Entertainment In The Information Age

The Digital Revolution, is the change fromanalogue, mechanical and electronic technology to digital technology, this has been taking place since the 1980’s and has continued to advance since.The digital revolution has completely changed the way in which we can entertain ourselves using technology.

Television

What’s the difference between analogue and digital TV?

Digital TV allows you to either you experience top quality television viewing with clear picture quality or else you view nothing, there is no pausing in between pictures or sounds at all. Whereas the old analogue transmission method still provides the picture even if the quality is minimal at times. The picture might have gone fuzzy yet it was still viewable, however with digital TV it will either be viewed or if there happens to be any interference then the picture shall just go blank and the sound will disappear also.

Digital Television

Having digital transmission is no longer scene as a novelty; instead it’s more of a necessity, to most people. The reason digital transmission is so superior today is because it converts sounds and images and stores then in a digital computer data and then transmits them. Then when the digital data is sent to the receiver attached to your television, it then reassembles into the original picture and corresponding sound that were being viewed before; it does this at an extremely quick pace.

Although this does sound like a lot of hassle just to transmit a television, it is much more beneficial than having an out dated analogue television; the main reason being the quality of both the picture and sound is far clearer and you will no longer receive any disturbances. There will be no interferences as the digital tuner attached to the receiver removes any interface from the signals before converting them back to the images and sounds that were playing originally.

Advantages of digital television

The digital television has a user friendly interface, meaning the user can view the listings in advance to notify their selves of what is going to be on television at certain times, rather than having to flip through random channels to find out what's on.

Another benefit of having digital TV is that the transmission can be compressed in order to take up less space. Therefore, resulting in the opportunity of more channels being transmitted over the same cable or air frequency. This is also beneficial for the cable operators who wish to increase their number of channels, they can now do so without having to replace or add any extra cables.

All entertainment is now getting compressed into a smaller space, making it portal, and this making it possible for more digital data to be stored in one place at once.

Disadvantages of digital television

There is one inconvenience with this new technology, this being the television sets do not have the facility to tune to any new digital waves that are available. This problem can only be solved by either buying a new generation television or buying the digital tuner that can be attached to your normal television to provide the same effect.

Digital Radio

What is digital radio?

The term ‘digital radio’ includes broadcasts on a digital audio broadcasting radio (DAB), the internet and listening to the radio using a digital television.

Why is a digital radio better then analogue?

Internet radio now offers more stations than a DAB, including radio stations that aren’t in the area you’re in at that point; international radio stations are also available sometimes. DAB can serve a high quantity of listeners, so it is now known as the main digital radio platform for the future.

It is now possible for DAB/FM radios to stream internet radio, so you can enjoy listening to programs and overseas internet radio stations again and again without having to switch on a computer.

Digital radio offers more advanced features and possibilities for the manufacturer to enhance and develop radio content, analogue radio does not have the option to do so.

Disadvantages of digital radio change over

The change over from analogue to digital has been beneficial for most people as they enjoy the good quality provided. However some people cannot afford to buy a new and improved radio. Therefore the people who can’t afford to buy a digital radio have to then go without any at all as the analogue has been cut off.

Interference

With both analogue and digital radios the same problem of interference still occurs regardless. The only difference being that if signal or reception is limited then a digital radio will cut off completely until reception is gained again. Whereas an analogue radio with just turn fuzzy and make it difficult to hear properly or clearly.

De-fragmentation

Defragmentation is completed using a disc; it describes the process of consolidating fragmented files on your computer's hard drive. Fragmentation happens to a hard disk over a period of time as you save, change, or delete files. These changes that you inflict upon your computer are often stored at a location on the hard disk that's different from the original file.

Over time, both the file and the hard disk itself become fragmented, and your computer slows down as it has to look in many different places to open a file.

Disk Defragmenter is a tool that is designed to rearrange the data on your hard disk, it reunites fragmented files, meaning your computer can run more efficiently in the future.

       

Video and DVD

         

The main change within the film industry has been due to the invention of the DVD player, this is digital, whereas a video played is analogue.  This allows all movies and programs to be compact into a disc; this is a much more efficient and simpler way of viewing a program. DVD players are much preferred over video players as they do not required to be rewound manually when you wish to re start the film, whereas videos do.

The quality of a video player is limited in comparison to a DVD player, when watching a video there is almost always a pause within the viewing, sometimes the sound or picture tends to disappear or go fuzzy for a space of time as there may be a problem with the tape or the signal.

Cinema

Here is a link to a story in the new about how the cinema is advancing over time within the entertainment industry.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4681859.stm

Film

The narrative of any film being produced has changed over the years. From the silent black and white moving picture shows to the advanced screenings that occur today. The introduction of sound and then color had a huge impact on the film industry today; movies have been forced to alter their chronicle structure.

With the increasing popularity of digital filmmaking, motion pictures are going through a reinvention once again; digital technology has altered the traditional formations of the film narrative.  There are stories being told on digital now that were never told on film.

It would appear that movies shot on film and those shot on High Definition video are the same. Narrative is in flux, because filmmakers can do about anything they want; from changing the structure to increasing the level of graphic content.

Music

As the internet is such a recent invention, in the past there never used to be any music available to download. All music used to be played on vinyl’s using a record played many, many years ago. The music industry then came up with stereos and CDs, this is when digital was discovered, and the opportunity was seen to put all music compact into a smaller disc for convenience as well as financial benefits for the music industry.

As years go by, technology is advancing at lightning speed; it is now possible today to access hundreds of music websites, both legal and illegal. Therefore resulting in all music being purchasing or downloaded online, which is the main reason music stores are going out of business and becoming based online.