Multimedia, AV Archive

The Fluendo people have fully licensed the mp3 audio codec with redistribution rights in place, meaning that future versions of Fedora or Ubuntu will be able to support mp3 out of the box. "In order to improve the GNU/Linux and Unix multimedia experience Fluendo announced today the immediate availability of their MP3 plug-in for the GStreamer multimedia framework. The MP3 decoder is available free of charge both for individual end users and GNU/Linux and Unix distribution makers. In addition to making their licensed binary plug-in available to the public Fluendo also released the source code to this MP3 plug-in under the very permissive MIT license allowing all kind of developers and companies access to it."

If you think that RIAA is the No1 greed force in the world you obviously don't have a cellphone. According to The Register Apple was pressured by mobile carriers to remove an upcoming feature from iLife'06 that would allow users to remix their own ringtones via iTunes. The cellular networks charge between $1 and $4 for a single ringtone and obviously don't want to lose this huge revenue to Apple. Apparently ringtones are their No2 source for data revenue after SMS. My take: I don't get all the millions of people who spend money on a 10-second .mid ringtone! Use the defaults or mix your own.

This PDF compares the quality of various audio compression codecs run with various parameters. Overall, of all the audio encodings attempted which produced output at the same sample rate as the input, constant bitrate MP3's produced the highest quality files, exceeded only by variable bitrate MP3's at bitrates above 224kbps. In all cases AAC produced inferior quality results.

"One and a half years. A large number of developers contributing. High expectations and a lot of pressure. The wait is over, GStreamer 0.10 has arrived. GStreamer 0.10 is a huge step forward for GNU/Linux and Unix multimedia. Power, stability, functionality, deployment, industry support, GStreamer 0.10 has it all."

Geeks.com sent us for a review an external hard drive enclosure case, the "TVisto Series 3.5" Multimedia HDD Enclosure" (2.5" series also available). But this is not just another hard drive enclosure, but also a multimedia jukebox. And it's running uCLinux, an embedded version of Linux.

This is the era of multimedia we are living in. PMPs and PVRs are part of most consumer's everyday lives, be it as a capable phone, an iPod or as a portable video device. Geeks.com sent in the 30 GB version of the MPM-20x to check it out and review it (a 60 GB version is also available).

This is part two of a head-to-head comparison of the Sony PSP and the iPod with video. The first installment was a hands-on comparison of the technical specifications.

Neuros Audio LLC sent us in for a spin their latest versions of their two main products, the Neuros 442 Digital Media Player/Recorder and the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 1. UPDATE: Firmware upgrade adds timer recording, pause recording and a shuffle option for audio files.

There have been many rumors lately about a potential video iPod that's around the corner... However, what about the existing mobile A/V solutions? We took the RCA Lyra RD2780 for a spin, the audio/video recorder/playback jukebox that's currently selling for only $219 at Geeks.com.

It is no secret that the competition for global domination in the operating system market has moved from the desktop to the living room couch. The Olive Symphony, a Linux-powered hi-fi wi-fi stereo hub, stands a decent chance for a prime position before the living room throne.

The guide to podcasting for Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X users describes what podcasting is, what a podcasting client does, lists some available clients, and provides information on how to create a podcast under Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X. The guide also discusses what content is available as podcasts and gives some suggestions on finding feeds.

The requirement for a fast CPU to decode H.264 HD video content will soon be a thing of the past. ATI (slides on Xbit Labs' site) is preparing a hardware-based decoder enhancement for future boards. With Texas Instruments, Analog Devices and other manufacturers releasing H.264 hardware decoders, it won't be long before NVidia and other manufacturers catch up, however ATi is not the first manufacturer to offer this specific feature.

You know what's really laughable? When you visit launch.yahoo.com with Firefox and tells you that you need Netscape 4.7 to view its music videos, even if Firefox is perfectly capable of doing so! And when you open a bug report ticket with them, you get canned messages how to make your IE work with their service! It stinks! Therefore, here is a quick how-to on how to rip down their music wmv/asf videos and save them on your hard disk to view with the player of your choice. In fact, their videos are streamed in QVGA, making them an excellent choice for Pocket PCs that are used as multimedia devices too.

Hollywood (and RIAA) seem to be behind the times when it comes to technology and potential new business opportunities. For years now PocketPCs are able to decode mpeg, divx and wmv videos full speed and yet we can't buy movies in SD/CF format to watch while we waiting on that bus stop.