Slashdot Mirror


User: jilbert

jilbert's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
46
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 46

  1. Re:Power? on Tiny Flyer Navigates Like Fly · · Score: 1

    I would bet that it has wires going to it. Or I am prepared to be very impressed that it could fly for 5 minutes with its own power source and still only weigh 10g.

  2. The bad new is... on New Star Wars TV Series Confirmed · · Score: 1
    ... reading the story Lucas seems to be involved in the writing:
    Star Wars creator George Lucas has just completed writing the script for the next Indiana Jones film and will then begin work on Red Tails, about African-American pilots in World War II.

    Following completion of that film, work will begin on the Star Wars TV series.

    or maybe I'm being overly pessimistic? Please George, no more writing! Leave it to some professional screenwriters! And that sounds like an awfully long time to wait too!
  3. Re:What about .264 on Apple Announces Wonderful Toys · · Score: 1

    The new Mac mini core duo does not appear to meet Apple's recommended spec for decoding H.264 720p at 24 to 30 frames per second. 1.66 GHz is too slow - 1.83 Core Due is recommended. But maybe it can just?

  4. Re:FYI: HDTV vs HD Ready on ATI Claims HDCP Then Covers Its Tracks · · Score: 1

    No, you have this the wrong way around.

    I Europe the "HD Ready" logo means that the TV is of a minimum resolution and has an HDMI or DVI connection which supports HDCP.

    HDTV could just mean the TV is capable of accepting a high definition signal via its analogue inputs (such as that provided by the X-box 360).

  5. Re:1080i - yuk on Toshiba Introduces U.S. First HD DVD Players · · Score: 1

    (I don't think 720i has ever been used.)

    Here is some of my thinking behind why 1080i is pointless:

    First assume that you are watching a film. Film is shot and shown in cinemas at 24 frames per second. (Actually in the cinema each frame is shown twice so that the screen flickers at 48 fps, which is less distracting than 24 fps.) 1080i is interlaced video. Each frame is split into two fields, and successive fields paint the odd then the even scan lines on a CRT. 1080i is displayed at either 60 fields (or, in Europe, 50) fields per second. You can see there isn't a clean way to get generate 1080i material from film.

    Add to that the fact that interlaced material removes some vertical detail to prevent horizontal lines in the image from "tizzing" up and down. So you even with perfect de-interlacing (and there are reasons why this isn't always possible) you still can't recover the full detail from the original frame.

    1080i looks great on a 1080i CRT display, but you can't buy one that has a HDMI connector. It is an old standard that is on its way out.

    Apple's Quicktime HD trailers are available in 1080p at 24 fps, and will display nicely on any computer/ monitor combination that has sufficient processing power and resolution. (Even their 480p 24fps "HD" trailers look better than DVD, presumably due to the superior H264 encoding. DVDs are all encoded interlaced on the DVD.)

  6. Re:Copy protected, my arse! on Toshiba Introduces U.S. First HD DVD Players · · Score: 1

    Which CRT monitors have HDMI inputs then?

  7. Re:Most first/second gen HDTVs can't play these on Toshiba Introduces U.S. First HD DVD Players · · Score: 1

    No. What they are worried about is pirating of the HD information, which is why they only provide the signal over HDMI (with its HDCP encryption). It will make a lot of people who bought high definition TVs very angry! It also seems kind of pointless, because I guess most pirates would just want to copy the disk.

  8. Re:1080i - yuk on Toshiba Introduces U.S. First HD DVD Players · · Score: 1
    And 24 fps would have terrible flicker


    24fps on an LCD/DLP and almost every other display I can think of has no flicker because, unlike CRT or a cinema projector, they are never dark; the image is displayed all the time.
  9. 1080i - yuk on Toshiba Introduces U.S. First HD DVD Players · · Score: 1

    I don't understand why they're going with 1080i, a standard for CRT TVs. All modern displays are progressive. 1080p refreshing at 24Hz would be ideal for showing movies, and would be the same bandwidth.

  10. Re:I didn't realize Cairo was so crappy.... on Xara X to Be Released as Open Source · · Score: 1

    I seem to remember that the important bits of the Xara-renderer are hand crafted in assembler.

  11. Re:This is EXCELLENT news, and here's why on Xara X to Be Released as Open Source · · Score: 1

    I agree 100%. Xara X is the only reason I keep a copy of Windows.

  12. Re:Not very efficient on Hydrogen Stored in Safe High Density Pellets · · Score: 1
    There are several groups working on describing how photosynthesis actually works in plants.
    It is extremely well described. The problem is replicating it with an artificial system.
  13. Re:Anybody else see "Demolition Man"? on Vein Patterns to Verify Identity · · Score: 1

    I guess it probably wouldn't work on a dead hand, which would be all the same temperature, and the veins wouldn't be visible in infra red. I wonder if they've tried that experiment?

  14. Re:One of my absolute top peeves on Java to Appear in Next-Gen DVD players · · Score: 1

    Maybe unskippable trailers are only on rental, not retail DVDs?

    I've never seen them myself, and live in region 2, but have never rented a DVD.

  15. Re:Well, duh! on Another Star Wars Prequel? · · Score: 1
    so long as they get someone in who _can_

    How about Joss Whedon? Or someone no-one has heard of yet. There must be hundreds of writers out there who would have killed to write the prequels, who could have thought of a half interesting story. Why? Oh, why? Oh why, oh why...

    Sorry - still feeling angry after seeing ROTS last night. All those talented people dressing the film in its finest clothes, but with no story to hang them on.

  16. Re:People abusing it on the other end... on Providers Ignoring DNS TTL? · · Score: 1

    Yes, it isn't abuse. I have a DynDNS.org account for my ADSL account which sets a TTL of 60 seconds.

    But my ISP is not run by idiots - their DNS servers respect this TTL. (I just checked with dig.)

  17. Question for the observant on Wearing Shoes Bad For your Health? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Has anyone spotted the non-April fool's story on Slashdot today?

  18. Old bacteria! on Microbes Alive After Being Frozen for 32,000 Years · · Score: 1

    ... a new type of bacteria that after being frozen 32,000 years in the Arctic was ready to swim, eat and multiply instantly upon being thawed.

    Shouldn't that be an old type of bacteria?

  19. OS X Tiger will do it for you on Grand Unified Theory of SIMD · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Tiger, the next OS release from Apple, will take care of vector optimization automatically in their version of gcc 4.0. I guess this will make it into the public gcc too.

  20. Re:Open Matte on MGM's DVD Class Action Settlement · · Score: 1

    Yes - please correct the story on the main page! The 4:3 DVD releases were full-frame, not pan and scan. But the film makers intended them to be matted - hence the widescreen releases are correct. The lawsuit is only about MGM's wording in their marketing.

  21. Re:Freak Weather an Explanation too? on A Countdown To Global Catastrophe? · · Score: 1

    With the increase in industrialization of many countries (in part because of consumer culture) and also because of economic expansion and the lower cost of the automobile (namely, in India and China) what can we do to help stop, slow down or perhaps (if possible?) reverse this trend?


    Nothing. We're doomed. Get out there and enjoy the natural world while its still there. In a few years we'll be living on the set of Bladerunner.

  22. George Turner: The Sea and Summer on A Countdown To Global Catastrophe? · · Score: 1

    If anyone wants a depressing SciFi book to read I recommend "The Sea and Summer" by George Turner:

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0586 203583?v=glance

    I don't believe that global warming is a threat to the human species. But in developed nations we and our children will experience a reduced quality of life. In the developing world where they don't have the resources to deal with more frequent extreme weather there is suffering and death in store.

  23. Re:Nice picture, but on Samsung Shows Off 21" OLED Display · · Score: 2, Informative

    Could be. The blue OLED was the hardest to produce, and fades quiker over time than the green or red. So as well as getting dimmer over time, OLED screens also develop a colour cast.

  24. Re:Nonsense in Chosun article? on Samsung Shows Off 21" OLED Display · · Score: 1

    Yes. It could mean that you see more detail in the fast moving parts of a video sequence. In a screen with a slow response time fast moving objects look smeary.

  25. LCOS tech outline on Intel Cancels LCOS Development · · Score: 1

    Can be read at Audioholics plus a link to JVC's similar DILA technology.

    LCOS isn't really used to make flat panels, but you can make thinner rear projection TVs.