Daily Archives: 21. July 2009

Just a quick reminder that the 2009-2 Flyer is out, showing the WiFi Hotspot Range Extending / Sharing System as well as the Ericsson W35 (if you’ve got or have seen a W25 this is the next model up adding full HSPA with the High Speed Upload Packet Access capability, as well as the expected Cellular voice-to-analog phone equipment and PBX systems.) Please download the image and pass it on to all of your friends and colleagues.

We also handle Audio-Visual (Entertainment Systems) and General Marine Electronics with Bryan of International Marine Electronics available.

If you have any questions or needs please call. Click on either of these images to go through to the full image in your browser, then right click and choose Save As to save your own copy of them. Please pass these on to your friends and associates. Some of these systems (e.g. Ericsson W35) work on Land (and motor vehicles) as Telephone and Internet backup, as well as on Marine (Yachts) for PBX “Cellular Line” and 3G Fast Internet (with HSPA – HSUPA and HSDPA via UMTS WCDMA “Leading Edge” Technologies.) They are also great for other Remote Site / Temporary Site / Remote Data Acquisition projects and systems. Please feel free to contact me for a quote on multiple unit purchases.

—
Alan Spicer

DBA Alan Spicer Telcom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
Computer Services, Wired/Wireless Networking,
Cell/Sat/Landline Communications, General Consulting…
Marine, Business, Small Office and Home Office (SOHO)

* Cost Savings and Integration of Multiple Internet Technologies
on board Sail and Motor Yachts * Documentation, Operating
Instructions, and Support after the Sale *

* http://www.marinetelecom.net/
* http://www.internetforyachts.net/
* http://www.wifiyacht.net/
* 954-683-3426

Mobile Internet! Step up to the HSPA 3G Fast Internet!

Ericsson W35 released in the USA. This you’ve gotta SEE!!
Better looking presentation than W25 (you might not want to
hide this one in the Doghouse!) + High Speed Upload which
the W25 did not have.
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/

Ericsson W25 released in the USA.Voice / Fax / High Speed Internet
Voice for your analog jacks or PBX Cell Line + 4 port
CAT5 Ethernet Router and Built-in WiFi Wireless
Replace older Ericsson F series or Telular Boxes
Go To:
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W25/

But we don’t broadcast in A Million 80p, do we? That funny commercial from DirecTV as shown here from YouTube. No, they don’t broadcast in A Million 80p – and neither did they just level the playing field. But coming soon, maybe in 10 or 15 years (or sooner?) there may be even “Higher Definition TV” called UHD – Ultra High Definition. I found this while reading some additional stuff related to my last post on DVD Upscaling and while reading about Movie Production with High Definition Video Cameras (1080/24) that are starting to beat 35mm Film for producing movies.

The Wikipedia Site has an article on this…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Hi-Vision

Super Hi-Vision (SHV), also known as Ultra High Definition (UHD), Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV), Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV)[1], Extreme Definition Video and 8K is an experimental digital video format, currently proposed by NHK of Japan, the BBC, and RAI.

The new format has a resolution of 7680 × 4320 pixels, four times as wide and four times as high (for a total of 16 times the pixel resolution) as existing HDTV, which has a maximum resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will be starting a public-private partnership to develop technology for SHV in the hopes of setting an international standard for Super Hi-Vision in addition to broadcasting with it beginning in 2020.[2]

So, it looks like the war isn’t over for higher definition. There will be an Ultra-High Definition format coming out … maybe in 10 or 15 years? Hopefully not sooner – a lot of people just had to replace their TV’s to get on HDTV.

Most of us probably didn’t realize it but this is what they also call 8K, but other higher resolutions are already being worked with called 2K and 4K … in Digital Cinema, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema

Digital cinema is distinct from high-definition television and in particular, is not dependent on using television or HDTV standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates. Digital projectors capable of 2K resolution began deploying in 2005, and since 2006, the pace has accelerated. (2K refers to images with 2048 horizontal pixel resolution.) (4K refers to 4096×2160 resolution.)

As of 2007 the most common acquisition medium for digitally projected features is 35 mm film scanned and processed at 2K (2048×1080) or 4K (4096×2160) resolution via digital intermediate. Most digital features to date have been shot at 1920×1080 HD resolution using cameras such as the Sony CineAlta, Panavision Genesis or Thomson Viper. New cameras such as the Arriflex D-20 can capture 2K resolution images, and the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company‘s Red One can record 4K redcode *RAW. The marketshare of 2K projection in digital cinemas is over 98%. Currently in development are other cameras capable of recording 4K RAW, such as Dalsa Corporation’s Origin, and cameras capable of recording 5K *RAW, such as the RED EPIC, and cameras capable of recording 3K *RAW (for budget filmmakers) such as the RED SCARLET. (Raw redcode is a proprietary wavelet compression scheme offered on the redone camera. It can be defined further on user sites such at reduser, but is not by definition RAW, and does potentially contain compression artifacts.)

(that’s all for now. More at those links…)

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

http://blog.marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

Lincoln Spector has an interesting article on his “Answer Line” blog on PC World. I think this link will get you there: http://www.pcworld.com/blogs/id,1/answer_line.html.

Alan Spicer also had questions and comments about the article…

Is Upconverting Worth It?
Lincoln Spector

Jul 20, 2009 10:44 am

Gordon Walter wants to know if an upscaling DVD player will improve the picture on his HDTV.

Probably, but there’s no guarantee.

The fact is that, even without a new DVD player, the image will be upconverted. Unlike old-fashioned CRTs, plasma, LCD, and DLP displays have fixed resolutions. When an HDTV built around one of these technologies receives a DVD’s 480-line signal, the television upconverts the image before displaying it. If your DVD player does the upconverting, the TV doesn’t have to.

Upconverting, or upscaling, is a complicated process. Some DVD players do it better than others. Same with HDTVs. And there’s no absolute rule that promises that DVD players will always do a better job than HDTVs. In my experience they usually do, but the differences are seldom significant.

(more at the link above…)

“Is Upconverting Worth It?” Comments

aspicer says:

Mon Jul 20 13:43:37 PDT 2009

Re: Is Upconverting Worth It?

Interesting… I wonder what happens when I watch regular DVDs on my computer to my HDTV? I go through an HD video card and an HDMI interface.

I wonder what is the difference between movies shot for Blu-Ray and not shot for Blu-Ray / HDTV? The cameras used are Panavision right? Which are made for film for movie screens. Converting from film to DVD means putting through a machine called a Film Chain. Which I believe basically plays back the film on a screen (along with the audio?) and re-records it in digital format.

So is it worth getting older movies in Blu-Ray? Is it worth getting anything that was not shot for HDTVs ?

What is the difference in resolution between film and HDTV?

LincolnSpector says:

Mon Jul 20 14:10:59 PDT 2009

Re: Is Upconverting Worth It?

Hi, aspicer. A lot of good questions.

Without knowing the details of how your computer is set up, I’d guess that your PC is doing the upscaling so your TV doesn’t have to.

“wonder what is the difference between movies shot for Blu-Ray and not shot for Blu-Ray / HDTV?” It’s not a matter of movies shot for Blu-Ray or not. Movies, especially theatrical ones, are made for a wide variety of formats. Most are shot on 35mm film, which captures far more information than Blu-Ray. More and more are being shot digitally these days, which is cheaper, but most professional filmmakers prefer the look they can only get with film.

Is it worth getting older movies on Blu-ray? Absolutely. One hundred year old 35mm film, if well preserved, still looks better than anything on your TV. I haven’t yet bought the BD of Casablanca, but I want it. And I’m looking forward to the first releases of silent films on BD.

What is the difference in resolution between film and HDTV? No easy answer to that one because it’s an apples and oranges thing. Film grain isn’t inherently numeric like digital resolution. But a lot of experts consider a 4K scan (about four times to the resolution of Blu-ray) the best option for capturing the information on a 35mm negative.

aspicer says:

Mon Jul 20 14:33:56 PDT 2009

Re: Is Upconverting Worth It?

Thanks for the reply and additional information.

I also found this article to be interesting … a bit dated … but chock full of technical details.

http://www.henninger.com/library/hdtvfilm/

Also the updated article (still 6+ years old)

http://www.henninger.com/library/hdtvfilm24/

I would venture to say that most consumers would not go through such a read or research to make their purchasing (or video renting) decisions. I’m not exactly an early early adopter. But I did get a small 4:3 HDTV to start with over a year ago just to see what was going on with DTV and HDTV. I gave that one to mom about 6 months ago and got a 32″ sony HDTV and subscribed on DirecTV with HD. I also got a Blu-Ray drive for my computer. I play all of my movies from the computer’s DVD and Blu-Ray drives. It works pretty well – but it was a learning process because the internal video card could not play HD content with the new Blu-Ray drive. So off to the store to get an HD card and an HDMI cable. Then if I remember right I had to upgrade Cyberlink PowerDVD software to get HD playing capability as well.

I do like know How Stuff Works

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

http://blog.marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426