aws910 - Slashdot User

Submission + - BBC Lowers HDTV bitrate, users notice

Submitted by aws910 on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @08:21PM

aws910 writes: According to an article on the bbc website, BBC HD lowered the bitrate of their broadcasts by almost 50% and are surprised that users noticed. From the article: "The replacement encoders work at a bitrate of 9.7Mbps (megabits per second), while their predecessors worked at 16Mbps, the standard for other broadcasters". The BBC claims "We did extensive testing on the new encoders which showed that they could produce pictures at the same or even better quality than the old encoders..." I got a good laugh off of this, but is it really possible to get better quality from a lower bitrate?

Comment mod parent up (Score 2, Insightful) 785

by aws910 on Monday March 23, 2009 @02:25AM (#27295081) Attached to: Obama DOJ Sides With RIAA

funny and true. In many other countries, you wouldn't even see this case go to trial - the head of the recording industry would have called the president, had the kid executed by the police, and the state-run media wouldn't be allowed to cover it.

Submission + - Apple to shut current users out of boot camp

Submitted by aws910 on Tuesday October 02, 2007 @04:30PM

aws910 writes: It looks like Apple is going to shut current boot camp users out when they release OSX 10.5(leopard), according to this article. The boot camp homepage corroborates this, saying(on the right sidebar) "To continue previewing Boot Camp after September 30, click the Download Now button above to install the latest version of Boot Camp Beta. You do not have to reinstall Windows. This new beta license will allow you to continue using Boot Camp until Mac OS X Leopard is available (expected October 2007).". I do respect Apple for this, though... unlike their rival, at least they properly labeled their beta as "beta".

Submission + - Halo 3 leaked

Submitted by aws910 on Wednesday September 19, 2007 @06:13PM

aws910 writes: UK retailer Argos has accidentally sold a number of copies of Halo 3 already, breaking the release date. They stopped selling them, of course. Microsoft said "if you use the game, we will know(even if you don't connect to XBoxLive) and you will be banned from XBoxLive". Of course, MS retracted this statement, so the lucky few owners are safe now.

Submission + - Woz to take hydrogen-powered Hummer to south pole

Submitted by aws910 on Monday April 30, 2007 @04:01PM

aws910 writes: Wozniak and others are planning a trip to the south pole in a hydrogen-powered Hummer H1 Alpha. The expedition is called "Zero South" The idea was met with criticism from scientists, but Drive Around the World(the organizer of the event) argues that since "movies, rock videos, and 30 second advertisements" can exploit the area, they should be entitled to do so as well. (PDF link to DAtW argument)

Submission + - Fair comparison of Ubuntu and Vista

Submitted by aws910 on Friday April 27, 2007 @10:22AM

aws910 writes: I was pleased to find this fair-handed comparison of Ubuntu 7.04 and Windows Vista. It gives a good idea of what to expect if you're thinking of switching to this popular desktop Linux distro. As a recent Vista-to-Ububtu defector, I've had some triumphs and headaches myself, but I don't miss the "win98-on-a-486"-esque performance that my new Vista-loaded laptop offered. It's too bad I can't get my windows tax refund anymore.

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