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Shitty Technology That's Still Around
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NTSC is 30 fps. Pal is 25 fps. Depending on the method used to show the image, most people won't notice a major difference above ~18 to 23 fps depending on the display method. So while going to 60 fps would make a tiny improvement, most people won't notice it. But the bandwidth needed goes up pretty significantly. Bandwidth for analog or digital systems is limited. So you can either increase the resolution which has a dramatic impact on image quality, or increase frame rate which will have a tiny effect on the fluidity of the motion. We'll be increasing resolution for a long time before we start seeing higher frame rates, if ever.
Since this always comes up, I'm using 30 fps as frames per second. This can sometimes be confused for fields per second, or images per second. Two fields/images equals one frame. So if you're going to make a reply to me with the numbers 50 or 60, we're talking about the same thing.
NTSC (i.e. US, among others) television broadcasts at 29.97fps.
The response I've heard from film people is that 24fps is more 'filmlike' because that's what people are used to. Many TV shows are filmed in 24p instead of NTSC specifically because people will see it and subconsciously think of it as more 'filmlike' because they've become so adjusted to the idea that movies are always 24 frames per second.
To the codec the input video is only a series of pictures. The time between the pictures has no impact on the encoding, only the amount of movement. Unless you are talking about simpler video uses like webcams and phones where there might not be enough power to encode more then 15fps.
And anything converted to 15fps would be shitty because 15fps is not enough frames to give smooth motion.
Exactly. You can basically specify any frame rate you desire when muxing into a container, and raw video (like what mencoder will output if you choose -of rawvideo) doesn't have any FPS in the file at all so if you don't pick the correct one you're going to have A/V sync problems.
It would still be useful video for certain applications. For security camera footage, 15 is more then ample and depending on your requirements may even be too much.
Thank you for taking up the rest of my power plugs, jerk.
Better yet, just build the fucking power brick into the device. I'm fucking sick of power bricks. I don't care if it makes your device bigger, fucking do it!
Although, I do agree with you.
Well no, but the X360 already weighs a ton and is huge, why not have the power brick in it already? :P
My iPhone does a pretty awesome job of not having a power brick while not being as large as my head.
In the 360's case, it's probably best that the power supply is separate. That thing doesn't need any more heat on the inside.
Do those have any surge protection built in, or are they just extenders?
Also, ridiculously expensive in stores. I'm not sure why, but they are.
I also have two of these
OH GOD THE THIRD PRONGS ARE AT THE WRONG SIDE
i hate when they make it like that.
Yes that introduces other problems, but I think in the future we'll have to come up with some kind of standard where buildings are wired with both AC and DC. Vast majority of our gadgets these days run on DC, all it's doing is running up the cost of electronics (to build all those damn wall warts) and creating a huge amount of clutter around wall outlets.
Yeah, that's because you charge it using a USB cable which runs DC to it already. It has a wall-wart: your computer.
Apple sells this:
While still a wall wart, significantly smaller than most.
On the issue of power lines, I've always imagined the power system of the future will consist of high-voltage DC for power transmission and a large, switched-mode DC->DC power converter / usage monitor for each home. You could even swap out the home converter for an AC->DC model to ease the transition for new houses without available DC service. Or provide a universal wall wart for new appliances in old houses wired with AC. The power delivery infrastructure is so unbelievably complex that there would have to be fallbacks in every single direction to ensure no step of the update relied on another.
The a fully DC->DC system would be a bit of a pain on the supply side, but gains in transmission efficiency and not having to convert tons and tons of electricity for every single piece of electronics would be very significant.
So you've got more little transformers wasting energy no matter what? I don't really see the benefit as compared to having your transformer inline with a cable or using extensions so that you don't need to keep the sourceward side of the circuit energized all the time.
Soon as someone plugs a wallwart in, they're wasting energy, so I don't really see what the difference is. At least if it were integrated into the house, you could use a wall switch to control it.
Unless you mean that the conversion from AC to DC wastes energy, which is of course true, but AC is damned efficient for high-voltage long-distance power lines, so what are you gonna do? Nothing we can do can get rid of it fully until everyone has a Mr. Fusion in their basement, converting garbage mass to energy directly.
That said, converters built in to outlets could be both cheap and efficient if you just created some kind of system where they only turn on when something is plugged in. The grounding pin on UK outlets does this already. That's why their stuff, even if it's ungrounded, need at least a plastic rod to go in that slot.
Aside from the fact that trying to get every existing home to update their shit, consumers will reject anything more complex than what is already in place.
I work in cable and telecommunications repair, and when I say that there is a segment of humanity too stupid to identify the differences between coaxial cable / Ethernet / power / component / dvi / hdmi, even with detailed visual descriptions and EXPLICIT LABELS on BOTH ends, I speak from first hand experience.
Never underestimate the power of idiots.