what's your "favorite" codec?
So, audio encoding is a big deal these days, what with everybody trying to get stuff to sound nice but have small file sizes. And to think, just a few short years ago, everyone was using analogue audio casettes, and the majority of people didn't bother to use a Dolby System tape recorder or "position II" cassttes to get rid of all the hissing and interference. Nobody complained (that I ever can remember) about their mix tapes for the car not sounding "perfect"...
But now, Audiophiles are on the rise! Taking it to the street.... (Of course, those dumb-asses that download 8000 songs of KaZaa in 112 kbps don't apply here, they're just weird and stupid, IMHO)
So, what's your "favorite" audio codec? The one you find most interesting?
Me, the audio codec I think is most interesting is AC3 Dolby Digital. Why? Well, if you read the whitepaper on it, you'll begin to realize what people with a couple of PhD's (one in music and the other in engineering) do for a living...
According to "legend" (and the whitepaper) they originally had to design a codec to hold the 6 digital audio tracks (center, front left, front right, surround left, surround right, and the theatre's "rumble" track that made the place shake when the Tyrannosaur in Jurassic Park was walking around...) that would fit on a strip of digital audio tape that went in-between the projector holes on the edge of the 72mm filmstrip and could be read by an audio processor in the projector system. The result: a lot of kung-fu programming and sneakiness (in terms of saving bandwidth and hiding audio "artifacts") that gives you 6 channels at about 448 kbps and is the industry gold standard. Apparently, they also broadcast the sound for HDTV in AC3 too, but I've never seen HDTV in action.
So, audio encoding is a big deal these days, what with everybody trying to get stuff to sound nice but have small file sizes. And to think, just a few short years ago, everyone was using analogue audio casettes, and the majority of people didn't bother to use a Dolby System tape recorder or "position II" cassttes to get rid of all the hissing and interference. Nobody complained (that I ever can remember) about their mix tapes for the car not sounding "perfect"...
But now, Audiophiles are on the rise! Taking it to the street.... (Of course, those dumb-asses that download 8000 songs of KaZaa in 112 kbps don't apply here, they're just weird and stupid, IMHO)
So, what's your "favorite" audio codec? The one you find most interesting?
Me, the audio codec I think is most interesting is AC3 Dolby Digital. Why? Well, if you read the whitepaper on it, you'll begin to realize what people with a couple of PhD's (one in music and the other in engineering) do for a living...
According to "legend" (and the whitepaper) they originally had to design a codec to hold the 6 digital audio tracks (center, front left, front right, surround left, surround right, and the theatre's "rumble" track that made the place shake when the Tyrannosaur in Jurassic Park was walking around...) that would fit on a strip of digital audio tape that went in-between the projector holes on the edge of the 72mm filmstrip and could be read by an audio processor in the projector system. The result: a lot of kung-fu programming and sneakiness (in terms of saving bandwidth and hiding audio "artifacts") that gives you 6 channels at about 448 kbps and is the industry gold standard. Apparently, they also broadcast the sound for HDTV in AC3 too, but I've never seen HDTV in action.
