Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

Dithering?

Posted on August 22, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Dithering has two meanings. The first is what I’ve been doing lately, although I have submitted my latest Institute of Public Affairs Reviewcolumn, plus a lengthy piece to Australian HI-FI on … dithering. In this latter context dither is noise added to … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, How Things Work | Leave a comment

The Dictionary of Home Entertainment is up

Posted on August 17, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

It is incomplete, has a great deal more internal linking to be added and, no doubt, some more terms. Consider it to be a work in progress. Nevertheless, with 122 entries so far, I think there is enough information in … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin | Leave a comment

Subjective vs Objective testing

Posted on August 16, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Here’s a report of a study that bears somewhat on the problem of assessing the performance of home entertainment equipment. In brief, it seems that statistical models are significantly better at predicting outcomes, diagnosing illness and all sorts of other … Continue reading →

Posted in Imperfect perception, Testing | Leave a comment

Doing my duty

Posted on August 16, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I have spent around eleven hours before Quicken CashBook today, keying in trivial sums of money, all to administer my tiny part of the Australian government’s taxation system. That is, I’m working out how much tax I have to pay … Continue reading →

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Where have I been?

Posted on August 14, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Sorry dear reader, I’ve been on a few deadlines. Reviews of various digital set top boxes and the Perreaux SXH1 headphone amp now in. Last night I was fiddling with JVC’s new DLA-SX21 projector, based on its D-ILA (for Digital Direct … Continue reading →

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It’s about time: the perfect projector for PAL DVDs?

Posted on August 12, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In September InFocus will release its ScreenPlay 5700 projector in Australia. Could this be the perfect home theatre projector? It uses what is apparently Texas Instrument’s newest DMD, the Matterhorn. I say apparently because TI has seen fit not to … Continue reading →

Posted in DVD, Equipment, Video | Leave a comment

Wow, what a find! Free audio analysis software

Posted on August 8, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The poor freelance audio writer simply cannot afford to buy all the test gear he would like. Golly, even something as mundane as 250 watt 8 ohm resistors for testing power outputs cost around $AUS100 each … and this writer … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Testing | Leave a comment

Comparing the comparable: High Resolution audio vs the CD

Posted on August 8, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just uploaded to my Home Entertainment pages my 1999 comparison of a Chesky recording. Comparing a recording with itself? Why? Well, one is on DVD in high resolution 96kHz, 24 bit PCM, while the other is merely a CD, 44.1kHz, … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, CD, DVD | Leave a comment

Copying files with DRM

Posted on August 7, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The always interesting Gene Expression Blog has an interesting discussion on the futility of Digital Rights Management on music files.

Posted in Audio, Copyright | Leave a comment

S/PDIF Misconception

Posted on August 7, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

A couple of nights ago I installed CyberLink’s new PowerDVD 5 Deluxe. Good stuff — with some worthwhile improvements over version 4.0, particularly software DTS decoding (this was previously an optional extra). But I couldn’t work out this ’24/96 LPCM Direct Output’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Computer | Leave a comment