Dumbed down consumer electronics: Adding DTV channels
in [Design]
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From: Joerg on 12 Aug 2010 18:50 Michael A. Terrell wrote: > Joerg wrote: >> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>> Joerg wrote: >>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>> JosephKK wrote: >>>>>>> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:25:19 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> JosephKK wrote: >>>>>> [...] >>>>>> >>>>>>>>> cost me about $100 long distance for a little less than a MB. Now >>>>>>>>> that would be a few seconds and included (and would dissapear) in my >>>>>>>>> monthly. Today, a sloppy webpage will eat up a MB or more, and an >>>>>>>>> overnight DL would be about 5 GB; over 5 thousand times the data >>>>>>>>> volume. Just about 20 years difference. >>>>>>>> In those cases I'd rather send them a SASE envelope, a blank diskette >>>>>>>> and $20 for the effoert to copy and the walk by the mail room. Then use >>>>>>>> the remaining $80 for a nice dinner with the wife. >>>>>>> Probably would have if it was available that way at that time. >>>>>> What wasn't available? Stamps? Envelopes? Dinner? Wife? Ok then, maybe a >>>>>> girlfriend? >>>>>> >>>>>> Ok, diskettes could be hard to come by but we sometimes used audio >>>>>> cassettes for data storage. Those were cheap. I believe Commodore called >>>>>> them datasettes. >>>>> The 'Datasette' was a modified cassette deck that plugged onto the PC >>>>> board with a six pin edge connector, not the storage media. >>>> Yeah, but you know how it goes. People start using a catchy name for the >>>> media as well. Just like many people say "I made a mess here, do you >>>> have a Kleenex?" even though Kleenex is the manufacturer and not the >>>> product name. >>> >>> That may be, but I never saw any 'Compact Cassette' marked Datasette. >> There were, in Europe. IIRC "data cassette" or something like that. I >> guess the only reason was to make a buck more on them. Supposedly they >> were 100% tested for no dropouts in the magnetic layer. > > > A stronger, thicker backing so it wouldn't stretch like cheap c-120 > cassettes. Radio Shack used to sell them. Some were as short as five > minutes. I just bought answering machine grade. 30 minutes, sturdy as heck, and a lot cheaper. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Jim Thompson on 12 Aug 2010 18:51 On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:42:59 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Jim Thompson wrote: >> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:52:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >>> Jim Thompson wrote: >>>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:24:30 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>>>> Joel Koltner wrote: >>>>>>>>> Hi Joerg, >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>>>> ? Yes, having landed a de-facto monopoly provides a plum position in the >>>>>>>>> ? marketplace no matter how small that monopoly is. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> True... the problem with iBiquity is that the FCC let them have the entire >>>>>>>>> market. At least with, e.g., Apple, while they get a cut of every (non-free) >>>>>>>>> app that ends up on a (non-jailbroken) iPhone, there are plenty of other GSM >>>>>>>>> phones out there. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> ? I vaguely remember one of the domestic car manufacturers offering it >>>>>>>>> ? (Polk i-something) but I also remember seeing a $500 price tag there. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> The car manufacturers have incredibly inflated ideas about how much radios >>>>>>>>> ought to cost -- even a simple AM/FM/CD player radio is often ?$200... >>>>>>>> $40 for the radio & $160 for three union members to install it. >>>>>>> No, only $20 for the radio. The other $20 is for the retirement fund and >>>>>>> the "jobs bank" :-) >>>>>> Did you ever talk to the engineers who designed them? ... >>>>> Yes, but not in the US. I don't think there are any manufacturers left >>>>> for car stereos (which is sad). >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> ... Where do you think I got the numbers? >>>> >From GM? :-) >>>> >>>> The used to be DELCO _Radio_ Division. I designed chips for them. And >>>> Guide Lamp Division... designed a head light dimmer for them. >>>> >>> One of mine ran on the DELCO process. But that's all gone now. The next >>> one will run at X-Fab. >> >> Yep. Once-upon-a-time Delco had a respectable HV process. >> >> Almost all of my recent stuff is on X-Fab. Which process? >> > >The XH035 process, 100V. OK. I'm just bringing up that library set. ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Spice is like a sports car... Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.
From: Jim Thompson on 12 Aug 2010 18:55 On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:51:19 -0700, Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)On-My-Web-Site.com> wrote: >On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:42:59 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >wrote: > >>Jim Thompson wrote: >>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:52:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Jim Thompson wrote: >>>>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:24:30 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>>>>> Joel Koltner wrote: >>>>>>>>>> Hi Joerg, >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>>>>> ? Yes, having landed a de-facto monopoly provides a plum position in the >>>>>>>>>> ? marketplace no matter how small that monopoly is. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> True... the problem with iBiquity is that the FCC let them have the entire >>>>>>>>>> market. At least with, e.g., Apple, while they get a cut of every (non-free) >>>>>>>>>> app that ends up on a (non-jailbroken) iPhone, there are plenty of other GSM >>>>>>>>>> phones out there. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> ? I vaguely remember one of the domestic car manufacturers offering it >>>>>>>>>> ? (Polk i-something) but I also remember seeing a $500 price tag there. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> The car manufacturers have incredibly inflated ideas about how much radios >>>>>>>>>> ought to cost -- even a simple AM/FM/CD player radio is often ?$200... >>>>>>>>> $40 for the radio & $160 for three union members to install it. >>>>>>>> No, only $20 for the radio. The other $20 is for the retirement fund and >>>>>>>> the "jobs bank" :-) >>>>>>> Did you ever talk to the engineers who designed them? ... >>>>>> Yes, but not in the US. I don't think there are any manufacturers left >>>>>> for car stereos (which is sad). >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> ... Where do you think I got the numbers? >>>>> >From GM? :-) >>>>> >>>>> The used to be DELCO _Radio_ Division. I designed chips for them. And >>>>> Guide Lamp Division... designed a head light dimmer for them. >>>>> >>>> One of mine ran on the DELCO process. But that's all gone now. The next >>>> one will run at X-Fab. >>> >>> Yep. Once-upon-a-time Delco had a respectable HV process. >>> >>> Almost all of my recent stuff is on X-Fab. Which process? >>> >> >>The XH035 process, 100V. > >OK. I'm just bringing up that library set. > > ...Jim Thompson CAUTION, I just got an E-mail announcement: "Dear X-TIC User, Our approach is to continually improve our processes to meet and exceed our customers expectations. Nevertheless we need to inform you today about an issue that occurred with the matching of the XH035, XA035 and XO035 MIM capacitors cmm, cdmm. The re-characterization of the XH035, XA035 and XO035 processes showed lower than expected performance. Please read the attached PDF document for more details. The XH035 Cadence PDK will be updated in accordance to the changed parameters. X-FAB has started immediate internal actions to find out the root cause for this behavior. An update of that issue is expected to be available by the end of January 2011." ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Spice is like a sports car... Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.
From: Joel Koltner on 12 Aug 2010 19:27 "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:3sqdnUEIpsvZ5_nRnZ2dnUVZ_rWdnZ2d(a)earthlink.com... > A stronger, thicker backing so it wouldn't stretch like cheap c-120 > cassettes. Radio Shack used to sell them. Some were as short as five > minutes. Wow, I vaguely remember those... I also remember that the general consensus was that C-120's were a little risky -- car cassette players were known to eat them! I'd been told as a kid that C-180's existed, although I've never seen one except on the Internet: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TDK_D_C180_cassette.jpg . Wikipedia claims there was even a C-240. Ha... check this out -- a headset-style micro-cassette player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MicrocassetteEquipment.jpg ... funky! ---Joel
From: Joerg on 12 Aug 2010 21:15
Jim Thompson wrote: > On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:51:19 -0700, Jim Thompson > <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)On-My-Web-Site.com> wrote: > >> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:42:59 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >>> Jim Thompson wrote: >>>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:52:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Jim Thompson wrote: >>>>>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:24:30 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>>>>>> Joel Koltner wrote: >>>>>>>>>>> Hi Joerg, >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>>>>>> ? Yes, having landed a de-facto monopoly provides a plum position in the >>>>>>>>>>> ? marketplace no matter how small that monopoly is. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> True... the problem with iBiquity is that the FCC let them have the entire >>>>>>>>>>> market. At least with, e.g., Apple, while they get a cut of every (non-free) >>>>>>>>>>> app that ends up on a (non-jailbroken) iPhone, there are plenty of other GSM >>>>>>>>>>> phones out there. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> ? I vaguely remember one of the domestic car manufacturers offering it >>>>>>>>>>> ? (Polk i-something) but I also remember seeing a $500 price tag there. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> The car manufacturers have incredibly inflated ideas about how much radios >>>>>>>>>>> ought to cost -- even a simple AM/FM/CD player radio is often ?$200... >>>>>>>>>> $40 for the radio & $160 for three union members to install it. >>>>>>>>> No, only $20 for the radio. The other $20 is for the retirement fund and >>>>>>>>> the "jobs bank" :-) >>>>>>>> Did you ever talk to the engineers who designed them? ... >>>>>>> Yes, but not in the US. I don't think there are any manufacturers left >>>>>>> for car stereos (which is sad). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ... Where do you think I got the numbers? >>>>>> >From GM? :-) >>>>>> >>>>>> The used to be DELCO _Radio_ Division. I designed chips for them. And >>>>>> Guide Lamp Division... designed a head light dimmer for them. >>>>>> >>>>> One of mine ran on the DELCO process. But that's all gone now. The next >>>>> one will run at X-Fab. >>>> Yep. Once-upon-a-time Delco had a respectable HV process. >>>> >>>> Almost all of my recent stuff is on X-Fab. Which process? >>>> >>> The XH035 process, 100V. >> OK. I'm just bringing up that library set. >> >> ...Jim Thompson > > CAUTION, I just got an E-mail announcement: > > "Dear X-TIC User, > > Our approach is to continually improve our processes to meet and > exceed our customers expectations. Nevertheless we need to inform you > today about an issue that occurred with the matching of the XH035, > XA035 and XO035 MIM capacitors cmm, cdmm. The re-characterization of > the XH035, XA035 and XO035 processes showed lower than expected > performance. Please read the attached PDF document for more details. > > The XH035 Cadence PDK will be updated in accordance to the changed > parameters. > > X-FAB has started immediate internal actions to find out the root > cause for this behavior. An update of that issue is expected to be > available by the end of January 2011." > I know :-) Personally I find it very comforting if a company is upfront, fesses up to mishaps and then takes corrective action. This process is cutting edge stuff. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |