Prince Daddy & the Hyena

# Prince Daddy & the Hyena

## Abstract

Prince Daddy & the Hyena is an American punk rock band from Albany, New York, formed in 2014. They have released three full-length albums and four extended plays.

## History

### Formation and early years

Prince Daddy and the Hyena was formed in 2014 when Kory Gregory, Alex Ziembiec and Zakariya Houacine were inspired to start a band after seeing Rozwell Kid live. According to Gregory, Rozwell Kid was a substantial influence on much of his early songwriting. The origin of the band's name is obscure; Gregory has stated that he "would make up a different dumbass story each time". He has variously explained that it was derived from a game that Gregory played with the band's TM & merch person – Luis Wiest – at recess in elementary school, that it was the name of Gregory's childhood guinea pig, or that it is his parents' anniversary. He has also tweeted that there is a comma missing between Prince and Daddy, due to a grammatical error.

The band met lead guitarist Cameron Handford through house shows and mutual friends eventually leading up to his joining of the band. Prince Daddy & the Hyena began in 2014 with the release of an extended play titled Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud!.

The band released the EP Adult Summers in 2015 through Broken World Media and again in 2017 through Counter Intuitive Records.

Their first full-length album I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving was finally released in 2016 on Broken World Media.

In 2017, Ziembiec left the band and was replaced by Daniel Gorham from Pictures of Vernon.

### Cosmic Thrill Seekers

In 2019, the band released its second full-length album titled Cosmic Thrill Seekers on Counter Intuitive Records, and embarked on several extensive tours in support of the album. This tour would prove difficult for the band, as they were involved in a traffic accident which left the band and members of their team temporarily disabled. After recovering from this incident, the band's tour van was broken into, leading to the loss of $7,500 worth of equipment. The band went on tour Europe with Oso Oso in further support of the record in the fall of 2019. In 2020, the band embarked on their co-headlining tour with Oso Oso with support from Just Friends.

### Self-titled album

In 2021, the band signed to Pure Noise Records and released the single "Curly Q.", which Gregory wrote for his nephew.

In 2022, they announced their forthcoming third album, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, to release on April 15. The album is conceptually about the fear of death, and was inspired by a van crash the band experienced. The album was also supported by the singles "A Random Exercise In Impermanence (The Collector)," "El Dorado," and "Shoelaces," as well as a headlining tour throughout the United States with Macseal, Insignificant Other, and California Cousins.

Original drummer Alex Ziembiec's died in November 2022.

In February 2023, they embarked on a co-headlining tour with Drug Church, with support from Anxious and Webbed Wing.

## Musical style

The band has self-identified themselves as a punk rock band in an interview with The Fader. Critically, the band has been described as "smartly crafted slacker punk" with elements of power pop, post-hardcore, and emo by AllMusic. Pitchfork has identified the band as both punk rock and emo.

Frontman Kory Gregory has cited Weezer, the Strokes, Jeff Rosenstock, and Green Day as major influences on the sound. In an interview with The Fader, Gregory described the sound on the band's second album Cosmic Thrill Seekers as "the soundtrack to a Disney film played by a punk rock band."

## Band members

Current

- Korneilious "Kory" Jophus Gregory – lead vocals, guitar (2014–present)

- Cameron "Cambo" Hanford – guitar (2014–present)

- Daniel "Podwick" Gorham – drums, backing vocals (2018–present)

- Jordan "J Nasty" Chmielowski – bass (2024–present; touring 2022–2023)

Past

- Zakariya "Hardly Knew Yee" Houacine – bass (2014–2019)

- Alex "Al Al Bean" Ziembiec – drums (2014–2017; died 2022)

- Adam Dasilva – bass (2020–2022)

Touring

- Jake Sulzer – drums (2017), bass (2023)

- James Ringness – drums (2017)

- Cole Syzilagyi – bass (2022)

### Timeline

## Discography

Studio albums

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media/2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Cosmic Thrill Seekers (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prince Daddy & the Hyena (2022, Pure Noise Records)

EPs

- Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud! (2014, Wallflower Records)

- Adult Summers (2015, Broken World Media, 2017 Counter Intuitive Records)

Splits

- Prince Daddy & The Hyena/Just Friends (2016, Broken World Media)

- Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 420 (2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

Singles

- Adult Summers Pt. 2 (2015, Broken World Media) HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media)

- Hundo Pos (2016, Broken World Media)

- I Forgot To Take My Meds Today (2017, Broken World Media)

- I Lost My Life (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Lauren (Track 2) (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Fuckin' A (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prototype of The Ultimate Life-form (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Curly Q (2021, Pure Noise Records)

- A Random Exercise in Impermanence (The Collector) (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- El Dorado (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- Shoelaces (2022, Pure Noise Records)


Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

# Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

## Abstract

MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HI gh-definition tele VISION) was a Japanese analog high-definition television system, with design efforts going back to 1979.

It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU -R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as 1035i. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" or compress an original 30 MHz bandwidth Hi-Vision source signal into just 8.1 MHz.

Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony HDVS high-definition video system was used to create content for the MUSE system, but didn't record MUSE signals. It recorded Hi-Vision signals which are uncompressed.By the time of its commercial launch in 1991, digital HDTV was already under development in the United States. Hi-Vision was mainly broadcast by NHK through their BShi satellite TV channel, although other channels such as WOWOW, TV Asahi, Fuji Television, TBS Television, Nippon Television, and TV Tokyo also broadcast in MUSE.

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were also a number of players available from other brands like Pioneer and Sony.

Hi-Vision continued broadcasting in analog until 2007.

## History

MUSE was developed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in the 1980s as a compression system for Hi-Vision HDTV signals.

- Japanese broadcast engineers immediately rejected conventional vestigial sideband broadcasting.

- It was decided early on that MUSE would be a satellite broadcast format as Japan economically supports satellite broadcasting. MUSE was transmitted at a frequency of 21 GHz or 12 GHz.

- Japanese broadcast engineers had been studying the various HDTV broadcast types for some time. It was initially thought that SHF, EHF or optic fiber would have to be used to transmit HDTV due to the high bandwidth of the signal, and HLO-PAL would be used for terrestrial broadcast. HLO-PAL is a conventionally constructed composite signal (based on Y {\displaystyle Y} for luminance and C {\displaystyle C} for chroma like NTSC and PAL) and uses a phase alternating by line with half-line offset carrier encoding of the wideband/narrowband chroma components. Only the very lowest part of the wideband chroma component overlapped the high-frequency chroma. The narrowband chroma was completely separated from luminance. PAF, or phase alternating by field (like the first NTSC color system trial) was also experimented with, and it gave much better decoding results, but NHK abandoned all composite encoding systems. Because of the use of satellite transmission, Frequency modulation (FM) should be used with power-limitation problem. FM incurs triangular noise, so if a sub-carrierred composite signal is used with FM, demodulated chroma signal has more noise than luminance. Because of this, they looked at other options, and decided to use Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} component emission for satellite. At one point, it seemed that FCFE (Frame Conversion Fineness Enhanced), I/P conversion compression system, would be chosen, but MUSE was ultimately picked.

- Separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C} components was explored. The MUSE format which is transmitted today, uses separated component signalling. The improvement in picture quality was so great, that the original test systems were recalled.

- One more power saving tweak was made: lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasised prior to modulation at the transmitter and de-emphasized at the receiver.

## Technical specifications

MUSE's "1125 lines" are an analog measurement, which includes non-video scan lines taking place while a CRT 's electron beam returns to the top of the screen to begin scanning the next field. Only 1035 lines have picture information. Digital signals count only the lines (rows of pixels) that have actual detail, so NTSC's 525 lines become 486i (rounded to 480 to be MPEG compatible), PAL's 625 lines become 576i, and MUSE would be 1035i. To convert the bandwidth of Hi-Vision MUSE into "conventional" lines-of-horizontal resolution (as is used in the NTSC world), multiply 29.9 lines per MHz of bandwidth. (NTSC and PAL/SECAM are 79.9 lines per MHz) - this calculation of 29.9 lines works for all current HD systems including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. So, for MUSE, during a still picture, the lines of resolution would be: 598-lines of luminance resolution per-picture-height. The chroma resolution is: 209-lines. The horizontal luminance measurement approximately matches the vertical resolution of a 1080 interlaced image when the Kell factor and interlace factor are taken into account. 1125 lines was selected as a compromise between the resolution in lines of NTSC and PAL and then doubling this number.

MUSE employs time-compression integration (TCI) which is another term for time-division multiplexing, which is used to carry luminance, chrominance, PCM audio and sync signals on one carrier signal/in one carrier frequency. However, TCI achieves multiplexing by compression of the contents in the time dimension, in other words transmitting frames of video that are divided into regions with chrominance compressed into the left of the frame and luminance compressed into the right of the frame, which must then be expanded and layered to create a visible image. This makes it different from NTSC which carries luminance, audio and chrominance simultaneously in several carrier frequencies. Hi-Vision signals are component video signals with 3 channels: they were RGB initially, and later YP P.

Key features of the MUSE system:

- Scanlines (total/active): 1,125/1,035

- Pixels per line (fully interpolated): 1122 (still image)/748 (moving)

- Reference clock periods: 1920 per active line

- Interlaced ratio: 2:1

- Aspect ratio 16:9

- Refresh rate: 59.94 or 60 frames per second

- Sampling frequency for broadcast: 16.2 MHz

- Vector motion compensation: horizontal ± 16 samples (32.4 MHz clock) / frame, a vertical line ± 3 / Field

- Audio: "DANCE" discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system: 48 kHz/16 bit (2 channel stereo: 2 front channels)/32 kHz/12 bit (4 channel surround: 3 front channels + 1 back channel)

- DPCM Audio compression format: DPCM quasi-instantaneous companding

- Required bandwidth: 27 MHz

### Colorimetry

The MUSE luminance signal Y {\displaystyle Y} encodes Y M {\displaystyle YM}, specified as the following mix of the original RGB color channels:

The chrominance C {\displaystyle C} signal encodes B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM} difference signals. By using these three signals (Y M {\displaystyle YM}, B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM}), a MUSE receiver can retrieve the original RGB color components using the following matrix:

The system used a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M (with coefficients corresponding to the SMPTE RP 145 primaries, also known as SMPTE-C, in use at the time the standard was created). The chromaticity of the primary colors and white point are:

The luma (E Y {\displaystyle EY}) function is specified as:

The blue color difference (E P B {\displaystyle EPB}) is amplitude-scaled (E B − E Y {\displaystyle EB-EY}), according to:

The red color difference (E P R {\displaystyle EPR}) is amplitude-scaled (E R − E Y {\displaystyle ER-EY}), according to:

### Signal and Transmission

MUSE is a 1125 line system (1035 visible), and is not pulse and sync compatible with the digital 1080 line system used by modern HDTV. Originally, it was a 1125 line, interlaced, 60 Hz, system with a 5:3 (1.66:1) aspect ratio and an optimal viewing distance of roughly 3.3H. In 1989 this was changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For terrestrial MUSE transmission a bandwidth limited FM system was devised. A satellite transmission system uses uncompressed FM.

The pre-compression bandwidth for Y {\displaystyle Y} is 20 MHz, and the pre-compression bandwidth for chrominance is a 7.425 MHz carrier.

The Japanese initially explored the idea of frequency modulation of a conventionally constructed composite signal. This would create a signal similar in structure to the Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} composite video NTSC signal - with the Y {\displaystyle Y} (luminance) at the lower frequencies and the C {\displaystyle C} (chrominance) above. Approximately 3 kW of power would be required, in order to get 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a composite FM signal in the 22 GHz band. This was incompatible with satellite broadcast techniques and bandwidth.

To overcome this limitation, it was decided to use a separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C}. This reduces the effective frequency range and lowers the required power. Approximately 570 W (360 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 210 for C {\displaystyle C}) would be needed in order to get a 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a separate Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} FM signal in the 22 GHz satellite band. This was feasible.

There is one more power saving that appears from the character of the human eye. The lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasized prior to modulation at the transmitter and then de-emphasized at the receiver. This method was adopted, with crossover frequencies for the emphasis/de-emphasis at 5.2 MHz for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 1.6 MHz for C {\displaystyle C}. With this in place, the power requirements drop to 260 W of power (190 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 69 for C {\displaystyle C}).

## Sampling systems and ratios

The subsampling in a video system is usually expressed as a three part ratio. The three terms of the ratio are: the number of brightness (luma) Y {\displaystyle Y} samples, followed by the number of samples of the two color (chroma) components C b {\displaystyle Cb} and C r {\displaystyle Cr}, for each complete sample area. Traditionally the value for brightness is always 4, with the rest of the values scaled accordingly.

A sampling of 4:4:4 indicates that all three components are fully sampled. A sampling of 4:2:0, for example, indicated that the two chroma components are sampled at half the horizontal sample rate of luma - the horizontal chroma resolution is halved. This reduces the bandwidth of an uncompressed video signal by one-third.

MUSE implements a similar system as a means of reducing bandwidth, but instead of static sampling, the actual ratio varies according to the amount of motion on the screen. In practice, MUSE sampling will vary from approximately 4:2:1 to 4:0.5:0.25, depending on the amount of movement. Thus the red-green chroma component C r {\displaystyle Cr} has between one-half and one-eighth the sampling resolution of the luma component Y {\displaystyle Y}, and the blue-yellow chroma C b {\displaystyle Cb} has half the resolution of red-green.

## Audio subsystem

MUSE had a discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system called " DANCE ", which stood for Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion.

It used differential audio transmission (differential pulse-code modulation) that was not psychoacoustics-based like MPEG-1 Layer II. It used a fixed transmission rate of 1350 kbp/s. Like the PAL NICAM stereo system, it used near-instantaneous companding (as opposed to Syllabic-companding like the dbx system uses) and non-linear 13-bit digital encoding at a 32 kHz sample rate.

It could also operate in a 48 kHz 16-bit mode. The DANCE system was well documented in numerous NHK technical papers and in a NHK-published book issued in the USA called Hi-Vision Technology.

The DANCE audio codec was superseded by Dolby AC-3 (a.k.a. Dolby Digital), DTS Coherent Acoustics (a.k.a. DTS Zeta 6x20 or ARTEC), MPEG-1 Layer III (a.k.a. MP3), MPEG-2 Layer I, MPEG-4 AAC and many other audio coders. The methods of this codec are described in the IEEE paper:

## Real world performance issues

MUSE had a four-field dot-interlacing cycle, meaning it took four fields to complete a single MUSE frame. Thus, only stationary images were transmitted at full resolution. However, as MUSE lowers the horizontal and vertical resolution of material that varies greatly from frame to frame, moving images were blurred. Because MUSE used motion-compensation, whole camera pans maintained full resolution, but individual moving elements could be reduced to only a quarter of the full frame resolution. Because the mix between motion and non-motion was encoded on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it wasn't as visible as most would think. Later, NHK came up with backwards compatible methods of MUSE encoding/decoding that greatly increased resolution in moving areas of the image as well as increasing the chroma resolution during motion. This so-called MUSE-III system was used for broadcasts starting in 1995 and a very few of the last Hi-Vision MUSE LaserDiscs used it (A River Runs Through It is one Hi-Vision LD that used it). During early demonstrations of the MUSE system, complaints were common about the decoder's large size, which led to the creation of a miniaturized decoder.

Shadows and multipath still plague this analog frequency modulated transmission mode.

Japan has since switched to a digital HDTV system based on ISDB, but the original MUSE-based BS Satellite channel 9 (NHK BS Hi-vision) was broadcast until September 30, 2007.

## Cultural and geopolitical impacts

- (1940s): The NTSC standard (as a 525 line monochrome system) was imposed by the US occupation forces.

- (1950s-1960s): Unlike Canada (that could have switched to PAL), Japan was stuck with the US TV transmission standard regardless of circumstances.

- (1960s-1970s): By the late 1960s many parts of the modern Japanese electronics industry had gotten their start by fixing the transmission and storage problems inherent with NTSC's design.

- (1970s-1980s): By the 1980s there was spare engineering talent available in Japan that could design a better television system.

MUSE, as the US public came to know it, was initially covered in the magazine Popular Science in the mid-1980s. The US television networks did not provide much coverage of MUSE until the late 1980s, as there were few public demonstrations of the system outside Japan.

Because Japan had its own domestic frequency allocation tables (that were more open to the deployment of MUSE) it became possible for this television system to be transmitted by Ku Band satellite technology by the end of the 1980s.

The US FCC in the late 1980s began to issue directives that would allow MUSE to be tested in the US, providing it could be fit into a 6 MHz System-M channel.

The Europeans (in the form of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)) were impressed with MUSE, but could never adopt it because it is a 60 Hz TV system, not a 50 Hz system that is standard in Europe and the rest of the world (outside the Americas and Japan).

The EBU development and deployment of B-MAC, D-MAC and much later on HD-MAC were made possible by Hi-Vision's technical success. In many ways MAC transmission systems are better than MUSE because of the total separation of colour from brightness in the time domain within the MAC signal structure.

Like Hi-Vision, HD-MAC could not be transmitted in 8 MHz channels without substantial modification – and a severe loss of quality and frame rate. A 6 MHz version Hi-Vision was experimented with in the US, but it too had severe quality problems so the FCC never fully sanctioned its use as a domestic terrestrial television transmission standard.

The US ATSC working group that had led to the creation of NTSC in the 1950s was reactivated in the early 1990s because of Hi-Vision's success. Many aspects of the DVB standard are based on work done by the ATSC working group, however most of the impact is in support for 60 Hz (as well as 24 Hz for film transmission) and uniform sampling rates and interoperable screen sizes.

## Device support for Hi-Vision

### Hi-Vision LaserDiscs

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were a number of MUSE LaserDisc players available in Japan: Pioneer HLD-XØ, HLD-X9, HLD-1000, HLD-V500, HLD-V700; Sony HIL-1000, HIL-C1 and HIL-C2EX; the last two of which have OEM versions made by Panasonic, LX-HD10 and LX-HD20. Players also supported standard NTSC LaserDiscs. Hi-Vision LaserDiscs are extremely rare and expensive.

The HDL-5800 Video Disc Recorder recorded both high definition still images and continuous video onto an optical disc and was part of the early analog wideband Sony HDVS high-definition video system which supported the MUSE system. Capable of recording HD still images and video onto either the WHD-3AL0 or the WHD-33A0 optical disc; WHD-3Al0 for CLV mode (up to 10 minute video or 18,000 still frames per side); WHD-33A0 for CAV mode (up to 3 minute video or 5400 still frames per side). These video discs were used for short video content such as advertisements and product demonstrations.

The HDL-2000 was a full band high definition video disc player.

### Reel to reel VTRs

For recording Hi-Vision signals, Three reel to reel analog VTRs were released, among them are the Sony HDV-1000 part of their HDVS line, the NEC TT 8-1000 and the Toshiba TVR-1000. These analog VTRs had a head drum angular speed of 3600 RPM and are similar to Type C VTRs. They have a bandwidth of 30 Mhz for luma and 7 Mhz for both chroma channels each, with a signal to noise ratio of 41 dB. They accept luma and chroma signals with bandwidths of up to 30 Mhz for both. Signals are recorded onto the tape using FM modulation. Linear tape speed is 483.1 mm/s and writing speed at the heads is 25.9 m/s. The head drum is 134.5 mm wide and has 4 video record heads, 4 video playback heads and 1 erasing head. It could record for 45 minutes on 10.5 inch reels. The video heads are made of Mn-Zn ferrite material, those used for recording have a gap of 0.7 microns and a width of 80 microns and those for playback have a gap of 0.35 microns and a width of 70 microns. It records audio on 3 linear tracks, and control signals on a linear track. Unlike conventional type C videotape recorders, Vertical Blanking Intervals are not recorded on the tape. Helical tracks have groups of 4 signals length-wise with red chrominance, blue chrominance, and two green chrominance signals with luminance information. Two tracks for green chrominance plus luminance are used to increase the bandwidth of these signals that can be recorded on the tape.

In 1987, technical standards for digital recording of Hi-Vision signals were released by NHK, and Sony and Hitachi developed the HDD-1000 as part of their HDVS line, and the HV-1200 digital reel to reel VTRs respectively. Audio is recorded digitally similarly to a DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) digital audio recorder, but several changes were made to synchronize the audio to the video. These digital VTRs can record 8 channels of digital audio on linear tracks (horizontally along the entire length of the tape). According to the standards, these VTRs operate with a head drum speed of 7200 RPM, have a bit rate of 148.5 Mbit/s per video head, a linear tape speed of 805.2 mm/s and a writing speed at the heads of 51.5 m/s, are similar to Type C VTRs, have a head drum 135mm wide, 8 playback, 8 recording and 2 erase heads, with 37 micron wide helical tracks. Bandwidth is 30 Mhz for luma (Y) and 15 Mhz for chroma (P, P). Audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48 kHz stored at 16 bits per sample in linear tape tracks, sampling rate for luma is 74.25 Mhz and 37.125 Mhz for chroma stored at 8 bits per sample. Signal to noise ratio is 56 dB for chroma and luma. Video fields are divided into 16 helical tracks on the tape. Total video bandwidth is 1.188 gigabits/s. Cue signals are recorded into 3 linear tape tracks. Video is recorded in groups of 4 tracks length-wise within each helical track, to allow for parallelization: high total data rates with relatively low data rates per head, and reduce the linear tape speed. Digital video signals are recorded line by line (1 row of pixels in every frame of video or 1 line of video at a time) with ECC (Error Correcting Code) at the end of each line and in between a number of vertical lines. Reed-Solomon code is used for ECC and each line also has an ID number for trick play such as slow motion and picture search/shuttle.

### Displays

Hi-Vision requires a display capable of handling 30 Mhz of video bandwidth simultaneously for each of the component video channels: RGB or Y, P and P. It was displayed on direct view color CRTs and CRT projectors, and plasma displays and Talaria projectors were explored to determine their ability to display Hi-Vision images.

### Cameras

Cameras based on Saticon tubes, Plumbicon tubes, Harpicon tubes and CCD image sensors were used to capture footage using the Hi-Vision format. A prototype based on Vidicon tubes was also created.

### MUSE decoders

A MUSE decoder is required for receiving MUSE broadcasts from satellites, and for viewing content in the MUSE format. The decoder converts MUSE format signals into Hi-Vision component video signals that can then be shown in a display.

### Video cassettes

W-VHS allowed home recording of Hi-Vision programmes.

For recording Hi-Vision video, NHK and 10 Japanese companies ("NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo Electric, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon") in 1989 released UniHi, a professional videocassette format. Recorders for the format were manufactured by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba. These machines were less expensive than their Type C counterparts. Both studio and portable versions were made. The head drum spins at 5400 RPM and uses tape that is 12.65 mm wide. It has a luminance (Y) bandwidth of 20 MHz and a chrominance (P, P) bandwidth of 7 MHz. The head drum is 76mm wide. It uses two video heads with azimuth recording and records each frame of video into 12 helical tracks; only 6 tracks are necessary for each video field if recording interlaced video. Audio is recorded digitally as a PCM signal, as a section on the helical tracks. Writing speed at the heads is 21.4 m/s. The tape also has 3 linear tracks, one for audio, control and time code each. Signal to noise ratio for luminance is 41 dB and for chrominance it is 47 dB. The tape is wrapped 180° around the head drum. Development began in 1987. It uses metal particle tape. It could record video for 1 hour (63 minutes). Linear tape speed is 120 mm/s. The cassette measures 205mm (width) x 121mm (depth) x 25mm (height). Signals are recorded using time-compression integration, in groups of two signals length-wise on each helical track. Grouping is used to increase the bandwidth that can be recorded on the tape. The cassette is intented to be air-tight with two flaps in the cassette's opening to protect the tape.

This videocassette format was developed in order to reduce the size of HD recording equipment. The Sony version of the UniHi VTR, the HDV-10, had a price of over 90,000 US dollars.


Reference noise

# Reference noise

## Abstract

In telecommunications, reference noise is the magnitude of circuit noise chosen as a reference for measurement.

Many different levels with a number of different weightings are in current use, and care must be taken to ensure that the proper parameters are stated.

Specific ones include: dBa, dBa(F1A), dBa(HA1), dBa0, dBm, dBm(psoph), dBm0, dBrn, dBrnC, dBrnC0, dBrn(f -f), dBrn(144-line), dBx.


Mississippi Braves

# Mississippi Braves

## Abstract

The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they are referred to locally, was a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. The team was the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and played in the Southern League. The team had been owned and operated by Diamond Baseball Holdings since December 2021. After the 2024 season, the team relocated to Columbus, Georgia, to become the Columbus Clingstones.

## History

In 2005, the Southern League 's Greenville Braves relocated to Pearl from Greenville, South Carolina, due to the poor condition of Greenville Municipal Stadium, and the failure to reach an agreement with the Greenville County council for a new ballpark.

The M-Braves' first season began on April 18, 2005 at Trustmark Park with a loss to the Montgomery Biscuits.

In conjunction with Major League Baseball 's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Braves were organized into the Double-A South. They won the 2021 Southern Division title with a first-place 67–44 record. They qualified for the playoffs by having the best record in the league. The Braves defeated the Montgomery Biscuits, 3–2, in the best-of-five series to win the Double-A South championship. Shea Langeliers was selected as the league's Top MLB Prospect and Dan Meyer as the Manager of the Year.

In December 2021, Diamond Baseball Holdings bought the Mississippi Braves from Atlanta Braves owner Liberty Media.

In 2022, the Double-A South became known as the Southern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

On January 9, 2024, the Braves announced that the 2024 season would be their final season in Pearl, Mississippi and they would be relocating to Columbus, Georgia for the start of the 2025 season. In September 2024, the franchise's new identity was revealed as the Columbus Clingstones.

## Championships

On September 13, 2008, the Mississippi Braves beat the Carolina Mudcats, 3–2, in the 10th inning of the decisive Game 5 of the Southern League Championship Series. This was the M-Braves first championship and the first Southern League title for Atlanta's Double-A franchise since 1997. The M-Braves' second title came in 2021 in the Double-A South.

## Television and radio

All Mississippi Braves games were televised live on MiLB.TV. Since 2023, all regular and post-season Mississippi Braves games aired on 102.1 The Box. The broadcasters were Chris Harris and Jack Sadighian. From 2009 to 2022, games aired on WYAB 103.9 FM.

## Notable players

- Blaine Boyer * (2005)

- Danny Burawa

- Román Colón (2005)

- Chuck James (2005)

- Brian McCann * (2005)

- Jay Powell * (2005)

- Martín Prado * (2005–2006)

- Gregor Blanco (2005-2006)

- Joey Devine * (2005–2007)

- Jeff Francoeur * (2005, 2008)

- Max Fried * (2017)

- Chipper Jones * (2006)

- Yunel Escobar (2006)

- Manny Acosta (2006)

- Matt Harrison (2006)

- José Ascanio * (2006–2007)

- Jarrod Saltalamacchia * (2006–2007)

- Kris Medlen (2007-2008)

- Tommy Hanson (2008)

- Matt Diaz (2008)

- Jordan Schafer (2008, 2010)

- Jason Heyward (2009)

- Freddie Freeman (2009)

- Craig Kimbrel (2009)

- Nate McLouth * (2009)

- Julio Teherán (2010)

- Mike Minor (2010, 2014)

- Arodys Vizcaíno (2011, 2015)

- Andrelton Simmons * (2012)

- Evan Gattis (2012)

- Christian Bethancourt (2012-2013)

- Philip Gosselin (2012-2013)

- Tommy La Stella (2013)

- Alex Wood (2013)

- Mallex Smith (2015)

- Brian O'Connor (2005)

- Ronald Acuna Jr. (2017)

- Michael Harris II (2022)

* Promoted directly to Atlanta.


Toby Sowery

# Toby Sowery

## Abstract

Toby Sowery (born 30 June 1996 in Melbourn) is a British racing driver who currently races in the IndyCar Series for Dale Coyne Racing in the #51

## Career

### Karting

Born in Melbourn, Sowery began karting in 2004 at the age of eight and claimed titles in Easykart, Junior TKM and Junior Rotax GP.

### Lower Formulae

In 2014, Sowery graduated to single-seaters, beginning with the MSV F3 Cup, where he took the title with ten race wins and fourteen podiums. Later that year, Sowery partook in the MRF Challenge, in which he also claimed the title.

The following year, Sowery entered a few races MSA Formula with MBM Motorsport, where he finished fourteenth with eighty points.

In 2016, Sowery graduated to British F3 with Lanan Racing. There he claimed five victories and led the standings for a time before finishing third behind eventual champion Matheus Leist.

Sowery returned to the MRF Challenge in 2016-17 but only as a development driver working on future upgrades for the Championship.

## Racing record

### Career summary

As Sowery was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points. Season still in progress.

### Complete MRF Challenge Formula 2000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

### Complete MSA Formula results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

### American open-wheel racing results

#### IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

### Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

### Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Season still in progress.


Prince Daddy & the Hyena


Recovery procedure

# Recovery procedure

## Abstract

In telecommunications, a recovery procedure is a process that attempts to bring a system back to a normal operating state. Examples:

- The actions necessary to restore an automated information system 's data files and computational capability after a system failure.

- In data communications, a process whereby a data station attempts to resolve conflicting or erroneous conditions arising during the data transfer.


Alfred Brehm

# Alfred Brehm

## Abstract

Alfred Edmund Brehm (German pronunciation:; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist, writer, director of zoological gardens and the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm, a famous pastor and ornithologist. His multi-volume book Brehms Tierleben, which he co-authored with Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, Wilhelm Haacke, and Richard Schmidtlein, became a household word for popular zoological literature.

## Early life

Alfred Brehm grew up in the small Thuringian village of Unter renthendorf as the son of the pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm, and of his second wife Bertha née Reiz. Christian Ludwig Brehm made a name for himself as an ornithologist by publications and through an extensive collection of stuffed birds. The collection, held in the parsonage and consisting of over 9,000 dead birds, offered a glimpse into the world of European birds. As a boy he helped expand his father by collecting specimens and became an excellent marskman. His father's research gave the younger Brehm an interest in zoology, but at first he wanted to become an architect. In the spring of 1844 he began to study with a builder in Altenburg. He continued his studies there until September 1846, when he left for Dresden in order to study architecture; however, he stopped after two semesters because Baron Johann Wilhelm von Müller, a well-known ornithologist, was looking for a companion for an African expedition. Brehm joined the expedition on 31 May 1847 as a secretary and as a collecting assistant to von Müller. The expedition took him to Egypt, the Sudan, and the Sinai Peninsula; the discoveries made were so important that, at age 20, Brehm was made a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.

## Career

After his return, in 1853 he started to study natural sciences at the University of Jena. Like his brother Reinhold, he became active with the student corps Saxonia Jena; because of his expedition to North Africa, he received the nickname Pharaoh from his corps brothers. He graduated after four semesters in 1855 and in 1856 went on a two-year journey to Spain with his brother Reinhold. Afterwards he settled down in Leipzig as a freelance writer and wrote many essays in the service of science popularization for Die Gartenlaube and other magazines. Soon, Brehm became one of Germany's most popular naturalists and science writers, focusing on zoological themes.

Apart from this, he undertook an expedition to Norway and Lapland in 1860.

In May 1861 Brehm married his cousin Mathilde Reiz, with whom he had five children. Since he wanted to travel, in 1862 he accepted the invitation of Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to accompany him on a trip to Abyssinia. On this trip Brehm met the artist Robert Kretschmer who would assist him in his later books. Afterwards, Brehm travelled to Africa as well as to Scandinavia and Siberia. His essays and expedition reports from the animal world were well received by the educated bourgeoisie; because of this, he was commissioned by the editor of the Bibliographisches Institut, Herrmann Julius Meyer, to write a large multivolume work on the animal world. This book became known worldwide as Brehms Tierleben (or, in English, Brehm's Life of Animals). Although Brehm's ethology is no longer seen as correct in all details, the title of his work is still a catchphrase.

Brehm's life was full with writing, scientific expeditions and lecture tours. Despite this, in 1862, he accepted the post of first director of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg and kept this position until 1867. Afterwards he went to Berlin, where he opened an aquarium. He remained with the aquarium until 1874. In 1876 he travelled to Siberia with Otto Finsch. In the winter of 1883 to 1884 Brehm planned a lecture tour to the US. Shortly before his departure, his four children contracted diphtheria. Since he could not afford to break his contract, Brehm, a widower since 1878, went ahead with his tour. At the end of January he received word of his youngest son's death. After the hardship of this news Brehm relapsed into malaria, which he had caught in Africa in his expedition days. On 11 May 1884, he came back to Berlin. In order to find peace, he returned in July to his home town of Renthendorf, where he died on 11 November 1884. Today, the Brehm Memorial Museum is located there.

## Selected publications

- Brehms Tierleben (English title: Brehm's Life of Animals.) See the article on Brehms Tierleben for its editions, titles and availability of online text.

- Reiseskizzen aus Nord-Ost-Afrika (1855, 3 vols., pub. Friedrich Mauke, Jena.)

- Das Leben der Vögel (pub. C. Flemming, Glogau, 1861; second edition 1867.)

- Ergebnisse einer Reise nach Habesch (1863, pub. O. Meissner, Hamburg.)

- Die Thiere des Waldes, with Emil Adolf Rossmässler (2 vols., 1864 – 1867, pub. C. F. Winter, Leipzig and Heidelberg.)

- Gefangene Vögel, with Otto Finsch (2 vols., 1872 – 1876, pub. C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, Leipzig.)

- (wild life and scenes in many places)


The Invisible Kid

# The Invisible Kid

## Abstract

The Invisible Kid is a 1988 American teen science fiction comedy film written and directed by Avery Crounse. The film stars Jay Underwood, Wally Ward, Chynna Phillips, Brother Theodore, and Karen Black.

## Plot

Following in his deceased father's footsteps, Grover Dunn finds a magic formula that makes him vanish. The formula causes all types of trouble for Grover and his mother and the love of his life when his high school principal rigs a basketball game; and he enlists the aid of a put-down cop to investigate.

## Cast

- Jay Underwood as Grover Dunn

- Wally Ward as Milton McClane

- Chynna Phillips as Cindy Moore

- Brother Theodore as Dr. Theodore

- Karen Black as Deborah Dunn

- Mike Genovese as Officer Chuck Malone

## Reception

Caryn James of The New York Times wrote that it "proves you can cull every known cliche from successful teen adventure films and still come up with a bomb". Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Blank leader projected on the screen would have been an improvement".


Royce Hunt

# Royce Hunt

## Abstract

Royce Hunt (born 13 August 1995) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League (NRL).

Hunt previously played for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL.

## Early life

Hunt was born in Liverpool, Sydney and is of Samoan, Hawaiian and Maori descent. He was educated at Kalgoorlie State High School.

Hunt played his junior rugby league for the Willagee Bears and Goldfields Titans in the Western Australia Rugby League, before being signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

Arriving at Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Hunt attended Bass High School and represented the 2013 Australian Schoolboys.

## Playing career

### Early career

In 2014 and 2015, Hunt played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' NYC team. In 2016, he joined the Mount Pritchard Mounties in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW. After impressing for the Mounties, he gained a contract with the Canberra Raiders for 2017.

### 2017

In round 14 of the 2017 NRL season, Hunt made his NRL debut for Canberra against the Penrith Panthers.

### 2018

Hunt made no first grade appearances for Canberra in the 2018 NRL season instead playing for Mounties in the Canterbury Cup NSW competition.

### 2019

Hunt made no appearances for Canberra in the 2019 NRL season. Hunt instead played against for Mounties in the Canterbury Cup NSW competition as they qualified for the finals finishing in 6th place. Hunt played in Mounties elimination final loss against Newtown at Campbelltown Stadium.

On 13 October, it was announced that Hunt had been released by Canberra.

### 2020

In early 2020, Hunt signed a contract to join Cronulla-Sutherland for the 2020 NRL season.

In round 8 of the 2020 NRL season, Hunt scored his first try for Cronulla-Sutherland and his first in the top grade as Cronulla defeated the Gold Coast 40–10 at Cbus Super Stadium.

In round 19 against the Sydney Roosters, Hunt was taken from the field during the second half of the game with a leg injury. It was later revealed Hunt had dislocated his right kneecap.

### 2021

Hunt played only two games for Cronulla in the 2021 NRL season which saw the club narrowly miss the finals by finishing 9th on the table.

### 2022

Hunt played a total of 19 games for Cronulla in the 2022 NRL season as the club finished second on the table. Hunt played in Cronulla's qualifying final loss to North Queensland but did not feature in Cronulla's elimination semi-final loss to South Sydney.

In October Hunt was named in the Samoa squad for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. Hunt played for Samoa in their 2021 Rugby League World Cup final loss to Australia.

### 2023

Hunt represented New Zealand Māori all stars team as starting prop, losing against the Australian Indigenous team, 28–24.

In round 3 of the 2023 NRL season, Hunt was sent to the sin bin during Cronulla's 24–20 loss against Canberra for punching Corey Horsburgh. Following the match, Hunt spoke with the media and accused Horsburgh of hiding behind other players. Hunt went on to say “As Ricky Stuart would say, he’s a weak-gutted dog, We’ll get him next game, I have never seen a front-rower hide behind a halfback, You can’t just hold me in and push me over and not expect anything. I was a bit upset about that". Hunt played a total of 20 games for Cronulla in the 2023 NRL season as Cronulla finished sixth on the table. Hunt played in the clubs 13–12 upset loss against the Sydney Roosters which ended their season.

### 2024

On 18 March, it was announced that Hunt would miss at least 2-4 weeks with a calf injury. On 3 September, Hunt was granted a release from his final year of his contract to join a three-year deal with the Wests Tigers for the 2025 season.

## Statistics

### NRL


Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

# Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

## Abstract

MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HI gh-definition tele VISION) was a Japanese analog high-definition television system, with design efforts going back to 1979.

It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU -R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as 1035i. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" or compress an original 30 MHz bandwidth Hi-Vision source signal into just 8.1 MHz.

Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony HDVS high-definition video system was used to create content for the MUSE system, but didn't record MUSE signals. It recorded Hi-Vision signals which are uncompressed.By the time of its commercial launch in 1991, digital HDTV was already under development in the United States. Hi-Vision was mainly broadcast by NHK through their BShi satellite TV channel, although other channels such as WOWOW, TV Asahi, Fuji Television, TBS Television, Nippon Television, and TV Tokyo also broadcast in MUSE.

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were also a number of players available from other brands like Pioneer and Sony.

Hi-Vision continued broadcasting in analog by NHK until 2007. Other channels had stopped by 2003 as they transitioned to digital HD signals in ISDB, Japan's digital broadcast standard.

## History

MUSE was developed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in the 1980s as a compression system for Hi-Vision HDTV signals.

- Japanese broadcast engineers immediately rejected conventional vestigial sideband broadcasting.

- It was decided early on that MUSE would be a satellite broadcast format as Japan economically supports satellite broadcasting. MUSE was transmitted at a frequency of 21 GHz or 12 GHz.

- Japanese broadcast engineers had been studying the various HDTV broadcast types for some time. It was initially thought that SHF, EHF or optic fiber would have to be used to transmit HDTV due to the high bandwidth of the signal, and HLO-PAL would be used for terrestrial broadcast. HLO-PAL is a conventionally constructed composite signal (based on Y {\displaystyle Y} for luminance and C {\displaystyle C} for chroma like NTSC and PAL) and uses a phase alternating by line with half-line offset carrier encoding of the wideband/narrowband chroma components. Only the very lowest part of the wideband chroma component overlapped the high-frequency chroma. The narrowband chroma was completely separated from luminance. PAF, or phase alternating by field (like the first NTSC color system trial) was also experimented with, and it gave much better decoding results, but NHK abandoned all composite encoding systems. Because of the use of satellite transmission, Frequency modulation (FM) should be used with power-limitation problem. FM incurs triangular noise, so if a sub-carrierred composite signal is used with FM, demodulated chroma signal has more noise than luminance. Because of this, they looked at other options, and decided to use Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} component emission for satellite. At one point, it seemed that FCFE (Frame Conversion Fineness Enhanced), I/P conversion compression system, would be chosen, but MUSE was ultimately picked.

- Separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C} components was explored. The MUSE format which is transmitted today, uses separated component signalling. The improvement in picture quality was so great, that the original test systems were recalled.

- One more power saving tweak was made: lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasised prior to modulation at the transmitter and de-emphasized at the receiver.

## Technical specifications

MUSE's "1125 lines" are an analog measurement, which includes non-video scan lines taking place while a CRT 's electron beam returns to the top of the screen to begin scanning the next field. Only 1035 lines have picture information. Digital signals count only the lines (rows of pixels) that have actual detail, so NTSC's 525 lines become 486i (rounded to 480 to be MPEG compatible), PAL's 625 lines become 576i, and MUSE would be 1035i. To convert the bandwidth of Hi-Vision MUSE into "conventional" lines-of-horizontal resolution (as is used in the NTSC world), multiply 29.9 lines per MHz of bandwidth. (NTSC and PAL/SECAM are 79.9 lines per MHz) - this calculation of 29.9 lines works for all current HD systems including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. So, for MUSE, during a still picture, the lines of resolution would be: 598-lines of luminance resolution per-picture-height. The chroma resolution is: 209-lines. The horizontal luminance measurement approximately matches the vertical resolution of a 1080 interlaced image when the Kell factor and interlace factor are taken into account. 1125 lines was selected as a compromise between the resolution in lines of NTSC and PAL and then doubling this number.

MUSE employs time-compression integration (TCI) which is another term for time-division multiplexing, which is used to carry luminance, chrominance, PCM audio and sync signals on one carrier signal/in one carrier frequency. However, TCI achieves multiplexing by compression of the contents in the time dimension, in other words transmitting frames of video that are divided into regions with chrominance compressed into the left of the frame and luminance compressed into the right of the frame, which must then be expanded and layered to create a visible image. This makes it different from NTSC which carries luminance, audio and chrominance simultaneously in several carrier frequencies. Hi-Vision signals are component video signals with 3 channels: they were RGB initially, and later YP P.

Key features of the MUSE system:

- Scanlines (total/active): 1,125/1,035

- Pixels per line (fully interpolated): 1122 (still image)/748 (moving)

- Reference clock periods: 1920 per active line

- Interlaced ratio: 2:1

- Aspect ratio 16:9

- Refresh rate: 59.94 or 60 frames per second

- Sampling frequency for broadcast: 16.2 MHz

- Vector motion compensation: horizontal ± 16 samples (32.4 MHz clock) / frame, a vertical line ± 3 / Field

- Audio: "DANCE" discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system: 48 kHz/16 bit (2 channel stereo: 2 front channels)/32 kHz/12 bit (4 channel surround: 3 front channels + 1 back channel)

- DPCM Audio compression format: DPCM quasi-instantaneous companding

- Required bandwidth: 27 MHz

### Colorimetry

The MUSE luminance signal Y {\displaystyle Y} encodes Y M {\displaystyle YM}, specified as the following mix of the original RGB color channels:

The chrominance C {\displaystyle C} signal encodes B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM} difference signals. By using these three signals (Y M {\displaystyle YM}, B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM}), a MUSE receiver can retrieve the original RGB color components using the following matrix:

The system used a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M (with coefficients corresponding to the SMPTE RP 145 primaries, also known as SMPTE-C, in use at the time the standard was created). The chromaticity of the primary colors and white point are:

The luma (E Y {\displaystyle EY}) function is specified as:

The blue color difference (E P B {\displaystyle EPB}) is amplitude-scaled (E B − E Y {\displaystyle EB-EY}), according to:

The red color difference (E P R {\displaystyle EPR}) is amplitude-scaled (E R − E Y {\displaystyle ER-EY}), according to:

### Signal and Transmission

MUSE is a 1125 line system (1035 visible), and is not pulse and sync compatible with the digital 1080 line system used by modern HDTV. Originally, it was a 1125 line, interlaced, 60 Hz, system with a 5:3 (1.66:1) aspect ratio and an optimal viewing distance of roughly 3.3H. In 1989 this was changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For terrestrial MUSE transmission a bandwidth limited FM system was devised. A satellite transmission system uses uncompressed FM.

The pre-compression bandwidth for Y {\displaystyle Y} is 20 MHz, and the pre-compression bandwidth for chrominance is a 7.425 MHz carrier.

The Japanese initially explored the idea of frequency modulation of a conventionally constructed composite signal. This would create a signal similar in structure to the Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} composite video NTSC signal - with the Y {\displaystyle Y} (luminance) at the lower frequencies and the C {\displaystyle C} (chrominance) above. Approximately 3 kW of power would be required, in order to get 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a composite FM signal in the 22 GHz band. This was incompatible with satellite broadcast techniques and bandwidth.

To overcome this limitation, it was decided to use a separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C}. This reduces the effective frequency range and lowers the required power. Approximately 570 W (360 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 210 for C {\displaystyle C}) would be needed in order to get a 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a separate Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} FM signal in the 22 GHz satellite band. This was feasible.

There is one more power saving that appears from the character of the human eye. The lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasized prior to modulation at the transmitter and then de-emphasized at the receiver. This method was adopted, with crossover frequencies for the emphasis/de-emphasis at 5.2 MHz for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 1.6 MHz for C {\displaystyle C}. With this in place, the power requirements drop to 260 W of power (190 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 69 for C {\displaystyle C}).

## Sampling systems and ratios

The subsampling in a video system is usually expressed as a three part ratio. The three terms of the ratio are: the number of brightness (luma) Y {\displaystyle Y} samples, followed by the number of samples of the two color (chroma) components C b {\displaystyle Cb} and C r {\displaystyle Cr}, for each complete sample area. Traditionally the value for brightness is always 4, with the rest of the values scaled accordingly.

A sampling of 4:4:4 indicates that all three components are fully sampled. A sampling of 4:2:0, for example, indicated that the two chroma components are sampled at half the horizontal sample rate of luma - the horizontal chroma resolution is halved. This reduces the bandwidth of an uncompressed video signal by one-third.

MUSE implements a similar system as a means of reducing bandwidth, but instead of static sampling, the actual ratio varies according to the amount of motion on the screen. In practice, MUSE sampling will vary from approximately 4:2:1 to 4:0.5:0.25, depending on the amount of movement. Thus the red-green chroma component C r {\displaystyle Cr} has between one-half and one-eighth the sampling resolution of the luma component Y {\displaystyle Y}, and the blue-yellow chroma C b {\displaystyle Cb} has half the resolution of red-green.

## Audio subsystem

MUSE had a discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system called " DANCE ", which stood for Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion.

It used differential audio transmission (differential pulse-code modulation) that was not psychoacoustics-based like MPEG-1 Layer II. It used a fixed transmission rate of 1350 kbp/s. Like the PAL NICAM stereo system, it used near-instantaneous companding (as opposed to Syllabic-companding like the dbx system uses) and non-linear 13-bit digital encoding at a 32 kHz sample rate.

It could also operate in a 48 kHz 16-bit mode. The DANCE system was well documented in numerous NHK technical papers and in a NHK-published book issued in the USA called Hi-Vision Technology.

The DANCE audio codec was superseded by Dolby AC-3 (a.k.a. Dolby Digital), DTS Coherent Acoustics (a.k.a. DTS Zeta 6x20 or ARTEC), MPEG-1 Layer III (a.k.a. MP3), MPEG-2 Layer I, MPEG-4 AAC and many other audio coders. The methods of this codec are described in the IEEE paper:

## Real world performance issues

MUSE had a four-field dot-interlacing cycle, meaning it took four fields to complete a single MUSE frame. Thus, only stationary images were transmitted at full resolution. However, as MUSE lowers the horizontal and vertical resolution of material that varies greatly from frame to frame, moving images were blurred. Because MUSE used motion-compensation, whole camera pans maintained full resolution, but individual moving elements could be reduced to only a quarter of the full frame resolution. Because the mix between motion and non-motion was encoded on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it wasn't as visible as most would think. Later, NHK came up with backwards compatible methods of MUSE encoding/decoding that greatly increased resolution in moving areas of the image as well as increasing the chroma resolution during motion. This so-called MUSE-III system was used for broadcasts starting in 1995 and a very few of the last Hi-Vision MUSE LaserDiscs used it (A River Runs Through It is one Hi-Vision LD that used it). During early demonstrations of the MUSE system, complaints were common about the decoder's large size, which led to the creation of a miniaturized decoder.

Shadows and multipath still plague this analog frequency modulated transmission mode.

Japan has since switched to a digital HDTV system based on ISDB, but the original MUSE-based BS Satellite channel 9 (NHK BS Hi-vision) was broadcast until September 30, 2007.

## Cultural and geopolitical impacts

- (1940s): The NTSC standard (as a 525 line monochrome system) was imposed by the US occupation forces.

- (1950s-1960s): Unlike Canada (that could have switched to PAL), Japan was stuck with the US TV transmission standard regardless of circumstances.

- (1960s-1970s): By the late 1960s many parts of the modern Japanese electronics industry had gotten their start by fixing the transmission and storage problems inherent with NTSC's design.

- (1970s-1980s): By the 1980s there was spare engineering talent available in Japan that could design a better television system.

MUSE, as the US public came to know it, was initially covered in the magazine Popular Science in the mid-1980s. The US television networks did not provide much coverage of MUSE until the late 1980s, as there were few public demonstrations of the system outside Japan.

Because Japan had its own domestic frequency allocation tables (that were more open to the deployment of MUSE) it became possible for this television system to be transmitted by Ku Band satellite technology by the end of the 1980s.

The US FCC in the late 1980s began to issue directives that would allow MUSE to be tested in the US, providing it could be fit into a 6 MHz System-M channel.

The Europeans (in the form of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)) were impressed with MUSE, but could never adopt it because it is a 60 Hz TV system, not a 50 Hz system that is standard in Europe and the rest of the world (outside the Americas and Japan).

The EBU development and deployment of B-MAC, D-MAC and much later on HD-MAC were made possible by Hi-Vision's technical success. In many ways MAC transmission systems are better than MUSE because of the total separation of colour from brightness in the time domain within the MAC signal structure.

Like Hi-Vision, HD-MAC could not be transmitted in 8 MHz channels without substantial modification – and a severe loss of quality and frame rate. A 6 MHz version Hi-Vision was experimented with in the US, but it too had severe quality problems so the FCC never fully sanctioned its use as a domestic terrestrial television transmission standard.

The US ATSC working group that had led to the creation of NTSC in the 1950s was reactivated in the early 1990s because of Hi-Vision's success. Many aspects of the DVB standard are based on work done by the ATSC working group, however most of the impact is in support for 60 Hz (as well as 24 Hz for film transmission) and uniform sampling rates and interoperable screen sizes.

## Device support for Hi-Vision

### Hi-Vision LaserDiscs

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were a number of MUSE LaserDisc players available in Japan: Pioneer HLD-XØ, HLD-X9, HLD-1000, HLD-V500, HLD-V700; Sony HIL-1000, HIL-C1 and HIL-C2EX; the last two of which have OEM versions made by Panasonic, LX-HD10 and LX-HD20. Players also supported standard NTSC LaserDiscs. Hi-Vision LaserDiscs are extremely rare and expensive.

The HDL-5800 Video Disc Recorder recorded both high definition still images and continuous video onto an optical disc and was part of the early analog wideband Sony HDVS high-definition video system which supported the MUSE system. Capable of recording HD still images and video onto either the WHD-3AL0 or the WHD-33A0 optical disc; WHD-3Al0 for CLV mode (up to 10 minute video or 18,000 still frames per side); WHD-33A0 for CAV mode (up to 3 minute video or 5400 still frames per side). These video discs were used for short video content such as advertisements and product demonstrations.

The HDL-2000 was a full band high definition video disc player.

### Reel to reel VTRs

For recording Hi-Vision signals, Three reel to reel analog VTRs were released, among them are the Sony HDV-1000 part of their HDVS line, the NEC TT 8-1000 and the Toshiba TVR-1000. These analog VTRs had a head drum angular speed of 3600 RPM and are similar to Type C VTRs. They have a bandwidth of 30 Mhz for luma and 7 Mhz for both chroma channels each, with a signal to noise ratio of 41 dB. They accept luma and chroma signals with bandwidths of up to 30 Mhz for both. Signals are recorded onto the tape using FM modulation. Linear tape speed is 483.1 mm/s and writing speed at the heads is 25.9 m/s. The head drum is 134.5 mm wide and has 4 video record heads, 4 video playback heads and 1 erasing head. It could record for 45 minutes on 10.5 inch reels. The video heads are made of Mn-Zn ferrite material, those used for recording have a gap of 0.7 microns and a width of 80 microns and those for playback have a gap of 0.35 microns and a width of 70 microns. It records audio on 3 linear tracks, and control signals on a linear track. Unlike conventional type C videotape recorders, Vertical Blanking Intervals are not recorded on the tape. Helical tracks have groups of 4 signals length-wise with red chrominance, blue chrominance, and two green chrominance signals with luminance information. Two tracks for green chrominance plus luminance are used to increase the bandwidth of these signals that can be recorded on the tape.

In 1987, technical standards for digital recording of Hi-Vision signals were released by NHK, and Sony and Hitachi developed the HDD-1000 as part of their HDVS line, and the HV-1200 digital reel to reel VTRs respectively. Audio is recorded digitally similarly to a DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) digital audio recorder, but several changes were made to synchronize the audio to the video. These digital VTRs can record 8 channels of digital audio on linear tracks (horizontally along the entire length of the tape). According to the standards, these VTRs operate with a head drum speed of 7200 RPM, have a bit rate of 148.5 Mbit/s per video head, a linear tape speed of 805.2 mm/s and a writing speed at the heads of 51.5 m/s, are similar to Type C VTRs, have a head drum 135mm wide, 8 playback, 8 recording and 2 erase heads, with 37 micron wide helical tracks. Bandwidth is 30 Mhz for luma (Y) and 15 Mhz for chroma (P, P). Audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48 kHz stored at 16 bits per sample in linear tape tracks, sampling rate for luma is 74.25 Mhz and 37.125 Mhz for chroma stored at 8 bits per sample. Signal to noise ratio is 56 dB for chroma and luma. Video fields are divided into 16 helical tracks on the tape. Total video bandwidth is 1.188 gigabits/s. Cue signals are recorded into 3 linear tape tracks. Video is recorded in groups of 4 tracks length-wise within each helical track, to allow for parallelization: high total data rates with relatively low data rates per head, and reduce the linear tape speed. Digital video signals are recorded line by line (1 row of pixels in every frame of video or 1 line of video at a time) with ECC (Error Correcting Code) at the end of each line and in between a number of vertical lines. Reed-Solomon code is used for ECC and each line also has an ID number for trick play such as slow motion and picture search/shuttle.

### Displays

Hi-Vision requires a display capable of handling 30 Mhz of video bandwidth simultaneously for each of the component video channels: RGB or Y, P and P. It was displayed on direct view color CRTs and CRT projectors, and plasma displays and Talaria projectors were explored to determine their ability to display Hi-Vision images.

### Cameras

Cameras based on Saticon tubes, Plumbicon tubes, Harpicon tubes and CCD image sensors were used to capture footage using the Hi-Vision format. A prototype based on Vidicon tubes was also created.

### MUSE decoders

A MUSE decoder is required for receiving MUSE broadcasts from satellites, and for viewing content in the MUSE format. The decoder converts MUSE format signals into Hi-Vision component video signals that can then be shown in a display.

### Video cassettes

W-VHS allowed home recording of Hi-Vision programmes.

For recording Hi-Vision video, NHK and 10 Japanese companies ("NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo Electric, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon") in 1989 released UniHi, a professional videocassette format. Recorders for the format were manufactured by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba. These machines were less expensive than their Type C counterparts. Both studio and portable versions were made. The head drum spins at 5400 RPM and uses tape that is 12.65 mm wide. It has a luminance (Y) bandwidth of 20 MHz and a chrominance (P, P) bandwidth of 7 MHz. The head drum is 76mm wide. It uses two video heads with azimuth recording and records each frame of video into 12 helical tracks; only 6 tracks are necessary for each video field if recording interlaced video. Audio is recorded digitally as a PCM signal, as a section on the helical tracks. Writing speed at the heads is 21.4 m/s. The tape also has 3 linear tracks, one for audio, control and time code each. Signal to noise ratio for luminance is 41 dB and for chrominance it is 47 dB. The tape is wrapped 180° around the head drum. Development began in 1987. It uses metal particle tape. It could record video for 1 hour (63 minutes). Linear tape speed is 120 mm/s. The cassette measures 205mm (width) x 121mm (depth) x 25mm (height). Signals are recorded using time-compression integration, in groups of two signals length-wise on each helical track. Grouping is used to increase the bandwidth that can be recorded on the tape. The cassette is intented to be air-tight with two flaps in the cassette's opening to protect the tape.

This videocassette format was developed in order to reduce the size of HD recording equipment. The Sony version of the UniHi VTR, the HDV-10, had a price of over 90,000 US dollars.


Marie Marcks

# Marie Marcks

## Abstract

Marie Marcks (25 August 1922 – 7 December 2014) was a German graphic artist and cartoonist. She published numerous books, regular caricatures in widely circulated German publications as well as autobiographical graphic novels on everyday family life. A well-known artist since the post-war years in the Federal Republic of Germany, she is considered one of the most important caricaturists and the Grande Dame of political caricature in Germany.

## Life and career

Marcks grew up in Berlin. Her father was an architect and her mother a graphic designer, who ran a private art school. Her uncle was the sculptor Gerhard Marcks. After attending secondary school at the reformist Birklehof boarding school in Hinterzarten (Black Forest) and training at her mother's art school, Marie Marcks studied architecture for a few semesters in Berlin and Stuttgart during the Second World War. After abandoning her studies, Marie Marcks worked as a freelance artist in Heidelberg.

In the 1940s and 1950s, she mainly created posters, and in 1958, she was commissioned to design the graphic design for Germany's contribution to Expo 58, the world exhibition in Brussels. She began publishing caricatures in the early 1960s. Her first works appeared in the magazine atomzeitalter, where she worked as a permanent cartoonist from 1963 to 1966. Over time, she expanded her drawings to include socio-political and feminist causes, with cartoons critical of the education system, nuclear power plants and the neo-Nazi movement in Germany, among other issues. This made her one of the most important caricaturists in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Marcks published more than 30 books and numerous caricatures in widely circulated publications. These included German magazines such as Stern, Der Spiegel, Titanic and Vorwärts, as well as the Süddeutsche Zeitung, where she was as a regular cartoonist for more than 20 years. In 1984 and 1989, her autobiographical graphic novels Marie, es brennt! and Schwarz-weiß und bunt were published in two volumes with a total of over 300 pages.

Her images, drawn in black-and-white or with coloured pencils, are often telling a message with speech balloons or captions. Richness of detail and ironical word play are typical characteristics of her style. As a caricaturist, she was a contemporary of the much younger cartoonists Franziska Becker in Germany and Claire Bretécher in France. Marcks had five children whom she raised as a single mother. She continued her work until shortly before her death at the age of 92.

## Reception

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth, the German Historical Museum called Marcks the "Grande Dame of political caricature in the Federal Republic." Commenting on Marcks' work, the former President of the German Federal Constitutional Court, Jutta Limbach, said: "No artist before her has caricatured gender relations in such a sarcastic way." Further, she recognized how Marcks had frequently portrayed the "narrow-minded patriarch."

Her artistic estate of around 2,500 works was purchased in 2013 by the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, which organised a retrospective exhibition of the artist's work from May to October 2015. A two-volume edition of her work was published in 2022 to mark her 100th birthday. In Heidelberg, where she spent most of her life, the Marie-Marcks-School was named after her.

During her lifetime, Marcks was honoured with several awards, including the German Order of Merit in 1995, the 2004 Caricature Prize of the German Bar Association and the German Caricature Prize in 2008. Her work was shown in numerous solo exhibitions in Germany, Austria, France, Australia, the USA and Canada.

## Selected works

- Marie, es brennt! Frauenbuchverlag Weismann Verlag, München 1984, ISBN 3-88897-108-X.

- Sternstunden der Menschheit – von Marie Marcks. Karikaturen der letzten 50 Jahre. Edition Braus im Wachter Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-926318-73-2.

- Hast du jetzt den Überblick? Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München 2002, ISBN 3-88897-316-3.

- Niemand welkt so schön wie du! Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München 2005, ISBN 3-88897-409-7.

- Meister der komischen Kunst: Marie Marcks. Antje Kunstmann, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-88897-717-6.

- Nichts gegen Männer … Karikaturen und Zeichnungen von Marie Marcks. Catalogue for the exhibition at the Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hannover, 2015.

- Die große Marie Marcks. Zweibändige Werkausgabe. Antje Kunstmann, Munich 2022, ISBN 978-3-95614-520-9.

## Selected exhibitions

- 1980 Bonn, Kunstverein

- 1981 München, Kunstverein

- 1982 Heidelberg, Kunstverein

- 1983 Paris, Goethe-Institut Paris

- 1988 Salzburg, Museumspavillon

- 1989 Goethe-Institut Australia

- 1991 Bordeaux, Salon de Livre

- 1992 Munich, Gasteig; Goethe-Institut centres in the USA and Canada

- 1994 Dortmund, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte

- 2000 Hamburg, Museum der Arbeit; Heidelberg, Kurpfälzisches Museum

- 2001 Old Town Hall, Halle (Saale)

- 2002 Göttingen, Altes Rathaus; Berlin, Willy-Brandt-Haus

- 2004 Berlin, Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer

- 2005 Tegernsee, Olaf-Gulbransson-Museum

- 2008 Wiesbaden, Frauenmuseum

- 2011 Luckau, Museum für Humor und Satire

- 2012 Caricatura Museum Frankfurt

- 2015 Hannover, Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst

- 2022 “To the Point – 100 Years Marie Marcks”, Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations, Heidelberg

- 2023/24 Museum Kunsthaus Heylshof, Worms, Germany

## Literature

- Thomas Werner (ed.) (2000): Sternstunden der Menschheit – von Marie Marcks. Karikaturen der letzten 50 Jahre. Anlässlich einer Ausstellung im Kurpfälzischen Museum der Stadt Heidelberg. Wachter Verlag, ISBN 3-926318-73-2, pp. 273–275.

- Michael Buselmeier (ed.) (2000): Erlebte Geschichte erzählt 1994–1997. Das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg, ISBN 3-88423-175-8, pp. 221–235.

- W. P. Fahrenberg (ed.) (2011): Meister der komischen Kunst: Marie Marcks. Antje Kunstmann, Munich, ISBN 978-3-88897-717-6, pp. 105–110.


DigiKam

# DigiKam

## Abstract

digiKam is a free and open-source image organizer and tag editor written in C++ using the KDE Frameworks.

## Features

digiKam runs on most known desktop environments and window managers, as long as the required libraries are installed. It supports all major image file formats, such as JPEG and PNG as well as over 200 raw image formats and can organize collections of photographs in directory-based albums, or dynamic albums by date, timeline, or by tags. Users can also add captions and ratings to their images, search through them and save searches for later use. Using plug-ins, users can export albums to various online services including (among others) 23hq, Facebook, Flickr, Gallery2, Google Earth 's KML files, Yandex.Fotki, MediaWiki, Rajce, SmugMug, Piwigo, Simpleviewer, Picasa Web Albums. Plug-ins are also available to enable burning photos to a CD and the creation of web galleries.

digiKam provides functions for organizing, previewing, downloading and/or deleting images from digital cameras. Basic auto-transformations can also be deployed on the fly during picture downloading. In addition, digiKam offers image enhancement tools through its KIPI (KDE Image Plugins Interface) framework and its own plugins, like red-eye removal, color management, image filters, or special effects. digiKam was the only free photo management application on Linux that could handle 16 bit/channel images, until RawTherapee version 4.0 was released in 2011, using a new 32 bits/channel engine for all internal image processing. Digital Asset Management is the mainstay of digiKam.

digiKam relies on libraries such as exiv2, allowing it to edit XMP metadata embedded in images or separately as sidecar files. It also supports DNG format reading and writing. Marble is also integrated for editing and viewing of geolocations in images.

digiKam also efficiently caches image thumbnails and paths in a database, in the PGF format, allowing for quick overviews. There are various database backends to choose from, with scalability and portability considerations taken into account. This database file is independent of photo libraries, enabling remote paths, multiple roots and offline backups.

As a non-modal image editor; digiKam's UI also supports live search boxes in both sidebars and the main window.

## History

digiKam has been in development since before 2006.

As of version 0.9 features include a GPS locator and synchronization, iPod Photo upload support, an advanced metadata editor, better support for raw image formats (using dcraw included in digiKam), full color management, a light-table, pan-tool in Image Editor and Preview mode, improvements in usability, and many new plugins.

digiKam 2.0 was released in July 2011, sporting a number of new features, including:

- Face detection and recognition support

- XMP sidecar support

- Reverse geocoding

- Image versioning

- Pick Labels & Color Labels support to improve photographic workflow

- Many new RAW decoding features

In August 2018 a beta version of DigiKam 6.0 was published. Improvements comprise support for video files used as photos, as well as new RAW and export options.

## Face detection and recognition

Starting with version 2.0, digiKam has introduced face recognition allowing you to automatically identify photos of certain people and tag them. DigiKam's photo manager was the first free project to feature similar functionality, with face recognition previously implemented only in proprietary products such as Google Picasa, Apple's Photos, and Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Face recognition was implemented in version 2.0 through the libface library, and from version 3.3 it is based on OpenTLD project work. Version 7.0.0-beta1 uses the Deep Neural Network module from the OpenCV library.

## Other OS

- Windows: Install digiKam via KDE Installer with digiKam-msvc.

- There is an official port on macOS that can be compiled from raw or using MacPorts.

- Most other Unix-like OSes are also supported.

## Awards received

digiKam has been awarded the TUX 2005, 2008, and 2010 Readers' Choice Award in the category Favorite Digital Photo Management Tool.


Radio fix

# Radio fix

## Abstract

In telecommunications and position fixing, the term radio fix has the following meanings:

- The locating of a radio transmitter by bearings taken from two or more direction finding stations, the site of the transmitter being at the point of intersection.

- The location of a ship or aircraft by determining the direction of radio signals coming to the ship or aircraft from two or more sending stations, the locations of which are known.

Compare triangulation.

## Obtaining a radio fix

A single transmitter can be used to give a line of position (LOP) of the craft. The (true) bearing to the station from the craft, TB or QUJ, is composed of the true heading, TH, plus the relative bearing, RB, of the station. The bearing from the station (QTE) is found by adding 180° to the QUJ figure.

The line of position is then the line of bearing QUJ (i.e. from the station to the receiver) passing through the station.

For the diagram on the right, we have:

A radio fix on two stations can be found in exactly the same way. The intersection of the two position lines gives the position of the receiver. For the diagram on the right, the LOPs are found as before:

Remembering that the LOPs pass through their respective stations, it is now simple to find the location of the craft.

Remember too, that bearings and direction are given/recorded with respect to True North and to Magnetic North. Values used by mobile stations usually need to be converted from Magnetic to True. (Fixed stations are expected to use True).

## Sources

- This article incorporates public domain material from


The Kindergarten Teacher (2018 film)

# The Kindergarten Teacher (2018 film)

## Abstract

The Kindergarten Teacher is a 2018 American drama film directed by Sara Colangelo. It is based on the 2014 Israeli film of the same name. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Anna Baryshnikov, Rosa Salazar, Michael Chernus and Gael García Bernal. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018. It was released on October 12, 2018, by Netflix in the United States and Canada.

## Plot

Lisa Spinelli, a kindergarten teacher from Staten Island, is struggling with feelings of dissatisfaction in her life. She is in a loving yet passionless marriage with her husband Grant, and her teenage children, Josh and Lainie, are distant with her. Lisa attends a poetry class every week, led by Simon, but her poetry is dismissed as derivative. One of Lisa's students, Jimmy, is routinely picked up late from school by his babysitter. One day, Lisa overhears Jimmy reciting a poem he wrote while he was waiting to be picked up. Lisa reads the poem at her poetry class, where her classmates and Simon are struck by it and compliment Lisa on her talent. Lisa decides that Jimmy is a prodigy, and begins to dedicate her time to nurturing his talent.

Lisa asks Jimmy's babysitter, a part-time actress named Becca, to write down the poems that Jimmy recites. Becca complies, but Lisa begins to feel that Becca treats Jimmy like a baby and that she is obstructing his ability to grow into his talent. Lisa gives Jimmy her phone number and tells him to call her any time that he has a poem. Simon invites Lisa to meet him, and tells her about a poetry reading in Manhattan, where she will have to read two of her poems in front of an audience. Lisa and Simon have sex, with Simon's attraction to Lisa being a by-product of what he believes to be her unique artistic genius.

Lisa meets Jimmy's father Nikhil and tells him about Jimmy's poetry. Although Nikhil is happy about his son's intellect, he wants Jimmy to have a normal, practical life. Lisa encourages Nikhil to fire Becca and offers to watch Jimmy for a few hours after school every day, which Nikhil gratefully accepts. One night, despite Nikhil's request that Jimmy be taken to baseball practice, Lisa takes him to the poetry reading instead, where his poetry is well received. Simon, however, is upset that Lisa lied about writing the poetry, and tells her to leave the class. Lisa and Jimmy return home late, and Lisa puts Jimmy to bed on her couch. The next day, Nikhil calls Lisa, angry at her for lying about the poetry reading and for not bringing him home afterwards, and informs her he will be taking Jimmy to another kindergarten.

The next morning, Lisa goes to Jimmy's house, and follows him to his new kindergarten, where she kidnaps him. They drive to a motel near a beach up north, where Lisa tells Jimmy of her plan to go across the border into Canada. Jimmy appears to be compliant with her plan, but while she's in the shower, he calls 911 and tells them he's been kidnapped. Lisa attempts to dissuade him, telling him that the world will never understand his talent, but gives Jimmy the address of their motel anyway while sobbing quietly in the bathroom. The police arrive and presumably arrest Lisa; they place Jimmy in the front seat of a squad car, where he says "I have a poem" but nobody hears him.

## Cast

- Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lisa Spinelli

- Parker Sevak as Jimmy Roy

- Michael Chernus as Grant Spinelli

- Gael García Bernal as Simon

- Anna Baryshnikov as Meghan

- Ajay Naidu as Nikhil Roy

- Rosa Salazar as Becca

- Sam Jules as Josh Spinelli

- Daisy Tahan as Lainie Spinelli

- Samrat Chakrabarti as Sanjay Roy

## Production

In May 2017, it was announced Maggie Gyllenhaal had been cast in the film, with Sara Colangelo directing from a screenplay she wrote, based upon the 2014 Israeli film of the same name. Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray, Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman-Keren and Talia Kleinhendler will serve as producers on the film, under their Maven Pictures and Pie Films banners, respectively. In July 2017, Gael García Bernal, Rosa Salazar, Michael Chernus, Anna Baryshnikov, Daisy Tahan and Samrat Chakrabarti joined the cast of the film. Poets Kaveh Akbar, Dominique Townsend, and Ocean Vuong worked with Gyllenhaal and Colangelo to write poems for the film.

## Release

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Shortly after, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film in the United States and Canada. It was released on October 12, 2018. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2018. The film's international distribution is handled by Protagonist Pictures and Thunderbird Releasing in the United Kingdom.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 103 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Elevated by a bravura performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Kindergarten Teacher is one American remake that retains its impact the second time around." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


The Land That Time Forgot (2009 film)

# The Land That Time Forgot (2009 film)

## Abstract

The Land That Time Forgot (promotionally titled Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land That Time Forgot, release in other countries as Dinosaur Island) is a 2009 science fiction film by independent American film studio The Asylum, directed by and starring C. Thomas Howell. It is an adaptation of the 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel of the same name, and a remake of the 1974 film starring Doug McClure.

## Plot

The film takes place in the present, when two newlywed couples are enjoying a charter boat cruise through the Caribbean. Passing through a bizarre storm, they emerge off the shore of the mysterious island of Caprona.

The island, which seems to exist within a time void inside the Bermuda Triangle, is full of anachronistic inhabitants, including dinosaurs and the crew of a stranded German U-boat. The newlyweds, along with the charter boat's captain and the Germans, must battle a variety of obstacles to escape from the island and get back to their own time.

At first the plan is to rescue a woman named Karen from the Germans and then take their boat away, but their guides Jude and Conrad betray them and steal the boat, leaving them to the Germans. Eventually, the captain convinces the Germans to work together to get off the island. They are able to free the U-boat and make diesel fuel from oil on the island. Unfortunately, Frost is left behind as he can't get to the sub in time and his wife Karen joins him on the island again. The sub gets away, but it is unclear if it ever returned to civilization. Frost writes down his story and puts in a thermos and throws it in the ocean. He and Karen have found a life on the island and Karen is pregnant.

## Cast

- C. Thomas Howell as Frost Michaels

- Timothy Bottoms as Captain Burroughs

- Darren Dalton as Cole Stevens

- Stephen Blackehart as Lonzo

- Lindsey McKeon as Lindsey Stevens

- Anya Benton as Karen Michaels

- Christopher Showerman as Stack

- Patrick Gorman as Conrad

- Scott Subiono as Zander

- David Stevens as Jude

- Lew Knopp as Cooper

- Christian Stoehr as Luke

- Jonathan Sanders as Oliver

## Prehistoric creatures

- Tyrannosaurus

- Pteranodon

- Brontosaurus (carcass only)

- Gallimimus (carcass only)


Dina Meyer

# Dina Meyer

## Abstract

Dina Meyer (born December 22, 1968) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in a recurring role on the Fox teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1993–94), before landing a leading role opposite Keanu Reeves in the 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic.

Meyer has acted in the films Dragonheart (1996), Starship Troopers (1997), Bats (1999), D-Tox (2002), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). She played Detective Allison Kerry in the Saw film franchise. On television, Meyer starred as Barbara Gordon/Oracle / Batgirl in the short-lived series Birds of Prey (2002–03) and was a regular on Secret Agent Man (2000) and Point Pleasant (2005). She appeared as Kellie in the dystopian movie Amerigeddon in 2016.

## Early life

Meyer was born in Queens, New York in 1968. She graduated from Long Island University in Brookville, New York with a bachelor of business administration degree. She trained in acting for three years at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.

## Career

Meyer moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to appear in the Fox teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 in the recurring role of Lucinda Nicholson. Shortly afterwards, she was cast as the female lead in the action film Johnny Mnemonic opposite Keanu Reeves. The following year, she appeared in the fantasy film Dragonheart directed by Rob Cohen. In early 1997, Meyer had a recurring role as Kate Miller in the NBC sitcom Friends. Later that year, she went to appear alongside Casper Van Dien in the science-fiction film Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film underperformed at the box office. The following year, she starred alongside James Caan in the neo-noir film Poodle Springs, which was released on HBO. In 1999, she starred in the horror film Bats; the film was a moderate box-office success. In 2002, she appeared opposite Sylvester Stallone in the thriller film D-Tox. Also in 2002, Meyer appeared as Romulan Commander Donatra in the science-fiction film Star Trek: Nemesis.

In 2000, Meyer starred in the UPN spy drama series Secret Agent Man, which was cancelled after one season. From 2002 to 2003, she starred as Barbara Gordon/Oracle / Batgirl in The WB superhero series Birds of Prey. She reprised this role in 2019, on the CW series The Flash during " Crisis on Infinite Earths " crossover. In 2003, she had a recurring role in the Fox comedy-drama Miss Match, and in 2005 was a regular cast member in the Fox primetime soap opera, Point Pleasant. Meyer also played the leading roles in the Lifetime television movies Deception (2004), Crimes of Passion (2005), His and Her Christmas (2005), The Boy Next Door (2008), and Web of Desire (2009).

In 2004, Meyer played Detective Allison Kerry in the horror film Saw. She reprised her role in Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), and Saw IV (2007). She later starred in a number of straight-to-video horror films, include Crazy Eights (2006) and Decoys 2: Alien Seduction (2007). She appeared in the 2010 horror-comedy film Piranha 3D and 2017 horror film The Evil Within. In 2013, Meyer appeared in the Western film Dead in Tombstone opposite Mickey Rourke. Meyer also played the leading roles in two more Lifetime Movie Network films, Lethal Seduction (2015), as a sexy, psychotic woman determined to get her man, and Flight 192 (2016), playing an FBI agent who is caught in a dilemma when she learns shortly after boarding a flight to Washington, DC, that her husband and son have been taken hostage.

Meyer has made several guest appearances on television series, including Ally McBeal, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Mentalist, Castle, NCIS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and American Horror Story. She had a recurring roles ABC comedy-drama Scoundrels in 2010, and on The CW teen drama 90210 from 2011 to 2012. In 2014, she starred opposite Patrick Warburton and Jesse Bradford in the Crackle series Sequestered. In 2018, she had a recurring roles on SyFy fantasy series The Magicians, as in the fourth season of Showtime's critically acclaimed drama, The Affair. In 2019, she began appearing in a recurring role in the CW sports drama All American as Gwen Adams, Asher's (played by Cody Christian) mother.

## Filmography