Posts Tagged: ‘dvd’

How can you store an entire movie on one little DVD disc? It’s all about compression! In this episode, Marshall explains the technical details and standards of video compression.

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A picture paints a thousand words: If you are a paying customer, this is what you get This was one (perhaps the only) advantage to video tape – you had some level of control over this kind of time-wasting stuff. [[[Jump to previous Funny...]]]

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You Asked: Why is there a need to convert analog signals to digital? — Ankit, Gwalior, India Marshall Brain Answers: One reason is to avoid degradation and corruption of the signal. This is one reason why CDs (which are digital) are preferred over vinyl records (which are analog). On a vinyl record, the pressure of [...]

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James Cameron’s New 3-D Epic Could Change Film Forever – “In 1977, a 22-year-old truck driver named James Cameron went to see Star Wars with a pal. His friend enjoyed the movie; Cameron walked out of the theater ready to punch something. He was a college dropout and spent his days delivering school lunches in [...]

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We just keep on trucking over here at TechStuff. This week, Chris and I hauled our butts into the studio to tow the line and address some listener mail. We’re not the type to brush aside our loyal listeners. Because of your submissions, we have had some really interesting conversations in the studio. Some of them were even recorded! This week, we looked at two very different topics and got a little metaphysical in the process.

On Monday, we examine what happens to our online presence after we shuffle off the mortal coil. Unless Kurzweil’s singularity proves me wrong, I think it’s safe to say none of us will be around forever. But after I join the choir invisible and push up the daisies, what happens to my Facebook page? How can my loved ones turn what used to be my platform for sharing photos of myself up to no good into a fitting memorial where friends can share their memories of me? We get to the bottom of the issue and give you some tips on what you can do if you want to make it easier for your friends and family to handle your online information after you’ve passed away. Click to read more.

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Inspired by listener mail, Jonathan and Chris discuss the difference between DVD and Blu-ray in this episode of TechStuff.

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I’d like to take a moment to wish our good friend the compact disc a happy birthday. Sadly, its birthday was actually the 8th, but I sent it some flowers, so hopefully it will forgive me.
Last Friday, the IEEE (once an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., but now it’s just IEEE) granted Royal Philips Electronics an IEEE Milestone Award for contributing to the creation of the CD. Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the first demonstration of the CD prototype, which was codenamed “Pinkeltje.” Frankly, I’m glad they ditched that name in favor of “compact disc.”
Since Sony and Philips launched CD players in 1982, more than 3.5 billion CD audio players have been sold, as well as another 3 billion CD-ROM drives and 240 billion compact discs themselves.

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Data rot is what happens if you save your work on a particular machine, then later on you find you still have the file — but no machine that can read the data any longer. Or perhaps the file is a digital file format created in software that no longer works on your computer, and no one else’s software can read the file. Data rot can also happen if you have a magnetic storage medium that decays, like tape. In that case, the tape can literally disintegrate as the play head comes into contact with it.
There was a piece on CBS News Sunday Morning, in which David Pogue, The New York Times’ personal technology columnist, led viewers on a trip to the Computer History Museum. There, they saw the first hard drive — which weighed 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms). And it held 5 MB!

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DVD players have several different audio-visual connections due to competing standards. Learn more about DVD player connections in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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