment on intelligence fade rather than grow with time. In hindsight, perhaps this should have come as no surprise. Young children have the circumstances of their lives imposed on them by parents, schools and other agents of society, but as people get older they become more independent and tend to seek out the life niches that are most congenial to their genetic proclivities.
A second big surprise for intelligence experts was the discovery that environments shared by siblings have little to do with IQ. Many people still mistakenly believe that social, psychological and economic differences among families create lasting and marked differences in IQ. Behavioral geneticists refer to such environmental effects as "shared" because they are common to siblings who grow up together. Research has shown that although shared environments do have a modest influence on IQ in childhood, their effects dissipate by adolescence. The IQs of adopted children, for example, lose all resemblance to those of their adoptive family members and become more like the IQs of the biological parents they have never known. Such findings suggest that siblings either do not share influential aspects of the rearing environment or do not experience them in the same way. Much behavioral genetics research currently focuses on the still mysterious processes by which environments make members of a household less alike.
I completely agree - think of your genes as a blueprint. With the perfect materials (ie. nutrition and environment) you can reach your full potential. But if the blueprint itself is flawed then another person with the same perfect environmental factors but better blueprint will outdo you.
A person with Down's syndrome will never become a great physicist - his genes (blueprint) will not allow it, no matter how hard you try at improving diet and social/intellectual environment.
Everything has limits - even the brain. The brain just happens to be startlingly complex and capable - but it can't do everything.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the different methods - fortunately, the newer decoders (ie. NVIDIA DVD Decoder on the PC, and the Faroudja and Sil504 chipsets used in better quality DVD players) can detect most of these and work properly.
But, for TV cuts, that could be very difficult like you said!
I guess it isn't possible to do 1080p/60hz in cameras right now. Too bad!
Ouch - yeah I can see it sucking for live broadcasts...are the HD cameras they use for sports only 1080i? I really hope they have 1080p cameras available now to get rid of the artifacts you mentioned.
For film, 1080p is easy like you said, since film isn't interlaced.
I should also mention that TheaterTek, NVIDIA DVD Decoders, ZoomPlayer, etc. are not limited to SD resolution DVDs - they can play recorded 1080i content encoded in mpeg2 transport or program stream files.
If you have Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2005, you can specify the NVIDIA DVD Decoder (or other competent mpeg2 decoder, such as Elecard's or WinDVD's) for all mpeg2 content including HDTV.
Basically, you want to bypass your projector's scaler. If the display hardware always passes 720p resolution to your native 720p device (preferably using DVI OR if you know your display won't rescale 720p to 720p - yes, some do this horrid practice!) then you will avoid the problem.
From my lurking on HDTV enthusiast sites, sometimes the broadcaster will take DVD content (480i) and upconvert to 1080i! It's a terrible practice.
And in other instances, the broadcaster will not use the full resolution - what looks like 1920x1080i may actually be an upconvert of 1280x1080i, 1440x1080i, or 1280x720! And then there is the overcompression - taking a 20mb/sec mpeg2 stream and cutting the bitrate in half - compression artifacts galore.
It is sad when HDTV programming available in North America can be WORSE than the DVD!
You never know what you get in US (and other?) HDTV broadcasts. My understanding is that only the Japanese use minimal mpeg2 compress - I saw snippets of Contact (with Japanese subtitles) in full glorious 1920x1080i at the maximum 20 mbit/sec bitrate - and it was glorious!
You will also need a decent HDTV tuner card - but, I don't know much about them. http://www.avsforum.com/ is the place to go if you need info on that.
Unfortunately, since I live in Calgary, Canada, HDTV service is very sparse...I basically download HDTV 1080i content from the internet - usually trailers or free NASA HD content.
A Home Theater PC with good quality parts, drivers, and decoders will preserve the 1080i signal - it will combine the 1080i field pair into a single 1080p signal, and then downconvert (ie. downscale) to 720p.
As a reference, my Athlon XP running at 2.4 GHz (aproximately equivalent to an Athlon XP 3400+) with a Geforce 6800GT and TheaterTek 2.1 software will have (little) trouble achieving this, assuming the 1080i source isn't glitchy itself.
Alternative is to use the NVIDIA DVD Decoder version 1.0.0.67 ($20 US after 30 day trial) and ZoomPlayer 4.5 beta ($20 beta or nagware) for similar results.
TheaterTek is roughly $70 US and includes updated NVIDIA DVD Decoders - too bad NVIDIA hasn't updated their official DVD decoders with the bugfixes that is present in the TheaterTek package.
DLP front projectors do NOT have poor contrast! You meant LCD projectors or older DILA (aka LCOS) projectors right?
Most DLP projectors nowadays easily have 1000:1 or more contrast ratio. Blacks, while not perfect, are very very good. And you don't need a low gain screen with the HD2+ projectors like the low-cost Benq 8700+ ($4200 US street), and that will get you a 100"+ image with virtual invisible blacks. Compare that with a Samsung 61" DLP RPTV, which will cost a couple of hundred bucks more!
Many people with front projectors use a wall or a sheet and are amazed at the picture quality. Later, when they finish renovations or have room in their budget, they get a real screen (some even DIY one), and note that the improvments are sometimes minimal. A wall can look very good, as many paints approach a regular unity gain screen.
And, you don't need an HTPC with a front projector...many inexpensive DVD players have excellent deinterlacers (the Panasonic RP82, the Zenith 318), and good projectors have good-to-high quality scalers builtin. Hell, the cheap Infocus X1 has a Faroudja deinterlacer (aka DCDi) - the best you can get. Feed it a 480i source and it will do a better job than most of the RPTV and CRTs out in the market now! And then there are the DVD players with DVI/VGA output...they can upscale in the digital domain before sending the image to your projector, and put out a picture that rivals an HTPC costing many hundreds of dollars more. For example, an upscaling Zenith 318 can be had for under $150, and will easily match an $800 HTPC. And a Momitsu V880 with DVI for under $250 US will outperform most HTPCs out there. And it even plays DiVX, mp3s, etc.
Screens can be had for very cheap. Hell, you can make one yourself for almost nothing! Go to AVSForum.com, and look at the Screens forum, and you'll see a lot of great low-cost solutions. A cheap Joann's Blackout Cloth for $30 can get you a nice 100" diagonal screen that is as good as a "real" unity gain screen...
An Infocus X1 can be had for $900 or less. Add $30 for a piece of blackout cloth. Gee, that's a hell of a lot cheaper than most high quality 42" CRT RPTVs!
Too bad most projectionists nowadays don't even check if the damn picture is in focus. And you expect them to find cameras with night vision goggles?! You're kidding me.
Would the NSA investigate if PGP or similar encryption was used?
Whatever the NSA is doing to monitor all the traffic, I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA are drooling at the prospect of using this technology to catch so-called copyright violators. Civilian applications for a military technology, natch!
Slashdot Mirror
I later read that the executables themselves are probably signed...so I guess it won't happen any time soon!
Someone could modify the code on the demo executables themselves and get an exploit in that way. Any thoughts?
Yes, that is what I thought when I read the headline. I've been playing way too many first person shooter games...
http://www.behardware.com/articles/588-1/lcd-19-be linea-10-19-20-and-benq-fp91v.html
I like the new LCD tests they use - and with screenshots illustrating the pixel responses! Very nice.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/572-13/comparat if-lcd-19-4-6-8-ms-tn-ips-va.html
Maybe HP got sick of all the support issues with people "accidentally" downloading spyware and viruses?
Who knows?
Your condition certainly explains your temper. ;)
I'm kidding. People without any obvious neurological damage can have mood swings, tantrums, sleep problems, and flame people on the internet.
From a general population point-of-view, most people require 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Don't take it personally if you are not one of them. I don't.
Woohoo, my first spelling Nazi post!
Anyways, I can see the above scenarios happening quite easily.
I would say that these people had not yet peaked - much like a child who has not yet reached his greatest height because he is still growing. Once the child has finished puberty, the growth stops. Ditto for brain development - you plateau once you have done all the brain exercises.
So far, all the evidence we have shows that brain development is NOT unlimited. Scientists have been trying to show that humans have unlimited learning potential (in fact, this was the assumption for hundreds of years), but so far have failed.
I completely agree - think of your genes as a blueprint. With the perfect materials (ie. nutrition and environment) you can reach your full potential. But if the blueprint itself is flawed then another person with the same perfect environmental factors but better blueprint will outdo you.
A person with Down's syndrome will never become a great physicist - his genes (blueprint) will not allow it, no matter how hard you try at improving diet and social/intellectual environment.
Everything has limits - even the brain. The brain just happens to be startlingly complex and capable - but it can't do everything.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the different methods - fortunately, the newer decoders (ie. NVIDIA DVD Decoder on the PC, and the Faroudja and Sil504 chipsets used in better quality DVD players) can detect most of these and work properly.
But, for TV cuts, that could be very difficult like you said!
I guess it isn't possible to do 1080p/60hz in cameras right now. Too bad!
That does make sense - just hope that the color conversion is done correctly! Otherwise, it may look too green, or may not have enough green!
Ouch - yeah I can see it sucking for live broadcasts...are the HD cameras they use for sports only 1080i? I really hope they have 1080p cameras available now to get rid of the artifacts you mentioned.
For film, 1080p is easy like you said, since film isn't interlaced.
I should also mention that TheaterTek, NVIDIA DVD Decoders, ZoomPlayer, etc. are not limited to SD resolution DVDs - they can play recorded 1080i content encoded in mpeg2 transport or program stream files.
If you have Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2005, you can specify the NVIDIA DVD Decoder (or other competent mpeg2 decoder, such as Elecard's or WinDVD's) for all mpeg2 content including HDTV.
Yep, that's what I meant to say! I wasn't too clear...
If your display is 720p, set your HTPC to output 720p. That's it - the decoder and videocard's builtin scaler will take care of the rest!
Just hope that the decoder/videocard's deinterlacer is up to snuff...
:)
Basically, you want to bypass your projector's scaler. If the display hardware always passes 720p resolution to your native 720p device (preferably using DVI OR if you know your display won't rescale 720p to 720p - yes, some do this horrid practice!) then you will avoid the problem.
From my lurking on HDTV enthusiast sites, sometimes the broadcaster will take DVD content (480i) and upconvert to 1080i! It's a terrible practice.
And in other instances, the broadcaster will not use the full resolution - what looks like 1920x1080i may actually be an upconvert of 1280x1080i, 1440x1080i, or 1280x720! And then there is the overcompression - taking a 20mb/sec mpeg2 stream and cutting the bitrate in half - compression artifacts galore.
It is sad when HDTV programming available in North America can be WORSE than the DVD!
You never know what you get in US (and other?) HDTV broadcasts. My understanding is that only the Japanese use minimal mpeg2 compress - I saw snippets of Contact (with Japanese subtitles) in full glorious 1920x1080i at the maximum 20 mbit/sec bitrate - and it was glorious!
You will also need a decent HDTV tuner card - but, I don't know much about them. http://www.avsforum.com/ is the place to go if you need info on that.
Unfortunately, since I live in Calgary, Canada, HDTV service is very sparse...I basically download HDTV 1080i content from the internet - usually trailers or free NASA HD content.
A Home Theater PC with good quality parts, drivers, and decoders will preserve the 1080i signal - it will combine the 1080i field pair into a single 1080p signal, and then downconvert (ie. downscale) to 720p.
As a reference, my Athlon XP running at 2.4 GHz (aproximately equivalent to an Athlon XP 3400+) with a Geforce 6800GT and TheaterTek 2.1 software will have (little) trouble achieving this, assuming the 1080i source isn't glitchy itself.
Alternative is to use the NVIDIA DVD Decoder version 1.0.0.67 ($20 US after 30 day trial) and ZoomPlayer 4.5 beta ($20 beta or nagware) for similar results.
TheaterTek is roughly $70 US and includes updated NVIDIA DVD Decoders - too bad NVIDIA hasn't updated their official DVD decoders with the bugfixes that is present in the TheaterTek package.
DLP front projectors do NOT have poor contrast! You meant LCD projectors or older DILA (aka LCOS) projectors right?
Most DLP projectors nowadays easily have 1000:1 or more contrast ratio. Blacks, while not perfect, are very very good. And you don't need a low gain screen with the HD2+ projectors like the low-cost Benq 8700+ ($4200 US street), and that will get you a 100"+ image with virtual invisible blacks. Compare that with a Samsung 61" DLP RPTV, which will cost a couple of hundred bucks more!
Many people with front projectors use a wall or a sheet and are amazed at the picture quality. Later, when they finish renovations or have room in their budget, they get a real screen (some even DIY one), and note that the improvments are sometimes minimal. A wall can look very good, as many paints approach a regular unity gain screen.
And, you don't need an HTPC with a front projector...many inexpensive DVD players have excellent deinterlacers (the Panasonic RP82, the Zenith 318), and good projectors have good-to-high quality scalers builtin. Hell, the cheap Infocus X1 has a Faroudja deinterlacer (aka DCDi) - the best you can get. Feed it a 480i source and it will do a better job than most of the RPTV and CRTs out in the market now! And then there are the DVD players with DVI/VGA output...they can upscale in the digital domain before sending the image to your projector, and put out a picture that rivals an HTPC costing many hundreds of dollars more. For example, an upscaling Zenith 318 can be had for under $150, and will easily match an $800 HTPC. And a Momitsu V880 with DVI for under $250 US will outperform most HTPCs out there. And it even plays DiVX, mp3s, etc.
Screens can be had for very cheap. Hell, you can make one yourself for almost nothing! Go to AVSForum.com, and look at the Screens forum, and you'll see a lot of great low-cost solutions. A cheap Joann's Blackout Cloth for $30 can get you a nice 100" diagonal screen that is as good as a "real" unity gain screen...
An Infocus X1 can be had for $900 or less. Add $30 for a piece of blackout cloth. Gee, that's a hell of a lot cheaper than most high quality 42" CRT RPTVs!
1920x1080p, minimal compression, streamed...
HDTV recording...
Porn. Lots of porn.
Obvious isn't it?
Hey Seth...I just visited the page you linked to in your .sig. Wow.
If science journals go online, let's hope they avoid such messups as those described in your link.
Too bad most projectionists nowadays don't even check if the damn picture is in focus. And you expect them to find cameras with night vision goggles?! You're kidding me.
Would the NSA investigate if PGP or similar encryption was used?
Whatever the NSA is doing to monitor all the traffic, I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA are drooling at the prospect of using this technology to catch so-called copyright violators. Civilian applications for a military technology, natch!