is a NAT device/'home router' - a router?

The objective is to discontinue _analog_ VHF and UHF by 31 DEC 2006. _Digital_ broadcast uses the same portion of the spectrum with the exception of the UHF channels above 51.

It's not that people burn them, it's that they _can_.

But the real reason for the popularity is marketing. The producers gain by using DVD--the production cost is minuscule compared to tape. Each tape has to be recorded off a master, which takes far longer than pressing a DVD.

HD has that huge increase in quality.

I doubt that MP3 as a commercial market is going to do particularly well--it could have if the idiots at RIAA had seen it as an opportunity and gone after it agressively as a market, but that horse has long since left the barn.

I was somewhat amused the other day to find out that there is a Linux port that runs on the Linksys WRT54G and significantly expands the capabilities of that device, which is running a Broadcom ASIC that includes a MIPS32 core.

When one says "ASIC" these days it is important to _not_ forget that 32-bit general purpose microprocessors are available in many cell libraries.

I thought HDTV was on whole different bands. Where do they have it now that it's coexisting?

Yes, but very few people could at the time DVD crossed over (Xmas 2002?)

VCDs could have been similarly marketted, with the same production advantages. They weren't.

Not that I've been able to see. And I've looked. Sure, 1080i is nicer than the best 525. But the law of diminishing returns takes hold. We shall see.

-- Robert

Good point. They never were all that user convenient. But they were convenient for produces.

-- Robert

Just to take an example, the local CBS outlet transmits their analog signal on VHF Channel 3 and their digital signal on UHF Channel 33 while the NBC outlet transmits its analog signal on UHF Channel 22 and its digital signal on VHF Channel 11.

If you go to and tell it your address it will tell you the channel assignments for your location, and what programming is available.

Which is a choice that the producers of prerecorded media made that had little to do with the properties of the media.

On what kind of display? There are very few that can actually display

1080i. Don't assume that because it can accept the signal it can display the quality--if you're not using one of a few Sharp Aquos models or a data grade projection monitor you're not getting anything close to the full effect.

Further, CBS is now transmitting a lot of its digital content with Dolby digital 5.1 audio, which adds more than one might expect if one has surround sound.

FWIW the cisco 7204vxr (which is still a standard box at work for E3 or STM-1 WAN pipe termination) has 2 off 600 Mbps "PCI" buses. AFAIR it has MIPs type CPU / core. Mind you it is an old design now, and the CPU thruput has gone up by at least a factor of 10, and it now has QoS and other processing offloaded for some jobs.

The newer versions of processor for the box get more bandwidth as there are

3 Gig ports which dont touch the buses.

it doesnt really matter how much CPE and I/Obandwidth you have as long as it is "enough" for the job.

Even with Ethernet WAN links you only need special architectures when you pay serious amounts for the bandwidth - and at that point you can afford routers with "better" architectures without making a big difference to systems cost.

just a different order of magnitude on the price tag :)

On my Linksys WRT54G, one selects whether the device operates as a NAT device or not via the browser-based configuration. Hit Setup ->

Advanced Routing, and pick the right element off the pulldown under Operating Mode: Gateway (NAT) or Router.

--karl

No, mine just gives more information. They all work the same. Some hide their info more than others.

If you ever get a chance take apart a baby PIX.

The privilege of using more than one computer with his network.

Mainly because so far the ISPs haven't chosen to crack down on this practice.

Bingo.