Here are some audio and video trends for 2019:
The global Hi-Fi Systems market was valued at million US$ in 2018 and is expected to grow. EISA Awards has selected Hi-Fi product category winners, but I did not see anything really fancy new innovations that would excite me there. The Hi-Fi speaker market has seen considerable consolidation over the years but is expected to grow. The global Hi-Fi speaker system market is highly competitive. Various established international brands, domestic brands and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. The market is expected to have higher growth rate as compared to the previous years due to the booming electronic industry globally. It is due to the rising income of individuals globally and increasing affordability of technology products globally. Due to technological adoption and smart gadgets, North America region is showing steady growth in the Hi-Fi speaker system market. On technology standpoint the Hi-Fi market is mainly based on pretty much stabilized technology as class D amplifiers have been on mainstream for many years.
Smart TVs are everywhere. The vast majority of televisions available today are “smart” TVs, with internet connections, ad placement, and streaming services built in. Despite the added functionality, TV prices are lower than ever. Your new smart TV was so affordable because it is collecting and selling your data. It is clear that TV companies are in a cutthroat business, and that companies like Vizio would have to charge higher prices for hardware if they didn’t run content, advertising, and data businesses. Google wants sensors and cameras in every room of your home to watch, analyze, you, patents show.
Streaming services competition stays high. Apple’s embracing the TV industry for the first time: Vizio and LG TVs will support AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, while Samsung TVs will get an iTunes Movies & TV app, as well as AirPlay 2 support. Google and Amazon are playing are important players on smart speaker markets.
4K video resolution is still as hot as in 2019 – it us becoming mainstream and getting cheaper. Peraso showcases 4K wireless video at CES 2019. LG has produced a market-ready rollable OLED TV. The new 75-inch 4K Micro LED TV announced at CES 2019 proves Samsung is serious about scaling the technology to do battle with OLED. But it seems that even in 1029 “4K” trend remains woefully deficient from a compelling-content-availability standpoint. CES 2019 is already full of weird and wonderful monitors.
But new higher 8K resolution is being pushed to market. The “8K” (resolution) tagline was apparently everywhere at CES this year. Samsung announced a 98-inch 8K TV because why not. LG has come strong to CES 2019 with an 88-inch 8K OLED TV, a 75-inch 8K LED/LCD TV, HDMI 2.1, new auto calibration features, Alexa built in, and many more features. It seems that this ongoing evolution is occurring out of necessity: as a given-size (and -pixel-dense) display becomes a low profit margin commodity, manufacturers need to continually “up-rev” one or both key consumer-attention-grabbing parameters (along with less quantifiable attributes like image quality) in order to remain profitable … assuming they can continue to stimulate sufficient-sized consumer demand in the process. I am not sure if they can stimulate 8K to mass market in next few years.
Wall size TVs are coming. Samsung announced a modular TV at CES. Samsung first showcased this MicroLED TV technology at CES 2018, showcasing how the screens were composed of millions of individual LEDs. Individuals screens could be combined to create massive displays, which the company calls The Wall TV. The wall-sized displays shown in recent years at CES are, in my opinion, quite ridiculous, at least for the masses.
HDMI updates are coming. At present, the HDMI equipment uses the 2.0 standard (adopted in 2013) tht provides support for example for 4K video. HDMI Forum announced a new 2.1 standard already in November 2017, but it just starter showing in CES in January 2019. 8K fiber-optic HDMI cables seen at CES 2019. The 2.1 standard is a big change in technology at the bus bandwidth increases from 18 gigabit to 48 gigabits per second. This enables up to 10K video transmission and up to 120 frames per second.
Bendable displays are really coming to PCs and smart phones. LG’s “rollable” display shown this year neatly showcased the technology’s inherent flexibility while also addressing the question of how to hide a gargantuan display when it’s not in use. Several foldable smart phones have been shown. Chinese company Royole was showing off the FlexPai at CES in Las Vegas.
Micro displays for VR and AR glasses have developed. MicroLED is better looking, more efficient and more versatile than any previous display tech. Now all Samsung, Sony, LG and others have to do is figure out how to manufacture it affordably.Nanoco Technologies and Plessey Semiconductors have partnered to shrink the pixel size of monolithic microLED displays using Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum-dot (CFQD quantum dots) semiconductor nanoparticle technology. Microchips and organic LEDs that deliver 4K-like high resolution displays a quarter of the size and half the weight of existing virtual reality (VR) headsets have been developed under a European Union project. Marc Andreessen says VR will be “1,000” times bigger than AR even though VR seems to be the popular whipping boy amongst the tech community.
There seems to be no shortage of angst with the current (and unfortunately burgeoning) popularity of usage of the term artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligence has been defined in many ways which makes it hard to get good picture on what is going on. I am still waiting for sensible intelligent AI to do something useful. But the ability for a sufficiently trained deep learning system to pattern-match images, sound samples, computer viruses, network hacking attempts, and the like is both impressive and effective.
Potential problems related to the coming of self-driving car technologies and cameras are expected. A man at CES in Las Vegas says that a car-mounted lidar permanently damaged the sensor in his new $1,998 Sony a7R II mirrorless camera. Man says CES lidar’s laser was so powerful it wrecked his $1,998 camera because the LIDAR laser power rules ensure lasers are safe for human eyes—but not necessarily for cameras. Is this something that camera and car manufacturers need to figure out together?
2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source from software and even hardware. Open source video player app VLC has now reached 3 billions downloads.
When almost all AV products are pushing more and more features, it seems that almost Everything is too complicated for an average Joe.
1,491 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
108 Rare and Bizarre Media Types
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvXXkB2jic0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Behind the Scenes of High School TV News: The Broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jedIbnnD15U
The staff at the Current OC pull back the curtains to give viewers an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes. Watch these young professionals work together in real-time as they create an episode of their television newscast and then follow their journey at http://www.oc-tv.org
Tomi Engdahl says:
I Toured THIS $800,000 HOME THEATER in Atlanta, Georgia | Wisdom Audio and Sony GTZ380
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaXh6P6dICY
Atlanta Home Theater is the largest home theater showroom in North America. This 12,000 sq/ft mansion features more than 10 theater rooms ranging from $20,000 to $800,000! Visit their website at http://bit.ly/atlantahometheater
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/23/piezo-pickup-makes-wax-records-easy-to-digitize/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/23/pipewire-the-newest-audio-kid-on-the-linux-block/
Tomi Engdahl says:
CuePilot in Action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89bIcceOePw
Tomi Engdahl says:
Let’s Do Some Amp Toasting (Public)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_0UZviEDhc
Testing a Powersoft T902 power amplifier to see if the amp toasts when driven with varying frequencies into an atypical load
Video comments:
“This is gonna be a variable frequency toast” – lol
Reminds me of the old electro-voice promo for the P series amps, 50hz tone at 0dbu into a p3000 in bridge mode with a 3000w angle grinder attached to the bridged output.
i’d read a story about someone doing something like this decades ago when they needed a 50hz electric organ to work with the 60hz power of the country they were touring in (or vice versa). cool to see it in action lol
Boston Light and Sound used to put 60hz through big old EV amps to run film projection equipment overseas!
Authentic French toast must be toasted at ~230V @50Hz. Sounds warm, with buttery midrange and crispy highs. The golden brown sound everyone wants.
This is going to be RTA Rat Toast Audio lol
Tomi Engdahl says:
Which is Better? Gold or Silver (Nickel) Audio Connectors (public)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c69twCBxxU
Lets chat about the differences, advantages and issue with gold vs nickel connectors and when to use which.
Tomi Engdahl says:
a calibrated mic ($100), a PC and REW software (free) with a sweep will get you very very close.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/06/25/know-audio-a-loudspeaker-primer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Speaker Placement: How far from the wall should I place my speakers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T10_MLGOBfc
The reflections directly surrounding the speakers can cause all sorts of acoustic issues. In this video, we beak down the science behind Speaker Boundary Interference Response and how to counteract it’s affects.
“Speaker placement can have a drastic impact on your frequency response, but the ideal location for your monitors is going to change based on your room size, personal preference, and whether or not you’re using a subwoofer.
Just looking at a speaker, we might infer that all of the sound is projected out of the front face. This is mostly true for the higher frequencies, but lower frequencies radiate in a sphere around the speaker meaning that they can create reflections and pressure zones on any of the surfaces directly surrounding them.
This is where the concept of Speaker Boundary Interference Response comes into play. Just like how the first reflections off our side walls can cause interference, the reflections off the front wall, side wall and floor can also cause issues directly surrounding the speakers.
No matter the distance from the speaker to the wall, there will always be phase interference at the frequencies that correlate to that distance.
So any distance between your speaker and your wall will create phase cancellation at 1/4th the wavelength. This is because after the sound reflects off the wall back to the speaker position it has traveled one half of the wavelength and arrives at the sound source 180 degrees out of phase with the original sound.
At one half the wavelength to the wall the sound travels the full length of the wave so it’s completely in phase when it bounces back to the speaker.
There are a few different strategies to mitigating these effects. Many high end studios build their speakers into the walls to eliminate the extra reflections all together, but this isn’t always an option for those with budget or space constraints.
One common solution is to bring your speakers out four feet or more from the front and side walls. This will ensure that the phase interference occurs in lower ranges that can be rerouted through your subwoofer instead of your front speakers.”
This isn’t always viable in a smaller room and it requires that you have a subwoofer that can work at a high enough frequency to pick up where the stereo monitors cut off. You’ll still need to deal with the Boundary interference when it comes to placing the subwoofer.
The further the speaker is from the wall the lower the affected frequencies, So pulling the speaker out far enough to place acoustic treatment behind it often causes the interference to dip below the effective range of the panel. If we can place the speakers far enough out that the interference is mostly below the audible range, then we can treat behind the speakers with Soffits or range limited monsters to clean up the rest.
For smaller rooms it’s better, to place the spreaker as close to the front wall as possible, without actually touching. This will minimize any SB interference and you can then focus treatment around the speaker.
No matter where you place your speakers you’ll want to avoid having the same distance between multiple surfaces. If the distances from the speaker to the side wall and the front wall are the same then the same peaks and nulls will manifest from both sets of reflections which in turn will stack and create even larger peaks and nulls. This is also true for your floor as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How BASS Works (In Rooms) – Acoustic Geometry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIQVv3JB97g
This video shows what happens to bass – low-frequencies below 200 Hz – in rooms like recording studios, home theaters, and stereo rooms. A six-foot acrylic tube, a few action figures, funhouse glasses, and a tennis ball help simplify the otherwise complicated physics involved in how room dimensions interfere with the sound you hear.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This feels like the most Apple speaker not made by Apple ever
Amazing product! (don’t buy it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JSoS67DvgI
Designed by ex-Apple engineers, the Syng Cell speaker is a wireless wi-fi speaker with some really cool spatial audio tricks up its elegantly designed sleeve.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.akukon.fi/fi/Suomen-parhaat-musiikin-oppimistilat-valmistuivat-Arabianrannan-Soiva-taloon
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://4business.fi/referenssit/farang/?fbclid=IwAR0iF3-xHlvzdz2U_RsCt2CfxhNRIl6Ugo95boH4I1iDoQQC9rCtfz1ILaI
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.genelec.com/-/blog/mixing-immersive-music-why-make-the-leap-
Tomi Engdahl says:
A once common yet unseen device
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z8z0sbLsrw
FAQ) How did the machine know where the start of the announcement was? Did it use a foil splice or a cue tone – or was it something else?
A) It’s just a loop of tape with an announcement repeated a number of times which has then been stuck together at the end with normal splicing tape to form a loop. No metal foil. No auto-triggering pulses. Just a simple repeated audio recording on a loop of tape.
I double checked with Neil who dealt with these things for a living and he confirmed that there was ‘nothing clever going on, it was just a plain old loop of tape’.
A caller ringing up would just start the machine playing back from the point at which the tape last stopped moving. That would more often than not be some way into an announcement.
However back in the 1980s this was something we were very accustomed to. You’d ring up and if you heard an announcement you waited until it looped around back and started repeating and then you’d hang up. I remember doing this. It was only in the age of digital recording technology that we came to expect BT announcements to always start right from the beginning.
Q) What kind of tape did this use
A) Standard 1/4″ tape. A helpful commenter mentioned that he used to record the announcements for these on a ReVox B77. Neil told me that in his job they received reels of the tape with the announcements pre recorded. They would splice off the amount they needed for the machines and then they threw the rest of the reel away. As a young apprentice when he saw how much tape was being binned – he went and bought himself a reel to reel tape recorder so he could save it from the bin to re-use at home. So yes it’s totally normal R2R tape, it’ll be one mil and a harder wearing variety. It might look a bit odd in the video – perhaps thicker than normal, but that’s most likely because it’s hardened up a bit over the decades of being stored off a roll in the top of a machine in a garage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How a forgotten 1949 Format War shaped the future of records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbFgVjijrHI
Once upon a time the 45 and the LP were rival formats.
This video tells the story how RCAs beef with Columbia ended up shaping the future of popular music.
This is a video about the Format War of 1949. Things like 12″ 45s, 45 RPM Albums, EPs, 16rpm records, styrene singles and 45s with a raised stepped ridge around the centre that aids grip when stacked don’t feature in this story because they were introduced after the conclusion of this particular story.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12248-googlen-oman-prosessorit-jauhavat-nyt-youtube-videoita
Tomi Engdahl says:
How To Drive Smartphone Screens Over HDMI
https://hackaday.com/2021/07/05/how-to-drive-smartphone-screens-over-hdmi/
Compared to most small LCDs sold to makers, smartphone screens boast excellent color, brightness, and insanely high resolution. Unfortunately, driving them is rarely straightforward. In an attempt to make it easier, [peng-zhihui] set about developing tools to allow such screens to be driven from a simple HDMI feed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Behind The Scenes in Hollywood
Take a behind the scenes sneak peak of how car commercials are shot in Hollywood with BMW and Oscar winner Hans Zimmer
https://www.facebook.com/supercarblondie/videos/behind-the-scenes-in-hollywood/313967563735609/?extid=SEO—-
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://jac.michaeldrolet.net/behringer/MX802/MX802.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/chromaticity-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Experience: I swallowed one of my AirPods
On the doctor’s screen was a cartoon-clear X-ray image of my ribs. Parked between them was the unmistakable shape of the missing earphone
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/18/experience-i-swallowed-one-of-my-airpods
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/space/the-sounds-of-space-have-been-turned-into-music/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/do-you-have-astigmatism-viral-photo-claims-to-show-what-life-looks-like-with-this-vision-condition/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://sound-au.com/articles.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Faking It: The Obviously Dubbed Telephone Ring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxXsIQDafog
If you lived in North America any time in the 20th century, you probably ran across one of these telephones. The Western Electric Model 500 and its subsequent variants were so ubiquitous that you almost couldn’t go anywhere without seeing one, especially in the United States where it was standard equipment from the phone company.
Even if you’re not American, if you’ve seen any of our movies, you’ll have seen this phone, too. A literal fixture of American life, this phone was inescapable. But its ubiquity also caused some filmmakers or TV show producers to get a little lazy. This video tells that story.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12348-maailman-pienin-digikamera-painaa-yhden-gramman
Tomi Engdahl says:
Corporate Live Stream With a 2 Person Crew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGh0BZV9E-U
Behind the scenes with Brandon and Brian showing how we produce our live streams just 2 people.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://petapixel.com/2021/07/06/photography-instructor-bans-kit-lenses/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to operate a Carbon Arc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d7bsCiRFLE
Demonstration on how to operate a Carbon Arc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Philo Farnsworth and the Invention of Electronic Television
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUaowcXQtOo
Philo Farnsworth’s Image Dissector was the heart of the first television cameras. This video tells the story of the early days of television, and shows how these early video tubes worked.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 1st ever webcam – Connectix Quickcam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxQjMlwDA8A
In this episode I take a look at the original Connectix Quickcam connected to a laptop running Windows 95. I also demonstrate how it was possible to get color pictures from a black and white camera.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New 8-Bit Guy Studio Construction – Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFP-fU0FsF0
8-Bit Guy Studio Construction – Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loIwvNJxSFw
8-Bit Guy Studio Build – Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLpWHYBvG_U
Tomi Engdahl says:
15 Mistakes EVERY Home Studio Makes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4aET7ECek
Opening a home studio? If you haven’t made these mistakes yet, don’t worry, you will!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why so few female audiophiles?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-d2wVHtyr0
High-end audio seems an entirely male endeavor yet so many women love music and are excellent listeners. Why the disparity?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why square waves are important in audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxlrr6pZuXY
We listen only to sinewaves yet square waves are important in the design of audio equipment. Paul explains why.
Video comments:
We don’t listen to square waves
Electronic music listeners: Allow us to introduce ourselves
Modular synth owner here. How many square waves do you want, Paul?
We don’t listen to square waves. Tell that to the 8-bit VGM community.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers Proclaim Breakthrough in Full-Color Low-Power ‘Electronic Paper’ Displays
Taking an existing design and flipping it on its head, this new display type offers extremely low power draw yet high-quality colors.
https://www.hackster.io/news/researchers-proclaim-breakthrough-in-full-color-low-power-electronic-paper-displays-55648a0cb8b0
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://eepower.com/resistor-guide/resistor-fundamentals/resistor-noise/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spring-loaded screw could be a cheaper form of soundproofing
https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/spring-loaded-sound-screw-soundproofing/
Nobody likes hearing their neighbors’ music, TV shows or loud conversations. Soundproof wall materials, however, can be quite thick and expensive. Swedish scientists have developed a thinner, less costly alternative, in the form of a spring-loaded sound-damping screw.
Known as the Revolutionary Sound Absorbing Screw (or the Sound Screw for short), the device was created by a team at Malmö University, led by senior lecturer Håkan Wernersson. It consists of a threaded section at the bottom, a coil spring in the middle, and a section with a flat head at the top.
The spring forms of a gap of a few millimeters between the joist and the drywall’s underside.
When sound waves from an adjacent dwelling subsequently travel through the wooden joists and into a wall’s Sound Screws, the compliant springs in the screws limit the transmission of the vibrations into the drywall. As a result, people in the room hear less of the noise.
In lab tests involving traditional drywall panels, it is claimed that Sound Screws reduced through-the-wall sound levels by 9 decibels, which worked out to about half the perceived sound when traditional screws were used. The technology also performed well when trialled on the ceiling of a hair salon, where the existing standard screws were simply replaced with Sound Screws.
Wernersson tells us that the screws are already available in Sweden (via spinoff company Akoustos),
“The initial price is quite high for a screw, but cheap for a sound insulation system,” he says. “The cost will decrease with volume.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Placement of coils in crossover networks
Copyright 2009 © Troels Gravesen
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/coils.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.livesound.co.nz/pages/speaker-cable-wiring-diagrams
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://gearspace.com/board/geekzone/1222952-help-implementing-aes-48-wiring.html
AES STANDARD
AES48-2019: AES standard on interconnections – Grounding and EMC practices – Shields of connectors in audio equipment containing active circuitry
https://www.aes.org/publications/standards/search.cfm?docID=44
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/dawn-of-electronics/a-century-ago-the-optophone-allowed-blind-people-to-hear-the-printed-word
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://avlifesavers.com/index.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/article-understanding-digital-audio-measurements.10523/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/crossovers
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Tinfoil-Ribbon-Speaker/
the sound appeared to be amazing..check youtube link
https://youtu.be/kTPOJgYjYI0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fun
PeeHub : dumb pedestrian ignores local law.
I am the Law! – Judge Dredd
https://www.facebook.com/groups/it.humor.and.memes/permalink/6429247093767687/