Should we go digital all the way

Posted by Brad Broten [IP: 209.82.120.19] on May 28, 1999 at 17:30:04
Using Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Update a; Windows 95):

In Reply to: Should we go digital all the way posted by Eric Rousseau on May 28, 1999 at 11:42:12:

There are 2 schools of thought on this. Some people believe the signal should be decoded as soon as possible from the source, then transmitted in its "native tongue" to the output device. Others think you should keep the material in its source format all the way to the output device, then decode it immediately at the output.
If you look at computers, the material is basically decoded as soon as possible into something the operating system can use, then encoded by the operating system for the output devices. Maybe HT is heading that way as well, and we will start to see home theatre operating systems - MS-HTOS coming soon! ..."it's so much better than before, my system only crashes 12 times per movie now..."

Enough of my cynicism. I think we will see a direct digital video path to DTV displays, as I believe the display manufacturer is able to make the best decoder for their display. Whether they actually do or not simply means you may choose anywhere from RCA up to Vidikron.

Speakers are another story, however. Unlike video which can be (more or less) accurately quantized into pixels, today's speaker drivers are designed for a range of frequencies. If someone develops a 24-driver discrete frequency speaker with all 24 drivers timbre and phase matched (not to mention efficiency matched so each frequency reacts with the proper volume level), then we can pass a 24-bit, 96kHz digital signal to the driver with each discrete speaker handling one bit. Until this time, sound will remain analog and the debate will continue - decode at source or decode at end device.

In other words, I don't think we will see direct digital into speakers anytime soon.

Follow Ups:

• Should we go digital all the way - Rodent 12:01:32 05/29/99 (0)

Return to the new SMR Forums Menu

Design & HTML © SMR Home Theatre, Images © SMR Home Theatre cannot be reproduced without permission.  The images on this page are digitally watermarked.  New forum messages should be posted into SMR Forums v2 - http://www.smr-forums.com/

	The Web   SMR Archive