Audio and Video

Entering The Minority Report Era?

Stephen Spielberg’s Minority Report (released nearly 10 years ago) captured the imagination of many in the technology space. Today we are seeing some things from the movie start to come true right in front of our eyes today. Entering The Minority Report Era: A Video Series article shows some examples of those technologies. The video

Fractals without a Computer!

A fractal is a figure with a self-similar pattern. Usually the fractals are calculated with a computer, but is is possible to produce Fractals without a Computer! It’s very cool – partly because it looks neat, but also partly because it shows you something important about fractals. Optical video feedback is a well-known phenomenon. If

Audio, Distortion and Feedback

Audiophiles seem to revel in minor controversies – vinyl vs CD’s, tubes versus solid state, capacitor, wires, magic dots… and negative feedback. At one extreme (“objectivists” and engineers), the position is that “feedback makes amplifiers perfect”. At the other extreme (“subjectivists”) usually claim that “feedback is a menacing succubus that sucks the life out of

Star-Quad Cable in test

Are Star-Quad is well known in the audio industry as a good cable construction to use in demanding environments because its superior handling of EMI. And that reputation is based in science; the Canare document, for example, contains lots of claims which can be tested objectively, and all those claims are rooted in physics-based (reality-based)

Audio crossfader

The DJ mixer crossfader was originally developed as a control for implementing smooth fades from one program source to another, but where did the idea come from? Evolution of the DJ Crossfader article tells the history and development of crossfader in DJ mixers.

Why 3D doesn't work

Why 3D doesn’t work and never will. Case closed. article tells about a letter is from Walter Murch, the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema (and not a big fan of 3D). The article comments on 3D cinema: dark, small, stroby, headache inducing, alienating. And expensive. The first problem is

Surveillance camera image processing

Use FPGAs for stunning surveillance camera images is a cool article on image processing performed inside modern surveillance cameras. The “stunning images” are made possible by utilizing the latest in high definition high dynamic range CMOS image sensor technology. The “valuable information” is provided by adding intelligence in the camera that can look for the

VGA is dying?

Many modern PCs still use the over 20 year old 15 pin analogue VGA connector to connect the display to PC. The VGA connector carries the video signal in RGB format, which is a bit outdated in the world where the graphics card and display devices are all digital. Most Windows PC builders have been

Music industry misfires again

RIAA Misfires, Grazes PCMag.com article points that the music industry has gone off the deep end. The RIAA and other music industry organizations have spent the better part of the decade fighting the digital transition, with only a shrinking business to show for. It’s time for these music execs to pull their collective heads out

Audio levels

There are almost as many opinions on how to meter and monitor audio signals as there are audio engineers. There are several standards on audio signal level metering. PrimaLED has made a nice chart World audio level scales & calibration that compares them to each other (click picture to see it bigger size). It also