For audio-visual snobs like myself you will be as pleased as I was to hear recently of the new “revolutionary” video codec named H.264 (yes, you would have though they could have given it a more imaginative name!). Based on the MPEG-4 standard it delivers high-definition (1920×1080, 24p) scalable video with remarkably smaller file sizes. The upshot of this being that you can get excellent quality video across whatever medium you play it on/across. It’s already been selected as the codec for the next generation of DVD’s (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) and because it’s an open standard looks set to be adopted across a broad range of broadcast services. You can watch a cool preview of the technology, which has been built into the upcoming new version of Mac OS X, here.
Had a small Japanese test yesterday which was dreadful. My mind went blank at just the wrong time and I made a total mess of it which is annoying considering that I quite enjoy the lessons. Oh well, could be worse I’m sure but that’s not going to stop me being angry about it!
Seoul, South Korea – (Copyright someone else)
Traveling across the pacific we pass through Korea and find…
Changing China – The BBC are running a week of interesting articles about life and culture in China.
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