Did you know?

If you have some anecdotes, AMAZING facts or other trivia either from inside the video industry or from other sources, we'll gladly put them here!

For instance, Did you know... that the first Video Tape Recorder was invented in 1956 by Ampex in Redwood City, California? One of the techno-weenies responsible for the beast was a skinny geek named Ray Dolby. He's done alright in the years between then & now reducing the noise inherent in the recording processes he helped to pioneer.

Did you know that you shouldn't use the cruise control on your car if the road is wet or icy? If your tires loose contact with the pavement they will start to hydroplane or skid & the cruise control will cause the car to speed up.

Did you know that if you set your computer screen display resolution to 1280 X 1024, the screen aspect ratio does not conform to the 4X3 size of your screen (it's 4:3.2) & everything will appear 8.54% too wide, unless your physical screen size is also 4:3.2 such as some LCD screens? If you're editing pictures or artwork they will not look aspect correct (faces too fat). A display resolution of 1280 X 960 or 1312 X 984 would have been aspect correct on a 4:3 monitor, but graphics card manufacturers don't give you this choice. Likewise a computer screen display resolution of 1152 X 882 is 2.08% wider than it should be. Other computer screen display resolutions are aspect correct when viewed on a 4:3 monitor, such as 640 X 480, 800 X 600, 1024 X 768 & 1600 X 1200.

Did you know that most manufacturers of high end consumer standard definition TV monitors often deceive purchasers into thinking they are getting higher horizontal resolution than they really are? They do this by stating the "TOTAL" resolvable lines horizontally. The proper industry definition of "Horizontal Resolution" is three quarters of the resolvable lines horizontally. The same manufacturers always use the correct definition when rating consumer VCRs. To view all of the resolution of an NTSC transmission of 332 lines of horizontal resolution, you need a monitor that can resolve at least 442 lines from edge to edge. To view all of the resolution of an S-VHS VCR of 420 lines of horizontal resolution, you need a monitor that can resolve at least 560 lines from edge to edge. To view all of the resolution of a DVD player of 500 lines of horizontal resolution, you need a monitor that can resolve at least 667 lines from edge to edge. Too bad manufacturers can't use the same method of measuring resolution for TV monitors as they do for VCRs, so we consumers can easily decide which component will be sufficient.

Did you know that commercial grade VHS VCRs only play the SP (Standard Play) (2 hour) speed? So if you're recording something on VHS that you want to have professionally duplicated, use the SP speed, not the SLP (Super Long Play) or EP (Extended Play) 6 hour speed.

Did you know that external SCSI cables do not have individual shielding on each wire to prevent crosstalk, so the thicker the cable & insulation around each wire, the less chance that you'll have a picture degradation problem, or other corrupt data problem on high data rate external SCSI cables, such as in NLE systems?

Did you know that virtually all Windows PC computers already have the basic AVI codecs & players built in (Indeo 3.2 & Cinepak)? This means that ANY Windows based PC computer (& Apple computers with QuickTime 3, 4, 5 or 6 installed) can play back small AVI movies to the computer screen without any modifications or downloads of players/codecs. Just think of the installed base that you could distribute your video to on CD-ROM instead of video tape. Your sales reps can play your promotional video directly from their laptops without the need to haul around a VCR & monitor.

Did you know that most hardware based real-time MPEG-1 encoders capture at 352X240 resolution? That resolution is fine for devices that encode the MPEG-1 for playback on video monitors (which use rectangle pixels), but it is not fine when the playback is to a computer monitor (which uses square pixels). If you playback a 352X240 MPEG-1 movie on a computer screen, the aspect ratio will not be correct & the picture will be stretched 10% horizontally. My clients don't like it when their logo or face is distorted. Many software MPEG-1 packages can render an aspect correct MPEG-1 at 320X240 for those occasions where playback is on a computer screen & the quality is often higher than MPEG-1 captured from hardware.

Did you know that Xerox invented the Graphical User Interface & mouse for computers?

Did you know that a Windows filename cannot contain any of the following characters:   \ / : * ? " < > |

Did you know that Unix server filenames cannot contain any of the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | ! @ # $ % ^ & ( ) + { } : " ~ ` = [ ] ; ' , . -

Did you know that when copying bootable floppies (such as the 3 boot floppies for Windows NT), you cannot just copy the contents over to formatted floppies? Go to "My Computer", highlight the floppy A disc, menu under File/Copy Disc (or right mouse click on the floppy A icon & then Copy Disc). This will make a proper copy of a bootable disc with the boot block intact.

Did you know that contrary to what the diamond industry would have you believe, diamonds are not all that rare?

Did you know that all polar bears are left handed?

Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?

Did you know that China has more English speakers than the United States?

Did you know that right-handed people live on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do?

Did you know that Women blink nearly twice as much as men?

Did you know that an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain?

Did you know that our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing?

Did you know that it's physically impossible for you to lick your elbow?

Did you know that almost everyone who reads this will try to lick their elbow?

Did you know that there are no redeeming qualities in most kinds of margarine? We've typically been told that margarine is better for us than butter because it's lower in fat, but most types of margarine are made from "hydrogenated" vegetable oil & the process of using hydrogen to convert liquid vegetable oils into solid vegetable oils, makes the margarine an unnatural product that is hard to digest. If you must use margarine, look for a brand that isn't hydrogenated.

Did you know that a study in the science journal "The Archives of Internal Medicine" shows you may get what you pray for - if you're praying for someone ill to feel better? The study by researchers at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City indicates that even if those in poor health aren't aware they're being prayed for, their outcomes tend to be better if they're included in someone's prayer. "This is very significant," Dr. Harold Koenig, associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., told the Kansas City Star. "But I think it is going to be highly, highly controversial. I'm not sure how many doctors are going to embrace this." The study of 990 heart patients admitted to St. Luke's suffered life-threatening conditions, including heart attacks and congestive heart failure. Of these, 466 were prayed for daily by five people. Neither the patients nor their doctors knew anything about the prayers, and those doing the praying didn't know the people they were praying for, according to William Harris, who led the study. "The patients who were prayed for just did better," Harris said. The measurements of how the patients were faring included the number and types of medications needed, amount of time on a respirator, need for a pacemaker, length of hospital stay, speed of recovery and the like.

Send your ideas to Doug Hembruff.