Charles Poynton -
Consumer video

This page lists resources on the Internet concerning consumer video equipment, standards and technology. If this page isn't technical enough for you, try my Video Engineering page.

I'm vile and perverted.
I'm obsessed and deranged.
I've existed for years but very little has changed.
I'm the tool of the government and industry too.
For I'm destined to rule and regulate you.

You may think I'm pernicious, but you can't look away.
I'll make you think I'm delicious with the stuff that I say.
I'm the best you can get... have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozing out of your TV set...

- Frank Zappa

To learn how to adjust those mysterious controls on the front of your computer monitor, or your television set, consult "Brightness" and "Contrast" controls.

rec.video-related resources on the Web

Worldwide TV Standards - A Web Guide

by Bevis King.

 

rec.video US/Canada Consumer Video FAQL (text file, 40 KB)

by H. Morrow Long

 

rec.video Resource Guide (text file, 42 KB)

by H. Morrow Long

 

Television Antenna Frequently Asked Question List

by Wm. L. Ranck; Version 1.1, circa 1991; also available as a UNIX-compressed (.Z) file at at H. Morrow Long's site. I an unaware of a more recent version.

 

Cable TV Resources on the Net

by John Higgins of Multichannel News, circa 1994

 

Satellite TV Frequently Asked Questions List

by Gary Bourgois

 

US DBS Frequently Asked Questions

by Richard R. Peterson

 

John Hodgson's DBS Dish Satellite News & Information

 

South Scanner Satellite Services Chart by Robert Smathers. A listing of the North American television satellites with audio and video services that are accessible to dish-owners.

 

Wireless Cable Television FAQ

by Brian J. Catlin. Despite a note saying that a full HTML version is not available, it is not.

 

Bob Niland's excellent LaserDisc FAQ Articles

 

Fillippa Consumer Electronics Page

hosted at Lund University in Sweden.

 

Phil [who?]'s Laserdisc home page

 

CD-i FAQ

 

LucasFilm THX

 

The Satellite TV (and Radio) Page

by Jay M. Novello

 

How to Play Movies on Your PC

by John Sweeney of IBM UK. This is not about consumer video per se, but is an excellent summary of creating and playing digitized movies.

 

Dolby Labs

 

Sony Digital Handycam

 

Web interface to Publicly-Accessible Mailing Lists (PAML):

I-TV, Interactive Television

SCTE, Society of Cable Television Engineers

telcom regulation

UK-CABLE, cable services in the United Kingdom

 

DVD FAQ by Jim Taylor

Alt.video.laserdisc FAQ by Henrik 'Leopold' Herranen.

Newsgroups

• rec.video
• rec.video.cable-tv
• rec.video.satellite.tvro
• rec.video.satellite.dbs
• rec.video.satellite.misc may not be available at your site.
• alt.video.laserdisc maybe you get it, maybe you don't.

Publications

Digital Video magazine.