Home audio and video systems have changed dramatically from their earliest incarnations. Television began as a mechanical device but didn’t really catch on until electronic TVs began to hit the market and more broadcasters began signing on.
It grew more popular as it changed from tiny black-and-white screens to large color sets. And now you can buy TVs that can take up the whole wall of your living room! In February 2009, television stations in the United States will switch from analog to digital signals, encouraging people to buy converter boxes or make the move and upgrade, which means plunking down big money for new high-definition sets.
Televison may be the cornerstone of home audio and video setups, but most people need more than just a good TV. We started recording TV shows on videocassette recorders, but fewer people use them anymore. They’re all switching to digital video recorders, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. And then there’s those sophisticated component sound systems and surround sound systems that add so much character and depth to our television and movie watching.
No doubt, home audio and video equipment is very popular, but deciding on the best equipment can be a challenge. Each person has his or her own preferences that lead to very different choices. We have a whole library of home audio and video articles that will help you learn more about different technologies. Find out what’s inside a remote control. Learn the differences between plasma and LCD televisions. See how speakers work. Find out how to bend your TV schedule to suit your viewing habits, with Internet TV, the TiVo and the Slingbox. We’ll even sneak a peek at the next wave of technologies, such as ultra-high definition TV. Explore our Home Audio and Video articles to find out more.
What do you need to set up an Internet radio station?
- CD player
- Ripper software (copies audio tracks from a CD onto a computer’s hard drive)
- Assorted recording and editing software
- Microphones
- Audio mixer
- Outboard audio gear (equalizer, compressor, etc.)
- Digital audio card
- Dedicated computer with encoder software
- Streaming media server
Getting audio over the Internet is pretty simple:
- The audio enters the Internet broadcaster’s encoding computer through a sound card.
- The encoder system translates the audio from the sound card into streaming format. The encoder samples the incoming audio and compresses the information so it can be sent over the Internet.
- The compressed audio is sent to the server, which has a high bandwidth connection to the Internet.
- The server sends the audio data stream over the Internet to the player software or plug-in on the listener’s computer. The plug-in translates the audio data stream from the server and translates it into the sound heard by the listener.
There are two ways to deliver audio over the Internet: downloads or streaming media. In downloads, an audio file is stored on the user’s computer. Compressed formats like MP3 are the most popular form of audio downloads, but any type of audio file can be delivered through a Web or FTP site. Streaming audio is not stored, but only played. It is a continuous broadcast that works through three software packages: the encoder, the server and the player. The encoder converts audio content into a streaming format, the server makes it available over the Internet and the player retrieves the content. For a live broadcast, the encoder and streamer work together in real-time. An audio feed runs to the sound card of a computer running the encoder software at the broadcast location and the stream is uploaded to the streaming server. Since that requires a large amount of computing resources, the streaming server must be a dedicated server.
