"It's not in a different "voltage", it's just a simple friggin' MPEG-file "
It IS however, a totally different video file system. Even if it weren't for region codes, those PAL format discs won't work on an American NTSC television set. You would be welcome to bring your UK tele over here. Nothing references to the power line frequency any more, so the 50 Hz/60 Hz difference shouldn't matter. Just transform the voltage, or, since US homes DO have 240 volts available, you could just have a 240 volt air conditioner outlet installed to power your British tele & DVD player.
I have one of these Microsoft security update CDs dated February of 2004, with updates for all versions of Windows. It has come in VERY helpful in the past, however, I tried to use it just last week on a fresh re-install of Windows 2000, and I was given an error message that the disc had expired, and was no longer valid - please contact Microsoft.
It DID work after I set the CMOS clock back a year.
Yes, and ATSC channel can carry more than one standard def program, which is what most OTAs will do. They will then be able to sell advertising on 3 or 4 "channels" at the same time.
When all of this DTV stuff started, however, it was SUPPOSED to be for High Def broadcasting, not multicasting. We as consumers have been duped.
The ATSC "channel" is still 6 MHz wide, no matter if they are showing 1 HD program, or 6 highly compressed crappy ones. If they are showing true 1080i High-Def, there is only room for that 1 program on the channel, and perhaps 1 additional highly compressed program, with a data feed.
That is most likely what your local WANE-DT is doing. CBS is in high-def, (when available) the UPN is a highly compressed SD, (which looks just slightly better than a SVHS recording, but smears on rapid movement) and the radar is a slow-speed data service.
Anyway, sorry if I come off sounding grumpy about all of this, but I am a broadcast engineer, I'm not fond of change, and this ATSC crap has been bugging me for 10 years now. I'm getting used to the idea, but I still don't like the extra work it has generated for me. With the idea of muliticasting, that means I will now have to take care of 3 or 4 TV "stations" instead of just 1. Lots of extra work, no extra pay.
Digital TV does NOT have a smaller footprint. The standard ATSC television channel, whether HDTV or not, is still THE SAME 6 MHz of bandwidth that NTSC analog TV uses.
Stations are right now using 2 channels instead of the just 1 they used to have. When they are forced to go dark on analog, they will be back down to the 1 channel they had in the first place. We have gained NOTHING except added costs, and the ability for DRM.
"When it started with Snoop and NWA back in the day..."
Back in the day??!! You're not very old, are you.
As far as I can remember, it all started with Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank - three guys known as The Sugarhill Gang, followed up with artists like Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, Run DMC...
"People will always pay to see a concert. People won't always pay for shitty CDs."
(a) WHEN REGULARLY REQUIRED: Broadcast station identification announcements shall be made: (1) At the beginning and ending of each time of operation, and (2) hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings. Television broadcast stations may make these announcements visually or aurally.
(b) CONTENT: (1) Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location...
There you go - the answer. There is no "5 minute" rule, nor is it required to be right at the top of the hour, just as close as feasible.
Yes, I AM a broadcast engineer, and I DO hold a commercial FCC license.
1. SBC (primarily it's PacBell portion)
2. Verizon
3. BellSouth" --------- Some of the smaller phone companies in rural areas are even worse. I pay GTMC.net 39.00 a month for 256K both ways. I feel like I have been penetrated alright, but there is no other option where I live. At least it's a rock solid 256K.
"I get annoyed when people see "GPS" and assume that means they are being tracked."
If you use a digital cell phone, your location from GPS is sent to the cellular site, and recorded. You are being tracked. They could just as easily do this with GPS in your car - On*Star already does.
A new law promoted by the cellular phone companies as a "safety issue for 911 calls" requires ALL new phones to have location identification built in. Of course the REAL reason they got this law to pass was to get rid of any old analog phones. They take up as much bandwidth as a dozen "digital quality" calls. Why charge for 1 phone call on a channel, when you can charge the same amount to 10 users on that one channel. Have you tried to activate an analog phone lately? They won't do it, and tell you that it is illegal. If you have an analog phone currently active, if you ever let it lapse, it will NOT be reactivated. I have already been through this with Cellular One, and Alltel.
An audio I/O box... that's it??? That is the BIG SECRET!!??
So what! This is nothing new. Other companies like M-Audio, Tascam, Motu, and PreSonus have been doing this for a long time already.
If Apple is going to make one, it will most likely be sub-standard for professional use, and overpriced for what it does do, but it will be 'pretty'.
The Tacscam US122 http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=US122 looks like a better product, for about the same money, and it's available right now.
Also, Avid (DigiDesign) recently aquired Midiman Inc. (M-Audio) so I would expect some new hot products from them very soon.
I think this information leak is the biggest break Apple could have ever hoped for. Just look at all of the FREE publicity!
I also agree that journalists should not be required to reveal their sources for any reason. Apple needs to do some internal work to find whatever leaks they have.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't think Tom Scholz would be very happy."
That was good. I'd mod you up if I could.
Somehow, I doubt that many of the younger slashcrowd has any idea who Tom Scholz is.
...then she slowly worked her way down, kissing and carressing until she...
(continued on page 605)
"It's not in a different "voltage", it's just a simple friggin' MPEG-file "
It IS however, a totally different video file system. Even if it weren't for region codes, those PAL format discs won't work on an American NTSC television set. You would be welcome to bring your UK tele over here. Nothing references to the power line frequency any more, so the 50 Hz/60 Hz difference shouldn't matter. Just transform the voltage, or, since US homes DO have 240 volts available, you could just have a 240 volt air conditioner outlet installed to power your British tele & DVD player.
Try this:
http://www.seenontvproducts.net/tablemate/
I got new tags for my van. They wanted the VIN Number.
" Yeah, Microsoft USED TO offer a update CD:"
I have one of these Microsoft security update CDs dated February of 2004, with updates for all versions of Windows. It has come in VERY helpful in the past, however, I tried to use it just last week on a fresh re-install of Windows 2000, and I was given an error message that the disc had expired, and was no longer valid - please contact Microsoft.
It DID work after I set the CMOS clock back a year.
Let me re-phrase that then...
Just the idea of "remote desktop access" IN MS-WINDOWS sounds like a security problem waiting to happen.
or maybe it should just be:
Just the idea of MS-WINDOWS sounds like a security problem waiting to happen.
I have had it disabled since day one. Just the idea of "remote desktop access" sounds like a security problem waiting to happen.
...but I only get spam that wants to pump my septic tank, sell me V1aGr4, or enlarge my pEn1s.
How can that help my BMI?
Yes, and ATSC channel can carry more than one standard def program, which is what most OTAs will do. They will then be able to sell advertising on 3 or 4 "channels" at the same time.
When all of this DTV stuff started, however, it was SUPPOSED to be for High Def broadcasting, not multicasting. We as consumers have been duped.
The ATSC "channel" is still 6 MHz wide, no matter if they are showing 1 HD program, or 6 highly compressed crappy ones. If they are showing true 1080i High-Def, there is only room for that 1 program on the channel, and perhaps 1 additional highly compressed program, with a data feed.
That is most likely what your local WANE-DT is doing. CBS is in high-def, (when available) the UPN is a highly compressed SD, (which looks just slightly better than a SVHS recording, but smears on rapid movement) and the radar is a slow-speed data service.
Anyway, sorry if I come off sounding grumpy about all of this, but I am a broadcast engineer, I'm not fond of change, and this ATSC crap has been bugging me for 10 years now. I'm getting used to the idea, but I still don't like the extra work it has generated for me. With the idea of muliticasting, that means I will now have to take care of 3 or 4 TV "stations" instead of just 1. Lots of extra work, no extra pay.
Digital TV does NOT have a smaller footprint. The standard ATSC television channel, whether HDTV or not, is still THE SAME 6 MHz of bandwidth that NTSC analog TV uses.
Stations are right now using 2 channels instead of the just 1 they used to have. When they are forced to go dark on analog, they will be back down to the 1 channel they had in the first place. We have gained NOTHING except added costs, and the ability for DRM.
"How many people are aware that when their Nokia sends "dah dah dah dit dit dah dah dah" it is in fact sending "SMS" in morse"
Uh... No. that would be O I O.
SMS would be dit dit dit dah dah dit dit dit.
"http://rfid.slashdot.org"
Hmm... I wonder what horrid color scheme that will use.
"When it started with Snoop and NWA back in the day..."
Back in the day??!! You're not very old, are you.
As far as I can remember, it all started with Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank - three guys known as The Sugarhill Gang, followed up with artists like Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, Run DMC...
"People will always pay to see a concert. People won't always pay for shitty CDs."
I have to agree with you there.
73.1201 STATION IDENTIFICATION.
(a) WHEN REGULARLY REQUIRED:
Broadcast station identification announcements shall be made: (1) At the beginning and ending of each time of operation, and (2) hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings. Television broadcast stations may make these announcements visually or aurally.
(b) CONTENT:
(1) Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location...
There you go - the answer. There is no "5 minute" rule, nor is it required to be right at the top of the hour, just as close as feasible.
Yes, I AM a broadcast engineer, and I DO hold a commercial FCC license.
Well finally!!
...about the same price too!
A machine worthy of replacing my Compaq Model 1.
http://oldcomputers.net/compaqi.html
Redundant? Perhaps. Funny? no, not really, but hey - I'm just re-hashing the same crap I see on /. every day - some of which gets modded funny.
Besides, I'm an engineer - I have no natural sense of humor.
(I've also been working on an NT-4 server all day, which is enough to impair anyone's sense of humor.)
"...imagine a Beowulf cluster of our new Lexmark chip controlled overlords."
In Soviet Russia, only old Korean overlords use Beowulf clusters of Lexmark chips.
"Three reasons:
1. SBC (primarily it's PacBell portion)
2. Verizon
3. BellSouth"
---------
Some of the smaller phone companies in rural areas are even worse. I pay GTMC.net 39.00 a month for 256K both ways. I feel like I have been penetrated alright, but there is no other option where I live. At least it's a rock solid 256K.
"there's always room for clevage." Or is that jello? Or perhaps both..."
Hey! Jello wrestling!!!! YES!
"I get annoyed when people see "GPS" and assume that means they are being tracked."
If you use a digital cell phone, your location from GPS is sent to the cellular site, and recorded. You are being tracked. They could just as easily do this with GPS in your car - On*Star already does.
A new law promoted by the cellular phone companies as a "safety issue for 911 calls" requires ALL new phones to have location identification built in. Of course the REAL reason they got this law to pass was to get rid of any old analog phones. They take up as much bandwidth as a dozen "digital quality" calls. Why charge for 1 phone call on a channel, when you can charge the same amount to 10 users on that one channel. Have you tried to activate an analog phone lately? They won't do it, and tell you that it is illegal. If you have an analog phone currently active, if you ever let it lapse, it will NOT be reactivated. I have already been through this with Cellular One, and Alltel.
An audio I/O box... that's it??? That is the BIG SECRET!!??
So what! This is nothing new. Other companies like M-Audio, Tascam, Motu, and PreSonus have been doing this for a long time already.
If Apple is going to make one, it will most likely be sub-standard for professional use, and overpriced for what it does do, but it will be 'pretty'.
The Tacscam US122 http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=US122 looks like a better product, for about the same money, and it's available right now.
Also, Avid (DigiDesign) recently aquired Midiman Inc. (M-Audio) so I would expect some new hot products from them very soon.
I think this information leak is the biggest break Apple could have ever hoped for. Just look at all of the FREE publicity!
I also agree that journalists should not be required to reveal their sources for any reason. Apple needs to do some internal work to find whatever leaks they have.
...what was I thinking. You are correct.
I need to get off the computer, and start drinking.
"How does it work to watch a widescreen DVD movie on 800x600?"
DVD movies, widescreen or not, are 720 x 485, or 640 x 480. Your high-res monitor will downshift to play them full screen.
"Too bad it's resolution falls shy of HTDV but give it time."
HDTV?
It falls short for 1080i, (NBC, CBS, PBS) but it should be able to do 720p (ABC, FOX) with no problem.