These systems are getting cheaper and better but there are two main issues to overcome before they completely eradicate DVD and CD storage.
First, in order to get the same level of sound or video quality you have to copy the original bit by bit or use a lossless compression algorithm. I'm not sure what the compression ratio of FLAC is, but it is probably not as high as MP3 (about 10:1). Please correct me if I am wrong on that. This means mega storage space for your music and video. I have 60+ DVDs and DVD-A's - if you assume that each takes only 50% of the 9GB of storage available, this equates to 300GB just for my DVD's. For my CD's, another 300 * 0.6GB = 180GB of space. So you are pushing 500GB of storage space which needs to be backed up somewhere incidentally.
Secondly, sound quality. If the massive amounts of storage required are not overcome in some simple and robust fashion (anyone who has used any Unix variant should know what rm -r * at the root can do) then the audio and video signals need to be compressed. Typically, the compression algorithm with sacrifice parts of the audio spectrum or even the data itself in order to achieve a smaller package. I have the ability to play MP3 through my stereo and it does sound good, I must admit. But comparing a Fleetwood Mac MP3 to the DVD-A version is noticeably different. If the lossless compaction algorithms can achieve the same sort of compression ratios as MP3 and others, this will become a non-issue.
Here's what I did .....
My wife and I have collected in excess of 300 CD's over the years and are still buying more. In order to improve our access to the music, I started to Rip our CD's to MP3 and store them on our server (yes I have a home network). To date, I have in excess of 4,000 files. Once we started to get exposure to more of the music that we liked, I got the itch to start piping it through the stereo again. I bought a used IBM laptop PC, installed Linux and a wireless Network card in it and set it up to access our file server and the MP3 files. I bought a Creative SoundBlaster Extigy (external) hooked it to the USB port on the laptop and linked it to one of the digital inputs on my reciever. I can now access any of the MP3's, set up play lists that can play through the stereo for hours, and so on from any PC in the house. It works for me but the quality of the audio still does not compete with a DVD or DVD-A.
Sean
EDIT: I forgot to mention, just for the he** of it, I will be converting an X-Box into a media system complete with 120GB HD to replace the PC (probably with Linux). That will give me a system capable of playing MP3's, DVD's and CD's that I can control via remote and view on my TV. Why? I just gotta ...
Last edited by SeanF; 04/20/04 07:15 PM.
