Outside of the government and the military, the computer world uses the most acronyms. This is especially true for the names of audio compression formats. There are dozens of formats, each with its own reason for being and with its own strengths and weaknesses.
But what do all of those names mean?
And how do you deal with an audio file that you're not familiar with?
We will now look at some popular audio compression formats and some of their characteristics, shall we?
You definitely need to know at least the basics of some of the most common audio formats that you will come across in your everyday life. And they are:
1. Mpeg-1 Audio Layer 3 - MP3
2. Org Vorbis - OGG
3. Free Lossless Audio Coding - FLAC
4. Windows Media Audio - WMA
5. Digital Rights Management - DRM (recently added to WMA format)
6. Advanced Audio Coding - AAC
More on the above listed Audio Formats after the turn...
Popular Audio Compression Formats
MP3
I can't think of anyone who hasn't heard of MP3. Even my parents, who are definitely not the most tech savvy people around, are familiar with it. MP3 is short for MPEG-1 (Moving Picture Experts Group), Audio Layer 3, after the working group tasked with developing digital audio and video encoding standards.
MP3 has become the most popular, and dominant, audio format. It's used everywhere -- from songs ripped from CDs to audio podcasts. Few, if any, portable audio players or software media players don't play MP3 files. And it is extremely hard to find one that doesn't play MP3.
An MP3 file can be quite small. That's because the software used to create an MP3 file, called an encoder, uses what is called lossy compression. The encoder shrinks the file by tossing out bits of audio that, in theory, most people can't hear. When the MP3 file is created with a reasonable bit rate (the number of bits of data converted each second, which helps determine the sound quality), you get near CD-quality sound. However, the more you compress the file, the worse the audio quality becomes. And when you convert an MP3 file to another format, the audio quality noticeably degrades.
One major issue with the MP3 format is that a company named Thomson Consumer Electronics holds the patents for the MP3 format, and charges royalties for its use. Because of this, a number of Open Source software developers decided to create...
Ogg Vorbis
Ogg Vorbis which has the extension .ogg, was developed as a patent-free alternative to MP3. In doing so, the developers managed to "out-MP3" the MP3 format.
Like MP3, Ogg Vorbis uses lossy compression. However, the compression scheme that Ogg Vorbis uses is superior to that used by MP3. You get an equal or greater reduction in file size, but with sound quality better than MP3 when a file is created with the same bit rate.
Ogg Vorbis is widely supported in desktop audio players, including WinAmp, XMMS, RhythmBox, and Quintessential. You can also get a plug-in for the Windows Media Player that gives it solid support for Ogg Vorbis. However, few portable audio players can play back Ogg Vorbis files. Some older players from iRiver, Samsung, and Neuros did support the format, but that support seems to have vanished from newer models.
FLAC
FLAC is short for Free Lossless Audio Coding. Unlike MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, FLAC uses lossless compression to reduce the size of files. This means that no audio is removed when the file is created, resulting in better quality sound. In fact, the sound from a FLAC file is indistinguishable from that of a professionally produced CD. Not only that, but you can convert a FLAC file to any other audio format without the quality of the sound degrading.
While FLAC files are compressed, they're larger than other compressed audio files. A standard audio CD will be compressed to about 300 MB using FLAC. That's really only slightly more than a 50% compression rate. It's good, but not great. The trade off is audio quality. A number of desktop media players and portable audio players support FLAC. A growing number of artists are making their music available as FLAC files.
Lossy compression was important in the days of slow, dial-up Internet access and limited bandwidth. As broadband access becomes ubiquitous, however, lossless encoding is becoming more popular.
WMA
As you might imagine, Microsoft has its own audio format. That format is Windows Media Audio, or WMA for short. It's designed especially for use with the Windows Media Player that's built into the Windows operating system. You can play WMA files in other media players, even ones on other operating systems. Of course, most portable audio players support WMA. One exception, and this shouldn't be a surprise, uh.. huh, it is the Apple iPod.
As far as quality goes, at lower bit rates WMA files are virtually indistinguishable from MP3 or Ogg Vorbis files. At higher bit rates, though, WMA suffers in comparison -- the difference in quality is very noticeable.
Recently, Microsoft added Digital Rights Management (also called DRM) to the WMA format. DRM restricts how and where you can use an audio file that was, say, downloaded from an online music service. For example, one use of DRM in audio files is to allow you to only play that file on a single computer or portable player. DRM has turned a number of users away from WMA and into the arms of MP3.
AAC
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the default file format on the iPod and the iTunes software, and for downloads from the Apple iTunes store. And with good reason -- the compression scheme it uses is better than that of MP3, and AAC can better render the higher frequencies produced by certain musical instruments and by the human voice. With AAC, you get richer audio in a small package. Audio encoded with AAC is noticeably superior to MP3 and WMA. At comparable bit rates, an AAC file generally sounds better than Ogg Vorbis.
AAC is definitely growing in popularity. In addition to support in the iPod and the new Apple iPhone, mobile phone and audio players from other manufacturers are gradually gaining AAC capabilities. But like WMA, AAC also includes Digital Rights Management. This is most notable with tracks bought from the iTunes store. This has prompted an Open Source project called Free Advanced Audio Coding (FAAC) to start developing a DRM-free version of the format.
Dealing with Audio Files
How do you deal with an audio file that you're not familiar with? If none of your media players can play the file, you can try to convert it to a known format like MP3. You can do this with software (Hundreds of Audio Conversion Software available here) or by using an online service like Media-Convert.com and Zamzar. Keep in mind that, depending on the format of the original file, a conversion could result in the loss of some audio quality.
Conclusion
While the compression formats discussed in this post are the most popular ones out there right now, they aren't the only ones in town. A future story will look at some of the other well-known but less frequently used audio formats.
Ten great buying tips for those about to venture out into the world of speakers.
This is a continuation, a second part of the Do's and Don'ts of Speaker Shopping. For the beginning of this series, see Do's and Don'ts of Speaker Shopping: Part 1.
The General rules about buying a set of Home theater Speakers
(Rules 5 to 10):
PART 2
5) Power isn’t all-important
6) Sensitivity wins
7) Surround channels should be diffused
8) More is not necessarily better
9) Try them out
10) Buy what you like
Elaborations on above points after the turn...
Click here for Rules 1 to 4
5) Power isn’t all-important.
Sure, Mr. Audio friend brags about his 200-watt-per-channel blah de-de-blah blah blah. And his system can still sound lousy. Power isn’t important unless you have a really big room to fill. Save the 100-watt-per-channel systems for dedicated home theater rooms where you want to shake, rattle and roll. Sixty watts per channel should be plenty in a family room environment. Thirty-five watts per channel is more than enough for background music.
6) Sensitivity wins.
This is the age of Mr. Sensitive. Much more important than the power capacity of a speaker is its sensitivity, which is a measure of how a speaker plays at low power. This is expressed in decibels, from about 83 to 93, the higher the better. And here’s a little factoid for Mr. Audio: An increase in 3 decibels of sensitivity is equal to doubling the power. The higher-sensitivity system will likely sound better as well.
7) Surround channels should be diffused.
That means they are meant to create ambient effects that can’t quite be localized, such as the hum of a spaceship or crickets chirping in the night. You shouldn’t be hearing your surround speakers all of the time. And you shouldn’t be able to pinpoint where those ambient sounds are coming from. For that reason, surround speakers should be located on the sides of the seating area and at least a foot above the heads of the seated audience. Many surround speakers have dual sets of speaker drivers pointed to both the front and back of the room to help disperse that sound. These are called bipole speakers. A dipole speaker goes step further and produces a sound that’s slightly “out of phase,” which you can think of as a slight delay between the two sets of drivers, thereby making the sound even more ambient. Bipolar and dipolar speakers are used almost exclusively for side surround channels.
8) More is not necessarily better.
One speaker has three drivers: a woofer for bass, a tweeter for high sounds and a midrange driver for sounds in the middle. The other speaker has just a woofer and a tweeter. The two speakers are about the same price. Which is better? All other things being equal, the two-driver speaker will likely have the better drivers, and the three-driver speaker will have cheaper ones. Moral of the story: Don’t be swayed by the notion of getting more for same price or less.
9) Try them out.
Listen to several speaker systems before you buy. And don’t just listen to the music or soundtracks the store has. The best way to judge a speaker is to hear how it reproduces the human voice. Bring CDs and DVDs of your own and that you are very familiar with. It’s a good idea to select various tracks or DVD chapters that have loud and soft sounds. Bring vocal tracks and a DVD with some really soft or whispered dialogue. Can you hear that whispered dialogue clearly? Listen to the CDs and DVDs before you go to the store, even if you’re sick of them. This will enable you to judge the speakers’ sound and perhaps pick out sounds that you’ve never heard before.
10) Buy what you like.
Don’t be influenced by “this is the better system.” If one speaker sounds better to you, go with it. You’re the one who’s going to be hearing it day in and day out. But be sure to take other things into consideration, such as the room decor and layout, and consult your electronics dealer on which system would be best for a large space with hardwood floors, for example.
Click thumbnail for bigger imageThat's it, these are the points you need to keep in mind before spending your money on a set of quality Home Theater Speakers. As always, there are many more factors that effect the performance of a good Speaker system, but the points discussed here in Part 1 & Part 2 will suffice for most of us. Happy hunting!
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Ten great buying tips for those about to venture out into the world of speakers.
The good news: There are audio speakers available today for just about every need. There are big ones, small ones and in-between-sized ones. It used to be that only the bigger speakers could provide you with quality sound and power for a home theater system. And here’s the really good news: Innovations have made some of the smallest speakers sound great. There are still bad speakers out there, though, so you should shop around with discerning eyes and ears. But you can get satisfying sound from a variety of options that fit every taste and decor.
First, however, please heed our general rules about home theater speakers:
PART 1
1) Don’t scrimp
2) Leave Mr. Audio at home
3) Same speakers, all around
4) The center channel rules
PART 2
5) Power isn’t all-important
6) Sensitivity wins
7) Surround channels should be diffused
8) More is not necessarily better
9) Try them out
10) Buy what you like
Elaborations on above points after the turn...
Now, for a bit more detail...
1) Don’t scrimp.
Your home entertainment speaker system is not the place to get cheap. You’ve heard the phrase, “where the rubber meets the road” to denote something’s importance? Just as a good set of tires is essential to the performance of an automobile, a good set of speakers is crucial to the performance of a home entertainment system—whether there are 20 speakers or just two.
The speakers are the last stops for sound on the way to your ears. So you can have the world’s greatest DVD player and amplifiers, all creating this beautiful sound, but if you have a lousy set of speakers, it will still sound lousy. In other words, your system will only be as good as its speakers.
There’s no set figure on how much you should spend on audio versus video, but a good benchmark is to try to budget for them equally, and look for a set of speakers to fit the audio portion. Try to spend at least as much on your speakers as you spend on your other audio components.
2) Leave Mr. Audio at home.
Everyone seems to have a friend or relative who is a self-professed audio expert, and when he—and usually it is a he—gets wind that you’re buying a home theater, he’ll suddenly become your self-appointed shopping consultant/escort/new best pal. Leave this guy at home. Chances are he will try to talk you into buying a system that he likes, not the one that is best for you. And he may be grossly misinformed. Consult him over the phone if you must.
3) Same speakers, all around.The speakers should also have identical power ratings and frequency ranges. A 5.1 surround-sound system, for example, calls for five full-range speaker channels. Look for ranges starting at 60 to 100 hertz for the low sounds and up to 20 kilohertz for the high sounds, and leave the really low bass for a subwoofer to reproduce. Some center-channel and surround speakers may have narrower frequency ranges, as they don’t normally reproduce some lower sounds, for instance.
If you can’t get all the same models or a package for the speakers, try to get them from the same manufacturer’s line, or from the same manufacturer, as each speaker maker tends to have a signature sound. That way, the speakers will sound good together. If you have to use a mix of brands, be sure your electronics professional matches them for tonal quality. This process is called timbre (pronounced tamber) matching.
4) The center channel rules.It may be smaller than the other front speakers. It may lie on its side and look like it’s not doing much. But the center channel is the most important speaker in a surround-sound system. All of the on-screen dialogue comes through this speaker, and about 70 percent of all sounds in a movie soundtrack come through it. That’s a lot. Scrimp on it or buy an underpowered one, and you may be constantly turning up the volume to hear what’s being said. That doesn’t make for good a home entertainment experience. That’s why the center channel should have the same power ratings as your other speakers. Don’t settle for less.
Liked it so far? It gets better...
Story continued here in PART 2
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The hardest part of setting up your home for a complete digital entertainment experience is the wiring/cabling or whatever you call it. Figuring out the types of cables, wires provided, the myriad number of connections in your Digital entertainment components is enough to make you take that fateful decision to go and become a monk in the Himalayas. Come on, admit it, you are afraid as I am.
You fear that chaotic nest of wires behind your home entertainment system, you get nightmares of a slithering mass of wires and cables reaching out to you. Yes, I've been there. Not to worry, PopCola is here.
For both the newcomer and the old hand alike, connecting equipment in the most efficient and effective manner can be a painful chore. The following information will improve your background knowledge concerning potential A/V system connection schemes and where each is most appropriate. The next time you find yourself in a "connectivity quandary" perhaps the ideas shared here will help you to quickly solve the riddle of which wire goes where and why!
There's more after the turn...
Here's a rundown of all those wires, cables and connectors.
Audio Cables
Audio cables in home theaters take the form of either analog or digital interconnects.
- RCA Connectors
- BNC Bayonet-Style Connection
- XLR Audio Connection
Digital Audio:
- AES/EBU Digital Audio
- SPDIF Digital Connectors
- Toshiba Link, or TOSLINK
Video Cables
Video Cables are available as either analog or digital interconnects, with the majority of analog video interconnects being based on the same type of RCA or BNC connectors found in home theater sound systems.
Analog Video:
- Coaxial RF Cable
- Composite Video
- S-Video
- Component Video
- RGB Video and the SCART A/V Connector
Digital Video:
- i.LINK
- DVI
- HDMI
There are many more types of connectors for both audio and video, but the list featured above is more then enough for most people.
Practical Home Theater Guide has a more detailed guide for selecting AV cables and Connectors for setting up your Home Theater. Do Click here for the Guide.
With the vast selection of options available, choosing the right cables and connectors will be downright confusing for the beginner. Familiarity with the options available on contemporary components will allow you to make an informed decision and, when all is said and done, end up with a home theater or music system that provides the level of performance and convenience you envisioned.
Important: The Cables & Interconnects that are shipped with the components are not always the best choice. Sometimes replacing them with the optimum choice will result in substantial improvement in system performance.
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Software for Digital home Entertainment is one area where there has been frantic development in recent times. With the number of people who are into the "Home Entertainment Hub" this was expected. Though there were many products geared towards this aspect, it was Microsoft who jump-started the 'Home Entertainment' wagon with the development of the XBox and the humongously popular Windows Media Center Edition (MCE).
Though Windows MCE is an excellent product and is somewhat of a pioneering attempt in the development of HTPC (Home theater PC), it does have its limits. And the multitude of commercial solutions available on the shelves don't offer much either. This is where Open Source steps in.
MediaPortal by Erwin Beckers and team is the perfect solution for turning your PC into a complete Media Center. Well its not perfect, but the closest thing to it. Erwin was the founder of XBMC (Xbox Media Center) project who later went on to start MediaPortal as a free open source product.
There's more after the turn...
In their own words,MediaPortal is an Open Source application ideal for turning your PC / TV into a very advanced Media Center. MediaPortal allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch and store your videos and DVDs, view, schedule and record live TV as a digital video recorder and much much more. You get MediaPortal as Open Source software. This means you can help in developing MediaPortal or tweak it for your own needs with lots of innovating plugins from our great community.
MediaPortal includes a host of excellent features.
To speak from a general overview, they are:
Create your own skins, or choose one of the available skins!
MediaPortal can easily be extended with extra plugins
You decide which keys you want to use for which actions
Internal support for several remote controls
Windowed and fullscreen support
And many more features like MyTV, MyVideo/DVD, MyRadio, MyPictures, MyMusic, MyWeather, Emulators, CD/DVD burning within MediaPortal, Email, PC monitoring, Scheduled Recording, alarms, games etc. MediaPortal is not a demo, shareware or anything like that. Rather it is a complete, free-to-use full version software that will turn your PC into a real 'Media Center' without changing much of your computer's hardware. Moreover, since it is open source, anyone can contribute to or customize the software according to their own requirements.
The hardware and software requirements to use this software is very much acceptable and will run as it is on almost every PC that is somewhat up to date. MediaPortal is developed on the Microsoft .Net framework using C#.
Download the full product here.
You can learn more about this amazing FREE, open source product by visiting their website, and also by having a look into this extensive documentation.
I know it is the age of the remote, but anyone will agree that it has reached ridiculous levels. Hah! I have to keep a separate side table for all my remotes. In this day and age, every electronic device and almost every appliance comes shipped with a small box (remote) that fits in your hand. Its almost as if there is a secret war going on vying for the real estate that is your palm. On an average, every household has a bare minimum of 4 remotes. Most times I find myself using the wrong remote for the wrong device. Even fans come with remotes ,sheesh!
The Universal remote was touted to be the solution for this quaint problem of plenty, but we all know how that turned out to be in practice. The Universal Remotes that are sold in most stores are next to useless, it is cheap, but what is cost when one cannot use the remote effectively. Yes, there are some sophisticated Universal Remotes that addresses this problem of plenty quite effectively, and some can even be programmed to accept and control new devices as and when you buy them, they can be programmed for every device that would possibly need a remote. But they are bulky, complex to use, and they are not exactly cheap either. That puts them out of us commoners' hands.
Till the day comes when the prices of these 'Universal Remotes' come down to acceptable levels, all we can do is keep juggling the remotes in our hand to find the right one to switch on that damn TV.
-end of post-