A format war occurs when two incompatible versions of a similar technology begin to compete against one another in the market. This has happened many times in audio/video field, but it is not unknown on other fields of technology. Top 10 Format Wars article tells about ten of the most famous examples. In almost every →
Renowned audio design guru Douglas Self has published many audio related articles and books. Some of them can be read on the web. Self on Audio book consists of collected works from 30 years of magazine writing: all the classic preamplifier and power amplifier designs. This is really worth to read collection of articles to →
Very much hyped Mobile TV seems to be doomed. Mobile TV bubble has been busted. Consumer uptake had never met expectations for the mobile TV service. There has been very much worldwide Mobile TV subscriber uptake than projected by many. Separate mobile TV broadcasting networks seems to be doomed to demise in most markets. DVB-H →
Many sizes, shapes and constructions have been tried on Hifi cables. Electrical conductors have been made in many sizes, shapes and geometries. But as the dust has settled, a few design parameters have proven to be essential and several pattern has emerged. Cable Construction Guide gives a description of the general principles, pros and cons →
Files made of Digital Television broadcast can be very large. One hour of program can easily be over two gigabytes. I had one recording from which I wanted to take a part and convert it to another format. So I needed tools to edit the file I had and convert it. The Digital Television broadcast →
I really like those electronics manufacturers that have the schematics of their devices on their data-sheets or manuals down-loadable from their site. Those schematics can aid in deciding if the equipment is well built, help in repair, designing possible modification and can be aid when you need to make your own designs that have similar →
Your photo files actually contain hidden information. EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format, and is a standard for storing interchange information in image files, especially those using JPEG compression. Most digital cameras now use the EXIF format to ecord of the settings a camera used to take a photo or video. This information is →
HDMI uses copy protection system called HDCP. The system is meant to stop HDCP-encrypted content from being played on devices that do not support HDCP or which have been modified to copy HDCP content. Manufacturers who want to make a device that supports HDCP must obtain a license from Intel subsidiary Digital Content Protection, pay →
The XLR connector is an electrical connector design used mostly in professional audio and video electronics cabling applications, for microphones and line level signals. The most common is the three-pin XLR3, used almost universally as a balanced audio connector for high quality microphones and connections between equipment. XLR connectors are superior to many other audio →
Some people love tweaking their equipment. Quite often some tweaking does not really change anything you hear, and sometimes there might be noticeable change, but not always for the better. Most of the time, second-guessing a piece of equipment’s designer component choices results worse than original performance. There are cases where tweaking can have difference, →