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:
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/fender-to-acquire-presonus-electronics
Tomi Engdahl says:
So… YOU can’t hear auto tune? No problem, NOW YOU CAN SEE IT!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7aDN3oujXI
TIME STAMPS –
3:08 Analysis Start (Freddie Mercury – Base Reference)
6:27 Michael Buble
8:26 Vibrato Comparisons
(Comparisons/Explanations to End)
Viewer comments:
Brilliant demonstration of what Auto Tune looks like and for the untrained ear to study. I was blow away by your presentation, it was like watching a highly skilled attorney drive the nails into his well prepared case. Great job. Thank you
It’s not just about taking away an expressive tool by snapping tones to notes. You’re also harming the quality of the voice. Voices and instruments have rich, complex overtones that give them their unique sound. When you shift a note in autotune, it changes the ratio between the dominant and overtones. A big shift will give it a robotic quality, but a small shift just makes your voice sounds weak and constricted and a little sour. You may not hear it consciously but it definitely will impact your perception of the power and depth of the sound. For an autotuned voice to sound decent, it has to be so close you don’t need it or else so far that it sounds like an intentional effect.
Auto tunes is precisely why older people honestly believe “our” music is so superior to today’s music.
Yes, exactly. Autotune…as well as the poorly written and unimaginative lyrics, as well as the…I don’t know how to describe it, simple-minded melodies, if you can even call most of them “melodies.” Btw, imho it started in the 80s, with people like Madonna, and went downhill from there.
That, along with missing actual intricate melodies, chord progressions, variations and imaginations and growth in songs from start to finish. And many more talented actual musicians playing actual instruments.
we used to have beautiful harmonies as well. It’s why I listen to Pentatonix and Home Free. The acapella groups are bringing back intricate harmonies and vocals.
That and the lack of real musicians and any sense of occasion. Of course, there are good bands & singers around, but the vast majority seem to be just 4-chord songs composed by a committee of half a dozen “producers” on a laptop using samples and loops in Pro Tools. No soul, no humanity. No point. It’s not music, it’s not art: it’s just Product.
Its no only that. Music became progresively more pasteurized since the 80s. Harmony is always the same 4 chords on repeat, melodies are simpler or non existent and timing is always 4/4. Tracks are not recorded live by a band in a studio, that means theres no variations, no improvisation, no surprise. For example, Somebody to love has a 6/4 time signature and very different sections.
I’m surprised everyone can’t hear this. Auto tuned vocals (or is it just melodyne) always makes vocals sound artificial, almost like they’re going through a keyboard, but I generally think they sound “metallic”. It baffles me why they use this with people who can sing, unless the affect itself is part of the artist’s vision for the song.
So when Cher did believe, it made since, because it was just an effect, not unlike using a vocoder, putting a voice through a Leslie or even the flange effect producers put on Lennon’s voice for Tomorrow Never Knows. That’s all great, but I wouldn’t want an entire album like that, much less every song on every album.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Birth of Photography: Drawing With Light (and silver iodide)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbbH77rYaa8
Cameras. How do they work?
Viewer comments:
Playing the long game with “latent image of vaporization….”
Love it
Even as a relatively young person, I made one of those pinhole cameras in highscool. I wish that was still a common thing, darkrooms are still so neat!
“Oldest not-book object I’ve held”
Rocks: “Am I a joke to you?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Henry Matchbox II Interface Amplifier Repair – Lightning Damage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKL8Ks4mhUs
New op amps for this one, and its converting my audio from my Tv once again.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who has the patience to edit hours of multiple footage from a family event? AI does.
Watch Out, Wedding Videographers, AI Is Coming for You Automated video editors will intelligently merge simultaneous streams of events
https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-video-editing
Although the quality of video recorded by smartphones has been improving dramatically in recent years, the hassle of collecting and assembling multiple recordings of a single event has changed little. Sure, TikTok mavens, Instagram influencers, and other dedicated amateurs have learned how to use editing software to piece together engaging, shareable, smartphone movies.
But that leaves out a lot of us out of the picture—though not for much longer. The next frontier of consumer video creation will be powered by AI, not by a professional videographer or dedicated amateur. These systems will intelligently and automatically combine video from multiple smartphones and other video devices, including action cameras, drones, gimbal cameras, or virtually any other connected camera into one finished production. We think this kind of system will be available to consumers within 2-3 years.
This is consumer multicam video production, an ecosystem of technologies that may just put wedding videographers out of business, or at least give them a run for the money. The building blocks for this system already exist. They include the cameras and advanced video processing software built into today’s smartphones, AI that’s already great at image recognition, and high speed, low latency wireless communications, including high-speed LTE wireless, Wi-Fi networks, and 5G.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://realtraps.com/art_gaps.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
13 Reasons Why Recording an Album is a TERRIBLE IDEA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fM5u33MB_Q
Is your band considering recording a full length album? ARE YOU INSANE? Or do you just really like wasting money? Here are THIRTEEN REASONS why that’s an extremely bad idea!
0:00 Your unsigned band
1:01 Your ego vs Bank Account
2:50 Nobody knows who you are!
4:54 Your band isn’t anything new
6:27 Your band might not survive
8:21 Is your music REALLY that good?
9:31 Get to the point!
11:26 Step off the assembly line!
12:57 Go to Namm
13:31 Do a 3 song demo
14:22 “Done” is better than “Perfect”
16:45 Will anyone remember?
17:56 Have something new. Always.
18:56 It’s a business.
Viewer comments:
My band made an album and it makes me happy and brings me a sense of accomplishment even if nobody hears it. I think that’s reason enough to make an album
“Done is better than perfect” is one I can easily relate to. Dicking around with everything for months and months because you’re trying to make it “perfect” is going to turn your project into a musical black hole from which no art will escape.
As an admittedly older guy who still buys albums and listens to them all the way through, this makes me sad.
Damn. Ten years down the road, we’ll hear from the experts: “Do a 30-second preview. If there’s any demand then, do a single.”
This is really good advice. This guy totally changed my mind, and I don’t even have a band. Heck, I’m not even a musician.
Alternative title:
Don’t PRINT albums, don’t make PHYSICAL COPIES.
Making an album is a great way to get more streams, especially if you home-record it.
Albums can be released digitally on Spotify, etc. I think you mean “releasing a CD/record is a terrible idea” not “recording an album is a terrible idea”. An album is just a complete music release meant to be listened to in its entirety.
Nearly every musical artist ever releases albums, and primarily digitally.
I’m personally worried about everyone quitting albums and writing singles contributing to the diminishing of our attention spans. I understand you can’t get more concise than a single/demo, but whose to say that in the next decade, making demos is going to be just as useless as writing a full album?
lbums may be “dead.” but i’d rather have a good album than a good song so as an artist im going to push myself. fuck the rules.
My two cents: If you’re decision on making an album is primarily based on the thought of how much you have to spend and how much you get out of it later, don’t make the album. In fact, maybe switch from music to investment banking or limited edition sneaker retailing. I’m pretty sure Aphex Twin did not think about financial sustainability when he spent his money on his first synthesizers. Minor Threat or Sonic Youth might have had non monetary reasons to start their bands too.
I released 6 albums in the last 12 years and no, I don’t have a lot of money, but yes, I’ve been living of music for the last 10 and hell yeah, I would do it all again.
Don’t do it for the wealth. Do it all for the love.
For me, doing the full album was because we started it in the 90′s and when the guitarist died, I needed to finish it more for closure than any other reason. After finishing it, I knew it was a waste of time, but I did feel accomplished. Now I just record a song and release it.
Not everyone plays and writes music for money some do it simply because they love it so why not record it as a sense of self accomplishment – success is all about prospective and your goals…with your mindset..might as well not become a musician to begin with..it’s an expensive passion
Tomi Engdahl says:
13 things to Not WASTE Money on in Your Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPqR8UJ3NA
I’ve bought a lot of amazing “bang for the buck” gear over the years. I’ve also wasted money on quite a few duds! Learn from my mistakes & save some cash!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where are all the OLED monitors? Why the best displays aren’t on the PC
Desktop monitors are especially prone to burn-in marks.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/549438/where-are-all-the-oled-monitors-why-the-best-displays-arent-on-the-pc.html
Many enthusiasts consider OLED the best display quality. You’ll find OLED in LG TVs, Apple’s new iPhones, and a long list of smartphones and tablets from Samsung.
If you want to enjoy OLED on a PC, however, your options are limited. A small handful of laptops, like the Dell XPS 13 and Samsung Galaxy Book, offer an OLED display. A few OLED monitors exist, but most are massive screens designed for use in a living room, not on a desk.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open To Conversion
https://tedium.co/2021/11/10/10-forgotten-image-formats
From PCX to TGA to VRML, considering a number of image formats that the world forgot. Not every image standard is going to last, no matter how pretty it is.
The average person has no idea what JBIG, the compression standard most fax machines use, is—but they’ve most assuredly heard about JPEG, which was first publicly released in 1992.
1. The North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS)
File type: Vector graphics
2. BSAVE graphics
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .BSV, .PIC
3. .PCX File Format
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .PCX
If you used Microsoft Paint (then known as Paintbrush) with Windows 3.0 circa 1990, you’re probably aware that it could save files in two formats. The PCX format was one, and at the time of Paint’s release, it was by far the most common of the two.
4. TIFF
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .TIFF, .TIF
This file format came to fruition during the mid-1980s, when the desktop publishing craze was coming into focus, and is a creation of Aldus, the developers of the groundbreaking PageMaker
5. ILBM IFF Interleaved Bitmap
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .IFF
This Amiga-centric file format, created by Electronic Arts in the 1980s for its popular DeluxePaint program
6. Truevision TGA (TARGA)
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .TGA
The IFF format may have become closely associated with the hardware needs of the Amiga, but TGA was literally a byproduct of some of the earliest dedicated video hardware for the IBM PC.
“Truevision went on to pioneer the desktop digital video editing industry with the introduction of the Targa videographics card in 1987 that would run in a PC,” the IEEE Computer Society wrote of Truevision’s efforts. “In that same year, NewTek announced its Amiga-based video capture board, the Video Toaster, but didn’t actually release it until 1990, so Targa truly was the first.”
7. RIP Graphics (aka RIPscrip)
File type: Vector graphics
Most common file extension: .RIP
This drawing format was effectively Flash for the BBS era
8. BMP file format
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .BMP, .DIB
This file format is effectively Microsoft’s most notable gift to the world of image standards. First developed for Microsoft Windows and OS/2 in the late ’80s, the format is generally highly capable of high-color image displays, and, along with .PCX,
9. Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)
File type: Vector graphics, animation, interactive
Most common file extension: .WRL, .WRZ
If you’ve been rolling your eyes at all the sudden talk about the metaverse, you should just know that we’ve been going down this general road for at least a quarter-century. VRML, an early 3D-graphics format, was one of the first image formats developed specifically for the web
10. Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format
File type: Raster image
Most common file extension: .WBMP
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
YouTube starts hiding public dislike counts on videos to keep smaller creators from being targeted by dislike attacks, following a test in March — Creators will still be able to see how many people disliked their videos — YouTube has announced that it’ll be hiding public dislike counts on videos across its site, starting today.
YouTube gives dislikes the thumbs-down, hides public counts
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773299/youtube-dislike-button-hide-public-count-numbers-small-creator-protection?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Creators will still be able to see how many people disliked their videos
YouTube has announced that it’ll be hiding public dislike counts on videos across its site, starting today. The company says the change is to keep smaller creators from being targeted by dislike attacks or harassment, and to promote “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.” The dislike button will still be there, but it’ll be for private feedback, rather than public shaming.
This move isn’t out of the blue. In March, YouTube announced that it was experimenting with hiding the public dislike numbers, and individual creators have long had the ability to hide ratings on their videos. But the fact that the dislike counts will be disappearing for everyone (gradually, according to YouTube) is a big deal — viewers are used to being able to see the like-to-dislike ratio as soon as they click on a video and may use that number to decide whether to continue watching. Now, that will no longer be an option, but it could close off a vector for harassment.
https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Disney misses Q4 estimates after slower streaming services growth: Disney+ added 2M subscribers to 118M, Hulu added 700K to 39.7M, and ESPN+ added 2.3M to 17.1M
Disney+ Subscriber Growth Slows, Company Misses Wall Street Expectations
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-q4-2021-earnings-1235045766/
The streaming service now has 118 million subscribers, up only 2 million from last quarter.
Disney posted muted earnings last quarter (ended Sept. 30), as sluggish growth at Disney+ led the company to miss Wall Street earnings expectations. The entertainment giant posted revenue of $18.53 billion, and earnings per share of $0.37. Wall Street consensus was for an EPS of $0.51 and earnings of $18.79 billion.
Still, Disney’s overall business remains up significantly from the same quarter a year ago, when the pandemic was impacting nearly every sector of the company, from closed theme parks to light TV slates to advertisers still sitting on the sidelines.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Streamers are seeking out unscripted TV, including documentaries and reality TV, as a cheaper and popular alternative to the prestige shows they first produced — Netflix has grown into the world’s biggest buyer of unscripted programming. Its competitors are following suit.
After Bingeing on Dramas, Netflix and Rivals Target Reality TV
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-11/netflix-hbo-amazon-buying-up-reality-tv-shows-for-streaming-services
Netflix has grown into the world’s biggest buyer of unscripted programming. Its competitors are following suit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIYLoudspeakerProjecPad/permalink/1554102641612234/
What is the difference between a home use speaker and a car use?
Car speakers usually have a lower resistance, 4 ohms is the standard. Car speakers usually have heavier, stronger parts(cone, coil and soft parts) because the companies want them to last in the hostile environments that they’re in. They are uv resistant and sometimes moisture resistant. Most are designed to work in a 1 cubic foot enclosure which is about what your typical car door is. They work best with processing and dsp is very big and more common in car audio than Hifi/home audio.
High end car audio systems can have great sound, but they can’t give a sound stage and imaging of a good home system.
I’ve heard some very impressive audio inside “homes” that use car audio components…
Acoustic: very short throw, cabin gain
Mechanical: have to fit existing slots, low effective cabinet volumes
Car speakers are rated at 4 ohms while home speakers are rated at 8 ohms.
There IS a difference most of the time… as said above.. car speakers are generally made to withstand damper environments.. also car speakers generally are in the 4 ohm range.. (some home speakers are in this range as well of course).
Mostly the biggest difference is the material because of the ddamper environment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
From
https://www.facebook.com/groups/avdisasters/permalink/4312246568903821/
Hey guys! I’m a Notch designer from Italy and this is my three-year degree thesis which has Notch as its subject and its inclusion in the world of real-time design. Starting from a historical part, which traces the first phenomena of live performance in the 80s; up to the present, where Notch is one of the software protagonists of the world of real-time design.
The thesis ends with the project, the JoyCut concert in Xr, documented in the following video documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_rHN_gs0lI
Free Download (ITA/ENG): https://lorenzoventurini.gumroad.com/l/real-time-design
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujifilm announces film-digital hybrid Instax Mini Evo camera
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/17/22786676/fujifilm-instax-mini-evo-announced-price-release-date
Crank the film advance lever to print
Fujifilm has announced the Instax Mini Evo, a new digital camera that prints to Instax Mini film. The company describes it as a new Instax flagship that has been “designed with a premium and classical touch;” and it has several retro elements including top-mounted dials and a print control that works like a film advance lever.
Like other hybrid Instax cameras, the Mini Evo has an LCD screen to help you frame your digital shots before printing. The Mini Evo includes ten lens effects that can be combined and applied to photos, and Fujifilm says that it has twice the exposure resolution of previous models. Image quality from Fujifilm’s previous hybrid Instax cameras hasn’t been great, so we’ll have to see how this one works out in practice.
The Mini Evo also works as an Instax printer, meaning you can print out pictures from your smartphone wirelessly. In the opposite direction, Fujifilm has added a new feature to let you save printed Mini Evo photos to your phone complete with embedded Instax frames, so you can share them as digital Instax snaps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Know Audio: Get Into The Groove
https://hackaday.com/2021/11/18/know-audio-get-into-the-groove/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Catie Keck / The Verge:
A look at Open Connect, Netflix’s in-house CDN that launched a decade ago and spans 17,000 servers across 158 countries
A look under the hood of the most successful streaming service on the planet
Netflix’s secret sauce is something none of us ever see
https://www.theverge.com/22787426/netflix-cdn-open-connect?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
When many of us fire up our favorite streaming services, we often bump into various fury-making problems: stuff freezes, controls don’t work, or the service crashes entirely. None of these are ideal, but all seem to have become a widely understood cost of cord-cutting. For example, Disney Plus crashed its very first day because its software couldn’t handle the demand (and then it buckled again under demand for WandaVision). HBO Max is so fundamentally broken that its own leadership has admitted that the app is a mess. Even Instagram, whose Stories feature makes it a kind of streaming service in its own right, crashes so frequently it’s started alerting its users when it’s borked. Streaming can be maddening!
A service’s guts, the engineering behind the app itself, are the foundation of any streamer’s success, and Netflix has spent the last 10 years building out an expansive server network called Open Connect in order to avoid many modern streaming headaches. It’s the thing that’s allowed Netflix to serve up a far more reliable experience than its competitors and not falter when some 111 million users tuned in to Squid Game during its earliest weeks on the service.
“One of the reasons why Netflix is the leader in this market and has the number of subs they do [...] is something that pretty much everybody outside of the technical part of this industry underestimates, and that is Open Connect,” Dan Rayburn, a media streaming expert and principal analyst with Frost & Sullivan, tells The Verge. “How many times has Netflix had a problem with their streaming service over the last 10 years?”
Certainly not as many as HBO Max, that’s for sure.
Open Connect was created because Netflix “knew that we needed to build some level of infrastructure technology that would sustain the anticipated traffic that we knew success would look like,” Gina Haspilaire, Netflix’s vice president of Open Connect, tells me. “We felt we were going to be successful, and we knew that the internet at the time was not built to sustain the level of traffic that would be required globally.”
Nobody wants to sit down to watch a movie only to have their app crash or buffer for an eternity. What Netflix had the foresight to understand was that if it was going to maintain a certain level of quality, it would have to build a distribution system itself.
Popping the hood on Open Connect
Open Connect is Netflix’s in-house content distribution network specifically built to deliver its TV shows and movies. Started in 2012, the program involves Netflix giving internet service providers physical appliances that allow them to localize traffic. These appliances store copies of Netflix content to create less strain on networks by eliminating the number of channels that content has to pass through to reach the user trying to play it.
Most major streaming services rely on third-party content delivery networks (CDNs) to pass along their videos, which is why Netflix’s server network is so unique. Without a system like Open Connect or a third-party CDN in place, a request for content by an ISP has to “go through a peering point and maybe transit four or five other networks until it gets to the origin, or the place that holds the content,” Will Law, chief architect of media engineering at Akamai, a major content delivery network, tells The Verge. Not only does that slow down delivery, but it’s expensive since ISPs may have to pay to access that content.
To avoid the traffic and fees, Netflix ships copies of its content to its own servers ahead of time. That also helps to prevent Netflix traffic from choking network demand during peak hours of streaming.
“We, Open Connect, bring a copy of Bridgerton at the closest point to your internet service provider — in some cases, right inside your internet service provider’s network — and that basically avoids the burden of the internet service provider having to go get it and transfer it through all these servers on the internet over to you,” Haspilaire tells The Verge.
And they’re everywhere. At present, Netflix says it has 17,000 servers spread across 158 countries, and the company tells me it plans to continue expanding its content delivery network. Netflix prioritizes where it places these servers based on where it has the most members and relationships with ISPs, the company says.
“Anyone who wants to improve performance is going to try to put a server as close to the end user as possible,”
When Open Connect originally launched a decade ago, the service started working collaboratively with ISPs on deployment. Netflix provides ISPs with the servers for free, and Netflix has an internal reliability team that works with ISP resources to maintain the servers. The benefit to ISPs, according to both Netflix and Akamai, is fewer costs to ISPs by alleviating the need for them to have to fetch copies of content themselves.
“It’s not a huge burden, but it’s certainly a relief,” Law tells me. “It’s the same principle that Akamai is founded on and the same principle that every CDN works on. Netflix’s CDN is no different to other CDNs — except their CDN is dedicated to Netflix content.”
While most major third-party CDNs do multiple jobs and manage multiple requests from many companies — Akamai, for example, says it has thousands of customers — Netflix’s internal CDN does exactly one job: it distributes Netflix content.
While Netflix doesn’t disclose how much it costs the company to build and maintain these servers, Netflix says it’s invested roughly $1 billion in Open Connect since its creation a decade ago.
“The reason that Netflix had to build a CDN is because America’s ISPs are garbage.”
Netflix also has to account for America’s internet infrastructure being fundamentally fractured and broken.
“The reason that Netflix had to build a CDN is because America’s ISPs are garbage,” Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Katharine Trendacosta tells The Verge. “And what they knew was that their customers don’t want an endlessly buffering screen or degraded quality.”
Now, not every ISP allows Netflix’s hardware in.
arrangement may differ based on what an ISP’s network supports
The thing that Netflix is most concerned with is delivering a good viewing experience regardless of how bad your ISP is.
To do that, Netflix effectively ships three copies of each of its titles to its servers, each with a different level of quality. If your ISP is overwhelmed or your internet momentarily kicks out, the system can swap in a lower-bitrate version of the title, helping you maintain the stream without interruption.
“We will adapt the content to the quality of the network and not vice versa,” Haspilaire says. “That’s the reason why you don’t see when your network has a blip — your streaming stays constant. Because over time, we’re able to adjust the version … so when your internet goes in and out, you won’t get buffering from us.”
So, why three copies? As Trendacosta noted, the internet as we experience it is entirely unreliable. Outages, poor wifi connections, and any other network interruptions might impact your ability to access the internet the way you need to. Netflix can work around many of these network problems through its collaboration with ISPs.
Haspilaire says Netflix pre-places this content during off-peak hours so it’s not competing with other internet traffic that would occur during high-use streaming times
“Not only are we placing content on all of these servers around the world, but we are pre-placing them based on what is popular. Because we predict what is popular, we’re able to put it as close as possible under the correct server,”
Open Connect has two types of servers: flash, which handles faster delivery, and storage, which holds up to 350 TB of data. If something sitting in storage becomes popular, Netflix will move that title onto the flash server.
Open Connect is one of the biggest behind-the-scenes drivers behind Netflix’s ability to perform as well as it did during the pandemic.
“Nobody is going to disagree or argue with Netflix that they’ve built a system that works at scale, and that is the biggest thing that is missed in our industry,” Rayburn says. “You only get that number of subs if you can deliver good, quality consumer experience at scale. Nobody’s ever had the scale to the degree Netflix has. Nobody has that expertise.”
In other words, users have to actually enjoy the stuff that’s built on top of Netflix’s infrastructure, as well. Beyond just ensuring that streams don’t crash and burn, the consideration that goes into the development of Netflix’s various features are often overlooked simply because we don’t have to think about them — they just work.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.troot.fi/artikkelit/kenen-biisi-eli-mita-pitaa-muistaa-kaupallisten-sisaltojen-musiikkioikeuksista?utm_source=Facebook_Mobile_Feed&utm_campaign=paid_social_helmikuu&fbclid=IwAR3xfPtFvWPA-lW7pmSdW19JS4uf4wEsMDunDzK52usX0-T6vIq-3o5AC9w
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://cdm.link/2021/11/berlin-techno-has-its-own-application-for-unesco-status-and-heres-the-film/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adele Doesn’t Want Anyone To Shuffle ‘30’—So Spotify Changes Its Business
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2021/11/21/adele-doesnt-want-anyone-to-shuffle-30-so-spotify-changes-its-business/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=social&utm_content=5945508593&utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesMainFB&sh=419550b13963
On the heels of a request from Adele for her newest album release Friday, Spotify changed the ability to shuffle songs out of order as a main option when listening to any album, a major shift for the streaming service that was done seemingly to benefit artists instead of listeners.
On Saturday, Adele tweeted that musicians “create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing” and their “stories should be listened to as we intended,” and that removing the shuffle option was her “only request” to Spotify as her album 30 was released.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto tracking camera
A camera that tracks a person & counts reps using *AI*.
https://hackaday.io/project/162944-auto-tracking-camera
The source code:https://github.com/heroineworshiper/countrepsRapidly becoming the next big thing, 1st with subject tracking on quad copters, then subject tracking on digital assistants. It’s long been a dream to have an autonomous camera operator that tracks a subject. The Facebook Portal was the 1st sign lions saw that the problem was finally cracked. The problem is all existing tracking cameras are operated by services which collect the video & either sell it or report it to government agencies.Compiling & fixing a machine vision library to run as fast as possible on a certain computer is such a monumental task, it’s important to reuse it as much as possible. To simplify the task of a tracking camera, the same code is used to count reps & track a subject. The countreps program was a lot more complicated & consumed most of
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pian televisiosi 8K-kuva virkistyy 120 kertaa sekunnissa
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12852-pian-televisiosi-8k-kuva-virkistyy-120-kertaa-sekunnissa
Televisioiden kyky näyttää kuvia on pian ottamassa isoa hyppäystä eteenpäin. Kännykkäpiireistään tunnettu taiwanilainen Mediatek on esitellyt seuraavan polven televisiopiirinsä, joka toistaa kuvia 8K-resoluutiolla ja vaihtaa kuvan ruudulla 120 kertaa sekunnissa.
Kyse on Pentonic 2000 -piiristä. 120 virkistystaajuuden lisäksi prosessori skaalaa alempitasoista kuvaa 8K-resoluutioon tekoälyn avulla. Piiri on samalla markkinoiden ensimmäinen 7 nanometrin prosessissa valmistettu televisioprosessori.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog vs Digital Audio | The Truth About Which Is Better…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YviIsCbT9Q
What’s the difference between analog and digital audio? Is vinyl better than CD or MP3? What makes one better than the other? In this video, you’ll learn about the benefits and drawbacks of analog and digital audio. By the end, you’ll be able to answer these questions for yourself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uusi kenno tekee älypuhelimen kamerasta nopeamman
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12860-uusi-kenno-tekee-aelypuhelimen-kamerasta-nopeamman
Älypuhelin on useimpien tärkein kuvauslaite, joten sen kameran kehitystyö on erittäin tärkeää. Korealainen SK Hynix on esitellyt tekniikan, jolla kännykkäkameran tarkennus kohteisiin nopeutuu. Ratkaisu perustuu mikrolinssien käyttöön.
Normaalissa kamerassa käytetään Quad-antureita, joissa jokainen pikseli koostuu neljästä värisuotimesta. Kameran prosessori laskee algoritmein tarkennuksen suodinparien läpi tulevan valon vaihe-eron perusteella. Tekniikka on nimeltään PDAF (phase detection auto focus).
SK Hynixin kehittämä uusi tekniikka on nimeltään A4C (All-4-Coupked). Perinteisen Quad-anturin tapaan siinä on valodiodi, joka muuttaa valon sähkövirraksi, ja värisuodatin, joka absorboi selektiivisesti tietyn valon aallonpituuden. Toisin kuin Quad-anturissa, sen rakenne koostuu yhdestä mikrolinssistä jokaisessa neljän samanvärisen pikselin ryhmässä.
A4C-anturin automaattitarkennusominaisuus perustuu mekanismiin, jossa kohde on tarkentunut, jos kohteen eri valonsäteet yhtyvät yhteen polttopisteeseen, ja kohde on epätarkka, jos säteet eivät osu yhteen pisteeseen. Toisin sanoen, jos yhden mikrolinssin alla olevien neljän pikselin intensiteettiarvoissa ei ole eroa, kohde tulee tarkennetuksi.
Jos intensiteettiarvoissa on eroa, kohde on epätarkka. Tämän eron analysointi antaa anturille tiedon, minne sen on siirrettävä moduulin linssin sijainti tarkennuksen säätämiseksi. Erona PDAF-tarkennukseen on se, että A4C-anturi mittaa vaihe-eroja jokaisessa pikselissä. Tämä tekee tarkennuksesta nopeampaa. Lisäksi tarkennus on 10 kertaa tarkempaa vähäisen valon olosuhteissa, joissa valoa on 10 luksia tai vähemmän.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The last black & white TV ever made
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dlk9G2ADjs
A look at the last type of black & white TV ever made, commonly advertised as “5.5 inch black & white TV with AM/FM radio” and sold under dozens of different brands (and generic unbranded ones) from the mid-1990s to early 2010s for as low as $14.99 — even after analog-only TVs were no longer legally allowed to be sold.
A lot of arcade machine collectors are always on the lookout for “new” screens to replace their burnt out ones.
There’s a failing of virtually all monochrome TVs too: They have mean level AGC instead of gated which (nearly all) colour sets have. So dark scenes are always a murky grey colour, they never do real black even though the tube is perfectly capable of doing so.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Advantages and disadvantages of separate subwoofers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHLFaL1v1hk
Having a built in powered subwoofer in your main speakers would seem like a good thing, but are there issues?
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.highendnews.info/technology/technology.htm
Holly Hooper says:
Blog commenting is absolutely one of the easiest way to get backlinks to a new or old website as long as you commented with great and relevant feedback about the article or posts. Blog commenting is an inbound links that helps to gain more links pointing to your site. It is also one of the SEO methods to be used.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-wet-and-dry-signals-or-sounds/
Tomi Engdahl says:
using kodi + https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv = endless entertainment… prove me wrong.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tämä suolakiteen kokoinen kamera ottaa parempia kuvia kuin älypuhelimesi – Kameran salaisuus on ”metapinnassa”
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/tama-suolakiteen-kokoinen-kamera-ottaa-parempia-kuvia-kuin-alypuhelimesi-kameran-salaisuus-on-metapinnassa/
Amerikkalaisen Princetonin yliopiston tutkijat ovat kehittäneet suolakiteen kokoisen ”mikrokameran”, jonka ottamien kuvien erottelu on valovuosia aiempia vastaavia kameroita edellä.
Mikrokokoisilla kameroilla on yliopiston tiedotteen mukaan paljon potentiaalia ihmisen kehon sisäisten ongelmien tunnistamisessa, mutta tähän asti näiden kameroiden tuottamat kuvat ovat olleet suttuisia ja vääristyneitä.
Metapinta (engl. metasurface) muistuttaa mikroskooppikuvassa tietokoneen suoritinta. Vain puolen millimetrin levyisessä pinnassa on 1,6 miljoonaa eri pituista sylinterimäistä pylvästä.
”Jokaisella pylväällä on uniikki geometriansa ja se toimii optisen antennin tavoin. Pylväiden muodon variointi on keskeistä, jotta kamera voi muodostaa kuvan koko optisesta aallonpituusalueesta”, tiedotteessa selitetään.
”Tietokoneoppimiseen perustuvien algoritmien avulla pylväiden vuorovaikutus valon kanssa tuottaa laadukkaimpia kuvia laajimmalla kuvakulmalla tähän asti kehitetyistä metapintakameroista.”
Researchers shrink camera to the size of a salt grain
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-camera-size-salt-grain.html
Micro-sized cameras have great potential to spot problems in the human body and enable sensing for super-small robots, but past approaches captured fuzzy, distorted images with limited fields of view.
Enabled by a joint design of the camera’s hardware and computational processing, the system could enable minimally invasive endoscopy with medical robots to diagnose and treat diseases, and improve imaging for other robots with size and weight constraints. Arrays of thousands of such cameras could be used for full-scene sensing, turning surfaces into cameras.
While a traditional camera uses a series of curved glass or plastic lenses to bend light rays into focus, the new optical system relies on a technology called a metasurface, which can be produced much like a computer chip. Just half a millimeter wide, the metasurface is studded with 1.6 million cylindrical posts, each roughly the size of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Each post has a unique geometry, and functions like an optical antenna.
A key innovation in the camera’s creation was the integrated design of the optical surface and the signal processing algorithms that produce the image. This boosted the camera’s performance in natural light conditions, in contrast to previous metasurface cameras that required the pure laser light of a laboratory or other ideal conditions to produce high-quality images, said Felix Heide, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton.
Aside from a bit of blurring at the edges of the frame, the nano-sized camera’s images were comparable to those of the traditional lens setup, which is more than 500,000 times larger in volume.
Other ultracompact metasurface lenses have suffered from major image distortions, small fields of view, and limited ability to capture the full spectrum of visible light—referred to as RGB imaging because it combines red, green and blue to produce different hues.
“Although the approach to optical design is not new, this is the first system that uses a surface optical technology in the front end and neural-based processing in the back,” said Joseph Mait, a consultant at Mait-Optik and a former senior researcher and chief scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera The Size Of A Salt Grain Created By Researchers
https://www.iflscience.com/technology/camera-the-size-of-a-salt-grain-created-by-researchers/
A camera just half a millimeter wide that can produce photos like a camera with a lens 500,000 times bigger in volume has been developed by researchers at the University of Princeton and the University of Washington. The technological breakthrough could be used to find medical issues or as a sensing apparatus for extremely small robots.
The camera, described in a paper published in Nature Communications, works thanks to something called a metasurface. This material is coated with 1.6 million cylindrical posts, each the size of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) particle. Each post works as an optical antenna and has a precise design. Without this, the camera would not be able to correctly take in all the light reflected off an object.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26443-0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Servo subwoofers
Acoustic SBT 2.6 Servo-sub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45fYVOKj3YU
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/acoustics-26-woofer.20665/
Topic: Acoustic Subteq sbt 2.6
https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php?topic=117207.0
Tomi Engdahl says:
The BEST Upgrade You Can Make To Your Headphones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfV3xplj2RU
incidentally, fake leather flakes sounds like the world’s worst breakfast cereal
Just give him a little care and old mate senny will be as good as new!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audiophile Headphones: For Beginners!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoLMdrD5pic
Open Back, Impedance, Distortion, Planar, GAH!!! So many phrases! Here’s an easy beginner’s guide through the confusing world of headphones. IF you are new, this is the video for you!
Tomi Engdahl says:
DAS SF-30A Actief motor aangedreven 7500W 30″ M-Force stapelbare ultra laag subwoofer DASnet
https://www.rfsystems.nl/das-sf-30a-actief-motor-aangedreven-7500w-30-m-force-stapelbare-ultra-laag-subwoofer-dasnet-10433030/
M-Force, M-Drive and DPC are registered trademarks of Powersoft S.p.A.
– powered subwoofer system
– single 30″ high density polyethylene cone
– unique moving magnet linear motor design
– ultra high power amplifier design
– differential pressure control
– highly reinforced cabinet design
– unmatched performance compared to conventional systems
Specificaties
– nominal LF amplifier power 15000W peak
– 7500W continuous
– frequency range (-10 dB) 28 Hz-125 Hz
– rated peak SPL at 1 m 145 dB
– connectors audio input female XLR, audio loop thru male XLR
– audio + data input Ethercon (DASnet)
– audio + data output Ethercon (DASnet)
– AC input Powercon true1
– AC requirements universal mains 85 – 230V
– current draw (1/3 power @ 230 V) 6,2A/230V
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 of the Best Headphones Under $500
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WPIFzaO5lI
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sound Science: Great Headphones Blend Physics, Anatomy and Psychology
https://scitechdaily.com/sound-science-great-headphones-blend-physics-anatomy-and-psychology/
Between music, podcasts, gaming, and the unlimited supply of online content, most people spend hours a week wearing headphones. Perhaps you are considering a new pair for the holidays, but with so many options on the market, it can be hard to know what to choose.
I am a professional musician and a professor of music technology who studies acoustics. My work investigates the intersection between the scientific, artistic and subjective human elements of sound. Choosing the right headphones involves considering all three of those aspects, so what makes for a truly good pair?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Collection of publicly available IPTV channels from all over the world
https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv
Tomi Engdahl says:
How headphones make bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeEHdsOUTc0
How in the world do the little tiny drivers in headphones generate long wavelength bass notes? Paul explains how.
Viewer comments:
In reality speakers are more or less constant acceleration devices. This means that at low frequencies, there will be larger excursions, and more air moved. It’s the displaced air at low frequencies that you hear as sound in the form of SPLs. This also means that the speakers are omnidirectional at low frequencies since the pressure waves wrap around the cabinet. As the frequency increases, the displacement decreases since the motor force from the voice coil doesn’t change dramatically. At a certain point, the wavelength matches the speakers dimensions and it then begins to radiate sound in a beam like you would think. With headphones, and esp. IEMs the space is your ear canal, so the volume of air that needs to be moved is very small. Basically all it’s doing is pushing your eardrum in and out via the small volume of trapped air, which is why a good seal is needed. Escaping air = no bass.
I think the confusion is between wavelength distance at the speed of sound as you discuss, and a driver being able to move linearly in one direction for a give period of time. If the headphone driver can move back and forth linearly between it’s extremes slowly enough that each direction lasts 1/20th of a second, it can reproduce 10Hz. It just won’t have moved very far during that elapsed time. It just won’t have moved much air.
But those low of frequencies are not picked up in the ear drum anyways. Real bass is picked up by bone conduction in bones outside the ear canal. Vibration of those bones is required for us to “hear” bass.
In a tour of his facilities, Gene Czerwinski explained to me that part of his extreme sensitivity design of his Cerwin-Vega speakers, especially large ported woofers, was his daughter was born deaf but liked the beat of the music. So he made speakers that did that.
Audio reproduction is always amazing. I had also wonder how a paper cone and a silk dome combine to produce a metallic ringing sound.
Think of it as a pressure front … there is near field or close coupled ( where LF sound is in an exclusive pressure domain) and there is free field .. where sound is allowed to propagate naturally and conforms to all the acoustic laws of physics …
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/12/03/paper-plate-surround-sound-system/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mikrokaiutin on vain millin paksuinen
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12918-mikrokaiutin-on-vain-millin-paksuinen
Ääni on molekyylien liikettä ilmassa. Kaiuttimien rakentaminen erittäin pieneen tilaan ja ennen kaikkea erittäin ohueksi on siksi äärimmäisen vaativaa. Piilaaksolainen xMEMS on esitellyt Tomales-kaiuttimen, joka on vain 1,15 millimetriä paksu. Silti se tuo laadukkaan äänentoiston esimerkiksi älylaseihin.
Kolmen sentin päässä Tomales tuottaa 75 dB äänenpaineen 2 kHz:llä, 90 desibeliä 4 kHz:llä ja yli 108 desibeliä 10 kHz:llä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A North Korean man who smuggled ‘Squid Game’ into the country is to be executed by firing squad and a high-school student who bought a USB drive with the show will be jailed for life, report says
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fnorth-korea-execution-life-sentence-hard-labor-squid-game-2021-11&h=AT0pYenkDz65zrdiFjoJUN6zTppx2QL2DfqqDKgWx8OqemNi10gLKPm8EBUuNZgMfVaJybc7FHaYWNZPb-qvvHXoKm7QaO-Z8oYaqJiqxIa5xg7btK_XlcMGi5sJSbeYoQ
North Korea appears to have come down hard on people who distribute or watch “Squid Game.”
Citing unnamed sources, Radio Free Asia said a man there was sentenced to death for smuggling it.
Seven high-school students received harsh sentences for watching the show, RFA reported.
A report by Radio Free Asia cited unnamed sources inside North Korea as saying a man who smuggled and sold the dystopian drama had been sentenced to death by firing squad and a high schooler who bought a USB drive containing the show was sentenced to life in prison.
North Korean sentenced to death after students caught watching Squid Game
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/squidgame-11232021180155.html
Locals say rich parents were able to bribe authorities to spare a student from punishment.
The smuggler is said to have brought a copy of Squid Game into North Korea back from China and sold USB flash drives containing the series. Sources said his sentence would be carried out by firing squad.
A student who bought a drive received a life sentence, while six others who watched the show have been sentenced to five years hard labor, and teachers and school administrators have been fired and face banishment to work in remote mines or themselves, the sources said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ABBA’s New Album ‘Voyage’ OUTSELLS Ed Sheeran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TZtfhLXYyM
Hi there, and welcome back to the channel! Abba has returned with new music, and their newest album, Voyage, is dominating the charts. In fact, it has become the fastest-selling album in the UK in over four years! The Swedish pop icons have smashed records with a jaw-dropping 181,712 copies of the album in just six days. And with their massive success, they have outsold the charts heavyweight of Ed Sheeran’s new album, = (Equals). To know more about this, then stay tuned! And be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for watching!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rotary Subwoofer – Worlds Lowest Freq Subwoofer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Bkrypxzs4
capable of generating greater than 120dB SPL of frequences from 20Hz down to less than 1Hz!!! Read more at http://www.eminent-tech.com/main.html . This video is the first time this invention has been shown. You won’t be able to hear the low stuff on your PC speakers, they won’t go below 50-100Hz for sure! The fan self-noise is filtered out in the production enclosure. See http://tinyurl.com/54srbc for how University of Hawaii recreated earthquakes with the TRW!
update anecdote: during testing while this video was made, a houseowner about 300 yards downhill came over and asked if we were feeling anything because the plates on her wall kept vibrating. So she was walking around the neighborhood asking if anyone else felt it. I think she was concerned her house was haunted or something! We fessed up and invited her in to see what the commotion was caused by.
What is fascinating is that the amplifier driving the voice coil motor is only 200W max. The motor spinning the fan is maybe as high as 1 amp at 240V. Yet the amount of low frequency energy is incredible compared to that of a conventional set of 18″ subwoofer trying to do stuff at that frequency.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sennheiser Factory Tour – Hanover, Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5es8zggYM7A
The folks over at Sennheiser gave us a pretty in depth tour of their manufacturing facility in Germany. I have to say, this was an extremely cool experience…
Tomi Engdahl says:
beyerdynamic: once & today – a chronical digest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XJ36UGyueI
Since the Eugen Beyer electrical engineering factory was founded in 1924, beyerdynamic has been synonymous with German-made applied high technology in the professional audio electronics sector.
Until this very day, Eugen Beyer’s heirs feel bound by the company’s tradition and by its visionary, pioneering founder’s values. Technological advance, constant innovation and maximum quality standards ensure the company leads the field in sound technology worldwide. Eighty-five years after its foundation, beyerdynamic still develops headphones and microphones in Germany, which are carefully handcrafted in the southern city of Heilbronn. Each of our products contains true passion and know-how for an excellent sound experience.
Currently the beyerdynamic product range comprises, in addition to microphones and audio headsets, headsets for TV commentators and pilots as well as conference systems and interpreting facilities. The latest inventions of our engineers therefore include products for 5.1 surround sound integrated in high-tech headphones, the worldwide unique wireless conferencing system Revoluto, high-end headsets with digital noise cancelling, individually manufactured headphones for iPod fans and Premium Headphones with novel Tesla Technology.
Visite de l’usine Beyerdynamic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIlcaOP4R84
Tomi Engdahl says:
Servodrive Contrabass mechanism in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oqt9LbSvpQ
Visual look inside the servodrive contrabass subwoofer. in stead of a voicecoil its using a DC permanent magnet Motor for driving the 2 opposite 15″cones.
An Excellent Engineering Example on how to translate rotary motion into linear motion in a balanced fashion!!!
Tomi Engdahl says:
DT990 Pro vs DT770 Pro – Which one should you get?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpvUSOC__Y
Are the DT990 really better than the DT770? Let’s explore these two icons in this rather long video. I go over most of the important factors that you should keep in mind when deciding between them.
Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO – 32 Ohms, 80 Ohms, 250 Ohms, Which Ohm is right for you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpu92zvv8-Y
Today we have Jeremiah from our sales team, explaining to you which Ohm is right for you when selecting which Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO headphone to get for your unique usage.
Viewer comments:
Please note, that the materials used for the pads makes a lot of difference with the sound. And: Leather and velour can be interchanged. Also the driver design, materials, open or closed back builds as well as other factors can make a huge impact on the quality you get. High impedance headphones don’t automatically sound better.