Monthly Archives: May 2012

Heinlein

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

Robert Heinlein was by far my favourite science fiction author. That he he hasn’t been well represented on the big screen is a real pity. The dreadful efforts represented by Starship Troopers and The Puppet Masters shouldn’t be taken to … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc | 3 Comments

Digital TV video bitrates – May 2011

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

More advertising has recently hit our regional TV stations in the form of a channel called ‘GOLD’ using part of the WIN TV spectrum (it’s on Channel 84). Which, of course, prompts me to update the table of video bitrates. … Continue reading →

Posted in Codecs, DTV, HDTV | 2 Comments

Converting 2D to 3D

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

Many TVs and even some Blu-ray players feature circuits that take 2D content and turn it into 3D. There are two parts to this process. The first is the employment of some algorithm to work out which bits of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D | Leave a comment

High Frame Rate cinema

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

A while back Simon Reidy, commenting on another post, wondered about my views on 48fps cinema. This has arisen because Peter Jackson previewed some of his forthcoming movie, The Hobbit, which is shot at 48fps, to a group of industry … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | 2 Comments

3D display brightness

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

Reader Ryan has pointed me at a slightly old (in 3D talk, August 2011 is old) discussion of Active vs Passive 3D technology in Audioholics. Many of the points it makes are well founded, but it also demonstrates a misunderstanding … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, How Things Work, Video | 2 Comments

Free Blu-ray disc

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

Would you like a free Blu-ray disc? First you’ll have to work out what it is from the code to the right. Pre-production disc Koupit Cialis , with no label, box etc, but content is the same as the bought … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Giveaway | 2 Comments

It’s all about the context

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

In a post a couple of days ago I showed how easily the perception of colour can be shifted. The same applies the sense of lightness or darkness. Here is one manipulated position of the ‘Koffka Ring’. What’s interesting here … Continue reading →

Posted in Imperfect perception, Testing | Leave a comment

Details, 3D details

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

In comments Gregory suggested that a proper test for resolution of 3D systems might involve such things as the perceptibility of really small text. I agree entirely. And apparently such tests have been done. These are recounted to some extent … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, Testing | 3 Comments

Deceived by your eyes

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

In the previous post I developed some test patterns which I claimed consisted of pixel-wide red lines and green blue lines. To make things clearer, I tripled their size on the screen so that you could see the alternate lines. … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, Imperfect perception, Testing | Leave a comment

84

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Stephen Dawson

Time to retune your digital TV and PVRs. It seems that a new station has appeared out here in the sticks. It’s called ‘WIN Gold’, and is honestly labelled on its EPG as offering nothing but ‘Infotainment’, although when I … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV | 1 Comment