Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
Major Variola (ret) wrote: Jeezum, how old *are* you? We haven't called vacuum tubes 'valves' for some time.. Oh yes we do! I never call them anything but valves.
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
-- From: Mike Rosing[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 5:35 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks On Thu, 6 Jun 2002, Tim May wrote: (Booty being a black slang term for ass; no doubt related to trunk as body part, as in swim trunks.) I always thought it came from pimp slang - booty being what you take as a pirate. My kids love to shake their booty, and have no idea of the history either :-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike There are doubtless etymologists who could answer this definitively. I don't have aceess to the OED online, which could at least give us info on how far back it goes. The question on hand is the origin of boot (British) vs trunk (American) for the storage at the rear of a sedan car. I really, really don't think either Tim or Mike are on the right track. American pimp slang is very unlikely to have affected British motoring jargon. Instead, I suggest the both 'boot' and 'booty' may come from a much older English usage of 'butt' to refer the the rear end of something - whether a person (buttocks), or the end of a spear or a cigarette (butt). Many horse-drawn coaches (and some early automobiles) had a luggage style trunk strapped on the back for storage. Thiis seems a source for the American 'trunk', and also give an alternative route to 'boot'. Many early automobile terms are from the French (chauffeur, carburetor ), and the French term for 'box' is 'boite', which could easily migrate in British English to 'boot'. Peter Trei
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
Major Variola (ret) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes, in the linear part of their operation. But its the *distortion* (large signal behavior) which differs ---tubes distort differently when overdriven. I believe the difference when driven with a square wave is that tubes have a more RC-like output function, vs. a sharper (faster slew) transistor reproduction. It's true that tubes distort differently, but not for the reason you claim. If you compare the transfer characteristics (Vce vs Ic with Vbe as a parameter) of a tube to those of a transistor, you see that (using BJT terminology) the transistor passes through saturation and reaches linear operation at a relatively low Vce (triode/linear, saturation, and Vds respectively, for you FETholes). On the other hand, the tube does not saturate quickly in this way. If you draw a load line over these transfer characteristics and grind through the math (or have Matlab do the work), you'll see that BJTs and FETs produce mostly odd-order harmonic distortion, whereas tubes produce more even-order harmonic distortion. The audible difference in this distortion is consistent with empirical results from acoustic musical instruments: violins (and other stringed acoustic instruments), which produce mostly even-order harmonics, have a drastically different timbre from, say, a clarinet, which produces mostly odd-order harmonics. One little known fact is that humans actually prefer a small amount of distortion in their listening. The THD of amps with a lot of decimal-zeroes, is a good technical spec (easily attainable, cheaply, nowadays), but is totally a marketing scam. First you can't hear the difference between .01 and .001 % THD, and second you prefer ~ .1% While I'm sure you're right that most people can't tell the difference between .01% and .001%, I'm not sure I believe that _everyone_ likes distortion (or, if they do, that everyone likes distortion of the same kind or level.) It seems that when you _re_produce a recording you may as well do so with as much fidelity as possible, leaving it to the artist to introduce whatever distortion they intend when they record it. When I listen to Ormandy and Philadelphia perform Mahler 2 I want the utmost fidelity; at the same time, I don't complain about the distortion in the recording when I listen to the Smashing Pumpkins's latest album. -- Riad Wahby [EMAIL PROTECTED] MIT VI-2/A 2002
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
On Wed, 5 Jun 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ok, somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't they officially cease production of vinyl pressings several years ago? As in *all* vinyl pressings??? Which they? Lots of little DJ mix'ers cut several hundred albums and then sell them to other DJ's who then use them for their own mix. There's a whole little industry going. Surplus...The street finds its own uses for technology. -- When I die, I would like to be born again as me. Hugh Hefner [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
production of vinyl pressings several years ago? As in *all* vinyl pressings??? They stopped selling them to the general public, but you only have to stop by a DJ record shop (as opposed to the consumer shops) to see a wide Maybe in redneck-tower-records counties ... the City is full of shops that sell new vinyl, and several sell _only_ new vinyl and no CDs. = end (of original message) Y-a*h*o-o (yes, they scan for this) spam follows: Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
The official (legal) resolutions for optical media are: 720 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by most DVD. ... Physical number of lines is far from being the only measure of quality. Compression has a huge impact, and so do other digital artifacts. For instance, just take a look at the opening scenes (earth rising on the moon horizon) in Kubrick's 2001 on laserdisc and DVD. In DVD, the dark blue-black background consists of funny rectangles. There are also a lot of motion artefacts which give a certain feel do DVD image - but then, that may become fashionable, as valve amplifiers are again now or listening to dolby-recorded tapes without dolby players - some just like that boost in the high end. = end (of original message) Y-a*h*o-o (yes, they scan for this) spam follows: Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 12:25 PM 6/6/2002 -0700, Morlock Elloi wrote: The official (legal) resolutions for optical media are: 720 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by most DVD. ... Physical number of lines is far from being the only measure of quality. Compression has a huge impact, and so do other digital artifacts. For instance, just take a look at the opening scenes (earth rising on the moon horizon) in Kubrick's 2001 on laserdisc and DVD. In DVD, the dark blue-black background consists of funny rectangles. There are also a lot of motion artefacts which give a certain feel do DVD image - but then, that may become fashionable, as valve amplifiers are again now or listening to dolby-recorded tapes without dolby players - some just like that boost in the high end. No doubt some transfers from film are better than others. Often these discrepancies are more a function of the budget, skill and care of the technician, the available working print and particular equipment and software used, than the target medium. However, all other things being equal, I agree with Tim: DVD is a superior medium to consumer video tape and Laser disk. steve
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 12:25 PM 6/6/02 -0700, Morlock Elloi wrote: There are also a lot of motion artefacts which give a certain feel do DVD image - but then, that may become fashionable, as valve amplifiers are again Jeezum, how old *are* you? We haven't called vacuum tubes 'valves' for some time.. Must get tiresome carting around the Leyden jar condensers for your differential analyzer.. now or listening to dolby-recorded tapes without dolby players - some just like that boost in the high end. Yeah, old farts who've toasted the thin end of their cochleas... :-)
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
On Thu, 6 Jun 2002, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Jeezum, how old *are* you? We haven't called vacuum tubes 'valves' for some time.. Must get tiresome carting around the Leyden jar condensers for your differential analyzer.. the Brits have been calling tubes valves forever. Just like a hood is a bonnet. Has nothing to do with age. But you do lose the high end first usually :-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 01:42 PM 6/6/02 -0700, Tim May wrote: Someone said something earlier about tube/valve amps giving a boost to the high end, for older, hearing-damaged rockers. Mr. Elloi wrote first about the fashion for valve audio amps and then mentioned that some yahoos listen with Dolby emphesis. I commented that the latter was for the old deaf. This is unrelated to the fashion for valves. I don't think the frequency response has evern been an issue...tube amps are said to have a warmer sound, and to have more odd harmonic distortion than transistor amps, but the frequency response of _any_ transistor or tube amp is vastly beyond what even high-end speakers and headphones can typically deliver. A modern solid state amp is essentially flat from 20 Hz to 20 KHz. Yes, in the linear part of their operation. But its the *distortion* (large signal behavior) which differs ---tubes distort differently when overdriven. I believe the difference when driven with a square wave is that tubes have a more RC-like output function, vs. a sharper (faster slew) transistor reproduction. One little known fact is that humans actually prefer a small amount of distortion in their listening. The THD of amps with a lot of decimal-zeroes, is a good technical spec (easily attainable, cheaply, nowadays), but is totally a marketing scam. First you can't hear the difference between .01 and .001 % THD, and second you prefer ~ .1% Now back to your regularly scheduled decay of civilization..
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Trei, Peter wrote: Well, I'm convinced - I guess that's why every single album today is released on both CD *and* vinyl - can't piss off the tens of millions of turntable owners, after all. That's not correct. There are lots of albums (aimed at DJ's for example) that are -NEVER- available except on vinyl. Also, if you'll actually check the 'yellow book' at your record store you'll find that over the last 4-5 years a growing number of albums are available on CD only; no LP, no cassette. Start in the techno and related genre. Hint, they are -not- hit records. HDTV will come. That you can take to the bank. BUT, that doesn't equate to the end of NTSC by about 10 to 15 years. -- When I die, I would like to be born again as me. Hugh Hefner [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
Jim Choate[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Trei, Peter wrote: Well, I'm convinced - I guess that's why every single album today is released on both CD *and* vinyl - can't piss off the tens of millions of turntable owners, after all. That's not correct. There are lots of albums (aimed at DJ's for example) that are -NEVER- available except on vinyl. Also, if you'll actually check the 'yellow book' at your record store you'll find that over the last 4-5 years a growing number of albums are available on CD only; no LP, no cassette. Start in the techno and related genre. Hint, they are -not- hit records. Jimbo wouldn't recognize irony if it came up and bit him in the ass. Peter
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 05:06 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, Trei, Peter wrote: Tim, I think you're missing the point here. Valenti and his ilk would like nothing more than to force you to to rebuy your visual media *again*, but they don't have to. I'll bet dollars to donuts that you've rebought some of your VCR tapes as DVDs. Whey wouldn't the MPAA think they can make you do it over? Tim may be willing or able to repurchase his movie collection but many are not. I've backed up all of the movies I have on VHS onto CDs (2-3 per movie average) from DVD in a high quality format called SVCD. As soon as my budget allows I'll be a DVD burn'in fool. Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
Re: CDR: RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Jim Choate wrote: On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Trei, Peter wrote: Well, I'm convinced - I guess that's why every single album today is released on both CD *and* vinyl - can't piss off the tens of millions of turntable owners, after all. That's not correct. There are lots of albums (aimed at DJ's for example) that are -NEVER- available except on vinyl. Ok, somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't they officially cease production of vinyl pressings several years ago? As in *all* vinyl pressings??? -- Yours, J.A. Terranson [EMAIL PROTECTED] If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place...
Re: CDR: RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
- Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: CDR: RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks Ok, somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't they officially cease production of vinyl pressings several years ago? As in *all* vinyl pressings??? They stopped selling them to the general public, but you only have to stop by a DJ record shop (as opposed to the consumer shops) to see a wide selection of vinyl albums. DJs prefer vinyl primarily because it allows beat matching by hand, scratching, etc. The only disadvantage I know of for vinyl is that it degrades as it is played, for a DJ this isn't much of a problem since tracks have a lifespan that's measured in days or weeks the vinyl becomes useless after a few weeks, which is how long it lasts at good quality. Joe
