Category Archives: Compression

Will Australian digital TV switch to MPEG4?

Posted on March 5, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Last night I received a telephone call from a reader who wanted to know if Australia would be switching over to MPEG4 for its digital TV broadcasts. At the moment we are using MPEG2, the same codec used for DVD. … Continue reading →

Posted in Compression, DTV, HDTV, Video | 4 Comments

Confusion on channels

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Oh wow, this is confusing. HDMI devices talk to each other, but what are they actually saying? As mentioned in the last item, I’ve been working on a roundup of all HD disc players. One of these is the Panasonic … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Blu-ray, Compression, Equipment, Testing | Leave a comment

Minor MP3 player problem

Posted on February 8, 2005 by Stephen Dawson

One problem with hard disk based MP3 players is gaps. You know those CDs where the music is continuous, even across the boundaries between tracks? When you play back an MP3 album in track order on an MP3 player, there … Continue reading →

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Digital TV bitrates in Canberra

Posted on November 2, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Vince writes: Could you place (or give a link) on your blog the local TV stations bit rates that I have variously seen in your articles to the Canberra times? Why not? First, though, I should note that the following … Continue reading →

Posted in Codecs, Compression, DTV, HDTV | Leave a comment

DV vs MPEG2

Posted on August 9, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Andrew, from Canberra, writes to me: I refer to your article on the Hitachi DZ-MV580E video camera. I always like to read the Techno write-ups featured in The Guide [in the Canberra Times] each week. I think they are very … Continue reading →

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Did you know: MP3 is ‘Studio Quality’?

Posted on September 25, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

 Got a chuckle out of this ‘explanation’ of MP3 in the manual of an inexpensive Conia DVD player I’ve been reviewing. Talk about overstating the quality of MP3! Sure, at 128kb/s MP3 is quite indistinguishable from the CD source for … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Codecs, Compression, Portable | Leave a comment