I had a friend that swore data was stored differently on audio cds than it was on data cds. On the data cds everything was converted to 1s and 0s and that screwed with the tune. There was no telling him different.
Actually, your friend is right. The difference is in error correction. An audio CD can store MORE data then a data CD, but when errors occur, the player just interpolates to hide it. A data CD, on the other hand, devotes more space to error correction so that your files don't get corrupted. This is why an 80-minute CD, when burnt as a DATA CD can't hold an 80-minute, 16-bit, 44.100khz wave file.
Dude the ears of old audio nuts claim that DIGITAL data sounds different when sent through fiber optic digital links rather than other digital links. It is a figment of their imagination. It is not like one has to guess. You do a checksum of the file before encryption, and you do a checksum after encryption, either the number has changed or not. Most encryptions are fully reversable.
Uhm, there is some truth to the above statement. The SPDIF standard (for both optical and coax) doesn't explicitly define sampling rate. The amplifier is supposed to play back samples as they come, without much internal clocking. If your friend was using devices with bad clocks, then he'd hear the difference.
Actually, my bank posts a warning into my statement before an ACH transfer can be made. This has helped me prevent fraudulent withdrawls from my checking account.
The Zune isn't going to be an overnight iPod killer. Microsoft is doing two things with the Zune: Dipping their toe in the water of the portables market; and getting practice for what's coming down the road.
What is coming down the road that will render the iPod (and other MP3 players) obsolete?
Ultra-mobile PCs: Within 10 years (or sooner) you'll be able to buy a Windows or Mac PC that fits in the palm of your hand, for less then you pay for an iPod.
Wireless broadband. Wimax is only the beginning, eventually wireless broadband will allow you to listen to carry services like Napster and Rhapsody in your pocket.
Cheap flash memory. In a few years, 30-60 gigs of flash will be dirt cheap. Remember when a 1-gig hard drive cost more then today's 1-gig USB keys?
If Microsoft wants to be a player in the above technologies, it needs to get in the market now with Zune. Picture this: In five years you buy an ultra-mobile PC with a 100 gig hard drive, wireless internet, and a 3-4 megapixel camera. What do you think you'll do with your cell phone, iPod, and camera? Do you think Microsoft wants you to use their software?
Newspaper, Magazine, and web advertising is very effective, yet it is easily skipped. What some of the television networks are trying to do is the equivilent of forcing my eyeballs to read ads that I am not interested in. Such an approach is rather short-sighted, because it will only turn their viewers away.
The networks really need to take a scientific approach to advertising and observe how real DVR users behave. They can try many different advertising methods and see which ones allow for messages to stick.
Some methods that might be effective:
Tag the first frame of each ad (and show segment.) The commercial skip button would always skip to the first frame of an ad/show. The goal then would be to dissuade the viewer from hitting skip.
Place their programs on the internet, with embedded advertising. By maintaining high quality and reliabale servers, the general public would avoid sites like "The Pirate Bay".
Realize that as viewers hunt for the remote, get up to pee, run for a beer, ect, they are still listening to the ad.
Realize that people still like to watch sports, American Idol, and many other events live.
Take advantage of the "Economies of scale." This means reducing overhead and/or increasing viewership.
It definitely is not the comparable resolution to 35 mm film, although film can be scanned at this resolution there is too much film grain to actually get near this resolution.
Actually, what you're saying doesn't surprise me, as film grain doesn't really equate to pixels. I got to see a black and white movie projected off of nitrate film stock about a month ago, and "grey" is comprised of lots of little dots. Such film could only really be preserved digitally if it were scanned at something like 4k resolution, because the dots don't fit neatly into a grid.
Here's a simple solution: When uploading a video to YouTube, (or a similar site,) there's a checkbox that must be checked in order to continue. Next to it, the following text is printed: "I assert that I have permission from the copyright holder to upload this video to be freely shown on YouTube. I ASSUME ALL LIABILITY IN THE EVENT THAT THAT THIS VIDEO IS SHOWN IN VIOLATION OF ITS COPYRIGHT. I aknowledge that my IP is logged and it will be given to the copyright owner if it is proven that this video violates copyright."
Remember: HDMI is bad and supporting it is the last thing you would want to do. HDMI enables HDCP, and HDCP is a pond-scum mechanism for DRM / copy protection.
No. HDMI is a cable that combines DVI (video) with audio. It's designed to allow for a single cable connection between a device and a television.
HDCP can run over DVI. My TV has DVI and supports HDCP. Many LCD monitors have DVI and support HDCP.
Do not equate HDMI with HDCP. HDMI is a variation of DVI, and both support HDCP.
Ultra-HDTV's resolution is comparable to 30mm and 70mm film. This will probably be what's adopted when digital projection becomes mainstream in theaters.
Actually, I'm surprised that no one has done a bootleg transfer from some of the rumored prints and posted it to the internet. That's what's happened to surround mixes of various Pink Floyd and Beatles albums.
For example, right now I'm listening to a bootleg 20-bit 5.1 mix of Rubber Soul that isn't available in stores. It sounds much better then what I can do with the ordinary CD and a DSP; I'd buy the album in 5.1 legally if it were sold.
Honestly, I've thought of making my own rip of Jedi without the musical number in Jabba's quarters, and with the orignal "Yub Yub Yub" Ewok song. By keeping the original in a lower quality, George ensures that anyone watching my version knows that I changed it.
Diesel fuel has a hydrogen density of about 0.23 gm/cm^3
True, but it's physically impossible for an internal combustion engine to have an efficency greater then 50%. (This is because of the compression cycle.) A non-hybrid diesel will have an efficency of 20-30%.
Compare this with an electric motor that has an efficency of about 90%. If the fuel cell has a 60% efficency, then the car has a total efficency of about 50%. (I think the projected efficency of fuel cells is 60%...)
Basically, even though diesel has a greater energy density, the fuel cell will get a similar MPG because it's much more effiecent.
Advertsing for items like Coke and fast food only work with multiple impressions.
Is targetted advertising more effective? For example, even though I'm attending CS lectures, perhaps I'd be interested in attending a mechanical engineering lecture or have friends who are mechanical engineers?
Perhaps a system like this is better suited for collecting metrics on the demographic that passes the billboard?
If you read some of the posts from people who actually own the DVDs of the unaltered trillogy, they report that it's actually very good quality.
That being stated, let's give George the benefit of the doubt and say that he has every right to modify his films as he sees fit. By releasing the unaltered version of the trillogy in an very high, (but not perfect) form, he can be assured that historians will realize which version is the one that he wants them to see as the final form.
Altering works after release isn't a new practice. Upton Sinclair altered "The Jungle" between when it was first published in a magazine and in book form. Toilken altered "The Hobbit" so that it would better fit in with events in "The Lord of the Rings". If you want, you can find original versions of both works, yet the norm is to read the altered versions.
Overall, I really don't think that copyright law is completly "jacked up"... It's more that the information industry is keeping their prices too high. One of the posts claims:
Here's the rub. The machine costs $5000. The software for loading your own designs into it... another $5000 (last I checked)
The same can be said about the music industry. Why should I pay $16.00 for a brand-new Beatles or Pink Floyd CD? The recordings have amortized their production costs, and I can buy a DVD for $10-$20.
A bunch of the replies pointed me to the EyeTV, which is what I would buy with a Mac Mini: http://www.elgato.com/. I rarely watch sports, but when I do, it's almost always from channels that I can get over the air. (I do my patriotic duty and usually watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.) Besides, how long do you think it'll be until most sports can be streamed over the internet?
I'm getting very tempted to dump my DVR+CATV and replace it with a Mac Mini and a TV antenna. I currently pay about $70 / month for an HDTV DVR from Comcast. With a Mac Mini, I could get most of my shows from iTunes for less money, and the rest could come over-the-air from local broadcasts. (Pretty much everything that's not on iTunes is on broadcast TV or Netflix.)
The advantage is that I anticipate that a Mac mini & iTunes is a lot more reliable then Comcast's DVR. The disadvantage (if I understand correctly,) is that most shows aren't available until the day after broadcast. This really is annoying, because I like to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report as soon as they air.
This would also reduce clutter, as I wouldn't have to switch between seperate DVRs and DVD players. Hopefully the Mac Mini can support USB or FireWire BlueRay and HD-DVD players.
I seem to remember watching a documentary on Discovery HD about how, in one of the past instances of global warming, methane was released from deep in the sea and caused a mass extinction. This news doesn't surprise me at all.
Another argument to make is that, given that plastic 5" disks have been around since 1983, if such an envelope were obvious, we'd have seen it used in the 80s and 90s for CDs. If these envelopes are so obvious, why did Blockbuster invest so much money (and shelf space) for bulky DVD cases when they could have just used pre-paid return envelopes back in the late 90s?
A few days ago, after posting my first YouTube videos, I searched for "zit" and then "fart light". I'm sure a company that sells acne medication and anti-fart pills would love to put a banner on the results page. They could also put a small banner on the bottom of each video.
Back in the day when I ran a dial-up BBS, I used to personally validate each account before the caller could post a message. Other BBSs allowed the users to vote on new callers. Such a system would work on small web boards where everyone knows everyone in real life.
Another permutation of the above system is to allow new users to post freely, but only display the posts publicly after the webop validates the account.
When I took calculus in college, I found the group environment made it easy to find people to work with. It also made meeting people very easy.
Don't forget that college is a social environment, it's not just about the grade. Granted, I'd have loved the podcast option for the few times that my alarm clock didn't work.
I often use a small metal box in my suitcase so that cookies and crafts don't get crushed. Two out of three times, the suitcase with the metal box was searched. (I typically put the box by the top so Big Brother doesn't have to dig far.)
In my experience, if I fly with anything that, when X-Rayed, looks suspisous, my luggage will be searched.
I wouldn't put a media center PC with the graphics card pictured on the first page. Fans are very distracting when watching a movie. I'd rather stick with a quiet DVD player then a loud PC.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, your friend is right. The difference is in error correction. An audio CD can store MORE data then a data CD, but when errors occur, the player just interpolates to hide it. A data CD, on the other hand, devotes more space to error correction so that your files don't get corrupted. This is why an 80-minute CD, when burnt as a DATA CD can't hold an 80-minute, 16-bit, 44.100khz wave file.
Uhm, there is some truth to the above statement. The SPDIF standard (for both optical and coax) doesn't explicitly define sampling rate. The amplifier is supposed to play back samples as they come, without much internal clocking. If your friend was using devices with bad clocks, then he'd hear the difference.
Actually, my bank posts a warning into my statement before an ACH transfer can be made. This has helped me prevent fraudulent withdrawls from my checking account.
The Zune isn't going to be an overnight iPod killer. Microsoft is doing two things with the Zune: Dipping their toe in the water of the portables market; and getting practice for what's coming down the road.
What is coming down the road that will render the iPod (and other MP3 players) obsolete?
If Microsoft wants to be a player in the above technologies, it needs to get in the market now with Zune. Picture this: In five years you buy an ultra-mobile PC with a 100 gig hard drive, wireless internet, and a 3-4 megapixel camera. What do you think you'll do with your cell phone, iPod, and camera? Do you think Microsoft wants you to use their software?
Newspaper, Magazine, and web advertising is very effective, yet it is easily skipped. What some of the television networks are trying to do is the equivilent of forcing my eyeballs to read ads that I am not interested in. Such an approach is rather short-sighted, because it will only turn their viewers away.
The networks really need to take a scientific approach to advertising and observe how real DVR users behave. They can try many different advertising methods and see which ones allow for messages to stick.
Some methods that might be effective:
Actually, what you're saying doesn't surprise me, as film grain doesn't really equate to pixels. I got to see a black and white movie projected off of nitrate film stock about a month ago, and "grey" is comprised of lots of little dots. Such film could only really be preserved digitally if it were scanned at something like 4k resolution, because the dots don't fit neatly into a grid.
Here's a simple solution: When uploading a video to YouTube, (or a similar site,) there's a checkbox that must be checked in order to continue. Next to it, the following text is printed: "I assert that I have permission from the copyright holder to upload this video to be freely shown on YouTube. I ASSUME ALL LIABILITY IN THE EVENT THAT THAT THIS VIDEO IS SHOWN IN VIOLATION OF ITS COPYRIGHT. I aknowledge that my IP is logged and it will be given to the copyright owner if it is proven that this video violates copyright."
No. HDMI is a cable that combines DVI (video) with audio. It's designed to allow for a single cable connection between a device and a television.
HDCP can run over DVI. My TV has DVI and supports HDCP. Many LCD monitors have DVI and support HDCP.
Do not equate HDMI with HDCP. HDMI is a variation of DVI, and both support HDCP.
Ultra-HDTV's resolution is comparable to 30mm and 70mm film. This will probably be what's adopted when digital projection becomes mainstream in theaters.
Actually, I'm surprised that no one has done a bootleg transfer from some of the rumored prints and posted it to the internet. That's what's happened to surround mixes of various Pink Floyd and Beatles albums.
For example, right now I'm listening to a bootleg 20-bit 5.1 mix of Rubber Soul that isn't available in stores. It sounds much better then what I can do with the ordinary CD and a DSP; I'd buy the album in 5.1 legally if it were sold.
Honestly, I've thought of making my own rip of Jedi without the musical number in Jabba's quarters, and with the orignal "Yub Yub Yub" Ewok song. By keeping the original in a lower quality, George ensures that anyone watching my version knows that I changed it.
True, but it's physically impossible for an internal combustion engine to have an efficency greater then 50%. (This is because of the compression cycle.) A non-hybrid diesel will have an efficency of 20-30%.
Compare this with an electric motor that has an efficency of about 90%. If the fuel cell has a 60% efficency, then the car has a total efficency of about 50%. (I think the projected efficency of fuel cells is 60%...)
Basically, even though diesel has a greater energy density, the fuel cell will get a similar MPG because it's much more effiecent.
The luddite speaks:
Perhaps a system like this is better suited for collecting metrics on the demographic that passes the billboard?
If you read some of the posts from people who actually own the DVDs of the unaltered trillogy, they report that it's actually very good quality.
That being stated, let's give George the benefit of the doubt and say that he has every right to modify his films as he sees fit. By releasing the unaltered version of the trillogy in an very high, (but not perfect) form, he can be assured that historians will realize which version is the one that he wants them to see as the final form.
Altering works after release isn't a new practice. Upton Sinclair altered "The Jungle" between when it was first published in a magazine and in book form. Toilken altered "The Hobbit" so that it would better fit in with events in "The Lord of the Rings". If you want, you can find original versions of both works, yet the norm is to read the altered versions.
Overall, I really don't think that copyright law is completly "jacked up"... It's more that the information industry is keeping their prices too high. One of the posts claims:
The same can be said about the music industry. Why should I pay $16.00 for a brand-new Beatles or Pink Floyd CD? The recordings have amortized their production costs, and I can buy a DVD for $10-$20.
A bunch of the replies pointed me to the EyeTV, which is what I would buy with a Mac Mini: http://www.elgato.com/. I rarely watch sports, but when I do, it's almost always from channels that I can get over the air. (I do my patriotic duty and usually watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.) Besides, how long do you think it'll be until most sports can be streamed over the internet?
I'm getting very tempted to dump my DVR+CATV and replace it with a Mac Mini and a TV antenna. I currently pay about $70 / month for an HDTV DVR from Comcast. With a Mac Mini, I could get most of my shows from iTunes for less money, and the rest could come over-the-air from local broadcasts. (Pretty much everything that's not on iTunes is on broadcast TV or Netflix.)
The advantage is that I anticipate that a Mac mini & iTunes is a lot more reliable then Comcast's DVR. The disadvantage (if I understand correctly,) is that most shows aren't available until the day after broadcast. This really is annoying, because I like to watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report as soon as they air.
This would also reduce clutter, as I wouldn't have to switch between seperate DVRs and DVD players. Hopefully the Mac Mini can support USB or FireWire BlueRay and HD-DVD players.
Groan. If Peter Jackson gives The Hobbit the same treatment that he gave King Kong, we'll be subject to two three-hour long pagents.
Please keep The Hobbit to a reasonable length.
I seem to remember watching a documentary on Discovery HD about how, in one of the past instances of global warming, methane was released from deep in the sea and caused a mass extinction. This news doesn't surprise me at all.
Actually, their envelope isn't very obvious. Initially, Netflix used heavy cardboard mailers. This article was on slashdot a few months ago: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/21/216213
Another argument to make is that, given that plastic 5" disks have been around since 1983, if such an envelope were obvious, we'd have seen it used in the 80s and 90s for CDs. If these envelopes are so obvious, why did Blockbuster invest so much money (and shelf space) for bulky DVD cases when they could have just used pre-paid return envelopes back in the late 90s?
Please excuse the juvenile toilet humor...
A few days ago, after posting my first YouTube videos, I searched for "zit" and then "fart light". I'm sure a company that sells acne medication and anti-fart pills would love to put a banner on the results page. They could also put a small banner on the bottom of each video.
Back in the day when I ran a dial-up BBS, I used to personally validate each account before the caller could post a message. Other BBSs allowed the users to vote on new callers. Such a system would work on small web boards where everyone knows everyone in real life.
Another permutation of the above system is to allow new users to post freely, but only display the posts publicly after the webop validates the account.
When I took calculus in college, I found the group environment made it easy to find people to work with. It also made meeting people very easy.
Don't forget that college is a social environment, it's not just about the grade. Granted, I'd have loved the podcast option for the few times that my alarm clock didn't work.
I often use a small metal box in my suitcase so that cookies and crafts don't get crushed. Two out of three times, the suitcase with the metal box was searched. (I typically put the box by the top so Big Brother doesn't have to dig far.)
In my experience, if I fly with anything that, when X-Rayed, looks suspisous, my luggage will be searched.
Where's the link? This is obviously an unsubstanciated rumor.
I wouldn't put a media center PC with the graphics card pictured on the first page. Fans are very distracting when watching a movie. I'd rather stick with a quiet DVD player then a loud PC.