A Digital World Part 2
The Computer, Swiss Army Knife of the digital world
The computer is THE tool to work on all kinds of digital media. The reason it is so popular is that it leverages the very unique advantage of digital media over analog: The ability to clone without loss. You can transfer a picture from your digital camera to your computer without loss. You can display it, send it by email, burn a CD with it, all that without loss. And when you remove red-eyes on a picture (in a non-lossy format), the rest of the pic doesn't get affected at all - no loss.
A Digital World Part 1
Introduction to The Digital World
The terms "analog" and "digital" are used when it comes to store or transmit the representation of a signal (audio, video, etc...). A signal lives in the real world in an analog form. For a while now, humans have been looking for ways to transmit and store such signals. Transmissions use mediums such as electrical wires or waves in the atmosphere. Storage typically involved magnetic media or engraving a vinyl disk.
Digital? Digital is different than analog storage/transmission in that it is discrete. Let me take an example.
dts 96/24: the myth of hi-res digital audio
Let's start with the beginning, a brief history of what is dts. dts is a sound system created by a company called dts. It is one of four different sound systems that can be found on a DVD-Video. Its main competitor being Dolby Digital, also known as AC3. dts is supposed to be of greater quality than Dolby Digital.
In 2001, dts released an extension to their dts sound system, called "dts 96/24". This system increase the audio resolution to 96KHz, when it was only 48KHz. This means more trebbles, but more importantly, a better sound resolution.
Are computers getting any faster?
This looks like the stupidest question ever. The short answer: Yes, but not really.
From a pure technical standpoint, computers are getting faster. The P4-2GHz that I have in my PC right now is certainly faster than the 286-12MHz I had a decade ago. There is no question about that.
So why are they not really getting any faster?
Are software patents "evil"?
You will hear here and there a lot of things about software patents. Some will consider them evil, usually developpers or open-source prone people. Some will see benefits in them, usually large companies. From here on, we can already see from where the "evilness" of the software patents are derived: The big guys like them, the small guys don't, hence they must be evil. But is there more to it than a modern David vs. Goliath? Are patents really evil in the sense they tend to favor the big guys? Are they promoting innovation (as they are supposed to)?
Let's start with a disclaimer: I will talk about patents in the U.S.A. only here. This talk will then be more or less applicable, depending on the country.
DVD-R or DVD+R? - why it doesn't matter.
Let's start with a little explanation on what I am talking about. Most of people that are familiar with CDs know that you can either burn a CD-R or a CD-RW. CD-R can be burned once, while CD-RW can be burned and then erased to be re-burned.
DVDs are another matter. There are three different formats competing for the ultimate domination: DVD-R, DVD+R and DVD-RAM. Being versed in the video, I will talk only about DVD-R and DVD+R, as DVD-RAMs cannot be read in a set-top DVD player. Note that both formats exists in RW version.