One for the Jitterbugs.
 

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 06:27:03 -0500
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

And, there's equipment that is THAT good. Any halfways-decent audio
interface with digital input or output for example, as well as some of the
better analog stuff. Consider this:

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/L....htm#FR_1644-a

What causes the massive 'spike' in frequency response above 20kHz ?

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

"Ian Molton" wrote in message


On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 06:27:03 -0500
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

And, there's equipment that is THAT good. Any halfways-decent audio
interface with digital input or output for example, as well as some
of the better analog stuff. Consider this:

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/L....htm#FR_1644-a

What causes the massive 'spike' in frequency response above 20kHz ?

I think that's per design. It's part of the *price* they pay for the
exceedingly flat response below 20 KHz.

The "massive spike" actually is less than 0.2 dB high. Because its narrow
and at such a high frequency, it's sonically meaningless.

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

Le Artiste wrote:
"Nick J." emitted :


For starters, .wav files are not compressed..............

Wrong.

.wav is a container format, just like .avi for "Video for Windows" and
.ogg for some types of open-source multimedia files (eg. audio encoded
with Vorbis, Speex, FLAC, and video encoded with Theora).

.wav can contain PCM data, but it could just as easily contain MP3 audio
data, ADPCM audio data, etc.

OK, I'll give you that one! OTOH, when people refer to .wav files for
audio, I have never seen anyone suggest that these were anything other
than uncompressed PCM.

9 times out of 10 the person means exactly 44.1Khz, 16bit PCM.

Well they should say that, or people will think they mean what they
write, and respond appropriately.

90% of the population can't be wrong!! :-)

Yes they can. :)

I wouldn't bother entering Family Fortunes you don't stand a chance :)

I don't have the required knowledge. I cannot do The Sun's crossword.

T2 or G2 crossword, yes. Sun's crossword, no.

--
Now playing: Will Young - Leave Right Now [128kbps]

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

Arny Krueger wrote:

"Nick J." wrote in message


Ian Molton wrote:


On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 03:54:43 +0000
"Nick J." wrote:

For starters, .wav files are not compressed..............

Wrong.

.wav is a container format,

Correct, but I havent seen a compressed one, ever.

I deal with them on a daily basis.

Yep, and the contents could easily be MP3s.

Most of them are ADPCM, but many are MP3s. I did a batch conversion
from PCM WAV to FLAC a few weeks ago.

--
Now playing: Will Young - Leave Right Now [128kbps]

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

"Wally" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

No, Mr Molton, DVDs are not similar - just stare hard at one and
it'll come up 'Data Error (cyclic redundancy check) or somesuch. I've
handled 'digital disks' since Pontius was a pilot and these DVD Rs
and RWs are reet touchy little things - far more so than CD Rs and
RWs, IMO......

Burning on a computer burner? As a matter of idle interest, what brands of
disk have you tried, and are there any that you find better? How about
burn
speed?



OK, I'll play.

Talking only DVD media here, I have found that the 'better' (ie less prone
to failure) disks are, without exception, the branded 'famous names' like
Philips, Ricoh, Maxell, Memorex, Imation, HP etc. I have not yet had one
failure from disks like these. Cheap, unbranded disks that I have tried are
Maplins own and PC World's own 'PC Line' - failure rates here were about 3%.

The thing to bear in mind is that unbranded disks are very likely to be made
by a famous name and that one famous name (Ricoh perhaps the best example)
will be producing disks marketted under other 'famous names'. There are a
number of free utilities like DVDINFOPro http://www.dvdinfopro.com/ that
will give up these secrets, if they are important to you.

Massive differences in price mean that it pays to try and 'match the disk to
the job' - ie cheap disks for recording/saving dross of the telly (which
will very likely be repeated in 3 months anyway) and summat special for a
'one-time only' family event, for example. There is simply no point (unless
you are very well-wedged) in paying over the odds to try and minimise
'coaster production' when a failure rate of 2 or 3 % on disks costing only
50 odd pence each will still not approach anything like the 5.99 prices for
the same type of disk (with a well-known name) on jobs that don't merit the
extra reliability. In a 'batch run' of, say, movie backups it ain't the end
of the world to have to do one twice if the cost savings are high enough.

It is important to bear in mind also that almost all DVD recorders and
players have their likes and dislikes for different flavours of disks and it
pays to find this out early in the game. Many online media stores will send
a mixed sample pack of media for you to conduct your own experiments. I
think you will find that this is much to do with the dyes that are used with
Prodisc being a bit of an habitual offender and Ritek being the current
'Golden ********' of the DVD media world these days. For those of you who
can detect a 'rosy glow' in various formats (like vinyl, for instance) you
might want to match the player/recorder to the preferred disks with a deeper
purple dye.

(Of course, with vinyl, you could always trying changing yer cartridge for
summat a bit more up-to-date.... :-)

Anyway, as far as I know, posh, expensive DVD kit is no more immune from
this than a cheap jobbie from a supermarket. The DVD forums carry much
information on these matters. Fortunately, computer DVD drives seem able to
cope with anything you throw at them!

Speed? As always, when one is a relatively early adopter, you end up stuck
with slower speeds than people who tap in at a later generation. All my kit
is oriented to 2x for 'minus' stuff and 2.4 for 'plus' stuff. (No idea what
the bitrates are - I see them every time I burn a dsik but I'm suffering
from 'unit blindness' these days and don't take much notice!) The new 4x
stuff will be with us very soon, if it isn't already......!!

Out of interest for anyone who is looking to get into the game, the name
Lucky Goldstar (LG) is the one to watch - if you do not need to change Book
Type, you will find the LG GSA4040 multiburner (plus, minus and RAM) very
hard to beat at about £85 as an OEM unit from places like Dabs.com. Also,
there are a string of LG multi (plus and minus) recorders coming out at very
reasonable prices like the new DR4810:

http://www.whatvideotv.com/news/fram...ws.php?id=5441

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_16463.html


As well as the LG 5810-MJC due soon:

http://www.techonline.com/community/news/32280

http://www.cirrus.com/en/press/releases/P396.html

....which will be another step toward the better compatability we should be
getting from what is*supposed* to be a 'universal format' but which is, yet,
anything but!

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:25:00 -0000
"Keith G" wrote:

Out of interest for anyone who is looking to get into the game, the
name Lucky Goldstar (LG) is the one to watch

No chance.

Crap build quality, and when they got caught out for not following the
atapi standard (causing their drives to get their firmware wiped if used
with certain linux machnies, they refused warranty claims.

AVOID at ALL COSTS.

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with
ketchup.

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

"Ian Molton" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:25:00 -0000
"Keith G" wrote:

Out of interest for anyone who is looking to get into the game, the
name Lucky Goldstar (LG) is the one to watch

No chance.

Crap build quality,


Bull****, but if you want to pay premium prices (x 4 ?) for Sony etc (and if
they can match the spec. - doubtful) you go right ahead - don't mind me.


and when they got caught out for not following the
atapi standard (causing their drives to get their firmware wiped if used
with certain linux machnies, they refused warranty claims.


LOL

Keep it real.........



AVOID at ALL COSTS.


Damn, there's me with a spare one I don't need and I was going to give it to
you!

Ho hum.....

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

"Le Artiste" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" emitted :

Speed? As always, when one is a relatively early adopter, you end up
stuck
with slower speeds than people who tap in at a later generation. All my
kit
is oriented to 2x for 'minus' stuff and 2.4 for 'plus' stuff. (No idea
what
the bitrates are - I see them every time I burn a dsik but I'm suffering
from 'unit blindness' these days and don't take much notice!) The new 4x
stuff will be with us very soon, if it isn't already......!!

Already out, sailor.


Oooh, suits you!



8x is on it's way.. ;-)


I was really referring to the hardware available atm....



Out of interest for anyone who is looking to get into the game, the name
Lucky Goldstar (LG) is the one to watch - if you do not need to change
Book
Type, you will find the LG GSA4040 multiburner (plus, minus and RAM) very
hard to beat at about £85 as an OEM unit from places like Dabs.com.

The Pioneer 106 is a PC unit I've seen recommended again and again..
how does this compare? Apprently it doesn't matter what you throw at
the 106, it will burn successfully.. branded, unbranded, frisbee's..


Indeed, I understand the 106 is a star performer, not sure what formats are
covered....


Maybe you can help me out?


Play yer cards right and you never know.... :-)


I'm looking to get into the DVD archiving
game, with a little bit of editing, but I don't want to spend the rest
of my life sitting in front of a computer.


You don't have to. With kit as it is atm the vaious stages of the operation
take about half an hour each pass. You don't have to crank a handle - if
you've got summat else to do (within reach, as it were) you can get on with
it. Right now, I'm a) ****ing about in here, b) cleaning vinyl, c) listening
to (someone else's) excellent vinyl rips on my valve gear, d) smoking
cigarettes and drinking tea......


I fancy a standalone - but
can you just drop the disc into a PC burner, rip the video, tweak it,
and pop it back on? [Type of thing..]


Yes. Needs one or two different little software packages according to what
exactly you want to 'archive' and where it's coming from (hence a +/-/RAM
burner is handy to have)......


NP Marius Salsa Album (theh theh theh.... :-)

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:49:49 -0000, "Keith G"
wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote

Of course, the ubiquitous nature of 16-bit recording, and the wide
availabilty of CD-R, does suggest that anyone transcribing their
precious and fragile LPs

Fragile LPs???

Are you kidding? - I lightly caught a DVD+R on the corner of the loading
tray the other day and it was instantly scratched in an arc (OK, looked
more
like part of a logarithmic spiral...) from edge to centre! Immediately
stone
dead and completely 'invisible' to the computer - wouldn't even play with
'clicks'......

No doubt you have the information backed up somewhere else.


Actually no - information 'coming in'....


Try that with a direct-cut LP..........................


Wouldn't fit in the tray.... :-)

If you want 'fragile' try this (I've done it and will demonstrate it to
anyone who wants) - get a ****e LP ('Singalonga Max' on 90 gm Ronco would be
ideal) and bend it in half 'til the opposite edges of the same side touch,
(NEVER FACING TOWARD YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, FFS!), let it spring back, work it
flat a bit, stick it on and play it.

Next, try it with a CD........

:-)

One for the Jitterbugs.
 

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:38:42 +0000, Ian Molton wrote:

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:25:00 -0000
"Keith G" wrote:

Out of interest for anyone who is looking to get into the game, the
name Lucky Goldstar (LG) is the one to watch

No chance.

Crap build quality,

Untrue, they are as well made as anything else. Also, one of the
*very* few writers to handle DVD-RAM.

and when they got caught out for not following the
atapi standard (causing their drives to get their firmware wiped if used
with certain linux machnies, they refused warranty claims.

AVOID at ALL COSTS.

I take it you mean avoid Linux at all costs? Good advice..........
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering