Things You've Always Wanted To Know
- Thread starter Jonesy
- Start date
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
I think it's so that there's volume in reserve for surprisingly loud sounds - explosions and the like.
UFO over easy
online mahjong
it's more that tv is very loud i think
similar to the music loudness war, there's an assumption that bigger and louder is better, so when you're competing with loads of other channels you make everything sound biiiiiggg. check something like the x factor or strictly come dancing or something like that.. so loud. adverts are probably a better example, when a show goes to an ad break the volume will go up noticeably.
jambo
slip inside my schlafsack
Also if you watch DVDs with stereo audio, depending on your decoder you are only getting 2 channels out of the 5 or 6 encoded so it can sometimes seem a bit quiet. You'll notice this especially with bad DivX rips btw. But yeah it's probably mostly to do with having a good dynamic range straight from the cinema. Be thankful!
john eden
male pale and stale
Presumably because you have found it to be a comforting way of dealing with anxiety?
There are worse ones and there are better ones.
UFO over easy
online mahjong
the sound for everything on tv goes through a lot of processing
john eden
male pale and stale
in that case, i'm doomed...
Anyway, another question, this is a more serious one (for me anyway) -
Do you have to be shit-hot at maths to be any good at physics? I ask because i'm considering going back to university, and i'd really love to do something like astrophysics, but i've forgotten pretty much everything from my maths a-level now - and i wasn't exactly great at the time either (i had a shit teacher, and got a D). And I did English Lit at uni first time around, so it's quite a step away from whatever i might call my comfort zone. I'm so, so interested in physics/maths but it's one of those things that i wish came more naturally to me - i fear i'll struggle too much on a degree...
Anyway, another question, this is a more serious one (for me anyway) -
Do you have to be shit-hot at maths to be any good at physics? I ask because i'm considering going back to university, and i'd really love to do something like astrophysics, but i've forgotten pretty much everything from my maths a-level now - and i wasn't exactly great at the time either (i had a shit teacher, and got a D). And I did English Lit at uni first time around, so it's quite a step away from whatever i might call my comfort zone. I'm so, so interested in physics/maths but it's one of those things that i wish came more naturally to me - i fear i'll struggle too much on a degree...
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
You'd struggle at physics if were actively awful at maths, but as long as you're halfway competent you should be fine, especially if you're not planning to go into something really maths-intensive like field theory or cosmology [edit: or, gods help you, fluid mechanics]. If you got any pass at all at A-level maths with a shit teacher, especially if you took the course a few years back, then you're probably better than you think.
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pretty sure that's the case. maybe not in some, more specialized theoretical areas, but in order to get there you still need to be shit-hot at "maths".
Thanks for the advice. Yeah A-levels were like seven or eight years ago for me now (let me do the maths!
), i was really confident and capable with maths before then but i remember A-level being quite a jump from GCSE, and to be honest they kinda destroyed my faith in my ability to deal with numbers. But did you really mean that i should be fine especially if i'm doing something really maths-intensive? It would make more sense that i'd be fine unless i'm doing something really maths-intensive, wouldn't it? Which branches of physics are there that are perhaps not-quite-as-maths-intensive?oh. dang.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Thanks for the advice. Yeah A-levels were like seven or eight years ago for me now (let me do the maths!
My brain is full of durr today - there's a "not" missing from that sentence! I've corrected it already but not before you'd quoted me.
You mentioned astrophysics - not really my specialist area but I think there are probably lots of things you could do that wouldn't be ultra-mathsy. A lot of stuff these days involves writing computer simulations to perform calculations that aren't, in themselves, terribly difficult to understand but of course have to be iterrated over billions of times. Experimental/computational particle physics is much the same. I think unless you wanted to go into really hardcore field theory, string theory or cosmology, or perhaps certain other specialised fields that are maths-intensive (fluid dynamics, information theory...) you'll probably find that a reasonable amount of maths is acceptable as long as you can handle the progamming and data handling.But then, this is all academic (in every sense) if you're going to do a taught BSc or MSci, right? In that case you'll have three or four years to find out what you're good at and what interests you.
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